Thunder at Dawn

The epic saga of the heroic pioneers who struggled and fought, lived and died, to stake their claim on the untamed American frontier…

Western Missouri. Former army scout Jack Gregory returns from battle to a homestead in ruins. A wanted man with no place to go, he chooses an even deadlier career—as a scout for General George Armstrong Custer. Under a new name, Jack serves bravely in the Seventh Cavalry. But when Custer’s disastrous leadership ends in devastating slaughter, Jack sets off to forge his own destiny. Winning a small ranch in a card game, he hopes to settle down and live a peaceful life. But with the Cheyenne nation rising up to defend their land—with nightly raids on innocent settlers—there can be no peace for a scout like Jack. Only a man of his experience is skilled enough to infiltrate Cheyenne territory. Only an outcast with nothing to lose is crazy enough to face their war chief—man to man, one on one.

Warrior or peacemaker, friend or enemy, Jack Gregory is among the breed of courageous men and women who risked their lives for freedom, justice, and a dream. This is the story of America.

A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, S.K. Salzer's first novel, Up From Thunder, a tale of the Civil War Missouri featuring the young Jesse James, was published in 2010. Salzer's short story "Cornflower Blue" won the 2009 Spur Award from Western Writers of America (WWA) for short fiction and the 2010 John Newman Edwards Award from the Friends of the James Farm. Salzer's short story, "The Saint of Pox Island," published in the March/April 2012 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, was a finalist in WWA's 2013 short fiction competition. S.K. lives in Missouri.