Nestled against the Arkansas River, clinging to the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, Fort Smith has been home to many historic events. Perhaps the most shameful of those events was the Trail of Tears. With this dark moment in US history as a springboard, explore a geographically accurate modern-day Fort Smith as Detective Sergeant Ellis Morgan learns that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children and no good deed goes unpunished.

Werewolves, vampires, ghosts, demons and gods both old and dark wander through shadows and dreams; and all that stands between Fort Smith and eternal destruction is Ellis Morgan, Godslayer.  

A Few Words From Curt Regarding “Border Town Blood”

“Border Town Blood” is a contemporary horror novel in three acts.

"But I'm not really into horror," you may say. Well, Border Town Blood is like an excellent submarine sandwich (or a po' boy for my friends in the Deep South); there is something in it for everyone: horror, fantasy, romance, inspiration and even a little comic relief tossed in for good measure.   

“Border Town Blood” is set in a geographically accurate Fort Smith.

I have always believed that fear thrives on the familiar. Television programs like The Twilight Zone were much more frightening and disturbing for their real world setting. Sure having a homicidal alien chasing someone around a spaceship is scary; but having a horde of zombies rise from the cemetery you drive past every day at dusk is terrifying!

In Border Town Blood, I have taken great pains to describe local geography and local businesses exactly where they are. To paraphrase the great American storyteller Louis L'Amour, if I tell you there's a water hole in a certain place, if you follow my directions, you will end up with a cool drink.

Of course, it has been necessary to fictionalize most of the names of the businesses and people, but there is still a barbecue place where Nealson's stands, a record storage business where Centralized Record Storage stands and, as of January 2009, the Mallalieu Church still stands right where Ellis left it.

I am confident that Mayor Sandy Sanders would love to have the fans of Border Town Blood visit Fort Smith and spend a day or two driving around on a Border Town Blood tour. 

“Border Town Blood” is based on actual historic events and authentic Native American mythology. 

Many of today's most successful television programs brag that their stories are "ripped from the headlines." Border Town Blood takes that premise and stands it on its head. The stories inBorder Town Blood are ripped from the history books.

The Trail of Tears is one of the most shameful events in our country's history.

The carnival atmosphere of the public hangings in 19th Century Fort Smith were probably more raucous than I portray them.

The multiple waves of refugees and displaced persons referenced by Alice Harvey were actual events.

In the forties, Camp Chaffee was a German prisoner of war camp.

Fort Chaffee was the Middle American staging ground for fifty-one thousand Hmong, Indochinese, and Vietnamese men, women and children in the seventies.

In the eighties over twenty-five thousand Cuban refugees passed through Fort Smith.

Over ten thousand refugees from Hurricane Katrina were housed in Fort Chaffee in 2005.

What is so special about Fort Smith that, time and again, the disenfranchised and the footloose end up here? Border Town Blood poses an answer to that - and many other - questions.

Native American mythology is a rich - and largely untapped - seedbed of tales and legends. Border Town Blood borrows a few of these myths and weaves them into a tapestry that is rooted in history and flies high in the firmament of modern imagination.

Tsul Kalu and Jumlin are genuine figures in Native American pantheons.

Shapeshifters, dreamwalkers and warriors mighty enough to slay gods are part and parcel of Native American oral tradition. 

“Border Town Blood” tells its story through the eyes of those experiencing the action. 

Unlike the bird's eye view of many third-person novels or the solo inside-out view of a first-person narrative, Border Town Blood puts you - the reader - inside the heads and hearts of the stories' characters. You get to know the characters, their feelings and their motivations through their own eyes: unvarnished and, in many cases, brutally honest. Each of the POV characters tells their part of the story in his or her own unique way and invites you sympathize or empathize or identify with his or her plight.

Some of the characters you will love; some you will hate; and some you will take or leave as you find them. But isn't that how it is in the real world? 

“Border Town Blood” defies classification and blurs the lines between genres.

As I said way back at the beginning of this description, Border Town Blood has something in it for everyone.

If you enjoy bone-chilling horror, it's in there.

If you enjoy pulse-pounding action, you will not be disappointed.

If you like a story to make you think, dive intoBorder Town Blood and let the provocation begin.

If you like stories that are character driven, with fully fleshed players who set their own priorities and follow their own instincts, then Border Town Blood is the book for you.

If you like a non-linear narrative with twists and turns, Border Town Blood will satisfy you like nothing else since Keyser Soze. 

The bottom line is: Border Town Blood will keep you up at night, either turning the pages to see what happens next or laying awake in bed thinking about what you read earlier - and straining to hear the tell-tale tapping of claws on your floor. 

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Border Town Blood E-Book at Amazon (For Kindle Users)

Border Town Blood E-Book at Barnes & Noble (For Nook and I-Pad Users)

Border Town Blood Hardback at Amazon

Border Town Blood Trade Paperback at Amazon