Bertram O'Connor

In the1880's, what was called, the Great West, was simply the west side of the Mississippi River.

In the 1880’s, my ancestors owned one of the largest coal mines on the Mississippi. The mine produced the best anthracite coal on the river. Grandfather loved telling stories about the family. If a train was headed into the Great West, its coal tenders had to be fully stocked—or the train wasn't coming back.

The family steamboat, the Jennie, crashed into the Rock Island bridge in October 1881. Many people drowned and the sinking made national news. The day after the Jennie sank, a deadly shootout in the city of Tombstone, in Arizona Territory, eclipsed the news about the Jennie.

Years after the Tombstone shootout, Wyatt Earp authored his story about his family. I figured I can do the same about mine. I wrote, The River Wars screenplay, as a loosely based hero's-journey about my family.

The River Wars, won many screenplay awards and based on the success of the screenplay, I decided to convert it into a novel of the same name.

In 2024, Coverfly, a company that tracks screenplays, listed The River Wars in the 25% Top-rated screenplays in their Action and Adventure category.

I think the story reads much better in the form of a novel. Hope you enjoy it!

The author lives on a small lake in Texas, where, across the lake, a herd of longhorn cattle graze.

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