Prolific Bellegarde-area author Tanya Reimer is preparing to release Legends on the Prairies, the latest novel in her Sacred Land speculative fiction novel series.
It’s the fourth novel she has released in a little more than two years, and the second story in the Sacred Land series. It will be available in digital formats next month, and in paperback in November.
Legends on the Prairies is set in Saskatchewan in 1892, a prequel to her debut Sacred Land novel, Ghost on the Prairies.
“It tells the story of two people from different backgrounds and cultures who meet and bond over a common cause against a shared nemesis,” states a press release for the novel.
Sacri meets Alex, and wants Alex to believe he is the hero from her legends – the individual who will save land that is sacred to her tribe.
“Alex is a lot of things,” the write-up states. “He’s a painter, a sculptor, and a dreamer. He has just been fired from a good job, grieves for a woman he hoped to marry, and is known as the local drunk.
“He’s terrified of fire, of losing his friend, and of being alone. He is a lot of things, but hero isn’t one of them.”
Travelling across the country in 1892 to settle land on an unexplored part of the Prairies, he hopes to find himself, to find a reason for his existence, and to have one last adventure with his dying friend.
But he meets Sacri, and is drawn to her determination.
The first novel in the Sacred Land series, Ghosts on the Prairies, tells the story of Alex and Sacri’s son, Antoine, and his own battles to save his family’s land.
Reimer noted that in Ghosts on the Prairies, there is a scene where Antoine is talking to his daughter, Emma, about how his parents met.
“It’s a very specific scene where Sacri puts Alex on a canoe and puts him into the water to get rid of him, so that he would get the message he had to leave, and he couldn’t stay on this land,” said Reimer.
It was a haunting image for Reimer, and so she decided to write a story about Alex and Sacri. When Reimer embarked on the Sacred Land series a few years ago, she never intended to write a prequel. She started writing the prequel about a year and a half ago, submitted the book to her publisher, and they liked the idea.
“Before I knew it, I had a whole book,” she said with a laugh.
Now she is glad she wrote the story of how Alex and Sacri came together.
“Alex is a really strong character, and he comes in conflict with Sacri, who’s an extremely strong character,” said Reimer. “So, I got to battle out some strong characters who have these strong demons following them.”
Reimer has one more novel written in the Sacred Land series. It has been submitted already, and she is waiting to see if it gets the green light.
“It’s called Cursed on the Prairies, and it’s actually set quite a few years after Antoine’s story,” said Reimer. “It basically wraps up the Sacred Land, and what happens to it.”
She noted Legends on the Prairies is dedicated to her brother, Richard Keen. The novel will be released on his birthday, and that is “a wild coincidence,” she said.
Legends on the Prairies is released by Elsewhen Press, an independent publisher in the U.K.
