The Burning Ground

by Mike Sirota

The Maidu Indians wanted no part of the white devils that came to their sacred land to hunt the shiny metal. But in 1849 Gold Rush miners in the Sierra Nevada foothills slaughter nearly all the inhabitants of the village of Kalkalya, trapping their spirits. Over a century and a half later, a “thief of time”—a grave robber—desecrates the Maidu burial ground in search of artifacts. Now the angry spirits, bent on vengeance, unleash a bloodbath that threatens the nearby, picturesque town of Lodestar, just as hordes of unsuspecting tourists arrive for the annual Labor Day weekend festivities celebrating California’s Gold Rush. The task of preventing further carnage falls upon an unlikely a former major league pitcher; the tormented town librarian; an elderly descendant of the Maidu people; and a ten-year-old boy—the son of the grave robber whose immoral actions first raised the spirits up from the Burning Ground.

222 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2011

About the author

Mike Sirota, the author of the thrillers, Freedom’s Hand, Demon Shadows and The Modoc Well (Atoris Press), and The Burning Ground and Fire Dance (ZOVA Books), has published over twenty novels with houses that include The Berkley Publishing Group (Penguin-Putnam), Bantam Books, Pocket Books, and Kensington Publishing Corp. For many years he was an award-winning feature writer and editor for a Southern California newsmagazine. Mike assists aspiring and published writers as an editor and writing coach. He lives in Oceanside, California with his wife, Jacqueline.

Reviews

[Chris Webber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5 stars. But the excellent writing paired with Navajo culture/philosophy and a mastery had me making comparisons to the movie series of The Dark Winds.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Kenneth Kraus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent combo of modern mystery with dashes of midnight horror, all with solid basis in historical research. A Steven King meets Tony Hillerman in theme and tone, and you learn another darker side of the 1849 Sierra Gold Rush in how some of the prospectors disrupted Native American life, and then even exploited these mostly peaceful Maidu.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read. I recommend it to any readers that enjoy Stephen King type books!