Sojourn

Tales of the Unearthly Northwest #1

by M.M. Justus

State trooper Daniel Reilly never thought he'd wind up in his stepmother's favorite movie. Chasing a suspected drunk driver through Washington's desolate Okanogan Highlands is part of his job, but crashing his cruiser and waking up in a ghost town definitely isn't. And when that ghost town starts to come to life? His version of Brigadoon is not a carefree musical.

242 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2014

About the author

I am fascinated by the possibilities of what if. The memories of place that some people call ghosts, the mobius effect of time travel. You won’t find vampires or werewolves here. Or horror. I am more interested in the potential effects of the fantastic on normal folks, and in inserting it into well-researched historical events, populated mostly by people who really lived.

My favorite period is the not-so-distant past of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and my favorite place, the one that draws me back over and over again, is Yellowstone National Park. Ten years ago, on a three-month cross-country adventure, I spent five days in Yellowstone, wandering the geyser basins waiting for things to go off. Watching my first-ever eruption of Grand Geyser, five lovely bursts 150-200 feet high, I suddenly thought, now wouldn’t that make a terrific time travel device. Other places and events have struck me in similar ways, and this is the basis for the stories I tell. I hope you will enjoy them.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

State trooper Dan Reilly is lost, emotionally and literally, as he follows a careening truck deep into the unknown in rural Washington state. His pursuit ends in a crash and he awakens in a totally unfamiliar place. The people are friendly and the town seems 100 years old. Over the ensuing weeks, Dan finds community, love, and a position in a town where he is valued. Will he give up the world of 2014 for this?

MM Justus has crafted a tale whose unearthliness makes us consider the necesssity of change: humans and communities need new possibilities in order to stay alive.

I particularly liked the fact that this Shangri-La needs new blood in order to stay alive. The townspeople are real. Doc Amy and others grow as Dan affects their lives. I also really liked Harry the pig.

[Amy K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could. I certainly enjoyed the world-building enough to immediately begin the companion novel, Reunion. I particularly enjoyed the narrative first person voice. Dan is refreshingly frank, often clueless, and kind of adorably befuddled a lot of the time. The element of Conconcully I found creepiest was that Dan WAS so befuddled; obviously, the place itself or something about it asserted an influence over his thoughts and feelings, which I always find especially unsettling.

Anyway, I'm already into the next book and enjoying it, so this series is well worth the read. And I should mention that the environment itself is a character, which is a narrative element I always enjoy.

[Jasmine Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

MM Justus’ book “Sojourn” starts off with state trooper Daniel Reilly pursuing a truck across some pretty steep and hairy backroads in Washington State’s Okanogan County. It’s nighttime, of course, and his pursuit quickly goes off course and he finds himself skidding out of control into what is presumed to be a dangerous car wreck. He awakens to find himself being tended to by a group of kind, but somewhat mysterious people in a little “off the grid” town called Conconully. They kindly feed him and send their doctor, Amy, to tend to the injuries he acquired in the car crash. As he heals, Daniel discovers that the tiny town of Conconully is a bit of a mystery. Places and people seem to fade in and out of existence—the whole town can appear both vital and thriving and ghostly empty in the same night. The mysteries start to mount as Daniel recovers enough to begin exploring his surroundings. Things don’t add up, especially the nice townsfolk who refuse to answer a single question while at the same time wanting him to take on more responsibilities as he recovers. He quickly makes friends with Dr. Amy, who seems to hold the key to explaining the town’s odd dislocation from modern life, but who also seems to be unable or unwilling to give him the details. Some of the other residents of Conconully, including the town’s plaster pig (see image below) may be hiding an unearthly secret. As he starts to puzzle through the mystery, the town of Conconully steadily grows more ‘real’ to Daniel while his desire to return to his life in the “outside” world dims. Will he have the chance to make that decision on his own, or are the people of Conconully purposely misleading him for their own ends while hiding the truth long enough to keep him trapped in their little ghost town forever?
I had a quick conversation with “Sojourn” author MM Justus the other day, where I complimented her on her wonderful “novella”. She kindly corrected me that –at 226 pages—it’s not a novella, but a full length novel. The truth is—this story reads so perfectly smooth from start to finish that I had no idea the amount of pages flying beneath my fingers. It has everything I look for in a first person POV story, namely, an intriguing and engaging protagonist, a mysterious setting and a ton of riveting questions that are handled adeptly by the author. The story pulls the reader in almost immediately and I found myself caring very much for Daniel’s well-being, both physical and emotional. The surrounding setting shows depth and research with more than a little historical fact thrown in. Even though every other character in her story is a secondary character, MM Justus makes each of the Conconully townsfolk shine with individuality. You get the feeling that they have lived lives (long lived lives, that is) that take place before the story and will continue on after the story is finished. The mysteries of the strange ghost town are allowed to build and multiply, creating a tight tense narrative that delivers on all of its promises. A resounding story from an accomplished storyteller and a clinic for first person POV that all new writers would benefit from reading.

[Karyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cool story because it kept me guessing til the end. I am talking about the main plot of the story! This takes place modern day but the main character, Daniel Reilly, ends up in what seems like a ghost town from the old west. We get snippets of where he is but we are left guessing throughout the story to figure it with the main character.

The author did a wonderful job at keeping the reader intrigued so that we would try to keep guessing what was going on in this town. There hints that would make me think I knew what happened and then there were strange twists that would throw me off track so I couldn’t figure it out. It was great! I love not being able to figure out what is going to happen – it keeps the story interesting!

I don’t want to give anything away with this book since it is a really interesting and unique story but you definitely want to give this one a try!

[John Love IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd book, I kept expecting one thing and got another. The characters were good and once you figured out the 'rules', everything fit. Figuring them out took me some time.

The characters were pretty good as was the story line.

I should say, I got this free or cheap. Doesn't affect my review but I thought you should know. Try it...

[Donna Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

* Received this book in exchange for my review *

A clean read with a unique and inquisitive secret mystery.