The Fang of Bonfire Crossing: Legends of the Lost Causes

Dark magic meets the Old West in this rip-roaring middle-grade adventure series filled with scrappy heroes and diabolical villains.

Keech Blackwood and his band of fellow orphans demand justice for their fallen families. But the road to retribution is a long and hard-fought journey.

After defeating Bad Whiskey Nelson, the man who burned Keech's home to the ground, the Lost Causes have a new mission: find Bonfire Crossing, the mysterious land that holds clues to the whereabouts of the all-powerful Char Stone. Along the way they'll have to fend off a shapeshifting beast, a swarm of river monsters, and a fearsome desperado named Big Ben Loving who conjures tornadoes out of thin air. It's an epic standoff between the Lost Causes and the outlaw Reverend Rose, a powerful sorcerer who would be unstoppable with the Stone in his possession.

With the world--and vengeance--hanging in the balance, the Lost Causes are ready for battle.

Praise for Legends of the Lost Causes

A Junior Library Guild Selection

"This is a fun and exciting story, written with the utmost respect for the Osage culture." --Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center

"A rollicking adventure filled with mystery and magic that crackles like a brush fire." --Emma Trevayne, author of The House of Months and Years

"Thrilling, dark, and full of heart, this is a Western like none I've ever read. I loved it." --Stefan Bachmann, author of The Peculiar and The Whatnot

Brad McLelland was born and raised in Arkansas and spent several years working as a crime journalist in the South. In 2011 he obtained his MFA in creative writing from Oklahoma State University, where he met his writing partner, Louis. Together they are the authors of Legends of the Lost Causes and The Fang of Bonfire Crossing. A part-time drummer and singer, Brad lives in Oklahoma with his wife, stepdaughter, a mini Aussie who gives hugs, and a chubby cat who begs for ham.

Louis Sylvester is a professor at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. He and his wife spend their free time playing tabletop games from his collection of over 1,000 card and board games. Louis enjoys watching Western films and reading fantasy novels. He has two dogs that go wild when they hear the word treats.