the trailhead #01
Announcing my debut novel, THE TOWPATH
Welcome to the first entry in my blog, The Trailhead, which will take you deep into the legends, mysteries, characters, and settings of The Towpath, my debut novel. I will also share bonus materials, discuss the writing process, and delve into the mechanics of time travel—a topic on which there is sure fun to be had.
I’m also pleased to announce that The Towpath will be published by Collective Ink in October of 2024, through their Roundfire imprint. Part of Collective Ink’s marketing strategy involves their authors writing their own press releases for their books, which they can then leverage as part of the overall marketing and publicity campaign. Some outlets, magazines, and radio programs prefer to hear directly from the authors themselves. Because of this, and the fact that this is my first blog entry, I figured I’d share my self-written press release, which is as follows:
Travel Down THE TOWPATH
But beware, you might not end up where—or when—you expect.
By Jonathan Walter
Visitors to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) in Northeast Ohio might not realize that there’s more to the park than meets the eye—or any other sense for that matter. For just beneath their feet, deeper than the deepest of troughs of the mighty Cuyahoga River, and more implacable than the sheerest of cliff sides along the valley’s eastern rim, awaits a power that’s beyond all reckoning.
We’re talking about the conditions for time travel here, and I’ve written a story that puts a new spin on a genre that’s captured the imaginations—and pens—of legendary authors like H.G. Wells (THE TIME MACHINE) and Stephen King (11/22/63). Note: that’s the last time you’ll ever see me reference myself in the same sentence as King or Wells!
In my story, The Towpath, the more you meddle with your own history and lineage, the stiffer the objective and steeper the penalty, which only increases the further you stray from your native time and place and the longer you stay there. There are rules to time travel after all—and there are consequences. Some brazen souls may test those rules, often to their own lurid demise.
But there is one person who’s managed to defy these rules and somehow stave off the grave consequences… for now. That person would be THE REDEEMER, who’s determined to prevent her teenaged daughter’s suicide in 2014. She’ll take whatever detour in time and place that’s necessary to achieve her goal, removing anyone who stands in her way. She’s become hardened, brutal, and impassive from these long and meandering journeys, increasing the damage and collateral she leaves in her wake. Consequences and the Butterfly Effect be damned.
When she finally discovers that there’s an ancient medallion with powers that would allow her to time-travel freely and without penalty, she and her legion of Iroquois warriors embark on a bloody mission to recover it in the 1600’s. When that mission ultimately fails, she defeatedly returns to her native time in 2021.
But she isn’t idle for long. Her mission is renewed when she learns that AARON PORTER, a shy fourteen-year-old with a garbage picking hobby, discovers it in Portage Falls, Ohio in June of 2021—which just so happens to be her native, present time. Now, hot on the trail of Aaron and his friends, The Redeemer won’t hesitate to remove them and claim what’s rightfully hers.
My story will take you across hundreds of years, pulling you deep into the legends and lore that have been smoldering in and around the Cuyahoga Valley for centuries. You’ll go underground, including into the cavernous Salt Mines under Lake Erie, speed along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, get lost in a national forest, and find yourself in places and times you might not have ever expected. Oh, and along the way, you’ll be pursued by a brutal killer and her equally brutal warriors from the past.
So, get ready and climb onto your bicycle along with Aaron and his friends, Libby, and Simon. Because in The Towpath, you’re not just in for the ride of your life. You’re in for the ride for your life.
For more on The Towpath:
