Ulysses' Bow

Will Sheriff Brian Forsberg be willing to throw away a thirty-seven year career in law enforcement in order to avenge a series of unsolved murders that have plagued him since the autumn of 1972? Or will a killer get away with a murder that seemingly has been solved.Author Jason Willis answers these questions and more in Ulysses’ Bow, an allegorical retelling of the classic myth of The Odyssey. Framed around a modern murder mystery in 2009, Ulysses’ Bow journeys back to 1972 to tell the story of the Surdy family, which has been torn apart by the Vietnam War. After learning that his father’s helicopter has been shot down in the closing days of the Vietnam War, Karson Surdy must not only deal with the challenges of adolescence but must also deal with his alcoholic mother, who welcomes the advances of strangers rather than facing the tattered realities of a failed marriage. But veteran Brian Forsberg quickly finds himself entangled in the domestic struggle between Karson and the Rick Breiter, the man who’s trying to replace his missing father.Part murder-mystery and part supernatural-thriller, the Seven Fires Chronicles takes the reader on a spiritual and temporal journey from the remote logging town of Split Rock, Minnesota to the battlefields of Vietnam, and even to the rocky shores of thirteenth-century Nova Scotia. While each novel features a modern protagonist dealing with issues affecting the present, the reader will learn along with the characters that there is an even greater mystery surrounding the pristine Lake Wanagiyata, which the Dakota called ‘Place of Souls.‘ Framed by the ancient Anishinaabe prophecies of The Seven Fires, each of the seven novels sheds more light into ancient events that are not yet done shaping the present and future.One of the unique features of The Seven Fires Chronicles is the concept of ‘Synchronicity,’ dubbed by philosopher Carl Jung. Synchronicity basically tries to show the connection between two seemingly unrelated events. In the series, characters ranging from devout Christians to sophisticated atheists begin to realize that their lives are intricately connected, and sometimes, not even death can break those connections. So rather than telling the story in a traditional, chronologically-ordered narrative, The Seven Fire Chronicles jump back and forth in time in order to show that Good and Evil sometimes change depending on a character’s perspective.

About the Author

Jason Lee Willis was born on October 16, 1971 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. His parents purchased a farm in rural Minnehaha County, where he lived until graduation from high school. In 1990, he enrolled at Mankato State University, where he planned on attaining a degree in Biotechnology. During his career at MSU, Jason entertained a variety of careers by switching majors frequently to areas such as Biology, Botany, History, Philosophy, Pre-Theology, and finally English. In 1992, he married Julie Doman and had three children. His teaching career began in 1995 at Audubon High School in Iowa. In 1996, he was hired at Maple River High School in Mapleton, Minnesota, where he has taught ever since. Although Willis dabbled with writing since childhood, he did not become serious about writing until 2000. With a busy personal and professional life, Willis did not publish his first novel, Hamlet's Ghost, until 2008. After initial success in the self-publishing field, Willis subsequently designed a seven book series entitled the Seven Fires Chronicles, which he plans to release on his self-published imprint, Aten Books. Willis credits several different influences for his writing. As a child in South Dakota, he became fascinated by Native American cultures, especially the Dakota and Lakota tribes. His father, a retired Vietnam vet, and his mother, the local church secretary, helped foster a keen interest in Biblical studies. At Maple River High School, he developed and taught a course on ancient mythology, which kindled many themes in his story. As an avid fan of filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan, Willis embraced a non-linear style of storytelling.

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