Coaltrain

Book excerpt: This book is an environmental fiction novel, dealing with 2 brothers from West Virginia, who high-jack and then blow up a giant train loaded with coal, as a protest against the coal companies strip-mining all the land surrounding their mountain family farm. In preparation for the operation, one brother hitch-hikes West, to enlist the aid of an old family friend, and meets and falls in love with a tall beautiful girl in Denver. The other brother heads East, and rescues a young swimmer from a deadly stinging jellyfish, and meets a wise yoga master, from whom he learns much. This is an action packed story, with an exciting plot, and yet deals with many topics of today's society, especially the negative aspects of our current energy policies of burning so much coal and fossil fuels. The environmentally aware reader should find it entertaining and exciting, especially the ending, where the disastrous effects of strip-mining collide full force with a mountain family's fierce determination to save the land they love.