Sally Franklin Christie Welcomes You to Montana

Welcome to Montana home to Don and Dan Nichols, Nathaneil Bar-Johah and Ted Kaczynski.  Michael Keaton. Dennis Quaid and Tom Brokaw also call Montana home.  Criminals and Celebrities cannot hold a candle to Montana’s treasures.  

I came here in 1981 with a cardboard box in the back of a U-Haul coming up from Florida.  I stayed and although I am not famous for crimes and celebrity I call Montana home.

I live on the edge of town across from an old mill, stockyards and a little place called the Find It Calfe. My neighborhood is populated by thugs we call chickens and wayward deer. When I look through my window I am apt to see horses with owners practicing things I’ll never understand. The same neighbors walk their goats.  

While I am isolated here at the foothills of the Bridger Mountain Range, I have the comfort of high speed internet bringing the rest of the world to my fingertips. 

Come to Montana, the celebrities keep to themselves and the criminals blend in to the relatively low population density.  In some parts of town we leave the doors open and cars unlocked. 

Bozeman is a university town, home to the campus of Montana State University. County Market is gone now, so is Big K-Mart but we still have a Walmart for ‘accidental tourists.’  

If you plan a trip to Big Sky Country be sure to come to Bridger Bowl Ski Area, Moonlight Basin and Big Sky Resort. The views are spectacular.  

I recommend visiting between May and September where the landscape goes from a jaw dropping spring green to yellow ochre fire season before your very eyes.  We have an extensive trail system for biking, hiking and running.  

The trails are my favorite part of Bozeman, the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, GVLT, uses the section of our property on Story Mill Road. The GVLT is accessible to my wheelchair even in remote places.  

Bozeman Trails

Our mission is to link Bozeman’s core to public lands throughout the Gallatin Valley. Since 1990 we have collaborated with the City of Bozeman and dozens of public and private organizations to expand the Main Street to the Mountains system to over 80 miles of trails. These trails are used by commuters, runners, bikers, birdwatchers, and stargazers, and help make the Gallatin Valley the best place to live under the Big Sky.

http://gvlt.org/trails/

I’ve outgrown my single cardboard box.  I am married to a man who goes to work every day to keep my internet going so I have a distraction and the freedom to write novels, flash fiction and blog posts.  I also do landscape painting and enter crochet projects in the County Fair.  

Bozeman Montana is where my books take place.  Sure, there are side visits to places I’ve touched along the way.  The criminal element in my novels are made up with a tiny spider filament tracing to the stories of the Unibomber and the Mountain Men who tried to take a trail runner as a wife. The cannibal has yet to touch a character but maybe that novel hasn’t been written. 

Hello, I’m Sally.

Born in Illinois and living in Montana. Writer, Blogger, Moderator at The Writer’s Chatroom.

“I write to honor those authors who came before me.

* The writers who entertained my during High School lunch breaks and study hall.

* The writers I studied in College where I majored in Psychology and English Literature.

* The writers who wrote about physics in a way that let me haphazardly teach in homeschool.

I write in hopes of entertaining my reader. I write to help others. I write because my darling husband has a full time job that allows me to have modern day electronics and internet access. I write so others will follow and try it out for themselves.

I write.

Always remember that Life is a Story. I think we should all Tell it Big.”

http://sallyfranklinchristie.com

https://www.facebook.com/sally.christie

@sallychristie

http://writerschatroom.com

If I Should Die

Murder, Embezzlement, Betrayal and Silence

By Sally Franklin Christie

New Author’s Revised Edition

Peyton Farley has settled into a new life in southwest Montana.  Research and fact checking for a local newspaper is a perfectly safe job, or is it?  One morning, Peyton awakens and finds a strange man in lace up work boots who is bleeding out on her kitchen floor.  As Peyton calls 911 from her bedroom, someone is stealing the body.

Who is the dead man?  Why is he bleeding to death in Peyton’s apartment?  Can one research assignment evolve into murder, embezzlement, betrayal and silence?

If I Should Die is a suspenseful journey into the lives of many people.  The choices and impacts are repulsive and inspiring.  Silence will never sound the same.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DMT7I32

I am giving away an e-copy of If I Should Die so please leave a comment.  Copies will be available in mobi, epub or pdf for my reader’s convenience.  If you live in the US I will also snail mail a P38 for opening that pesky can in your backpack. 

Don’t touch anything sharp.