Hock Hochheim
Lt. General Mordecai 'Swoop' Swellen was once known for his violent raids and attacks on any and all enemies. Some were criminals, but many were raiding, warring American Indians. When so ordered, he would 'swoop' in and decimate any declared enemy. He was also known for his tactical brilliance and sudden viciousness, and his branding iron, red hot anger! But in 1890, Swellen had a change of heart. He was faced with enraging the local Lakota Indians near his fort, which he knew would lead to disaster, or disobeying orders. He walked away from his command just before the massacre at Wounded Knee; disobeying all orders, he disappeared. AWOL. His vindictive superiors branded him a coward, a traitor to the United States and issued a wanted dead or alive $1,000 bounty on his head. The military orchestrated a massive hunt for him. Swellen struggles to stay one step ahead of his many bounty pursuers and the United States Army. In Swellen’s Reckoning, we learn his origin story, and how as a fugitive he became involved with a new invention, a mountain-climbing, cog and rail train system, and its company from Sicily, working in Pikes Peak, Colorado. He’s hired by the Sicilian owner-inventor Arturo Zapello to thwart sabotage, theft, and murder within his own company, and further foil one of his sinister crew chiefs, Carlo Greco, also a renowned swordsman obsessed with challenging the locals to sword duels to their death. Many reckonings befall Swoop and all those around him in this, his first adventure, as the trap closes in and in...'
