Golden Spike Acquired by Five Star Publishing

Golden Spike, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Three, has been acquired by Five Star Publishing. Over the next several months, I will be engaged with Five Star’s editorial staff in polishing the manuscript to get it ready for publication. The book cover needs to be designed. Then, advance reading copies (ARCs) must be printed and distributed for reviews and jacket blurb preparation. The entire process takes time. Look for a release of the book in the Spring of 2017. The specific date has yet to be set.

Golden Spike concludes the trilogy, with all the principal characters being drawn together at Promontory Summit, Utah, for the ceremonies surrounding the joining of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific to form the first transcontinental railroad.

Welcome Sign at Promontory Summit

The action takes place in Utah and western Wyoming. Phyllis Mignard, fellow member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, again took my crude sketch of the location and turned it into another great map to be included in the printed book. Here is a peek at where your reading will take you in Golden Spike.

[media-credit name=”Robert Lee Murphy/Phyllis Mignard” align=”aligncenter” width=”300″][/media-credit]

I extend my appreciation to Tiffany Schofield, Senior Editor, and Hazel Rumney, Editorial Development Coordinator, of Five Star Publishing for their continued support of my writing of The Iron Horse Chronicles. It is a great pleasure to have the entire trilogy produced by this great publishing house.

To whet your appetite, I quote the Preface: “The driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Utah on May 10, 1869, almost didn’t happen. None of the history books documenting the facts encompassing the joining of the two halves of the first transcontinental railroad mention this crucial event. Only five people appear to have been aware of the incident. Will Braddock knew. He was one of those five.”