Summer of Fire, June 2005 2007 Zia Award finalistBuy this book: Amazon.com | BarnesandNoble.com According to Medallion Press's 2005 July web newsletter, "Summer of Fire is burning up the shelves at bookstores all over the country." 
Selected as a semifinalist (top 3% of 700 entries) in the Rupert Hughes Writing Competition at the 1998 Maui Writers’ Conference.
This book is dedicated to the men and
women of emergency services everywhere.Click on cover for full larger sized cover
2006 WILLA Literary Award, for outstanding literature featuring women’s stories set in the West, the WILLA Literary Awards are chosen by a distinguished panel of twenty-one professional librarians.
    Summer of Fire is one of five finalists in the New Mexico Press Women's 2007 Zia Award for books by New Mexico female authors.The StoryIt is 1988 and Yellowstone Park is on firetcAmong the thousands of summer warriors battling to save America's crown jewel, is single mother Clare Chance. Having just watched her best friend, a fellow Texas firefighter, die in a roof collapse, she has fled to Montana to try and put the memory behind her. She's not the only one fighting personal demons as well as the fiery dragon threatening to consume the park.There's Chris Deering, a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot, seeking his next adrenaline high and a good time that doesn't include his wife, and Ranger Steven Haywood, a man scarred by the loss of his wife and baby in a plane crash. They rally 'round Clare when tragedy strikes yet again, and she loses a young soldier to a firestorm.Three flawed, wounded people; one horrific blaze. Its tentacles are encircling the park, coming ever closer, threatening to cut them off. The landmark Old Faithful Inn and Park Headquarters at Mammoth are under siege, and now there's a helicopter down, missing, somewhere in the path of the conflagration. And Clare's daughter is on it ... nda Jacobs has produced a gripping novel about one of the most electrifying events in the annals of A
While researching a historical novel set in Yellowstone, I was continually distracted by references to the fires of ’88. Like much of the nation, I had tuned in spellbound to the nightly reports of America’s first National Park in flames. Like many of Yellowstone’s three million annual visitors, I held my breath, dreading the destruction being depicted, yet seduced by the beauty of wildfire.Click on thumbnail below for larger picture
Over lunch in the Houston Public Library, I examined Ross Simpson’s The Fires of ’88, published by American Geographic and Montana Magazine. After an hour’s perusal of choppers ferrying water, tankers spraying retardant, and the faces of the men and women on the lines, I came to a conclusion.There was a story here . . . one that many thousands of firefighters had shared. There was a vivid setting of beauty and peace, where a forest must go through the crucible of fire to achieve rebirth. To this place came my fictional characters. Prologue to Summer of Fire
SUMMER OF FIRE What they're saying "Human, brutal, wrenching." John J. Nance, NY Times Bestselling author of aviation thrillers. "Summer of Fire is at once a beautiful and disturbing voyage through the kind of hell only firefighters understand. Clare Chance is as genuine a character as they come - brave, vulnerable, well-trained and thrown by her own act of escape into a forested hell. Beautifully crafted and shudderingly real." "Uncannily accurate" - says Yellowstone Superintendent Bob Barbee, 1983-1994 "Linda Jacobs has produced a gripping novel about one of the most electrifying events in the annals of American wildfires - the great Yellowstone fires of 1988. Through her fictional characters, Jacobs has captured the essence of the emotional roller coaster, high drama, and the outstanding performance of America's finest wildland firefighters. She has done her homework well and the setting is completely accurate. This is a compelling work and I had trouble putting it down." SUPERB READING EXPERIENCE - A REAL PAGE TURNER - Harriet Klauser, Amazon.com's # 1 Reviewer, as per the Wall Street Journal. "Straight-line plot, background is detailed, characters are developed over time - memorable and important secondary characters, will leave you feeling content, at ease, peaceful." From "Theysaid" on wildlandfire.comFive Chainsaws - Their highest rating.A very good and satisfying read set against the backdrop and action of the Yellowstone fires of 1988. Good writing, good research. A couple of times I found myself in a mental After Action Review. Posted by Mellie.FAvery good and satisfying read set against the backdrop and actionth"I just finished reading "Summer of Fire". It was excellent. I just wish there were actual fire maps in the book noting the advance of the fire. (Author's note: maps were provided but were too detailed to fit into the format of a mass market paperback.) So if anyone is interested in buying it, it's worth the few dollars. Linda Jacobs is an excellent writer, especially for never being a firefighter herself. Excellent research." Submitted by "PJ."
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