TELLURIDE – Top of the World
“Telluride Top of the World is a page-turning tale of ranching, skiing, drug dealers, developers, cowboys, uranium miners, Indian mystics, Spanish settlers, politics, murder, and of course sex.”
After a nearly ten-year absence, young Cooper Stuart has returned to his family’s historic cattle ranch to continue the legacy of his father and grandfather. But instead of finding a prospering business, Cooper finds the YbarC in deep financial problems thanks to his widowed mother’s mismanagement. Now the once strong ranch that was the envy of Colorado communities is now teetering on the edge of bankruptcy with no relief in sight. To make matters worse, unethical and ruthless corporations like Ajax Ski Company are pressuring the Stuart family to sell their vast acreage and water rights to support Telluride’s newest money-making industry; ski resorts.
Resolute to mend their financial woes and bring the ranch back to its former glory, young Cooper unexpectedly finds himself being sabotaged by corruption, betrayal, and murder. With no other option, he falls back on the strength and teachings of his deceased grandfather and steels himself for an all-out range war. With a determination harder than steel, Cooper finds himself making more enemies than friends and even the women in his bed can’t be trusted.
Or can they?
Steeped in the beauty, intrigue and rich history of late 1970s Telluride, this Western thriller pits Old West values and honor against New West mindsets and greed in Southwest Colorado for an edge-of-your-seat page-turner that will have readers wondering who is friend, and who is foe, right up to the very end. So pull on your boot cut jeans, strap on some spurs and lever a bullet into a saddle rifle for a Four Corners adventure centered on conservancy, Indian rights, love, lies, drugs, and corruption of an evolving late 1970s Telluride.
Old West Spars with New WestSusan Ready, Everready Book Reviews special to Telluride Daily NewsTatum's writing displays strong feelings about the importance of conservation and stewardship evidenced through the choices Cooper makes to protect his land and water rights. Tatum hopes readers will see that the protagonist Cooper will always continue a fight on moral high ground for Native American rights, the protection of nature or natural rights, and world cultural rights.
Telluride Top of the World presents complex character relationships and thought-provoking issues with fast paced action. Readers will be swept up by the story with many twists, turns and surprises.- Author Tom Tatum’s first-hand knowledge of ranching comes across in TellurideColorado Book Review
“Author Tom Tatum’s first-hand knowledge of ranching comes across in Telluride, as does his affinity for the lifestyle and the land that supports it.”
This adult thriller about Telluride in the 70s portrays the changing world of a cowboy named Cooper who is trying to defend the ABarC against unethical and ruthless developers of the ski area. The plot is intricate and compelling as each chapter reveals a new level of intrigue.
The author Tom Tatum exhibits his considerable knowledge of the town, its history, and colorful characters and shows a great understanding of legal matters, ranch life, Indian medicine, guns, horses, airplanes, fire-fighting, etc. It's an exciting and informative read.
This is the long-awaited epic about the the crazy years in the early 70's when the New West and Old West collided in Southwest Colorado. It is a page-turning tale of ranching, skiing, drug dealers, developers, cowboys, uranium miners, Indian mystics, Spanish settlers, politics, murder, and of course sex. This novelist knows his subject, even though they say if you can remember Telluride in the 70's you weren't there! Mr. Tatum has been there for 40 years and he's put everything into this story, and them some.
- Tom’s book captures that wild and wooly world that has never quite gone awayRob Schultheis, author of The Hidden West: Journey in the American Outback
The Rocky Mountains West is all about the impossible: farming where it's too dry to farm, ranching where it's too cold to ranch, and scraping gold and silver out of peaks "steeper than a cow's face", as the oldtimers used to say. There were moments when magic struck, and even they usually had an edge to them: like the veteran prospector who struck it rich when a 900 pound nugget (they say) rolled down the mountain-side and broke his leg in three places...
Anyhow, Tom's book captures that wild and wooly world that has never quite gone away; if his characters seem over-sized, hey, it's because they are; Just like real life, a mile and a half plus change above sea level, where it's been known to snow on the Fourth of July...
Book Details
- Publisher : Wolfpack Publishing LLC (June 30, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 392 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1647348595
- ISBN-13 : 978-1647348595
- Item Weight : 1.04 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.97 x 9 inches
Keywords: Western fiction, Historic Fiction, Action and Adventure, Adult Western Fiction
AS SEEN IN ROUNDUP MAGAZINE
About The Author
Author, TV & Film Producer/Director, Conservation Advocate, Scholar, Husband, and Father. A veteran of the entertainment business, Tom Tatum’s newest book, Adobe Daze is the much-anticipated sequel to Telluride-Top of the World, and Fiji 1970. As an accomplished film and TV producer, Tatum’s work has been seen by a worldwide audience and includes notable titles like Double High, Winners Take All and Greenpeace’s Greatest Hits. When not running Ute Peak Solar, Inc., roping and riding on his Ute Peak Ranch in New Mexico or spending time with his beloved wife, Kathryn, he can be found skiing the “white gold” on the vast slopes of Telluride.
About The Author
Author, TV & Film Producer/Director, Conservation Advocate, Scholar, Husband, and Father. A veteran of the entertainment business, Tom Tatum’s newest book, Adobe Daze is the much-anticipated sequel to Telluride-Top of the World, and Fiji 1970. As an accomplished film and TV producer, Tatum’s work has been seen by a worldwide audience and includes notable titles like Double High, Winners Take All and Greenpeace’s Greatest Hits. When not running Ute Peak Solar, Inc., roping and riding on his Ute Peak Ranch in New Mexico or spending time with his beloved wife, Kathryn, he can be found skiing the “white gold” on the vast slopes of Telluride.
“Tatum’s Telluride: Top of the World (Outskirts Press) is his sequel to his first novel Fiji 1970. His prose reflects his firsthand knowledge of his many years spent in the San Juans that surround Telluride and his experience in dramatic storytelling as a film producer. First-time readers of Tatum’s murder mystery will want to go back and read his first novel while awaiting the next volume in the series.”
~Stuart Rosebrook, Senior Editor, True West Magazine, November 2019
