Richard D. Arnold – författare

When I was a youngster growing up in Texas my dad worked in a number of fields. From the Oil Patch of West Texas, to farming in the Panhandle or in security in central Texas the family usually enjoyed evening meals together. After supper Dad enjoyed drinking a cup of coffee and telling us stories ranging from his experiences in the army during World War II, where he was wounded during a German artillery barrage, or his dreams for our futures or sometimes stories from his childhood.On one such occasion he told of two young men who were separated during the Civil War. One was raised by a family in the North and the other was raised by a family in the South. Years later when both boys were grown and had families of their own they were reunited.I have taken this event to construct the story of Josh and Jim, two young boys who were separated by the Civil War. The names, characters, locations and events are entirely fictitious and are presented for the readers enjoyment. I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

In my first book, Separated by the War: The Cave, ten-year-old brothers are separated during a battle between Yankee and Rebel forces on their isolated farm. The boys are then raised in distant homes. They are reunited during a conflict with the Flower Society ten years later. Unknown to them, one of their sisters survived. Separated by the War: Steamboats tells the story of the survivor of that tragic battle on their farm. Believing that she is the sole survivor, she enlists the aid of a tribe of Comanche Indian traders to help her on the farm and to escape the renegades that raided the war-torn land during the war as she tries to find her fathers oldest brother in the Big Bend of Texas.

Separated by the War: Pirates is the prequel of the Separated by the War series. It is the story of Jonah Riley, from his childhood on the Rock Farm to becoming one of the youngest sea captains, serving as a privateer interdicting pirates and Flower Society on the high seas. He left the sea to raise his family on a secluded farm far from the sea until a skirmish between Yankee and Rebel soldiers seriously injured him and killed his wife and children, and separated him from surviving members of his family. Returning to the sea, he battled the evil Flower Society and other pirates in a never-ending conflict with pirates. Learning of the survival of his children and their conflict with the Flower Society, he pursues them across the war-torn US continent.The previous books are Separated by the War: The Cave, Separated by the War: Steamboats, and Separated by the War: Wagontrains. The stories tell of the separation of the Riley family on their secluded farm, the rescue of the twin boys to be raised in the North and South, Jonahs survival and return to the sea, and the mysterious survival and adventures of June Riley in her search for her uncle in the high desert in the Big Bend country of Texas and on to the high Rocky Mountains.