Retired forester Gary R. Bond of Winchester often wondered what it might have looked like when Lake Bonneville flooded the Snake River canyon 14,500 years ago. His imagination inspired his third novel, The Time Before Time.
In the self-published book a hunter named Hawk witnesses the flood from a high ridge, watching it destroy his village in the valley below. He and the few survivors of his tribe struggle to rebuild their lives in the region that is todays Hells Canyon.
Bond was born in Idaho and raised on the Nez Perce Reservation where he learned about traditional native foods and herbs from a tribal elder. His other books, Two Bears Mountain and its follow-up Mountain Mayhem, are set in the 1800s.
Bond will sign copies of his books from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Winchester Library, 314 Nezperce Ave., Winchester; and 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, at And Books Too, 918 Sixth St., Clarkston.
(The Time Before Time, by Gary Bond, self-published,185 pages, $15) Jennifer K. Bauer