LOCAL FICTION IS HONORED BY THE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS’ IPPY AWARD IN THEIR 2006 REGIONAL BOOK AWARDS

NORRIS, MT – May 6, 2006 / Raven Publishing, Inc., received notification today that ABSAROKA by Joan Bochmann was given Honorable Mention for best fiction in the Mountain-West region. Raven Publishing released her book on December 10, 2005 , the national Day of the Horse because of its tie-in to the current wild horse issues across the country. Recent efforts to destroy this country’s wild horses have been met with outrage by horse-lovers everywhere. In ABSAROKA a young man desperate to save his ranch, turns to wild horses as a solution, but, instead, joins the Crow Indian nation to save the wild herd from a government that wants to get rid of them. This book also addresses contemporary issues such as relationships, war, western living, and human emotion in the midst of page-turning adventure where young Matt Reed learns a lot about his own courage, integrity, and perseverance.

The Independent Publishers, a subsidiary of Jenkins Group, launched the "IPPY" Awards in 1996, to bring increased recognition “to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers.” It was the first awards program open exclusively to independents, awarding 1,000 "IPPYs" to authors and publishers around the world. This year they added Best Regional Fiction and Best Regional Nonfiction to eight North American regions.

Author, Joan Bochmann emphasizes the tenacity and triumphs of the human spirit in her debut novel, ABSAROKA (Raven Publishing, Incorporated, $12.00, 196 pgs. ISBN:
0-9714161-8-4). The story begins when a homesick soldier, Matt Reed, returns from the battlefields of Vietnam to the Rocking R, his family’s Wyoming ranch. His mother died of cancer while he was half a world away, so he knew he had that grief to confront. But he was unprepared for the further losses that awaited—loss of his father and it looks like the ranch as well.

“ABSAROKA is Joan Bochmann’s home and heartland. It is also the setting for playing out the challenges of life and love between the seeming simplicity of rural ranching and the complexities of real people's current-day choices. Joan masterfully unfolds subtleties of human experience —of conflict, confusion, and will—against the Western backdrop of nature's raw elements and the people who learn to harmonize with that nature or be destroyed by opposing her.

ABSAROKA captures your mind's eye, your spirit's vibrations, and your heart's emotions.”

— Steve Prentice, former staff writer and editor for  The Western Horseman Magazine, Author, freelance writer, and former public relations director for Cowtown Coliseum, Fort Worth Texas.  

To schedule an interview or to request a review copy, please call 406-866-3545 or email: janet@ravenpublishing.net

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	Price $10.00