Kim McMahill

National Park #Free Entrance Day In 2024, the National Park Service has six entrance fee-free days where all National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone. One has already passed, but here is a list of the remaining entrance fee-free days into your favorite national park. For more information visit https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/fee-free-parks.htm (Photo: Crater Lake National Park in Oregon) April 20: First day of National Park Week June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day August 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act September 28: National Public Lands Day November 11: Veterans Day  

When I started The Beartooth Chronicles , I envisioned it as an upper young adult (YA) series, but then I came across the subcategory of New Adult (NA) fiction. NA novels explore the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood and are typically aimed towards readers in their upper teens and twenties. The main character, Ashley McPhee, is eighteen in Refuge from the World, and the love of her life, Caleb Solomon, is 20. Their story is one of embracing the challenges of learning about each other, dealing with tragedy and grief, entering adulthood, protecting their community, and trying to find solutions to a rapidly changing environment and deteriorating world.   The primary supporting characters range in age from thirteen to twenty, making the characters and themes relatable to upper YA, NA, and adult (we were all teenagers once) readers, especially as the series evolves and the characters take on more responsibilities, build families, and are forced to face how far they will

I’m hoping the old saying, April showers bring May flowers, holds true this year. So far this winter, we’ve gotten modest amounts of snow here and there, but the snowpack in the high country is down, which is never a good thing. Much of the water available for human and agriculture uses throughout the western U.S. comes from snowmelt high in the mountains, and if the forests are dry, we could be looking at a bad fire season. But, there’s still time. Often the mountains get the heaviest and wettest snows in March and April. So, here’s hoping we get enough showers to give us flowers so we can enjoy colorful mountain meadows filled with fragrant spring blossoms and avoid the often-devastating effects of drought. Along with flower growth, I would love to grow my connections. If you aren’t following me already, I would greatly appreciate new followers to any of my social media platforms listed at the end of this post. Thanks in advance and have a happy Easter.    WRITING NOTES AND NEWS

No matter how you chose to acknowledge or celebrate Good Friday and the Easter holiday, I hope it is filled with peace, and joyful times with friends and family. If you are traveling to be with loved ones, safe journeys.

Dystopian novels are set in an imagined world or society in the future after something terrible has happened such as war or environmental collapse. A dystopian society is characterized by human suffering and misery where people live in an unfair society where they are often dehumanized and lead fearful existences. At some point the oppressed rebel and try to gain control of their lives. I’ve written in the dystopian genre before, but The Beartooth Chronicles is my first series, and I’ve approached the topic somewhat differently than my other novel where teens were trying to escape an oppressive American government (Deadly Exodus). In The Beartooth Chronicles, a group of individuals left society decades before the world’s environmental crisis reached a tipping point, and the U.S. was still moderately functional. They built a sustainable society on a remote mountaintop that became cut off from the rest of the country after earthquakes, flooding, erosion, and tectonic shifting destroy

  Here’s an Irish Blessing for you. Have a great St. Patrick’s Day! May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.  May there always be work for your hands to do, May your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane, May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you, And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Refuge from the World , the first novel in The Beartooth Chronicles is available for pre-order and will be released on March 19, 2024. The Beartooth Chronicles follows the lives of the residents of a small mountaintop community as they struggle to find solutions to the problems threatening their survival. For twenty-five years, Beartooth’s isolated location has insulated it from the problems besieging the rest of the country and the world. As environmental disasters multiply, bringing out the worst in humanity, the residents of Beartooth must work together to protect the life they have built, and to hold on to their joy and hope for the future. In book one, Refuge from the World , you’ll meet many of the residents of Beartooth, including Ashley McPhee and Caleb Solomon. Even though they have known each other most of their lives, Ash and Caleb’s relationship changes dramatically in a short period of time. As they leave school behind, they realize that life is changing, and their g