An Oregon Coast writer from Tillamook County has done it again. Don Bell has just published his second book, Travis Nelson, a book of short stories following a young boy dreaming of adventure which, in his young manhood, he consciously sets out to achieve. No horizon is forbidden in the dreams of young Travis who views nothing as too risky or too dangerous but simply as “exciting.” He rides freight trains, works as a cow hand, experiences time alone and then time with bears and other wildlife as he works as a forest ranger. The culmination of his long, exhilarating life is his career as a smokejumper. This book reveals Travis’s growth as a young man through his various journeys and adventures into his adulthood. While sometimes humorous, it is also serious at times, but always an adventure.
This book follows Bell’s first book, Barge Notes: The Journal of a Yukon River Deckhand which captured readers with its succinct prose and real-time adventure, carrying readers into the life of a deckhand on the Tanana River in Alaska. The book entertains, while focusing on the interaction of the crew, the harshness of both the climate and the job, and the volatile nature of the main character. It is a book with realism showing a genuine appreciation for Alaska. It has received rave reviews.
Both of these books have been compared to the writings of Ernest Hemingway and Jack London. Bell does not waste words and yet is able to put the reader “on the scene,” engaging all the senses. Both books are “good reads,” short and fast-paced. They are available on Amazon.