Winner in Historical Fiction at the 2013 International Book Awards
Second Place Western Fiction in the 2013 Will Rogers Medallion Awards
A Texas Destiny: The Saga Begins is the prequel to Joe Bax's award-winning Reconstruction-era epic, The General and Monaville, Texas. The intoxicating notion of free land draws characters to Texas during the early period of Stephen F. Austin's colony, including the family of young Leander Wilhite. When a yellow fever epidemic takes his family, Leander finds himself the owner of over six thousand acres of cotton-growing land. The responsibility matures him beyond his years. The community of Monaville looks to Leander for leadership. He becomes a ranger, chasing Comanches and attempting to protect his neighbors. With the fall of the Alamo, his company joins Sam Houston at San Jacinto. Later, Leander and his community become embroiled in the national debate over slavery issues. The birth of his mulatto son intensifies long-strained friendships, and the American Civil War heats to a boiling point. A Texas Destiny: The Saga Begins dusts off old tales that were long ago dropped from the history books. It follows the beloved characters the General, the Colonel, Momma Mae, and Blue, and reveals what made them the individuals they later became. Fictional and historical figures are imaginatively intertwined as Austin, Houston, Bowie, Rose, Zuber, the notorious Pamela Mann, and the entire cast play out their parts on a giant stage called Texas. Fresh off his award-winning The General and Monaville, Texas, Joe G. Bax has composed another blockbuster historical novel this time set in the formative years of the Lone Star State. A Texas Destiny, the Saga Begins is simply an amazing read. Bax masterfully combines fact and fiction to pre-sent a compelling rendering of the making of America s most complex, fascinating state. The key components of that story migration, settlement, cotton, slavery, the Alamo are fleshed out through the characters with keen insight, lively prose, rich dialogue, and an action-filled plotline. The descriptions of life in the Republic of Texas make it worth the read almost by themselves. I am already looking forward to Bax s next book. Dr. David Vaught, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of History, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.