Meadow Runner: Sign of Astraea

Beth Anders loves her job, the San Francisco Giants, her husband, and their blissfully ordinary life together. She never really thought about the concept of time travel-that is, until the day it happened to her.

One day, Beth is in Las Vegas, a midpoint between her San Francisco roots and her husband’s Utah upbringing. She’s happily going about her life as a journalist and a self-proclaimed loner.

The next day, Beth is thrown into the 1850s-specifically 1850s Utah. Confused, alone, and unable to explain the time jump, Beth finds herself suddenly embroiled in a violent, bloody clash.

Taken in by the Crawfords, a devout Mormon family, Beth struggles to adapt to a world where wagons are the transportation, polygamy is a norm, and massacres are very real.

Though she’s still reeling from her journey through time, one thing becomes crystal clear. She will need to learn to navigate these communities, their politics, and this war if she ever hopes to find a way to get back home.

Charlotte Salyer is the author of three novellas and a nonfiction work, Teaching in China - Seven Dog Years. She has a master of science degree. When she’s not on a writing spree, she spends time with her husband and three dogs.