Beau, thank you for your response.

One last (I think) comment on chronologies. There either is a chronological order or there is not.

If there is not a chronology, it would seem there would be conflicting timelines at times with all of the references to dates, people, and events but, there do not seem to be any serious contradictions. Even, the references to Louis Riel and Ft Garry in “Lonely on the Mountain” don’t necessarily contradict each other.

If there is a chronology, then your father deserves the credit for it. He created a series of related novels before it was a thing. While he wrote novels about the Sacketts/Talons/Chantrys that were actually a connected series, at the same time, each novel was, as you say, a story that could stand alone and leave the reader satisfied. (At least, until we had read enough to realize they were really all part of a bigger story.) I can understand your explanation of it being risky to create such a series in that time but, I think he was a risk taker. However, at the same time, he was a smart risk taker by allowing each story to stand on its own.

And, the chronology perhaps should include the Talons and Chantrys. In the Introduction to TSC, LL included a comment that the stories of the Sacketts, Talons, and Chantrys would eventually become “one story”.

As you know, I dislike the chronology in TSC. but, the Introduction by your dad is a really good discussion of the Sacketts and your dad’s views of history and the settlement of the American West.

Justintime