"Life is served raw in wild country." That's what botanist turned smoke jumper Jesse Turnbull has to say to her new friend Sara - or is she an enemy? - when a backcountry hike that begins innocently enough turns flaky. Along for the trek over Skyrocket Ridge are Sara Cafferty, who is fighting a big temper and her own resurgent love of stone; and her fiance, Rob, a guy who knows how to keep his head down. They're looking for a wilderness experience, and they are going to have one. Bringing up the rear as the hike begins is Tom Sevlakovs, an enormously strong man whose pack contains God knows what and weighs nearly as much as Sara. She characterizes him as the "guard dog." She doesn't know how close to right she is. At the head of the line is Archer MacClehan, the "lead dog." He's unflappable - nearly. Archer has dreams, though; dreams that lead him into dangerous places. He doesn't much like having these dreams. And out in the brush, just out of sight - most of the time - is Number Seven, aka The Hungry Now. He's a bear, a grizzly bear, and if bears could remember things as two-leggers do, he would remember why the Smell-among-smells troubles him so. It might be best for everyone that he can't. Besides trying to fill his ever-empty stomach, The Hungry Now's job is to make other species pay attention. Everyone on this hike is going to know that The Hungry Now is very good at his job. This first Archer MacClehan adventure will soon be followed by the second, "Archer MacClehan and the Girl Who Wouldn't Stop Running," due out in March of 2014 from Blue Creek Press."