Do you believe in reincarnation? On a solo elk hunt in the Rocky Mountains, Jeff Barkil discovers something very peculiar. Although he’s never even seen this place before, he seems to know all the landmarks. Somehow he’s able to guess exactly what is in the next valley or over the next hill. Dismissing these amazing perceptions as a fluke, he carries on with his hunt — until he is attacked by a vicious grizzly. Using a great deal of natural skill and determination, Barkil manages to kill the bear and survive. But he is badly injured; he feels close to death. While he is trying to clear his head, he discovers that he has traveled two hundred years back in time and a hunting party of Blackfoot Indians has taken him to their village to honor him for his bravery. Soon he is regarded as a splendid warrior and is given the name Bearkiller. In the boy’s subsequent adventures, stealing horses, and waging war against the Shoshone and the Sioux, he encounters and learns the landmarks he will recognize over two hundred years later as Jeff Barkil. The life of an Indian in the 1780’s was often brief. One day in a fierce battle, the old grizzly wounds are reopened and he is defeated. With blood pouring out of his body, Bearkiller lies down to die and wakes up in a Forest Service rescue helicopter as Jeff Barkil. As the events of his life as an Indian slip rapidly from his mind, Jeff Barkil wonders if what he experienced was real. Was he dreaming? Or was he reliving a past life? What will always remain clear is the image of a great grizzly standing over him, looking down at him as if from the top of a mountain, seeming to know his soul, somehow communicating to him without saying the words: “Until we meet again, Bearkiller.”
I was born in a small farm town in Nebraska. Shortly after my birth, my Dad sold the farm and moved us in near Chicago so I could go to Shriner's Crippled Children's Hospital and have my club feet corrected. I spent nine months a year for the first five years of my life in the hospital undergoing surgeries.
My first two years in high school were in the seminary, until I decided I wasn't cut out for the priesthood.
I joined the Army right out of high school and spent nearly ten years in the Service. While on active duty in the Army, I competed nationally for a Division Rifle Team and was also a member of a Post Skydiving Team. I've made 1,400 Parachute jumps; over 1,100 of those jumps were free-falls from over 12,000 feet and 21 of the jumps were HALO jumps (HALO is a military acronym for High Altitude, Low Opening) meaning the jumper exits the aircraft from over 20,000 feet and is under 1,000 feet when the chute is deployed.
Since leaving the service I have been involved in the computer industry for nearly forty years doing everything from computer programming to Company President.
I have always been an avid hunter and enjoy the outdoors, especially when I'm in the woods or mountains. The idea for Bearkiller came to me while in the Wasatch Mountains.
I live in a suburb west of Chicago with my wife of 41 years.
DJ has written four action novels and three short stories for the Amazon Shorts Program.
