As described by reviewer/biographer Larry Bailey (The Wildwood Independent), "Montana Midnight is a brightly glowing literary Aurora Borealis. Plot, dialog, characters, intrigue, small-town politics, emotions, images, places and events twinkle and shimmer across 355 entertaining and richly rewarding pages."Author David Emil Henderson ("Escape!") describes it as a novel of adventure and environmental conflicts in Jackpine, Montana, circa 1974, "when everything changed -- even Montana."Against a background of national turmoil, a young Vietnam veteran returns home to Montana, only to encounter new battles when the Jackpine City Council appoints Nathan Chambers as mayor. The town is suffering economic doldrums, Nathan's beautiful wife Valerie is expecting their first child, and his best friend is urging Nathan to support a militant environmental attack against corporate kingpins who have chosen the quiet Jackpine environs as "a super playground for the rich.""My idea of a literary novel may not be the same as critics and others," Henderson says. "But this is one of those character-driven tales that doesn't fall into the common genres. I call it 'Montana Midnight' because it suggests that at any prior time in its history, this state hadn't quite made it to the next day. It's like all the hands on all the clocks were raised straight up in surrender to the status quo... until powerful factions came to make war, not love. "The pressure for change forces the entire community to assess where it wants to go. And for a young man involved in politics for the first time, it's a dangerous situation. "And it's lessons are meaningful for today," he adds with stern conviction. Henderson based this story on his former experiences as a newspaper publisher in the nation's fourth largest state.
About the Author: David Emil Henderson began his journalism career in 1960s magazines, when he interviewed Henry Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Charlton Heston, Robert Preston, and other luminaries, and also wrote a broad range of news and feature stories. As editor for a Chicago suburban newspaper chain owned by Time, Inc., he directed the content of The Evanston Review, chosen by a national newspaper publishers' association as First in the Nation for General Excellence. Later, as editor and publisher of a Montana newspaper, Henderson won the press association's top statewide awards for editorial writing, column writing, feature stories, and news reports. In California, he created national print and video marketing programs for San Francisco Bay Area daily newspapers, including those owned by Gannett, The Tribune Company, Media News Group, and The New York Times. Henderson now owns a small-market publishing enterprise in Northern California, where he is lovingly partnered with his wife of 50 years. His previously published novel, "Deadly Dividends," has been retitled "Escape!" and has been enhanced with a new cover and new insights into the plot and characters. It's a romantic thriller inspired by Henderson's road trips from Illinois to the Pacific Coast. "I intended this adventure to provide a quick escape from boredom on airline flights, or maybe from too much work or too much anxiety. Just thinking about it saved me from boredom on one transcontinental flight."