If you’re going to wear a lot of scarves, you should know a lot about knots, right?

 

Silki Begay, the protagonist of the award-winning contemporary adventure-mystery trilogy, SILKI, THE GIRL OF MANY SCARVES, knows a whole heck of a lot about knots.

 

Why?

 

She happens to be sort of… kind of… a little bit, well… okay, she’s totally ADDICTED to scarves and wears several of them tied around her neck in a chain most of the time.

 

And, thank goodness . . . in her crazy adventures on the Navajo Rez, trouble springs up like weeds in a garden!

 

Knots Save the Day

 

Silki’s favorite “danger knot” for tying her scarves end to end is the Double-Overhand-Stopper knot. On a dark, cloudy night, Silki and her best friend, Birdie, fall into an underground cavern on Concho Mountain. Silkie uses her knowledge of knots to tie her scarves into a “rope” to climb up several feet to where Birdie’s foot has lodged between two boulders during the fall.  Birdie can’t put pressure on her ankle, so Silkie must climb out and face alone whatever or whoever is on that mountain!

 

“Hold on a minute, Birdie, while I do something.” I worked my scarf ends into Double-Overhead-Stopper knots, the strongest kind Grandfather ever taught me. He said they were strong enough to hold mountain climbers. With no light, I had to do my work by feeling. My grubby fingers felt like claws. How far up was Birdie? I double-dogged hoped I had enough scarves to reach from me to her — BOOK ONE, SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT

 

Hermes scarf tied in a French Twist Knot

To honor a certain scarf, especially the expensive Hermes scarf her Marine brother Nick gave her, Silki wears it alone.

Now everyone except Grandmother stood in the doorway making sure the corners of their mouths pointed up, not down. My Hermes scarf was tied in a French-Twist knot around my neck. Being worn alone was the highest honor I could give any scarf — BOOK ONE, SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT

 

 

Sometimes, Silki’s grandfather—a war veteran and former Marine—tests her “knot knowledge.”

“What kind of knot is that?” Grandfather asked.

I looked up into his brown face. “You know, Shi’cheii. it’s a Simple Overhand knot.

“Use a Palomar on the next one, okay?”

I giggled. “No way, Grandfather. That knot ties hooks to our fishing lines when we go to the White Mountains. I could never untie those knots in a hurry.”

“Then tie a Turk’s head knot in the scarf with the horses on it.”

“Birdie and I make bracelets with Turk’s head knots. They’re too crazy for soft scarves.”

Grandfather nodded and pulled the brim of his Phoenix Suns cap further down on his forehead. The crinkles in his eye wrinkles said he was pleased with my answers. He’d been teaching me knots since I’d learned to tie my shoelaces — BOOK TWO, CANYON OF DOOM

Scarves to the Rescue

An oath would be broken. Would Aunt Susan and the other keepers of the lion’s secrets understand? My brother Nick said desperate times called for desperate action. I was desperate. Once again, my scarves were the only weapon I had — BOOK TWO, CANYON OF DOOM

 

When Silki’s cousin Skye from Oregon visits, she decides it’s her duty to teach him about the ways of the Rez, especially about her own special world.

I reined Smiles onto the path curving around the bottom of Red Rocks and halted. I untied my black scarf with the turquoise and silver thunderbird in the center. “Tie this scarf on your arm.”

“Tie a scarf on my arm? Why?”

I turned around to look at Skye and bit my lip to keep from laughing. I didn’t know him very well, but I guessed he’d feel awkward if I laughed at his questions. I slid off Smiles with my back to the fender . . . — BOOK THREE, VALLEY OF SHADOWS

In VALLEY OF SHADOWS, the girls face their biggest danger yet. They have no weapons, and if they don’t do something fast, it will be too late to save Lava, the leader of the Ghost Herd, as well as mend Silki’s own shattered heart.

I reminded Birdie she had to send the sand bombs up to me all in one scarf using a Barrel Hitch knot. It was a quick knot and worked great for heavy objects. She hated tying knots, but she was okay with it since the Barrel Hitch was a simple tuck maneuver. — BOOK THREE, VALLEY OF SHADOWS

 

I placed one leg as high as I could on the wall. Birdie threaded herself underneath me. Putting my weight on her back helped. I pulled on the scarves and began the rest of the climb up the wall. I broke out in instant sweat… My pulse echoed in my head. I sobbed silently with pain and exhaustion as I pulled myself over the top edge. I crawled forward and collapsed on the rock surface. I shoved the end of the scarf rope off the rock. Right away, I felt a tug… I stood on quaky legs to pull the load of sand to the top. My arms weren’t flesh and blood any more. I wished I could unscrew them from their sockets and get new ones – BOOK THREE, VALLEY OF SHADOWS

 

If you love stories set in Exotic Locations . . . 

If you love lots of bad guys . . .

If you love mystery adventures with surprise endings . . .

 

The Silki Series is right up your alley. 

Jodi Lea Stewart’s award-winning adventure-mystery trilogy, Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves, is set smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation, USA. Her stories feature relateable characters, plot twists, humor, plenty of Native American lore & legends, a glossary of Native words, and surprise endings.

 

Some think this series is for kids only. In fact, even Amazon can’t get it right! Don’t believe it! Our extensive feedback has proven over and over most of the “Silki fans” are full-fledged adults… like you. There is an earlier version of these novels that leans a tad more toward younger audiences, but they, also, were not merely kid lit. The new, enriched series is for every age on the planet. Test  it! 

CLICK HERE

Jodi Lea Stewart - Silki, Summer of the Ancient

Jodi Lea Stewart - Silki, Canyon of Doom

Jodi Lea Stewart - Silki, Valley of Shadows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jodi Lea Stewart is a fiction author who believes in and writes about the triumph of the human spirit through overcoming adversity via grit, humor, and stubborn tenacity. Her writing reflects her life beginning in Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, later moving as a youngster to an Arizona cattle ranch next door to the Navajo Nation, and, as a young adult, resuming in her native Texas. Growing up, she climbed petroglyph-etched boulders, bounced two feet in the air in the backend of pickups wrestling through washed-out terracotta roads, and rode horseback on the winds of her imagination through the arroyos and mountains of the Arizona high country. Her lifetime friendship with all nationalities, cowpunchers, and the southern gentry allows Jodi to write comfortably about anything in the Southwest, the South, and far BEYOND.

 

JODI’S LATEST INTERNATIONALLY AWARDED HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL ~

Watch the Book Trailer for THE GOLD ROSE HERE.

I write historical fiction centered around the early to mid-twentieth century. My latest novel, THE GOLD ROSE, involves the Japanese invasion of China and the ensuing civil war that ushered in modern-day communism. No matter what the circumstances, eras, conflicts, or main plots entail… my goal is always to create characters everyone relates to. I believe that’s the kind of connective reading in which the reader and writer actually share a point in time. 😊 Happy reading, y’all!

 

JODI’S LATEST INTERNATIONALLY AWARDED HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL ~

THE GOLD ROSE

 

 

Author Jodi Lea Stewart - Triumph Book Jodi Lea Stewart is a fiction author who believes in and writes about the triumph of the human spirit  over adversity by grit, humor, or crazy tenacity. Her writing reflects her life beginning in Texas and Oklahoma and later moving as a youngster to an Arizona cattle ranch next door to the Navajo Nation, later resuming in her native Texas. Growing up, she climbed petroglyph-etched boulders, bounced two feet in the air in the backend of pickups wrestling through washed-out terracotta roads, and rode horseback on the winds of her imagination through the arroyos and mountains of the Arizona high country. Her lifetime friendship with all nationalities, cowpunchers, outlaws, and the southern gentry triggers Jodi to write about anything in the Southwest, the South, and BEYOND.

More AWARD-WINNING Novels by Jodi Lea Stewart:

 

~ The Accidental Road ~

First-place Historical Fiction, Adventure-Drama, in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards 

 

CLICK HERE

Kat’s almost-full-time job has become dodging the embarrassing tsunami of male attention aimed at her mother Ellie, a social butterfly who bears an uncanny resemblance to film star Marilyn Monroe. To add to Kat’s woes, her stepfather, Roy, has lately grown irrationally jealous of his beautiful wife. Kat buries her worries in movies and classical novels, but when Roy’s rants turn violent, she and Ellie plan an escape via Route 66 to the freedom of a new life in Las Vegas. Car trouble strands them in a dusty little town in Arizona where they encounter tales, treachery, and a slew of characters such as they have never met before, including mobsters infiltrating Arizona and Nevada in the 1950s. Can the road they chose bring them the life they’ve both longed for or was it THE ACCIDENTAL ROAD bringing them to a disaster they can’t escape from? Trouble escalates when Ellie attracts the eye of a mafia Caporegime who, along with Roy, is determined to have her at any cost.

Recently Released by Progressive Rising Phoenix Press and available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, and anywhere great novels are sold.

 

~ TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit ~

2021 International FIREBIRD First Place Multicultural Fiction Award Winner 

5 Star Review - Triumph Book

If you loved To Kill a Mockingbird, and want a dramatic, different, and sometimes humorous multi-generational version of New Orleans life, St. Louis, and Texas in the early to mid-century 1900s, wrapped up in plot twists and unforgettable characters, read TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit by Jodi Lea Stewart.

TRIUMPH was a finalist in three categories in the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards contest, won a Readers’ Favorite with several Reviewers, and is a 2021 Firebird First Place Award Winner in Multicultural Fiction.

CLICK HERE

~ Blackberry Road ~

International CHANTICLEER First Place Multicultural Award Winner

Blackberry Road Book - New Cover

 

Trouble sneaks in one Oklahoma afternoon in 1934 like an oily twister. A beloved neighbor is murdered, and a single piece of evidence sends the sheriff to arrest a black man who Biddy, a sharecropper’s daughter, knows is innocent. Hauntingly terrifying sounds seeping from the woods lead Biddy into even deeper mysteries and despair and finally into the shocking truths of that fateful summer.

 

CLICK HERE

 

 

“Beyond the humor and entertaining antics of the main character, Biddy Woodson, BLACKBERRY ROAD has depth and meaning as it explores stirring universal themes that we expect in great literature” ~ D.B. Jackson, acclaimed Historical, Western author, and Screenwriter.

 

BLACKBERRY ROAD is engaging, entertaining, and a book that is sure to linger with you . . . the trip is well worth the time ~ Cyrus Webb, Host of ConversationsLIVE, president of Conversations Radio Network, tv show host, author, and Amazon top reviewer

 

 

 

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