Threshold, A Near Death Experience Novel

When Ty Dillon, former Texas rodeo star turned Montana rancher, marries a woman he has only known for 10 days and brings her home to the ranch to meet his family, he has no idea the chain of events he has just set in place. His three children from a previous marriage, seventeen-year-old Leah, twelve-year-old old Cole, and five-old-year old Rachel, have just made a pact to get rid of Branwen, their new stepmom, the sooner the better. Perhaps Rachel says it the best while getting a bath.

"Okay," Rachel said earnestly. "Branywynian's gotta go."

The children are angry because their father did not consult them before making this momentous decision. Leah has been taking care of her little sister Rachel since she was six months old. That was when their real mother ran off with someone else. They never saw her again.

As Cole remembers this event, he decides he needs some answers to his questions. His impulsive decision to seek answers from his maternal grandparents has an unexpected result. He falls through the ice on Deer Lake and gets swept away in the current.

When Elijah Thunderbird, a Chippewa medicine man, finds Cole's body under the ice, he senses that there is still some life essence present. While the medical professionals work to restart Cole's heart, Elijah uses his shaman training to find Cole on the Road of Souls. Modern science and ancient traditions combine to bring a young boy back to life.

Cole's experience on the other side of the "wormhole" as he describes his near death experience, forever changes not only his own life, but also that of his family, the community, and the nearby Chippewa Reservation. For something dark followed him home, and he is the only one who can fix it.

Most of Devin O'Branagan's novels involve dogs. A particular kind of dog - Australian Shepherds. Being a cat person myself, I knew next to nothing about Australian Shepherds, like the fact that they don't actually come from Australia.

I wondered where the idea for the character of Wigglebutt came from. All of the animals in Devin's books are characters, not pets. So I found this quote on her Devin's Tails blog

"Concerned that I may overdose my readers on the breed, I started thinking about how I could make this Aussie different from those in my other novels. I began by changing her color from blue merle to black tri and her eyes from blue to brown. Then, instead of a dignified name like my other canine characters have (Hallelujah and Talisman) I named this new Aussie, Wigglebutt. I also thought I might make her a bit of a goofball to give her a distinctive character."

So now we know that Wigglebutt is goofy. What else can we learn? She is a black tri, which means she is black with copper and white trim. She is Cole's dog because he raised her from a puppy and they have a deep and profound connection. She has a bobbed tail, which is natural with most Aussies and explains her name. Because she has no tail, she wiggles her butt.

In THRESHOLD, new step-mom Branwen is a bit nervous with Wigglebutt, who is treated like one of the family, as she deserves to be, even though she is also a working cowdog.

"Wigglebutt is an unusual name. I would have thought she'd have a more, oh I don't know, a name more Western, I suppose."

"She's Cole's. He named her when he was a tyke," Ty said. "We all have our own various ways of callin' her though." He reached over and accepted her present, then ruffled her ears. "Huh, Miss Wiggles With Wolves?"

Despite her silly name and goofy character, Wigglebutt is true to the Aussie breed. She is loyal, loving and devoted. She is intelligent and loves to play, presenting her favorite toys to the people she loves. But the most important thing she brings to the story is love.

"Wigglebutt's soulful brown eyes kept looking up at him, her expression alternating between a fierce pride and a warm love."

One reason I am such a fan of Devin O'Branagan's books is her unique talent to bring all her characters to life. Even supporting characters draw you into their stories and make you want to know more. In THRESHOLD, Devin once again mixes together an unlikely combination of personalities and backgrounds, and somehow makes it work.

Thus we have a former rodeo star turned rancher, a rock star turned ranch cook, a female Australian Aborigine cowboss, a former Jewish New York psychologist turned bartender, and a variety of religious leaders including a rabbi, Baptist and Methodist ministers, and a Catholic priest. Not to mention the aforementioned Chippewa shaman, Elijah, and an elderly female shaman named Butterfly.

Goddess spirituality is represented with the new bride Branwen and her mother Quinn, who is quite an imposing character in her own right.

I was touched by Elijah's gentle and loving care of his alcoholic wife, Mary, and I wanted to know more. What happened that she fell so far into that dark hole? I cheered for a severely disfigured girl who discovers her own inner beauty.

This diverse group of people exhibits the premise that we are all connected, and what happens to one affects us all. We are all called to our personal journeys, and often the catalyst can be traced to seemingly unrelated events that surround us.

"Ryan told me that according to physics, you can't have a single thought without affecting the whole universe. I've been considering how much more powerful a force love is than a mere thought and wondering about how it affects the universe." (Cole in Threshold)

"Dear Dad, None of us gets out of this alive"

This quote from the book, written by twelve-year-old Cole, reminded me of someone else who said those words. Jim Morrison sang "No one here gets out alive," in the Doors song "5 to 1." His untimely death in Paris shocked the world.

I was a teenager when I really started to understand this concept. I was terrified because I realized that no matter what I did, even if I killed myself, there was no escape from dying. I think that is why death has become such a taboo subject. No one wants to face that fear. We cover it up with words like passed away or crossed over. Words of sympathy are hard to say to someone whose loved one has died, so we buy a Hallmark card.

Conversely, we are faced with death every day. We see it on the news, read about it in the newspaper. We pass a car accident on the road and are morbidly attracted by it, curious if anyone has died. We know we are all going to die, yet we keep hoping we might be the exception.

We also sometimes long for death. We may be experiencing great pain and wish to be relieved of it. We may be suffering from severe depression and see no reason to go on. Life seems to have become a burden and death a release. Even if we don't contemplate the act of killing ourselves, the sentiment of wanting life to be over can still overtake us. I have experienced many of these moments myself.

I don't have any fear of death. As Elijah describes it, we simply take off our overcoat. I also believe our consciousness continues, and that we are able to see things much clearer than we can while in the physical. No one really dies, we just change form.

Devin O'Branagan is not afraid to tackle the topic of death and dying. She draws on a personal near-death experience as inspiration for this book.

THRESHOLD is a book about death. It is also a book about life and the transformative power of love.

"Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow." Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Photo is of the Calvary Cemetery in Ahmeek, MI where many of my family members are buried. Photo by C.E. Wallace.

I have been reading the reactions of some of the people who have read THRESHOLD. Many of them report that the book has affected them in a deeply personal way. This was definitely true in my case.

I read the first chapter of the book and then had to put it down. It opened up wounds that I thought had been healed. You see, I am a mother who has abandoned her children. The reasons are complicated and vary depending on who is telling the story. But the truth is that over 13 years ago, I left my husband and children to live with another man.

So when I read about the feelings of the Dillon children had about their mother leaving them, I did what I usually do to cope. I threw my Kindle in a drawer and went to my safe place. I crawled into bed and formed a cocoon out of my quilt. And as I lay there, I once again began to think the thoughts I have thought so many times before. "Perhaps it would be best if I just died."

I have struggled with depression, anxiety, and severe PMS for much of my life. I've never actually tried killing myself, but over the years have thought about it often. Since I left my family I have cried rivers of tears, agonized over not being able to be the kind of mother that others expected me to be, and wondered what was my purpose in my life when I couldn't even do that right.

Over the years, I felt like I had worked through most of my guilt and found some peace. Then I read THRESHOLD and found myself faced with it all over again. I managed to crawl out of my cocoon and continued reading the book. I am glad I did, for the message went deep to my core. The book contains many synchronicites, apparent coincidences that were too personal to ignore. I have learned to pay attention to synchronicities as signs that there are important messages if I am open to receiving them.

One message that I came away with is that we all follow our own spiritual paths. Our paths may join for awhile and then move away in a different direction. We may not understand why people do what they do, but we can have compassion for them when they stumble, when they appear lost, or when they seem to forget who we are. For we are all connected, and that connection is not severed even if we are miles apart or have crossed the veil to the otherworld.

"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you."
Wayne Dyer
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Cover art was created by Laura Givens. See more of her work at The Mind of Laura Givens. Her book cover art work is stunning.

Pictures of Wigglebutt were selected from photos submitted by Devin's Australian Shepherd-owning friends on Facebook. The photo of RJ best fit the concept of Wigglebutt and the design elements of this lens. RJ is "owned" by Karen Jones and his registered name is Int'l Ch. Everlasting's RudeN TudeN Cowboy HSAs, CGC. He actually is a working sheep dog. See more Australian Shepherds at her kennel Everlasting Aussies