Valknut: The Binding

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After ten years of hurtful silence, Lennie Cook discovers her missing father deserted her to take the iron road. Desperate to understand why he left, Lennie hops a moving freight train to chase a one-eyed hobo who seems to know where her father is. A crazy stunt that could get her killed. Before she knows it, she’s swept into a frightening world populated by hobos, gangbangers, and serial killers.

On the iron road, amid the lost, the restless, the wounded, and the strange, an ancient battle between gods is taking place. Lennie comes face to face with Fenrir the Wolf, whose thirst for revenge against Odin Allfather could lead to the destruction of the world. Aided by road-hardened Junkyard Doug and simple-souled Jungle Jim, Lennie learns the deadly family secret that drove her father to desert her.

A secret that could cost Lennie her life.

THE BINDING is set in a hobo subculture that few people know still exists. Having never met a hobo or ridden in a boxcar, I exchanged e-mails with Clifford (Oats) Williams, professor, part-time hobo, and collector of hobo lore and poetry. I attended a hobo gathering in Kansas, where I met wanderers like The Texas Madman and Hobo Liberty Justice. And I exchanged e-mails with a railroad detective named “Chip,” who told me of the dangers facing those who travel the iron road.