Blue Skies Falling

Sam Bonner is a household name. He spent his life within the best-known circles of Hollywood. His name on a film guaranteed a gross of millions. Every actor and actress wanted to star in a Bonner film, and Bonner's casting choices made or broke careers; after all, he controlled the game. Success was so easy for him but in the bicentennial summer of 1976, a nation turned two hundred, and Sam's game has plateued. On the road with his third wife, Sara, Sam crosses the American West, seeing the places where some of his greatest works were made. Traveling between Fresno, California, where Sam shows Sara the place of his birth, Lake Tahoe where they pick pine cones for Christmas tree ornaments, Sam and Sara keep on moving, knowing the ornaments are for a tree that Sara may never live to see.

Arthur Winfield Knight is the author of Johnnie D., The Secret Life of Jesse James, Novel and Outlaws, Lawmen, and Bad Women, Book of Poems. He serves as adjunct professor in the College of Professional Studies at the University of San Francisco.