They said it wasn’t real.
They said it was a legend.
They were wrong.
Available in ebook, audiobook paperback, and hardcover editions.
In a world of treacherous mountain roads where safety is an illusion, control is a dream, and survival isn’t guaranteed, Jimmy Swain is more than just a driver—he’s an angel in a tow truck, rescuing motorists from the most deadly route on the peak. When nature’s fury closes in battling the elements is hard enough, but something far worse than bad weather lurks in the icy darkness.
As an ancient legend begins to emerge and alliances shift like the storm-wrought landscape of Swain Peak, Jimmy is plunged into a fight for both his legacy and his life.
Forced to navigate a perilous path where the fate of a forgotten wilderness hangs in the balance, can one man defy destiny to save what he’s sworn to protect?
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story with a message! – Amazon Customer
DJ Davis is one of my favorite authors! I devoured this book! What was going to happen next!? Her descriptions of the Rocky Mountains are so beautiful! Her love for the area is apparent on every page! Kudos to her for doing research on the Native legends! I like it when an author gets it right! Great story with a very important message to us all!
The Truth Behind The Fiction
In Road Damage I took some liberties with the geography around Durango and the Nimerigar folklore—but only minor ones, I hope. Any errors in the novel or the following are mine and unintentional.
Stone Creek and Swain Peak are fictitious. Durango and the beautiful mountains of Colorado are not. As for the Nimerigar, who’s to say?
Nearly every Native American culture has legends of little people.The Comanche referred to the Nunnupis, the Cherokee to the Yunwi Tsundi, the Catawba the Yehasuri, and the Hawaiians to the Menehune. Depending on the particular folklore, these beings were sometimes said to be spirits, magicians, or fairies.
In Algonquian folklore, Pukwudgie means “little wild man of the woods that vanishes.” Stories of these creatures were known across the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. The Pukwudgies’ nature varied in the folklore of different tribes, from friendly to tricksters to dangerous. In some of the stories, Pukwudgies have magical abilities.
The Nimerigar were a pygmy race found in the folklore of the Shoshone people. According to the tales, they inhabited the Wind River and Pedro ranges in Wyoming. The Nimerigar were known to shoot people with poisoned arrows from tiny bows. Roughly translated from the Shoshone and Paiute languages, Nimerigar means “people eaters.”
Physical remains have supposedly been found in the western United States, particularly Montana and Wyoming. The most notable find was the Pedro Mountain Mummy, discovered by two prospectors in 1934 in a cave approximately 60 miles southwest of Casper, WY. In a seated position it was about 6 1/2” tall. The head was flattened with large eyes and a wide mouth. Its brown face appeared aged and wrinkled. The prospectors took the mummy to Casper, where scientists from all over the country came to examine it. The prospectors were suspected of staging a hoax, but the anthropologists determined the mummy was genuine.
Examinations allegedly performed by the American Museum of Natural History, and certified by the Anthropology Department of Harvard University, concluded the mummy was a male approximately 65 years old with pointed teeth. However, when it was examined by the University of Wyoming, scientists determined it was the body of a diseased child. Interestingly in the 1990s, a second mummy, examined by the University of Wyoming and the Denver Children’s Hospital, was reported to be an anencephalic infant. DNA testing showed it to be Native American, and it was radiocarbon dated to about 1700. Further testing of the Pedro Mountain Mummy is impossible for now since it has been missing since the 1980s.
Whether the Nimerigar exist or not, if you venture into the wild take Jimmy Swain’s advice: be prepared for anything. Storms, floods, moody mountains—or an ancient living legend wielding a bow and arrow.
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Content Warning:
Gory violence, profanity
No generative artificial intelligence (AI) was used in the writing of this work.