A summer on a West Texas ranch bears little resemblance to the adventure Charley imagined from Seattle. The clothes feel unfamiliar, her grandfather remains difficult to reach, and the horse she hoped to ride does not exist—until a lost, blind horse named Radar gives her a reason to stay. In Nightflower of Comanche Mound, Katlyn Bates places a teenager searching for family connection in a landscape that demands patience, resourcefulness, and courage, allowing the bond between Charley and Radar to become both a responsibility and a path toward understanding the fractures that brought her to the ranch.
Nightflower of Comanche Mound
by Katlyn Bates
Genre: Teen and YA, Westerns
Date Published: March 3, 2025
Publisher: Adventure & Quest, LLC
A troubled teen struggling with fractured family relationships forms an unexpected bond with a lost, blind horse that transforms her life, teaching her the true meaning of courage, resilience, and healing.
Charley does not arrive at the ranch prepared for the realities of rural work or for a grandfather whose estrangement from her mother has left years of unanswered questions between them. Her expectations of racing across the prairie give way to oversized work clothes, corral repairs, and the daily effort required to care for an animal that cannot rely on sight. That contrast gives her growth a practical foundation rather than treating the ranch as a picturesque escape.
Radar’s blindness also changes the usual relationship between a young rider and a horse. Charley cannot simply climb into the saddle and expect the adventure she imagined; she must learn how to make the world safer and more understandable for him. The responsibility encourages her to act with greater patience and purpose, even while she continues to wrestle with the family tensions that brought her to Texas.
The excerpt shows that the novel balances its heavier themes with Charley’s dry humor and sharp observations. Her reaction to ranch clothes, her growing ability to understand Sabion, and her secret plans for Radar’s training reveal a teenager adapting without losing the voice and personality she brought with her from Seattle.
A week on the ranch had really transformed me. I looked the part, like I’d lived here all my life. Before jetting from Seattle, I had an expectation of riding a fast horse over a wide prairie, the wind whipping my hair. Never had I imagined myself in baggy-butt jeans with pockets that sunk to my knees. They were heavier than any I’d ever owned, and fastened high on my waist, as if pulled up with suspenders. The shirt tail draped my back, and I had to roll the sleeves five times.
But the boots! Oh, I loved how they made me taller. They fit like clamps, as if my feet were growing in bark.
I clomped to the large picture window, plunked the sombrero Sabion gave me on my head. “Eesh.”
I look like a mushroom.
If Mom had told me from the beginning that Pap didn’t have horses, maybe I wouldn’t have thought twice about coming. I had the idea of wearing the giddy-up home—I would walk right past her at the airport and she wouldn’t even know me. But then, what would’ve happened to Radar?
No. Destiny had brought me here.
Pap’s boots stammered on the porch. I couldn't resist a cocky stroll past him—long, lanky strides that thunked my foot heel to toe. He sipped smugly from his coffee mug. Well, of course—nothing unusual to him. Just a set of sensible clothes.
Oh, well…as long as he’s happy—
* * *
Sabion’s smirk held a snicker. “Ah, si. You look…now you look right.”
I rolled my eyes. “Glug—”
Radar was pungent with horse sweat. Was it his timid nature that made me brave for him? A fearless front to give us both courage, like a parent protecting their child? Well, some parents. He sniffed my pant leg, and blew a snort that spewed junk on my knee. Now they’re broken in…
“How much time do I have today?” I asked. Sabion had honored his agreement to let me use Jennie half a day for training, but I’d already wasted a slip of his morning trying to make the blasted blue jeans work.
He looked at his watch. “None today. I am here too long already.”
“An hour?” I pleaded.
Sabion shook a finger. “Yesterday you say to me, ‘This day I will make repairs to the corral.’ You forget this? Now you say, ‘Este día voy a hacer reparaciones.’ Mas importante.”
I tried not to laugh. Sabion could never scold. Though he tried to sound tough, it only made him look leathery. It was kinda weird that I was beginning to understand him when I didn’t even speak the lingo.
“But you’re here already. I can make the repairs when you leave.” My plan today wasn’t to repair the corral; my plan was to string those blasted bells together while I had the workbench to myself. Then I’d reveal my fun training plan to Sabion when he returned.
His shoulders caved, the argument lost. “One hour okay is all.” His words netted altogether.
Nightflower of Comanche Mound is suited to teen and adult readers who enjoy contemporary Westerns, horse stories, family dramas, and coming-of-age novels rooted in a strong sense of place. The story may be especially meaningful to readers interested in young protagonists who must earn an animal’s trust while confronting problems the adults around them have avoided.
Readers drawn to ranch settings will find the work, clothing, language, and routines of Charley’s new environment woven into her adjustment. Those who prefer emotional conflict alongside action and adventure will also find a family mystery beneath the immediate question of how Charley can protect and train Radar.
Katlyn Bates writes contemporary fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, Nightflower of Comanche Mound was named a 2025 Spur Finalist by Western Writers of America (WWA) in the Juvenile-Young Adult Fiction category. The recognition, along with multiple 5-Star book reviews from Readers’ Favorite, encouraged her to dust off old stuff she wrote just for fun, and look at them with fresh eyes.
Drawn to action and adventure that is grounded in real life, Katlyn finds inspiration in the wildness of the world around us. “Nature doesn’t care what we think. It’s wild and ferocious and unpredictable—a good reminder not to take ourselves too seriously. The downright ridiculous seems to call for a twist of humor. What I can’t see, I can imagine.” Juggling family, work, and life, over the years Katlyn grasped whatever time she had available for a writing class when she could—poetry, creative, a bit of journalism. What she discovered was that stories come from deep within us…a moment. A memory. An experience or impression or dream. Only when they surface, can you add texture and color.
A late-bloomer by her own description, Katlyn’s writing kicked off when she joined Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), a community of like-minded people who selflessly share, uplift, and guide, one meeting at a time. “There’s so much to learn, just for the listening. Other writers energize me, challenge me to ‘say it better’. Everyone has a natural style, and it always amazes me how many ways there are to tell a story. From SCBWI to the Writers’ League of Texas (WLT)—where Nightflower of Comanche Mound was a 2022 Thriller/Action-Adventure Finalist in the Manuscript Contest—on to Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West (WWW), Katlyn has found that it’s networks of writers that encourage her “No matter what stage of writing skill, anyone, at any age, with a yearning to write should seek out others who love what you love. Don’t wait.”
A native Texan, Katlyn Bates lives near Dallas, TX, outside a small town that—like so many inter-connected communities, is quickly becoming absorbed by the sprawl. “As for me, it’s open skies and nature and landscape that frame a plot, and lend power to a story.”
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The relationship between Charley and Radar gives Nightflower of Comanche Mound its clearest emotional focus. Neither arrives at the ranch with the security they need: Charley is searching for a connection to an estranged grandfather, while Radar must navigate an unfamiliar world without sight.
Caring for him requires Charley to move beyond the Western adventure she imagined and accept the patience, labor, and risk involved in protecting a vulnerable animal. Set within a family conflict shaped by old secrets and a harsh West Texas landscape, the novel offers a coming-of-age story in which courage develops through responsibility rather than bravado.
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