Spotlight on Indie

The Legend in the Stone

An Arizona Historical Fiction Novel

by Cliff Ball
No reviews yet. Be the first.

For years, stories have circulated around the Superstition Mountains about an old hermit who seems to have been there forever.

University of Arizona graduate student Matt Hayden has always been fascinated by the stories, but fascination isn't enough for a historian. When the opportunity arises to investigate the legend for his final graduate paper, Matt sets out to find out what is fact, what is folklore, and whether the mysterious hermit ever existed at all.

He finds the answer sooner than expected. What begins as a simple research project soon becomes something far stranger as the man that Matt talks to shares memories of an Arizona that no longer exists, stories gathered over a lifetime, and hints of a past that raises more questions than it answers. The deeper Matt looks, the harder it becomes to separate the truth from the legend.

Some stories are true, while some aren't, and some may be better left unexplained.

Type
Novel
Format
Ebook, Paperback
Published
Sep 2026
Pages
258
Language
EN
ISBN
979-8174419995

Content rating

Author-supplied. Hover a meter for the rubric.

Language
0/4

None

Violence
2/4

limited injury detail

Romance / Sex
2/4

kissing, touching not sensual

Biblical Themes
1/4

incidental references

Author note: One of the characters gets married, but I didn't add anything further than kissing. As for violence, Tombstone is one of the towns the character goes to in 1881, but he doesn't really describe anything other than people getting shot.

Vibe & themes

What this book is like. Log in to confirm these or flag ones that don’t fit.

Tone

Wholesome

Tropes

Quest
Character-driven

Setting

Small Town / Country
Old West

Themes

Man vs. Nature

Pace

Steady

Point-of-View

close 3rd person
2-5 POV characters

Log in to confirm these tags or flag ones that don’t fit.

Reader reviews

Share your thoughts

Sign in to rate this book and write a review.

Sign in to review

No reviews yet

Be the first to share what you thought.

Discussion

Start a discussion

No discussions about this book yet. Start the first one.

Readers also enjoyed