R. L. Sterup

Bertilak of the High Desert R. L. Sterup

Bertilak of the High Desert is a largely comic modern day re-telling of the medieval Arthurian fable, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, set in the American Midwest. Gowan Suhr, son of Art Suhr, must travel to the high desert badlands of Western Nebraska to find a man named Green, and in so doing resolve conflicting claims to 2000 acres of Cathar County farmland. Art's Mother pledged the land to Green, only to break her promise before dying. Outraged at the loss of the land, Green and his daughter Morgan interfere with Gowan's plans to marry Gwen, and in so doing force Art to make a new and deadly deal. Only by honoring his Father's promise and surviving Russian roulette can Gowan preserve the family land. Gowan and his friend Forrest set out to find Green, while Morgan and Gwen separately travel west to find a man named Bertilak, transporting as they do an all-white Charolais bull named Mordred.