Coming soon

The Pass

A Novel of the American West

Across a western frontier, the hardest terrain to cross is the space between men.

Cover of The Pass by Matt Bachtold: a mule train and riders climb a snowy ridge toward a jagged peak at sunset.

The Book

Spring, 1833. Theo Callaway, eager to be counted among men, leaves his father's store in Hannibal, Missouri, to join an expedition bound for the Rocky Mountains. Their leader promises wages and a pass the wagons can cross. The mountains will ask for more.

Beside him ride Caleb Pruitt, a man who learned early that the world hits first, and Fen Caulfield, who has spent years outrunning the one thing he can't. Around the fire are men who have already paid their own prices.

By the time the snow closes the high country, every man will have to face what he carried west, and decide whether to keep carrying it.

The Pass is a historical novel of fathers, sons, and the wounds men don't talk about.

“I'd rather be lonely than owned.”
Caleb Pruitt

Genre: Historical fiction, Western
Setting: Missouri to the Wind River country, 1833 to 1834
Formats: Paperback and Kindle
Release: Date to be announced

The Author

Matt
Bachtold

Matt Bachtold is a writer, a former pastor, and the founder of Be Missional, a nonprofit focused on leadership development.

He spent a decade in Ivanovo, Russia, in the years after the Soviet Union fell, and still reads and writes Russian. His work life has ranged from IT administration to owning a business to raising support for ministry. The Pass grew out of a long interest in what men carry and rarely say.

He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Beyond the Book

Be Missional

Leadership development and theological writing for people and churches who want to engage the world around them.

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Music

Songs and recordings from Be Missional Music.

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Ministry & Support

Matt serves with Standing Stone Ministry. If you'd like to learn about that work or partner with it, start here.

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