About Me
I was born on a dairy farm in Okemos, Michigan, and came of age in Ocean Beach, California. Since then I have lived on a cattle ranch in Tamaulipas, along the river in Santa Fe, among the Confederate graves of Lee's last battle in Virginia, in the sunrise shadow of El Paso's Crazy
My critically-acclaimed Seth Strummar series has been called a saga of sexual politics on the American frontier. Over the course of two years, I wrote twelve novels about Seth, and some people have suggested I was channeling the Old West outlaw. I cannot deny it, as many passages in the stories astound me with the mystery of their origin. However, after their initial inception, I spent twelve years revising and rewriting the novels, crystallizing what remains out of over a million written words. My conscious concept when beginning was to supply some balance in western literature and portray a gunfighter as he truly would have been in his personal interactions, especially with women, and I intended from the start to grow a morally corrupt man into a socially responsible citizen of his community. True to his times, Seth is a chauvinist and believes in the efficacy of violence. The two partners he has in his lifetime are opposed across a spectrum of virtue: Ben Allister, the swaggering desperado who took Seth under his wing then degenerated into a self-destroyed drunk, and Joaquin Ascarate, a spiritual seeker who abandons the priesthood to follow Seth. Seth's women are a rainbow of femininity: Esther, the victim he restores to mental health; Oriana, his first partner's widow whose conniving defenses provoke revenge; Rosalinda, who tries to outwit him in violence; Sadie, who is paid to take his grief; Rico, who rises to the challenge of loving him; and Elena, his daughter, who nearly brings him down again, though Rico intervenes in the final novel and revives his quest for moral worth.
Two short stories about Seth have been published in anthologies. In "Double-Cross" (Desperadoes), he is still riding with Allister and caught in a web of moral ambiguity while accepting a young boy's help. In "Backlash" (Weird Trails), he is caught in the repercussions of his past while trying to help a woman who reminds him of his mother. This story was condensed from a novel of the same name.
Billy the Kid: The Legend of El Chivato is my historical novel about the Lincoln County War. I told the story accurately based on research conducted over thirty years. The story is a marvel of complexity and illustrates a divine hand in providing an illustration of destiny and fatalism despite free will. As I say in my author's note, I do not believe folk heroes achieve adulation without cause, and Billy is an example of a folk hero who rose above his enemies' attempts to destroy his reputation. The people succeeded in keeping his legend alive. My book is a small contribution to that legacy. Western Writers of America called it "a magnificent achievement in historical fiction," and Elmer Kelton said, "She makes the legend live."
Texas Lily tells the story of the Lincoln County War from the perspective of those living in the Pecos Valley and is also a "what if?" story about the fictitious marriage of Lily Casey and John Chisum. Lily and Chisum kept company in real life, and the prospect of their marriage was a topic of gossip. Unfortunately it never happened, but I often wished it had because Lily would have kept his ranch and the Chisum name alive. No longer bound by facts in writing this story, I was able to conclude the war happily for the heroes.
I have also written contemporary mystery novels, beginning with Frank James in Arson and Barbed Wire, two novels again examining sexual politics and portraying a man struggling with honor for himself and those he loves. More recently, I have written three novels around the character of Devon Gray. In Patricide, as a homicide detective in El Paso, Devon struggles between his role as a peace officer and as the brother of a petty thief. Choosing family loyalty over the law, he manages to achieve justice. In When Kindness Fails, he chooses his conscience over the law and destroys his career. In Endless River, while seeking solace in southeastern New Mexico, he finds salvation while helping his lover's daughter deal with death.
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