During the War Between the States, a young Southern girl becomes romantically entangled with a notorious outlaw hiding out in the Sulphur River Country of East Texas. When 16-year-old Jessica loses her home and family, she's vulnerable to the charms of the reckless young man who rescues her. Believing that he will settle down after the war, Jess plans their future together. Cully's secret destroys those dreams, so she journeys to San Francisco to accept an inheritance arranged by her father. Here, Ed offers respectability through marriage, but an unexpected letter rekindles Jess's hope that she and Cully will share a life as thrilling as those days spent in outwitting their enemies.
A novelist at heart, much of my writing life has been spent editing my own work as well as that of others. I've written short stories, poetic drivel, screenplays, and a multi-novel historical epic. Collaborations on screenplays include both comedy and science fiction.
The first story I remember penning - make that, penciling, as I was in the third grade - was set on the windy plains pf a western state, with a horse named Keno as the main character. Horses are a continuing feature of my work - though not main characters.
My fiction always begins with people in the midst of crisis, whether they know it or not. It's as if I am dropped down into a world already there, and I'm driven by curiosity to find out what the characters in that world think and feel. I don't try to make things happen, but watch and record events and dialog.
Aside from writing, and painting Mexican landscapes, I have: taught all areas of English at high school and community college levels. Published 2 years of an illustrated newsletter, Bookmark Quarterly. Sold my paintings and some stories. Dressed display windows for a local computer store. Exhibited and sold stock at antiquarian book fairs.
At one time, my life's work was to write a 600-page spoof on every Western movie ever made. I got as far as naming the Table of Contents before abandoning it for a new project -- Tierra del Oro. Presently I'm creating covers for the books and plan to begin publishing them later this year.
I'm currently a member of The Western Writers of America.
