John D. Nesbitt's Blog, page 4

Stranger at the Lookout

A few years back, I spent three months in Saltillo, Coahuila, in northern Mexico, where I studied Spanish philology and literature. For a good part of the time I was alone, and I didn’t mind it. The other lodgers in the boarding house, university students, had left for summer vacation, so I often sat at […]

The post Stranger at the Lookout appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

Working for the People

In the summer of 1995, I was first called to act as a court translator for the Eighth Judicial District Court. I had been an instructor at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington since 1981 and teaching Spanish since 1988, so I was not a stranger to the community. I had grown up in a bi-cultural, […]

The post Working for the People appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

In the Breaks Commentary

“In the Breaks” is a short story that is included in The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories, published by Five Star Publishing in November 2019. This is a collection of stories featuring strong female main characters in frontier settings. After a conversation with my agent and two editors at Five Star, I had decided […]

The post In the Breaks Commentary appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

In the Great Tradition

When I was a grad student at UC Davis in the 1970’s, I believed in a liberal education. With a B.A. from UCLA, I entered the Ph.D. program in English in 1971, and I was in no hurry to specialize. University life seemed natural to me. Unlike some of my fellow students of that era, […]

The post In the Great Tradition appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

Working in the Fields

At the party after eighth-grade graduation, some of us got to kiss the girls. When the party ended I went outside, where my father and two brothers were waiting in the station wagon. I could see it was packed and ready to go. A couple of my friends, guys, asked if I was leaving that […]

The post Working in the Fields appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

My Literary Influences – Part 2

Having cited the three main influences on my development as a student and writer of fiction, I thought I might go on to discuss the topic in more variety. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have read a little bit here and there, as most people in my world have done. Most of […]

The post My Literary Influences – Part 2 appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

My Literary Influences – Part 1

My sense of literary influence is rather broad. In the course of my undergraduate and graduate education I read all of the major novelists of Britain and America, plus many of the minor novelists. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the western novel, and in my teaching and writing career I have studied numerous short […]

The post My Literary Influences – Part 1 appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

Darlings of the Dust Commentary

“Darlings of the Dust” is a short story that appears in the anthology Contention and Other Frontier Stories, released by Five Star Publishing in May 2019. In my story, the cowboy detective named Dunbar (from his own series of Dark Prairie, Death in Cantera, and others) arrives in the town of Westlock, Wyoming, and goes […]

The post Darlings of the Dust Commentary appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

Pearl of Great Price Commentary

“Pearl of Great Price” is a novella that came out with Sundown Press, a division of Prairie Rose Publications, in August of 2018. It was reprinted in book form along with a handful of other stories in a collection entitled Tales of the Old West, also by Sundown Press. “Pearl of Great Price” runs to […]

The post Pearl of Great Price Commentary appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.

Leaving the Lariat Trail Commentary

“Leaving the Lariat Trail” is a novella, or short novel, that is a little less than half as long as a traditional western novel. It has been published as an e-book by Sundown Press, a division of Prairie Rose Publications, and at some point in the future it may appear in print form with one […]

The post Leaving the Lariat Trail Commentary appeared first on John D. Nesbitt.