Blessings on the Highway
Early in my writing life I turned to historical novels set in the West. They were more challenging and satisfying than genre western fiction. One could write about real characters and events, and interpret them. Historical fiction gave me the opportunity not only to depict episodes and people, but to draw conclusions, portray people in all their complexity, depending on where my research led me.
Through much of my writing life, my editor at Forge, Dale L. Walker, contributed remarkably to my historical fiction. He was not only an editor for a New York publisher, but also the director of Texas Western Press--and more. He was and is a first rate historian specializing in the history of the West, and has published numerous important and valuable works of western history He is also the country's foremost Jack London scholar, and has written extensively about London.
Much of my writing life occurred before the ubiquitous internet made research easy. When I tackled subjects such as the settlement of Oregon, or the character of John Charles Fremont, or that of Buffalo Bill Cody, or the Battle of the Little Bighorn, there was my editor and cherished friend, not only supplying me with long lists of reference books, but also evaluating them. Such and such had dubious value, but such and such was solid. The result of all this was that I plowed into my research with more assets at hand than most novelists enjoy.
Most traditional research involved checking scholarly references and bibliographies found in historical works, and then getting a hold of the books or papers that seemed promising. In many ways, Dale's suggestions greatly shortened the process. It was an amazing gift. Not only was he an unmatched resource, but he was a shrewd and gifted editor, making sure I was on solid ground, trimming fat from my writing, and adding elegance of phrase, often with a simple alteration of a sentence.
If you want to see a masterful historian at work, read his titles, which are still mostly in print and very well reviewed. You might try The Boys of '98, about the Rough Riders. Or Legends and Lies, about mysteries of the West, or Bear Flag Rising, about the conquest of California, or Pacific Destiny about early Oregon. Or try Death Was a Black Horse, or his great biography of an early newsman, Januarius McGahan. Or The Calamity Papers, Western Myths and Cold Cases. There are many more, all of them great history.
I've been one lucky guy to count him as a friend and editor.
Through much of my writing life, my editor at Forge, Dale L. Walker, contributed remarkably to my historical fiction. He was not only an editor for a New York publisher, but also the director of Texas Western Press--and more. He was and is a first rate historian specializing in the history of the West, and has published numerous important and valuable works of western history He is also the country's foremost Jack London scholar, and has written extensively about London.
Much of my writing life occurred before the ubiquitous internet made research easy. When I tackled subjects such as the settlement of Oregon, or the character of John Charles Fremont, or that of Buffalo Bill Cody, or the Battle of the Little Bighorn, there was my editor and cherished friend, not only supplying me with long lists of reference books, but also evaluating them. Such and such had dubious value, but such and such was solid. The result of all this was that I plowed into my research with more assets at hand than most novelists enjoy.
Most traditional research involved checking scholarly references and bibliographies found in historical works, and then getting a hold of the books or papers that seemed promising. In many ways, Dale's suggestions greatly shortened the process. It was an amazing gift. Not only was he an unmatched resource, but he was a shrewd and gifted editor, making sure I was on solid ground, trimming fat from my writing, and adding elegance of phrase, often with a simple alteration of a sentence.
If you want to see a masterful historian at work, read his titles, which are still mostly in print and very well reviewed. You might try The Boys of '98, about the Rough Riders. Or Legends and Lies, about mysteries of the West, or Bear Flag Rising, about the conquest of California, or Pacific Destiny about early Oregon. Or try Death Was a Black Horse, or his great biography of an early newsman, Januarius McGahan. Or The Calamity Papers, Western Myths and Cold Cases. There are many more, all of them great history.
I've been one lucky guy to count him as a friend and editor.
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