I have been writing, actively, since April 1, 1986. My first foray was a very badly written (yet completed!) novel I called "The Dawn File". It was bad. Very bad. Singularly awful. But I loved every minute of writing it. The last 47 pages of it I wrote during the night shift at a filling station in College Station, Texas, with my word processor balanced somewhere between the cash register and the pump monitor. After that I wrote another very awful and confusing story called "The Light Warrior", which was actually read by Chuck Verill who was then an editor at Viking/Penguin. Chuck liked it, but admitted that he was "confused". After re-reading it myself many years later, I can aver that he spoke sooth!
During those years I was in constant contact with two of my best friends on this planet, who always inspired and facilitated my writing in each their own fashion. The first was Robbie Taylor, who currently runs the greatest blog in the known universe, and the other was Patrick McConal. Robbie still lives and works in College Station, Texas. The world lost a national treasure when Pat McConal passed away two years ago. I did some research for Pat on his well-received and accurate "Over The Wall: The Men Behind the 1934 Death House Escape", published by Eakin Press, of Austin. At the time of his death, Pat was working on a project that I was hoping would become a book. The subject matter was the Texas Rangers invasion of the Borger-Pampa-Signal Hill area of North Texas. Governor Moody sent the Rangers in when he declared martial law on the area. At the heart of the conflict was two of the tree men from "Over The Wall". This was all of ten years before their misadventure at the Walls. Bryan "Whitey" J. Walker and Blackie Thompson were there at Signal Hill and must have beat a hasty retreat when the Rangers came calling. When Pat left us, I decided to incorporate as much as I could of that fiasco into my first Bill Travis Mystery: "The Last Call".
Since that time I have completed Bill Travis 2 ("Capitol Offense"), BT6 ("Caddo Cold") and BT 7 ("Arrowmoon") and am working on several others. All told there will be twenty-one (count 'em, 21!) in the series.
One of America's greatest writers at this time is a good friend of mine, Milton T. Burton. If you like a good Texas-sized mystery, then you should read his book "The Rogue's Game" and "The Sweet And The Dead", both published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.
To date, I have completed a number of short stories that I believe will pass muster with the reading public. The best of these is "Duckweed", which while I would love nothing better than to provide a link to download it, I am reticent to endanger it's chances of being published in the near future by providing it here. Suffice it to say that it is thirty pages of pure action and characters and places that live and breathe.
Okay, BT 3 ("Longnecks & Twisted Hearts") is undergoing re-write right now for the first 1/3rd of it done, and I am cranking hot and heavy on BT 10 ("Desperate Crimes"). All of these stories are in order, and I hope Bill will forgive me for that. That is, I hope he will forgive me for writing them out of order, when the order was set in stone long ago.
I'm one of the busiest people I know. Right now I'm taking courses at night and on the weekends that I have every hope will make my life a lot easier in the future. That and working full time leave little time to write. And yet, I can't help but write. Louis L'lamour once said that if they took him and put him and his typewriter down in the middle of a freeway, that he would get busy and crank something out. And that's very much like my life. Living with Sallie is like living in the middle of a freeway. There's a great deal of motion, constant motion. But, by God, it's so beautiful. And I am the most blessed person I know. I have the best woman, the best family, the best friends, and I live in the greatest city in the greatest state on Earth. What more could any man want?
I suppose that's it for now. More later, I hope.
George Wier, Sunday, June 17th, 2007, Austin, Texas.
------------------------------I am working on new stuff right now, along with the mysteries and shorts. I don't have a working title yet (which is quite unlike me) but this one, while Science Fiction-based, will have elements of mystery and intrigue, spy, action-adventure, a little romance, a very realistic alien culture, religion, tribalism, gods and goddesses and a full pantheon, anthropology, hard science, warfare, and a "rip-roaring yarn" once fully told. This one has been waiting in the wings all my life. I have read more science fiction than anything, and have always been daunted by throwing out something that would challenge my own personal gods: Heinlein, Niven, Hubbard, Herbert, Silverberg, Harrison, Zelazny, Simak, and all the others. But now I get the idea that they will be cheering me on.
It has been my good fortune to personally meet a number of great science fiction authors in my life. And I find now in my middle age (doesn't that phrase feel unpleasant?) that I am uniquely my own person as were each of those I met. It is like I will be standing on their shoulders.
I suppose that's enough for now. Time for bed.
I saw a bumper sticker the other day: "Metaphors be with you." I had to test it a few times with a Brooklyn accent to make it work right. So, may it.
GW, June 20, '07, Aus, Tex.
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Update on Bill Travis Mystery #3, Longnecks & Twisted Hearts.
I've been working on this one quite a while and I'm up to about 1/3 finished. My output is somewhere between 3 and 10 pages per day when I'm in normal mode. Anyway, I've included a link to the first 90 pages of LNTH here in pdf format. It's a long way from being complete, and please bear in mind, it IS a first draft. There will be some errors, but mainly historical in nature. It's after the book is written that you have to go back and ferret out all the errors involving history to make sure it all jibes with the accepted record, and this is the trap some writers fall into (follows advice to fledgling writers): You should write your novel FIRST, then go back and fix it, otherwise you'll spend all your time in "research" and never get any real production done. Let me know what you think about it.
Best, GW
7/10/07
7:15 p.m.
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Putting the finishing touches to Longnecks & Twisted Hearts (Bill Travis 3) has been a hell of an adventure. I believe it has been some of the best writing I have ever done. I'm not so sure exactly how it works. I sit down at my word processor and begin, then I look up and an hour or so has passed and ten to fifteen pages are done! I go back sometimes and re-read it to make sure it makes some kind sense and am amazed at what the little muse that hangs with me has produced. Anyway, this one was good. There's much more to write and so little time to do it with, so I'd better get busy. Thanks, reader, for coming with me this far. I wrote a few special lines for my readers at the end of LNTH. I hope to see those lines in print some day soon.
That's it.
Best,
GW
8/11/07
11:30ish p.m.
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Thus far the Bill Travis Mysteries lineup looks like this:
1. The Last Call Complete
2. Capitol Offense Complete
3. Longnecks & Twisted Hearts Complete
4. The Devil To Pay Begun
5. Death On The Pedernales Begun
6. Magnum Opus Begun
7. Caddo Cold Complete
8. Arrowmoon Complete
9. Bexar County Line Begun
10. Ghost Of The Karankawa Begun
11. Desperate Crimes Begun
I have titles for another ten. The last three will be prequels. For me this is the adventure of a lifetime.
That's it.
GW
8/13/07
11:00 p.m.-ish
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I would like to thank the following individuals for reading my completed Bill Travis books and offering their positive (and often enthusiastic) endorsement and (occasionally) constructive criticism: First is Sallie (what would I ever do without you), Milton Burton, David A. Williams, Deborah English, Jeff Fischer, Ray Fisher, Megan Creel, and David Potter. You folks are the best.
I suppose that's it for now.
GW
8/19/07
7:41 p.m.
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A couple of days ago I dashed off a beaut of a short story (10 pages-2500 words) called "Nickel Cup". I am intending this to go side-by-side with my short "Duckweed" (30 pages-7500 words) into a short anthology called Texan Tales. Meanwhile, the BT Mysteries are going forward. Sallie and I are in preparation for a new move. We are at least trading up, although I am going to sorely miss the nature preserve where I can take long walks and commune with nature. Well, that's enough for now. My best to my many friends that stop in here from time to time.
GW9/1/07
5:00p.m.-ish
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In Memoriam
Nelson Milton Wier
November 1, 1935 - September 12, 2007
Very early this morning, my father passed away after a brief illness. He was 71 years of age. He was much-loved. He had six children and numerous step-children and grand-children. His life was rich beyond any treasure. The things he did, bad and good, the things he witnessed, the friends and family he knew.
Life is for living. The cup is for drinking deeply from. And drink you did, Daddy. I am blessed by you. I feel your presence with me. I know that you are alright. I will do my best to guide you to the next step in your travels. Freedom awaits, and a new world seen through a child's eyes, and a new life with new smells, sounds, and sights. You did good this time around, you did good by me, and I am proud of you.
God Speed, Daddy.
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Alright. It's been awhile, so I probably need to get things going here again. I am still writing. My spirits are up, things are happening. My Bill Travis books are moving and I have done some create on my book about The Nok. This is the one that is the major undertaking that I touched on previously. Life is different, it is challenging, and yet it is new. I suppose all things that happen affect all other things, and it is true of the events in my life with regard to my writing. How could it not be so? I took a trip to Tyler recently to visit my older sister, my mom and my niece. While there I dropped in on Milton. We talked for about two hours in his living room about writing, about pipes and tobaccos, about politics, about life. I find in Milton a kindred spirit. He read my short story "Nickel Cup" and told me that he wished he had written it, which coming from him, one of the great American authors, is the highest praise. I wrote the short story while thinking about my father about two weeks before he died. Therefore, for one time only, I am putting a link to a .pdf of the story here so that you can read it and tell me what you think. Please do so. I would really like to hear some feedback. I don't necessarily agree with the stance of the old man with regards to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, that is what many of those wonderful old guys really think, and it would be remiss on my part not to include it in a true-to-life rendition. So, here it is.
My best,George Wier
October 7, 2007
8:38 p.m.
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For those who follow Bill out there, I have included, as a special bonus, the very very rough, first 100 or so pages right here.
Toodle-oo.
GW
February 25, 2008