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BIO
Margaret Coel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of
The Thunder Keeper,
The Spirit Woman,
The Lost Bird,
The Story Teller,
The Dream Stalker,
The Ghost Walker,
The Eagle Catcher,
and several works of nonfiction. She has also authored many articles on the people and places of the American West. Her work has won national and regional awards. Her first John O'Malley mystery, The Eagle Catcher, was a national bestseller, garnering excellent reviews from the Denver Post, Tony Hillerman, Jean Hager, Loren D. Estleman, Stephen White, Earlene Fowler, Ann Ripley and other top writers in the field. A native of Colorado, she resides in Boulder.
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INTERVIEW
 September 9, 2005
Bookreporter.com's Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek interviewed Margaret Coel, the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Wind River Reservation mysteries. Coel talks about the research that was necessary for EYE OF THE WOLF --- the eleventh book in this series --- and the themes that have been carried over from the previous ten volumes. She also discusses the complexities of her characters, her passion for American Western history, and her methods for planning future novels.
Bookreporter.com: Could you share some background on Father O'Malley and Vicky Holden for readers who may be reading the Wind River Reservation series for the first time with EYE OF THE WOLF?
Margaret Coel: To begin with, they are both what the Arapahos call "edge people," because they live at the edge of the Arapaho culture and the outside culture. They understand both, and move easily from one to the other.
In Vicky's case, she was born on the Wind River Reservation. After her marriage to the drunken and abusive Ben Holden ended, Vicky moved to Denver, graduated from law school, and worked in a big downtown law firm. Ten years later she returned to the reservation, no longer the traditional Arapaho woman she had once been, but modern and educated and intent upon using the white man's laws to help her people. This presents some conflict for her --- the fact that she is not traditional, but has stepped out ahead of the men and "made herself a chief," as the grandmothers say. The grandmothers call her Hi sei ci nihi, Woman Alone.
Father John comes from the opposite direction. He's a redheaded Irishman from Boston who had been on an academic career path when he was surprised by a calling to be a priest, a Jesuit, which was not at all in his plans. Nor had he planned to work at an obscure Indian mission in the middle of Wyoming, which is where he was sent after a year in alcoholic rehab. As he says in EYE OF THE WOLF, he arrived at St. Francis Mission still wobbly with his newfound sobriety. That was nine years ago, and in that time he has come to love the Arapaho people and their culture and, of course, he and Vicky have solved a lot of mysteries. There's a definite attraction between this fallen priest and the beautiful Arapaho lawyer, but Father John is trying to live by his vows and be the priest he was called to be.
BRC: EYE OF THE WOLF immediately grabs a reader's attention from the first two pages, as the reader and Father John both want to find out about the phone call. Is writing opening chapters that jump-start the story something that comes easily for you, or is it challenging to get it "just right?"
MC: It's both easy and challenging. Let me explain. The first draft is challenging, in that I'm sort of feeling my way forward, not knowing for sure what I want to do. But I've learned to leave that draft alone and plunge on through the novel. When I reach the end, I know exactly how the story has to start, so I go back and rewrite the opening, and then it's easy.
BRC: In EYE OF THE WOLF you did a remarkable job creating the tense atmosphere between the Arapahos and the Shoshones. Was the research for this particular novel more difficult due to the sensitive nature of the Bate's Battle? What sparked your decision to focus on this particular battle for EYE OF THE WOLF?
MC: A few years ago, an Arapaho friend told me about how you can still hear the cries of the people and the howling of the wolves when you visit the battlefield. I thought, Now that's something! It really sparked my interest. Research meant reading through historical accounts of the battle, so that was not difficult. What was difficult was locating the actual battlefield, which is in the Wyoming badlands, a truly desolate area of bluffs and precipitous canyons, wagon roads and sagebrush. The writing was also difficult because the battle is still a sensitive issue between Shoshones and Arapahos, who have to live together on the reservation. I had to keep telling myself, "You're writing fiction here. What happens in the plot is just a story." In fact, the two tribes get along remarkably well.
BRC: One of the ongoing themes of your novels --- and a particularly strong one in EYE OF THE WOLF --- is the many ways in which the actions of the past, even the distant past, overshadow the present and future. Did you set out to write this theme from the start, or did it evolve as you wrote?
MC: I didn't really set out to follow the history theme. It just comes naturally. I believe it's my former career as a writer of history books that keeps inserting itself. The plot for my first novel, THE EAGLE CATCHER, came from the research I had done for CHIEF LEFT HAND, the biography and history that I had written about the Arapahos. Ever since, a bit of the past has continued to show up in my stories. The fact is, I love history, and I'm always aware of the way in which the past is still hanging around the present and sometimes still causing trouble. This is especially true in Indian country.
BRC: The recent scandal involving the priesthood has eclipsed two other problems that have concerned the clergy, which you dealt with in your earlier novels and more fully explore in EYE OF THE WOLF --- those of alcohol abuse and clerical celibacy. The problems that Father O'Malley experiences are very real-world ones, particularly with his attraction to Vicky Holden, are very true to life. Have you based O'Malley's experiences on secondhand accounts you encountered in the course of your research, or through first person interviews?
MC: Not really, although I suppose everything I've read and heard about the problems that priests face have influenced my interpretation of Father John's character. But the bottom line is, I see him as a human being with various strengths and flaws, like the rest of us. It seems to me that any red-blooded male is going to feel an attraction to a beautiful woman, and if that male happens to have taken a vow of celibacy, well, he's going to have to make some choices. What interests me is the choices that Father John makes, how he makes them, and the temptations and difficulties that he faces. He is only a man, after all, and one who has earlier given into the temptation of alcohol. I like him precisely because he has to struggle.
BRC: On a related note, Father Ian McCauley, O'Malley's assistant, is an extremely interesting character. Will we be seeing more of McCauley in future River Reservation novels? And if so, do you plan to give him a more prominent role at some point?
MC: Father McCauley is in the next novel, THE DROWNING MAN. The guy interests me because he's a contender for Father John's job. He's first in a long line of assistant priests that Father John has had to put up with who actually wants to be at the mission. He's also very competent, so in fact St. Francis Mission would be in good hands with him. But this presents a problem for Father John because his one hope of staying at St. Francis has been the fact that no one else wanted the job. And of course Father John does not want to leave.
BRC: When you were in school, did you enjoy studying history?
MC: I've always loved history. Always. I studied as much of it as I could. All kinds of history, but my first love has always been the history of the American West. I wrote four nonfiction history books on the West before I shifted into writing mystery novels. But I brought my love of history with me.
BRC: What is the part of doing research for your books that you enjoy the most?
MC: Oh, without question, spending time on the Wind River Reservation. I love being with the Arapaho people, going to powwows and other celebrations, and driving the roads and visiting the places that I write about. I always stay at St. Stephen's Mission, the actual mission upon which I base my fictional mission. I love to walk the grounds, go to Mass in the beautiful church, and imagine Father John being there, too.
BRC: EYE OF THE WOLF is your eleventh River Reservation novel. What are the challenges of sustaining such a long running series? What is the most rewarding part of working with recurring characters?
MC: Well, there are a number of challenges, all of which I find interesting. The characters have the same background, so it's quite challenging to present the same basic information in a new and interesting way in each novel. Nobody wants to read the same old thing about how and why Vicky left Ben Holden and went to law school. It's important to understanding her character, but in each novel, I work hard at coming to the information in a different way. The same is true for Father John and the story of how he came to be at St. Francis. Basically, I don't want to bore myself, and I certainly don't want to bore my readers, so I expand on the basic backgrounds and give a slightly different perspective in each novel.
The rewards for recurring characters are great! It's so much fun watching Father John and Vicky change and grow, face tough challenges and come out stronger at the other end. They're like old friends, and I'm always rooting for them.
BRC: Have you written outlines for a number of future books in the series? And do you have any plans to perhaps introduce a new series in the future?
MC: Outlines for future books? Nope. I take it one book at a time. Usually while I'm writing a novel, the plot for the next novel comes to me. Sometimes it comes from a side road that I'm tempted to explore in the current novel. Instead of exploring it then, I make a note to explore it in the next novel. What's interesting, I think, is that I've never been worried about finding the next plot. I trust that the plot will come to me, and it always has.
No plans at the moment for a new series, but you never know. The truth is, I never know what I might write next. It depends upon what pops into my head.
BRC: Are there any authors in particular who you feel have influenced your work?
MC: I don't know if "influenced" is the right word, because it infers that my work might in some way be like the work of some authors that I greatly admire. I read authors like John le Carre, Robert Harris, Peter Robinson, Deborah Crombie, Sharyn McCrumb, and I think, Wow! I would love to be able to write like that.
BRC: What authors --- of any genre --- do you enjoy reading for pleasure?
MC: All of the above, for starters. I'm a very eclectic reader. I love Henry James, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, some books by Larry McMurtry (not all), Ian Frazier, Ann Patchett, Alison Lurie, and a wonderful writer I just discovered: Alice Elliott Dark, and any and all books about Russia.
BRC: What are you working on now, and when can readers expect to see it?
MC: THE DROWNING MAN, number twelve in the Wind River series. I'm just finishing it now, wrestling it into shape. It will be out in the fall of 2006.
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Tony Hillerman Talks to Margaret Coel
 July
29, 2005
Legendary bestselling author Tony
Hillerman, whose latest novel is SKELETON
MAN, interviewed Margaret Coel, author of EYE
OF THE WOLF.  This eleventh book in her Wind River Reservation series will
be released on September 6th. Coel discusses the influences of Native American
culture and natural landscapes on her writing, describes the creation of main
characters Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden, and explains how Hillerman himself
inspired her to begin writing mystery novels.
Tony Hillerman: How did you get started writing the Wind River mystery series?
Margaret Coel: Well, I have you to thank for
that! I enjoyed reading your novels. I enjoyed going on the journey into the Southwest
and learning about Navajo culture and life on the reservation while, at the same
time, being absorbed in the mystery. At that time, I was writing nonfiction books
and articles for magazines and newspapers. Then I happened to attend a writers'
conference where you were the main speaker. I remember sitting in a crowded ballroom
and all the time that I was listening to what you had to say, I was thinking,
Gee, maybe I could do that with the Arapahos. Write a mystery novel, that is.
I had no idea of whether I could do it. I didn't even know if I could write fiction.
My entire writing career up to that point had been writing about real people and
actual events, but I decided to give it a try. The result was THE EAGLE CATCHER.
TH: How do you make sure that the details about the Arapaho tribe are accurate?
MC: I sweat blood over that. I do have a pretty
strong background in Arapaho history, which I've been studying and writing about
for twenty-five years, and that gives me a starting point. For all the details
about the tribe today, I go to the source. I visit the Wind River Reservation
every year. I've gone to the Sun Dance, sweat lodge, and more powwows than I can
count. I visit with my Arapaho friends, have dinner with them, and listen to what
they have to say and the ways in which they say it. They know I'm always doing
research, and they want me to get the details about them right, so they're really
very open with me. I drive the roads that Vicky and Father John drive and visit
the places where my stories unfold. I subscribe to the reservation newspaper and
I read everything that I can about what's going on generally in Indian Country.
TH: How important is the landscape of the reservation to your plots?
MC: Oh, so important! For me, the landscape
is like a continuing character --- complex, larger-than-life, and unpredictable.
It is a source of ongoing conflict for my main characters. For example, they always
have to contend with the vastness of the area, the miles and miles of emptiness.
Father John and Vicky can never get anywhere in less than forty or fifty minutes.
In all that emptiness, as Father John says in one of the novels, there is no place
to hide, so the landscape really forces my characters to confront themselves.
And the weather is not only unpredictable, it can take sudden, dangerous turns.
Blizzards, wind storms, scorching heat and freezing cold can descend without warning
at almost any time of the year. My characters never know when this landscape-character
might, in a way, explode. Yet, it's a character that I love trying to describe,
with its raw, primitive beauty and constantly changing face. It is really quite
amazing.
TH: What led you to make your main characters a Jesuit priest and an Arapaho
woman who is a lawyer?
MC: I have to say that Father John Aloysius
O'Malley and Vicky Holden came as complete surprises to me. I call them my "dream
people," (which is what Henry James called his characters), because they came
to me in dreams. I'd been trying to think of a main character who would be like
me --- an outsider to the Arapaho culture. Someone who would come into the culture,
learn about it, and grow to appreciate it. My thinking was that the reader could
come along on the journey. At the same time, I assumed that my main character
would be a woman. So I did not set out to write about a priest.
Then, this tall, handsome, red-headed man started just sort of hanging around
in my dreams, and gradually I understood that he was my character. He was a priest,
a Jesuit, and he was of Irish descent --- well, he did have all that red hair.
He hailed from Boston, which made him a genuine outsider not only to the Arapaho
culture but to the West. Since there is an actual mission run by the Jesuits on
the reservation, called St. Stephens Mission, it wasn't a stretch for Father John
to be the pastor of his own mission, which I call St. Francis Mission.
I thought I had my main character. Except that there was a woman now hanging around
in my dreams. She was black-haired, beautiful, intelligent and highly impatient.
I tried to tell her to go away, the part was already cast. But Vicky Holden was
not going away, and I began to understand that she was also a main character.
An Arapaho woman --- an insider --- who was also an attorney, capable of working
the magic of the law on behalf of her people.
So as it turned out, I got what I wanted --- an outsider and a woman. And two
main characters, instead of one.
TH: Tell us about a minor character who took over a bigger role than you had
planned for him/her.
MC: Oh, I would love to tell you about Ben
Holden. In all my planning, he was about as insignificant as you can imagine.
Because I wanted Vicky to have been a traditional woman before she became a lawyer,
she had to have been married. And Ben Holden was the man's name. A character definitely
on the sidelines, necessary only to provide Vicky with a past. But Ben Holden
was not a man to stay on the sidelines. By the second novel, THE GHOST WALKER,
he was striding through the story, causing a lot of problems and disruptions,
taking the plot in different directions --- almost hijacking the novel. And that
was only the beginning. He became a kind of force, like a tornado blowing through
subsequent novels. But I have to admit, I really came to like the guy. As flawed
and horrible as he could be, he was fun to write about.
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PAST INTERVIEW
September 5, 2003
 Margaret Coel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the acclaimed series featuring Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden, as well as several works of nonfiction. Originally a historian by trade, she is an expert on the Arapaho Indians.
In this interview with Bookreporter.com's reviewer Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum, Coel discusses KILLING RAVEN, the ninth installment in her O'Malley/Holden series. She also talks about the research she conducts for her books, her fascination with the Arapaho Reservation and the tenth book in the series due out next year.
BRC: In KILLING RAVEN you explore gambling casinos on Indian Reservations. While you admit they bring some jobs to the tribe, you place more emphasis on the damage they do. What are your feelings about Native Americans using gambling to bring money to the reservation?
MC: Well, KILLING RAVEN is a mystery novel, which accounts for my emphasis on the darker side of casinos. I don't happen to be a gambler myself, although I've been known to plug $5.00 into a slot machine once in a rare while. But my personal feelings about Indian casinos are that, if managed correctly, casinos can generate a lot of needed income for a tribe. There are many examples of casinos that have built hospitals, schools, new roads, and created much-needed jobs on reservations. It is not without reason that Indian people refer to casinos as the "new buffalo;" that is, a new economic base.
As I point out in the novel, gambling has always been part of Indian tradition. Indian people do not particularly see gambling in moral terms, although of course they recognize the problems that can arise. Rather, they see gambling as a metaphor for life. Life is a chance. And gambling reminds us that each day is a risk, so it is important to live each day as best as possible. Also, gambling is a way of contributing to charity. They assume that, if they lose, someone has won who is more in need of the money.
BRC: At the beginning of KILLING RAVEN, when Father John is called to the murder scene, the chief of the BIA police asks him if he wants to pray over the dead man. The priest reflects that "there had been so many bodies. It never got easier." What does the priest mean by the remark?
MC: KILLING RAVEN is the ninth outing for Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden, the Arapaho attorney --- the pair of sleuths in my Wind River mystery series. Over the novels, Father John and Vicky have seen a lot of dead bodies and had to solve a lot of murders. I've had several priests (and ministers, too) tell me that Father John has a much more interesting life than they have! So his thoughts at this moment refer to what has happened in the past. They also show that he cares a great deal for his people. He is truly trying to be a good shepherd to his flock. A death among the people is always hard on him. That, of course, propels him to solve murders, help bring about justice, and restore a kind of balance to the community, which is always knocked out of whack by murder. It's what makes him a good sleuth.
BRC: Vicky goes to visit "elders" who give her advice in oblique language. Have you found that this is how the generations communicate in real life?
MC: I love writing about the elders because Arapahos treat their elders with such wonderful respect and because the elders wield so much quiet, "oblique" power. It would not be the Arapaho Way for Will Standing Bear, the elder in KILLING RAVEN (and in several other novels) to tell Vicky what she must do. Rather, his role is to help her come to understand what, as an Arapaho, she must do for her people. In KILLING RAVEN, this presents quite a conflict for Vicky since she is a lawyer with a special responsibility to her clients, who happen to be the casino managers, but the elder expects her to make sure that the managers are doing their job. For me, it's fun to give my characters such conflicts, then sit back and see how they're going to work through them.
BRC: Your work reflects an enormous amount of research. How important is research to any writer, especially one who has developed characters who must have certain knowledge, live in a place with a certain climate, topography, mores and merge two worlds: reservation life and the outside world. How do you go about your fact-finding?
MC: As a historian by trade --- I'm the author of four nonfiction books on Colorado history, including CHIEF LEFT HAND, a history of the Arapahos --- I naturally love, love, love research. I do a lot of research for each novel, more than I could ever put in without choking the story to death. Even though I've written extensively about the Arapahos, I am still doing research on the history and the culture, and I'm still learning new and wonderful things, which keeps the tribe interesting to me. I do the research by going to the reservation, visiting with friends, talking to all kinds of people, going to powwows and other celebrations. I've been to the Sun Dance, and I've taken part in a sweat lodge. I also do a lot of reading on the Plains Indians in general. I constantly refer to the anthropological studies done on the Arapahos. All of which helps to give me a handle on my Arapaho characters, particularly Vicky, who really lives at the edge of two worlds --- the Arapaho world and the outside world. But so does Father John. These characters are what the Arapahos call the "edge people," because they can move from one world to the other and explain one world to the other.
I've done a lot of research on priests --- mainly by talking to priests and reading about their work and their calling. Lately, with the horrific scandals in the Catholic Church, priests have really come under fire and certainly with justification in many cases. But the vast majority of Catholic priests are like Father John --- dedicated men who work extremely hard to help others. I know several priests who have worked on the Wind River Reservation and they have been a great source of information for me. I often call them and say, "Father John is caught up in this or that situation. What would you do?" And they tell me.
As for Vicky, I've had to research what lawyers do and how they think. It helps that one of my daughters is a lawyer.
The topography, geography, weather --- I love them all. The Wind River Reservation is a remote and beautiful place. I take photographs when I'm there and make lots of notes, which come in handy when I'm writing.
BRC: Your books are character-driven. What made you decide to frame your stories that way?
MC: In my opinion, the best mystery novels are character-driven. Plots are fun and I certainly want a strong plot in a mystery novel, but the novels that resonate are those with great characters --- the kind who get under your skin and seem like real people. One of the most gratifying things as a writer is to have readers get involved with your characters because they've become real for them.
I was at a book signing in California sometime ago, and two women came up with books. One said, "When is Father John going to leave the priesthood and marry Vicky?" The other clasped her book to her chest and said, "Never!" I had to laugh because they were both so passionate about people who don't exist --- except in my head and in theirs. How much fun is that? I have to admit, however, that when I stay in the guesthouse at St. Stephen's Mission, which is the real mission upon which I base my fictional mission, I'm always sort of looking around, half-expecting to see Father John.
BRC: Vicky Holden is an attorney with real ties to the world beyond the reservation, while Father O'Malley came from the outside world to live within the boundaries of his faith and the reservation. There is a strong attraction between them, but clearly it will be unfulfilled. Is it tough for you to write about a relationship like this?
MC: Very, very tough. I set up the attraction between them in the first novel, THE EAGLE CATCHER, not knowing of course that down the road I would be writing novels ten, eleven and twelve. The reason I made them very attracted to each other was to enhance the character of Father John. As I was writing THE EAGLE CATCHER, Father John seemed like Father Perfect. He was so boring! (As perfect people are.) So I thought, I have to make this guy interesting. I have to give him some problems. So he became a recovering alcoholic. Then I thought, well, now, here is a man who has given into temptation in the past. He's a fallen man, which means he's human. Vicky was there in his line of sight and I see her as beautiful, intelligent and interesting. And Father John is a red-blooded male. So I sat back to see what was going to happen.
And both of them have taught me a lot. Father John is trying to live his vows, and it's not easy to live one's vows, including marriage vows. Vicky found that she couldn't live her marriage vows. She had to get out, but since she'd married an abusive alcoholic, she had a great reason. Father John doesn't have a legitimate reason. The fact that he's now met a woman and found that he loves her doesn't qualify. That doesn't mean that they don't care for each other and that there isn't a wistfulness about what might have been, because of course there is. But Father John and Vicky have come to understand that it doesn't matter what they might want. We don't get everything we want in life. We make our choices, take our vows, and that's what we get. And that can be good enough.
BRC: Vicky and Father O'Malley are flawed in unique ways. Is this a deliberate stroke on your part to keep them accessible and to humanize them?
MC: Absolutely. They do have their flaws and their problems and that's what keeps them interesting to me. Also, it keeps them growing and changing. As they grapple with their problems and conflicts, they change. They're affected by their experiences and they have to incorporate those experiences into their lives. For example, in THE SPIRIT WOMAN, Vicky is forced to kill a man. You don't kill someone and walk away untouched, even when it's justifiable. She has to figure out how to incorporate this horrendous event into her psyche and go on. Not easy.
My editor is always telling me that he feels sorry for my characters because I'm so hard on them. Well, I like to see what they're really made of. I like to see how tough they are. And I'm finding that they're plenty tough.
BRC: Can we expect to see more of Adam Lone Eagle in Vicky's future?
MC: Yep. He's going to be around for a while. Another quandary for Vicky. In KILLING RAVEN, she's not sure where he stands, whether he's one of the good guys or the bad guys. And Adam is going to be a bit of an enigma in the next novel. I like the man because he's hard to figure out, and that makes him interesting to Vicky, too. He's also a problem for Father John. It's hard enough for Father John that he can't have Vicky, but does he have to watch her go off with a gorgeous guy like Adam Lone Eagle?
BRC: Your Wyoming setting is magnificent yet you don't spend a great deal of time "painting the desert" so to speak. What are your thoughts on descriptive prose?
MC: Slip it in a little at a time, always through the eyes of the character. I try to describe what Father John is seeing as he drives across the reservation, the beauty of the natural environment surrounding him and the way in which it affects him. There's a peace and solitude in the wide-open spaces. And for Vicky, the beauty of the reservation always calls her back to her childhood and also connects her to the ancestors. The land that she moves through is the land that they moved through. The beauty of the natural surroundings gives her a sense of continuity.
As a born westerner who has spent most of my life in the west, I love the western landscapes, the big sky that, as Father John says, makes him feel that he's walking around in the sky, and I love the challenge of trying to describe it all.
BRC: You visit the Arapaho Reservation in Wyoming each year. What is the hold that this region has on you? What brought about your affinity for the Arapahos?
MC: This is my region. My place on the earth, I guess. I'm a fourth-generation Coloradan, and my love of the history of this area led me to the Arapahos. Before the settlement of the west in the mid-1800s, the Arapahos lived on the plains of Colorado. Their villages, hunting grounds and battlefields were here, and traces of their life can still be seen. As hunters, they ranged over an incredibly large area, including parts of Wyoming. The more I learned about them, the more fascinated I became. They were a warrior society, but they were also astute traders. When settlers first encountered them, they called them the "businessmen of the plains." They were also diplomats. They worked hard at keeping peace among the other plains tribes --- I suspect so that they could keep their trade routes open. And they were --- and still are --- very spiritual people with a great reverence for all of creation.
A little history lesson here: In the 1870s, the federal government sent half of the Arapahos to the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming and half to a reservation in Oklahoma. Later, the people in Oklahoma sold their reservation back to the government, which means that the only reservation the tribe has today is in Wyoming. But the Wind River Reservation is much like the plains of Colorado, their homeland.
BRC: As a Native American writer, do you feel you should be an activist? Why or why not?
MC: Whoa! I am not a Native American. Like Father John, I'm of Irish descent. But thank you for thinking, after having read KILLING RAVEN, that I might be a Native American. So, am I an activist? Also no to that question. I'm a writer, a storyteller. My goal is to write a good story. I try to write the kind of story that I like to read. That is, a story with great characters, a strong plot and something more. I want a story to take me to a new place, introduce me to something I didn't know before, enlarge my life and enrich it. That's what I try to do for my readers, and that's a tall order. I would be very gratified if, after reading one of my novels, readers felt that they had visited an interesting world with interesting people and had learned something new. Maybe something about the history or culture of the Arapahos. Maybe something about the past injustices and the way in which they continue to affect the Arapaho people today.
Activist? Hey, I'm just trying to write a good story.
BRC: What are you working on now, and when can readers expect to see it?
MC: I am now completing the tenth novel in the series, which I'm calling WIFE OF MOON. It's been a challenge to write, since it is the first novel in which I have set some of the chapters in the past. Father John and Vicky often have to refer to what happened in the past in order to understand what's going on in the present, but this is the first time in which the reader gets to see the action unfold in the past.
I think that, as a writer, you have to keep challenging yourself. You have to try something new and hope that it works.
WIFE OF MOON will be published next year.
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