Blood & Water

This novel presents a drama between 30-year-old Diane, her live-in partner, Robbie, a conflicted Native American, Diane's father, Jake Grant, a distinguished and respected rancher of the old West, and their wealthy neighbor, Ron Johnson who steals water from the creek that runs through both properties. The action escalates from animal killing, battle over water rights to racial murder, to resolution. Woven in is a story about John Bozeman who founded the town of Bozeman and also had sexual intercourse with Indians. The genre is psychological contemporary fiction for adults. 65,000 words. It is most like the current TV series "Yellowstone" with Kevin Costner or Craig Johnson's Longmire books but the emphasis is not on the mystery but more about love and prejudice, pride and greed. Here's a brief bio: I am the author of 10 nonfiction books, two fiction for children. My stories and articles have appeared in such magazines as Harper's, Ms., Book Forum, New Age, Camera 35, and Western Home Journal. I have made many radio and television appearances. I have had residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony, Djerassi, and Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain). Aside from writing, I have taught workshops and courses for over 20 years across the country. Plus I was an instructor for the Long Ridge Writers Institute. I have packaged 18 books for others and received a national science award, grant from the NEA, been the subject of a PBS film documentary, and included in The Best of the Small Presses. For 15 years I edited Distinctly Montana, a quarterly lifestyle magazine, which has featured Rick Bass, Tom McGuane, Ernest Hemingway, F.Scott Fitzgerald, and Jim Harrison.