Origin Story

As of November, 2025, the month of the official release of my debut historical novel Devil Preacher, it had been five years since I had begun the journey. As with most, if not all books, or even short stories, it started with a mere spark of interest in a relatively something in particular. It might be from a magazine article, a news story or just plain old day dreaming.

For Devil Preacher it was the briefest mention of a man named John Murrell, who aspired to setting up an independent empire within the southern United States, with him, of course, as the emperor. It was in an old paperback Louis L’Amour western, the kind I grew up on, thanks to my Dad, who was a voracious reader (I also thank him for introducing me to Edgar Rice Burroughs). It was just a throwaway line, really, and I could not tell you from which of Mr. L’amour’s many books it came. It immediately seized upon my imagination, though, and I began researching it almost to the point of obsession. As colorful as it already was, I found that there was a lot more to John Murrell’s story than his grandiose ambition to become an American Napoleon. Naturally, I wanted to tell that story as entertainingly as possible. The problem staring me in the face was one literally all writers face: Just how to begin? Sometimes, like most story ideas, the solution will just plop into one’s lap. If one is supremely lucky, that is. Other times one has to work it all out, hunt it down, and that can take a long time, sometimes years. I couldn’t tell you precisely why now, but I knew I wanted to tell John’s story from someone else’s perspective. Honestly, I just thought it would be more interesting. I will confess that my impulse came from none other than Jack Crabb. Who is this, now? Well, he is the central character of Thomas Berger’s wonderful novel Little Big Man. Crabb was a 121-year old Indian fighter who insisted he was the sole survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, witnessing the demise of George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. 7th Cavalry. In the book, Crabb is being interviewed by a historian who is taking most of what he is hearing with a grain of salt. It’s a terrific concept and was made into an equally terrific film in 1970 starring Dustin Hoffman. This was my inspiration for how to relate John’s story; from the perspective of a very old Early West bandit who knew him intimately.

The first draft of the book provided the mere bones of the story. In approaching other drafts I realized this narrator, Stephen Hue by name, really needed far more agency. Also, I had to ground it more in John and Stephen’s more formative years, as boys and young men, for their friendship to burgeon along with the reader’s journey. Through ensuing drafts I sought out and eventually discovered an appropriate emotional baseline. Only through this process did I learn that writing a novel can be rather like embarking on a mining expedition; you never know what nugget your pick will strike upon. Later drafts came with revisions, refining and polishing those nuggets into what hopefully would be gems on which to build a well-told, satisfying tale.

The process simply would not have been possible – at least to the extent that it ended up as an actual finished product – without the hard work of Devil Preacher’s editor in chief, Ian Tan https://ianlancethough.wordpess.com. Without his insights, suggestions and, yes, even occasional scolding and cracks of the whip, much of what would have been possible would have been “runs left on base,” to borrow a baseball term, and thus a giant missed opportunity.

But the work was not done there, of course. There were line edits to do (thank you, so much again, Ethan Reisler!) Then came the fun part of the cover design. Abby Wild was great to work with, very receptive to my rather demanding requests and directions, and she came up with the perfect cover.

So many people dream of becoming a published author. I know that very well, because I was one of them. The journey ultimately has been one of the most rewarding of my life. I am certainly looking forward to publishing more before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

On that note, I had damned well best get busy…