Carol A. Buchanan's Author's Statement

I've been a writer all my life, but even before I knew how to form a letter, I told myself stories. Mom would holler at me to go to sleep, and I'd holler back, "Just one more story, Mommy."

From there writing grew into a calling, but the path to what I do now was not always clear though the call was. As a result I've written almost everything but graffiti.

At 15, I began writing journalism for the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, MT. Since then I've written for newspapers and national magazines in the fields of Western history, horticulture, and equine journalism. My longest stint was writing technical manuals about computer systems for a major aerospace company in Seattle, WA.

At the same time, I published my first book, Brother Crow, Sister Corn: Traditional American Indian Gardening in 1997 (Ten Speed Press). Brother Crow is now out of print. My second book, also in the field of horticulture, was published by Ten Speed in 1999. The Backyard Sanctuary Garden is also now out of print. When the books went out of print, Ten Speed offered me the opportunity to buy back all rights, so now I own all the rights to both of these books.

My third horticultural book, Wordsworth's Gardens, was a top ten finalist in the Washington State Book Awards for 2002.

In 2001 I retired from aerospace -- and from technical writing and from nonfiction writing in general -- except for this website and blog and other writing which support my historical novels.

Coming home to Montana at last freed me to find the path to write the stories I always knew I was called to write.

My first historical novel, God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana won the 2009 Spur Award for Best First Novel from the Western Writers of America.

My second historical novel, Gold Under Ice (the sequel to God's Thunderbolt), has been published to glowing reviews.

The transitions from writing journalism to academic writing and back were challenging, but the biggest challenge came when I changed from nonfiction -- both technical and journalistic -- to fiction. No matter what kind of nonfiction a person writes, the change is primarily a matter of style.

But to change from nonfiction to fiction involves using a different side of the brain, a side I hadn't exercised in a couple of decades.

Once I committed to fiction, however, the characters started to speak and act, and now they come to mind without my seeking them out. I'm happiest writing about them and seeing them live on paper.

I live in the Flathead Valley in Northwest Montana, and my father in his early years was a cowboy. Around here the word "cowboy" is not an insult.

This is the most fun I've ever had in writing. I love the complexity of blending accurate research with imaginative speculation, historical figures with fictional characters, historical incidents with fictional conflicts, fact with feeling.

A great-grandmother lived into her 90's, and my mother lived to be 106+. If they bequeathed me their genes, I'll be around to write for a long time to come! What fun!

Carol Buchanan

Photo by Trevon Baker