BOOMER – BACK-STORY

 

Since BOOMER is free today, I decided to run the back-story again.  This novel is appropriate for all audiences.  It was written originally for the youth market.  It’s been more readily accepted by period western readers because the youth of today are more into video games then reading. (does that sound editorial?)

BOOMER – BACK-STORY

My old riding partner owns a ranch outside Tucson Arizona.  One of the buildings on his ranch is an old adobe that was once a Butterfield stage depot. Since my ranch adjoined his on the back side, we spent a lot of time helping one another instead of hiring help.  When we had a few idle moments, we would ‘shade-up’ near the old stage building.  I discovered a couple of arrow heads and several bullet slugs in the old adobe brick.  It was evident a battle had been fought at the site.  I did some research and found no evidence of any Indian attack during the time period the stage depot was operable.  However, during my research I discovered an old article of a stage being held-up and the gold that was taken by the bandits was never recovered.  Rick stated that he’d heard a story that the gold had been hidden in the back entrance to Colossal Cave (very close to Rick’s ranch).  Legend also suggested that one of the bounty hunters of that era had killed the robbers and made off with the loot.

Rick and I went rooting around in the cave and found nothing that resembled hidden gold.  I found a few obsidian arrowheads and Rick found an old spur; evidence that cowboys and Indians had both used the rear exit of Colossal Cave.   During our search for the treasure, Rick told me that a member of his family served as a US Deputy Marshall when Arizona was still a territory. I did some research on his grandfather and discovered that Arizona Territory was the last of the contiguous states to be admitted into the union. I later used these facts as some of the basis for HALF BREED.

Boomer was originally written as a youth novel but has proven to be more popular with adults.  It’s a period western but is more than a ride-shoot-shucks story.  It has several layers and an actual mystery included in the major plot.  It’s not your normal western novella.  BOOMER measures 70,000 - 80,000 words.