JUSTICE FOR ALL
Official Website of Author
JUSTICE FOR ALL: THE SEARCH FOR BIG POKER TOM
Based on True Events
NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IN PAPERBACK, HARDBACK, AND EBOOK!
My Story
In 1984, I ran across an article in American West Magazine that totally captured my attention. "Paiute Revenge" it was called, written by the late Sally Zanjani. I cut it out and put it in my Eastern Sierra file. Every time we went fishing, camping, or backpacking on US Route 395, I pulled it out and read it. And every time, my reaction was the same: "I can't believe this story, so amazing, such intense drama that really happened. I can't believe no one has doine antying with it. It would make such a great movie. Someone needs to do something with this story!" As it turned out, twenty some years later I broke down and decided to give it a try myself. It took me a very long time, but Justice for All: The Search for Big Poker Tom, is the result. It's a historical novel about the events that took place in the spring of 1891 in Bridgeport, California. I spent countless hours researching in libraries, reading microfilm screens of old newspaper articles doing research. Then I began to write, filling in the blanks, creating the rest of the story.
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Thinking I was going to become a National Park Ranger or biology teacher, I started on a biology degree at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, a very long time ago. After a short time at Asbury College, I transferred to UC Berkeley where I completed a bachelor's degree in biology. My life's direction changed, however, during my three-month (which became three-year) honeymoon in Vermont. I decided to go into the ministry and attended Talbot Seminary in La Mirada, California. I served in two large southern California churches, working with jr. highers, then children, then adults, for thirty-six years, before my retirement. I am married to Patty, my much better half, whom I met at Westmont. We have three daughters, who have brought into our lives three terrific sons-in-law and twelve absolutely amazing grandchildren.
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Besides history, I enjoy Southwest landscape and wildlife photography, soccer, my faith, spending time with my famly, all things in the wild, and traveling (Italy in particular, as we have a daughter and family there). And I am now also a proud, bonafide, award-winning member of the Western Writers of America! My book was selected as a 2023 Spur Award Finalist in the historical fiction category! It's hard to believe! We traveled to the WWA Convention to accept the award. I have to pinch myself now and then to comprehend that it actually happened! to me!
My BACKGROUND
MY BOOK
In the spring of 1891, Big Poker Tom, a Paiute Native American from Nevada, left his reservation to find a high-stakes poker game in Bridgeport, California. Only his horse returned, several weeks later. His tribe sent a search party to Bridgeport to look for him.
This is the story of the clues they found, day by day for a five days. The evidence escaplated the story into an explosive conflict involving Whites, Paiutes, and Chinese, and their justice systems and cultures. Sheriff Michael J. Cody got involved helping them, intending to enforce the US justice system. He tried to keep the peace, his sworn duty, however . . . With two hundred armed Paiutes having gathered to help, the town of Bridgeport and all of its residents were suddenlty in grave danger. Find out how the story resolves, a true storyfrom the pages of history, a story that needs to be told!
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It's now available at Amazon.com in paperback, eBook, and hardback.
Next Event
ESIA HISTORY CONFERENCE
The Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association has a history conference every October. I have been to the last three of them, before and after Covid, and thoroughly enjoyed them. The conference consists of two days of lectures on subjects ranging from history, to California Indians, grizzly bears, fishing, geology, water rights, forest fires, Father Crowley, and you name it. The third day is usually made of options of cool field trips offered around the Eastern Sierra. Every year that I have been there, David and Gayle Woodruff have done reenactments of some of the fascinating characters in Eastern Sierra history. This year they are doing Death Valley Scotty and his wife Jack, which should both educational and entertaining. I will be doing a presentation this year on some of the interesting and unexpected things I turned up in researching and writing my book. This will be on Friday, Oct. 25, at 2:00 PM. You can check out the information on this year’s conference at https://sierraforever.org/eshc/. It should be great fun! I'd love to see you there!
past events
Friends of bodie annual dinner
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Every year, in the ghost town, the beautiful, high elevation one that’s in “arrested decay,” Bodie, has a special evening for those who are members of the organization. They have a special dinner, some presentations on parts of the ghost town, and a speaker. This year, I was invited to speak and do my PowerPoint presentation, “The Stories Behind the Story.” The story of the search for Poker Tom took place less than twenty miles away from Bridgeport. Patty and I enjoyed meeting the seventy people who were there, all of them wonderful people interested in history, geology, the great outdoors, etc. They have now stocked their gift shop and online store with the book, which I’m very grateful for.
BLOG
SOME DISAPPOINTING NEWS
One of the local Yucaipa men who bought my book happens to have a nephew who is in the upper echelon of leadership at a major motion picture studio in the Los Angeles area. I have spent a couple of years talking with him about the possibility of their using the story for a six-eight episode streaming serial. He loves the story, with all it's twists and turns, he says, and then with the extra material that "makes it sing!" Talking about this possibility has made for some exciting discussions. However, they recently notified me and said that they had made a decision not to go ahead with that project. A serial like that would cost the studio $80-100 million. Westerns seemed to be making a comeback with the success of Yellowstone, but when Kevin Costner’s three or four part Horizon: An American Saga bombed at the box office last summer, I have a hunch that scared them a bit from proceeding. Perhaps a feature film would cost less, I don’t know. Maybe some day! I have a feeling it would do well.
A POSSIBLE SECOND BOOK?
I’ve been working on a collection of short stories and tales, some historical, some closer to being more like tall tales, some mixed, some about pranks. So…more on that later. And let me know if you know of any stories like that that need to be told!