Autumn and the Silver Moon Stallion. In the Dark Night. The Color of Fire. Sunset’s End.
The “horse books” are done, finalized, I’m trotting away. Four books, scores of horses killed, a woman murdered. The return of the legendary Ghost Horse. It’s time to leave Autumn, Silver Moon, Becky, and Phillip to lead their lives without me always looking over their shoulders and telling them what to do. When you love someone, let them go, right?
Putting the final touches on Sunset’s End, the last in the Double B Ranch series, was difficult, and I wasn’t surprised. I had read other author’s accounts of the bittersweet emotions saying goodbye to the characters they’ve worked so hard to craft. I knew it would be the same for me.
Building Becky’s character was challenging. When we first meet her, she is an angsty 19-year-old, certain her life is over because her champion horse had tragically died.
She didn’t need to be reminded that her father wanted her to go trail riding. She was dreading it. She didn’t need to be reminded she hadn’t ridden either of the family horses for several weeks.
What her mother didn’t seem to understand was that as far as Becky was concerned, she never wanted to ride a horse again. Never.
— Autumn and the Silver Moon Stallion
Becky rescues Autumn, and this little Palomino proceeds to forge a new future not only for the teenager but everybody else — including me. Writing Autumn has been a true joy in my life.
I was surprised how some minor characters influenced and even altered the course of the books’ trajectories. I wrote a blog about One Ear and Little Girl a few weeks ago. These two unlikely companions, apex predators in the Wyoming mountains, initially played small roles. But they evolved into important characters almost on their own, providing unique insights into their world:
He felt every year of his age, many of his teeth now missing. His claws, once long and sharp were truncated and black. Ribs threatened to poke out of his skinny body. Scars from several battles with other mountain lions dotted his chest and neck, and scars from a fight with a certain stallion only a few years before ran like ribbons down one of his back legs.
— The Color of Fire
Humor can be vital when characters are faced with even life-changing circumstances, and it was fun to imbue some of my characters with wry dialogue:
“For many years, we have become accustomed to people visiting us, looking for miracles and medicines to cure what ails them. Expecting our elders, old men and women, to bestow an ancient wisdom they are certain we own, eager to enter sweat ceremonies which,” Three Owls smiled, “we oblige for a small introductory fee.
“It is always the white folk who come here to watch native customs, misled by their various movies and television shows portraying us as either savages or saviors, when we are neither.
“So you can appreciate the confusion after a Shoshone, one of our own, seeks us out to work a magic he knows does not exist.”
— Sunset’s End
The emotions and lives of the horses were easy for me to craft. I have always believed, and seen with my own eyes, how animals communicate with each other, and with humans, if we would only listen. However, many of the chapters in all of the books were difficult for me, but necessary to show how vulnerable wild horses are to human cruelty:
Sheani knew what her sister mare was going to do. “Juno, don’t do this, it’s too high, there’s not enough room.”
But Juno wasn’t listening, saving her baby was all she felt, her brain drumming an incessant instinct.
Now on the far side of the enclosure, she forced all of her being, all of her strength, into this moment, and ran as fast as she could.
She jumped.
— In the Dark Night
Research was absolutely critical to writing all of the books, before and during, since the issues about wild horses are so dynamic. Meeting dozens of advocates throughout the western states has been eye-opening. Receiving recognition through various contests (WWW’s WILLA Silver Award for Autumn and the Silver Moon Stallion; more recently Sunset’s End is a finalist for the 2026 CIPA EVVY Awards), and participating in interviews such as “Rendezvous With A Writer” is so very rewarding. Hopefully, all will bring awareness to the plights of America’s mustangs, which is my ultimate goal.
What’s next? South-central Colorado is calling a story out to me. I’ll have a couple of cross-over characters from the horse books to show me the way. I’ll also depend on my fellow authors from my WWW critique group to keep me on the straight and narrow, as well as my editor Jude DeLorca.
Winter is coming, and so is a new muse!
…is a former newspaper reporter and editor. With a degree in geology, she worked in the environmental field and has been active in historic preservation and animal welfare issues. Her articles have appeared in several magazines and have won numerous awards. A former President of The Old Spanish Trail Association and Women Writing the West, she lives in Grand Junction, Colorado, with her husband, one dog, chickens, and six cats.
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