Patrick Dearen's Web Page

1979 The Shakwa (co-authored under the pseudonym Gene March) Patrick Dearen There was no time in hyper-space. Distant suns were only dim specks buried in the vastness of never-ending shadows. Darkness enveloped the space ship and became infinity as Marcus Shakwa stared ahead, wondering why it was he they wanted, why they had let him survive and escape the first time, only to call him back again. And reaching across the broad expanses the voices grew loud inside his ears, taunting and beckoning him with endless progressions of meaningless words. Shakwa. Shakwa Taya... Shakwa Taya...Taya... Marcus' mind whirled about a distant sun, losing itself in snow that wasn't snow, seeing long-forgotten sights, sights human eyes had not beheld in eons, dreamy visions of conical shapes, rising out of mountains, of half-naked warriors dancing around lapping flames, hearing voices that spoke a tongue not heard by men. It was then that he knew where he was going. He was returning to the Land of the Red Snow, going back toward the summoning voices, going back to fulfill his destiny as...The Shakwa.

1980 Starflight to Faroul Patrick Dearen A renegade starship lieutenant escapes from prison to seek Faroul, the planet of Creation. Alan Burke, renegade space pirate, together with a vicious conspirator called Poteet and a prostitute called Davon, set out to find the planet Faroul and the power of creation.

1988 The Pecos country of west Texas lies between San Angelo and the Pecos River and runs west to the edge of the Davis Mountains. It's a land wild with tales, true ones and tall ones, that blend history, geography, and folklore. Patrick Dearen has spent years studying the legends and mysteries of this harshly beautiful land, talking to old-timers, reading yellowing newspaper files and dusty court records, and walking the country himself, finding the landmarks. From his search emerges a fascinating picture of an inhospitable land and its legends. Preserving the history and folklore of these legends, Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier represents the definitive study of six specific stories-----Castle Gap, a break in the mesa some twelve miles east of the Pecos River, used by Comanches on the warpath, immigrants seeking California gold, and cattlemen driving Longhorns up the Goodnight - Loving Trail; Horsehead Crossing, the most infamous ford of the old west, considered the graveyard of hopes by drovers and immigrants alike; Juan Cordona Lake, the vast salt lake where sandstorms and skull - baking sun defied early efforts to mine salt needed for everyday survival on the frontier; the bulto or ghost who wanders the Fort Stockton night in search of peace; the Lost Wagon Train, a forty wagon caravan entombed in the sands of west Texas; and Will Sublett, who found a fortune in gold hidden in the Pecos country and kept the secret of its location even unto his death. Hidden treasures links these six stories-----secret gold mines, outlaw loot, fortunes buried for safekeeping and never found again. Men were drawn to Pecos country to seek its treasure-----and many lost their lives without ever finding its legendary riches. Though linked by the search for wealth, the stories are as varied as the land itself. They speak eloquently of the Pecos country, its heritage, and its people.

1993 The Pecos River country of west Texas is a vast land of contrasts, stretching between San Angelo on the east and El Paso on the west. This region, which is rich in history and folklore, has shaped the lives of those who live there. Patrick Dearen spent years tracking down the stories, and then painting with words portraits of some of the intriguing individuals, folklore, forgotten sites, legends, and hidden places that are found along the Pecos frontier. He climbed high into the mountains of Big Bend National Park in search of the Lost Chisos Mine. The mysterious "Ghost Lights" of Marfa teased him across an arid plain when he hunted them on a dark night. He dared the spirits by staying in a supposed haunted house in the Davis Mountains. He walked the tracks of dinosaurs, and studied Indian signs at Mustang Springs and cavalry signs at a forgotten outpost of Fort Concho. He endured days of solitude in Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Big Bend Ranch, slithered through a cavern in the heart of Fort Stockton's Comanche Springs, and struggled up Mitre Peak in the Davis Mountains. Emerging from these pages is a strong sense of place that will leave you bonded to the land, its heritage, and its people. "Patrick Dearen proves himself a worthy successor to J. Frank Dobie...."Southwestern Historical Quarterly" Patrick Dearen, a former award-winning reporter for two West Texas daily newspapers, is the author of four other books, including Castle Gap and The Pecos Frontier. WILLIAM CALDWELL SUBLETT by Patrick Dearen Ben Sublett Biography: by Patrick Dearen SUBLETT, WILLIAM CALDWELL by Patrick Dearen

1993 Graveyard of the West (Documentary Film Script) Forest Glen Productions

1994 A dark hand fell over the land, the starry sky alone holding a faint glow.The brush came alive with a chorus of crickets, keeping time with the rhythmic hooves, and a shadow that was an owl came swooping up-canyon to veer into the timber and hoot. Something stirred against the bluff, rustling the undergrowth, and birds flitted about, disturbed from their roosts. But Charlie, for the moment, felt a measure of peace. He was back, riding a wild country that welcomed him home. The strange exaltation came over him again, for in this canyon unbridled by man time no longer existed; it could have been the 1890s as well as the 1990s. And there was again a place for a lonesome cowboy....

1996 The Pecos River flows snake-like out of New Mexico and across West Texas before striking the Rio Grande. In frontier Texas, the Pecos was more moat than river, a deadly barrier of quicksand, treacherous currents, and impossibly steep banks. Only at its crossings-----with such legendary names as Horsehead and Pontoon-----could travelers hope to gain passage. Even if the river proved obliging, its Indian raiders and outlaws often did not. Its banks echoed with the sounds of the mythic Old West-----the war cry of the Indian, the blast of the cowboy's six-shooter, the crack of the stage-driver's whip, the thunder of the stampeding longhorn. While documented history was painting dreary lives for pioneers in many other locations, the Pecos stirred with color and drama and nurtured the stuff of legend. Long after irrigation and dams rendered the river a polluted trickle, Patrick Dearen went seeking out the crossings and the stories behind them. In Crossing Rio Pecos, a follow-up to his Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier, he draws upon years of research and relates the history and folklore of all the crossings: Horsehead, Pontoon, Pope's, Emigrant, Salt, Spanish Dam, Adobe, S, and Lancaster. Meticulously documented, Crossing Rio Pecos is the definitive study of these gateways which were so vital to the opening of the Western frontier.

1997 The Illegal Man Patrick Dearen A hard journey, a bold adventure... Following a dream, he risked his life to search for a better way to live. A hunted man, he was forced to deal with criminals as he watched his dream dry and wither in the cruel Texas sun. This is a gripping novel of the plight of an illegal Mexican and his desperate search to provide more for his family than poverty and hopelessness in a dying land.

1997 An 1886 newspaper termed the Pecos River of Texas and Southern New Mexico "the cowboys paradise." One cowhand even reckoned "the Pecos boys were the most expert cowboys in the world." On the Pecos they had to be, for in frontier times it was a river so treacherous it was known as the "graveyard of the cowman's hopes." A Cowboy of the Pecos is a vivid account that skillfully captures the essence of those men who, unlike any other breed of cowhand, rode hellbent-for-leather across the Pecos. It tells the full story of the Pecos cowboy from the time of the Goodnight-Loving Trail drives to the 1920s when cattle trucks and pickups snatched away the last hope for the cowboy's characteristic and spirited way of life. Documented and supported by vintage photographs, this book will carry readers on a rip-roaring romp through the Old West.

1998 Working cowboys live on as genuine legends who rode through a golden moment in American history. In the 1980s historian/author Patrick Dearen went looking for the last of these fading icons. The trail took him to dozens of one time cowhands in their 80s, 90s and even 100s whose aged eyes lit up and voices seemed young again as they spoke of their experiences on the trail. From these honest-to-goodness stories of the incredible hardships of braving the elements, dealing with stampedes and runaways, and good-natured hooraying with their companions. These stories bear the unmistakable brand of an Old West that is now but a dusty grave on a long-lost trail. Dearen chronicles the tales and introduces the cowboys who tell them, with tender respect and love.

2000 Cowman Mayer Halff rode a long, busy trail that few men could have followed. It carried him from 1850s France to Texas and across fifteen hundred miles of wild western country waiting to be tamed. Throughout his life, he was at ease whether dining with a U.S. president at a plush metropolitan banquet or squatting across a campfire from a dirt-streaked cowboy in some forsaken cow camp. Immigrating as a fourteen-year-old, Halff began as a foot peddler. He quickly built the largest dry goods business in the Southwest and by 1861 was pursuing his passion---cattle ranching. He founded several of Texas' famous ranches: the JM Ranch on the Pecos River, the Quien Sabe in the Midland region, the Circle Dot in the Big Bend, the Mallet on the South Plains, and the Schreiner and Halff in South Texas. He eventually controlled almost a million acres. Patrick Dearen, a Spur Award finalist and author of nine other books, carefully weaves Halff's story against the backdrop of the Texas cattle industry. The droughts, the drives, the drifts, the die ups---they all bolt through these pages like stampeding cattle across a stormy plain.

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2006 Lubbock Avalanche Journal Article Roundup Magazine Article

The author of sixteen books, including the novel When Cowboys Die, a finalist for the Spur Award, Patrick Dearen has written four previous books of Pecos country lore and legend: Crossing Rio Pecos, Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier, and Portraits of the Pecos Frontier. A member of Western Writers of America, Patrick Dearen is a well-known and respected author of several books on cowboy history and legend, including "A Cowboy of the Pecos." He lives in Midland, Texas with his wife and son.

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