Articles


Ireland: Inspiration, Awe and the Road Less Traveled
Ireland is truly unique and beautiful. It’s also a country that lives with its past and present, haunted by death, blood and war. I love it. As a writer, I travel to find places and people that inspire me, fill me with awe and dreams and memories.
The Lily of the West: Booklist Review!
So excited about this review from Booklist: Writing in first person, Morris gives the woman’s struggle an immediacy and poignancy not usually found in a traditional western. A good companion for Mary Doria Russell’s Doc (2011), this compelling debut will appeal to readers of any gender.


Reviews: Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison/Savage Country by Robert Olmstead
You know how sometimes you pick up a book and within five pages you begin to savor every word because it’s so damn good you don’t want it to end? Whiskey When We’re Dry and Savage Country are two prime examples.


San Ignacio del Babacomari Ranch: Living History
While writing “The Lily of the West”, I was invited to spend time and write at a friend’s ranch in southern Arizona, San Ignacio del Babacomari. Incredibly inspiring, in fact the McLaury brothers had an outpost on land they leased there back in the 1870s. Being there opened semi-hidden doorways and let me follow paths into the past, where much of the Old West is still alive and touchable.


Murder Ballads: Some Dark Music to Write By…
If you’re into country, bluegrass, western, appalachian or roots music, you’ve heard many a murder ballad, even if you weren’t sure what that was. It was the haunting one, usually minor keyed, that sort of stuck in your mind, with just a guitar or banjo, sometimes a steel guitar. And yeah, somebody gets killed, for the usual reasons: love, vengeance or money. Good listening, and great inspiration for writers. Well, me anyway, ’cause the box of life isn’t always full of the good chocolates, sometimes you get coconut.


From “The Lily of the West”
From time to time, I will publish posts about what I’m writing, excerpts from finished work, perhaps an essay or a short story, words that will hopefully pique your interest or just be entertaining.