James J. Griffin,
while a native New Englander, has been a student of the frontier West
from a very young age. He has travelled extensively throughout the
western United States, and has visited many of the famous Western
frontier towns, such as Tombstone, Pecos, Deadwood, Cheyenne, and
numerous others.
For Painted Pony Books, Jim pens the Lone Star Ranger series. Recently, Richard Prosch caught up with Jim and visited with him as follows.
Richard: What inspired the idea of a teenager becoming a full-fledged Texas Ranger? Is there an historical precedent?
For Painted Pony Books, Jim pens the Lone Star Ranger series. Recently, Richard Prosch caught up with Jim and visited with him as follows.
Richard: What inspired the idea of a teenager becoming a full-fledged Texas Ranger? Is there an historical precedent?
Jim: When
Livia and Cheryl approached me about doing a series of Young Adult
Westerns, I knew the main character would be a boy who ends up riding
with the Rangers. My favorite subject to write about is the Texas
Rangers, so it was a natural fit. And yes, there is definitely an
historical precedent, not necessarily in the time frame when the Lone
Star Ranger books are set, the mid-1870s, but in the earlier days of the
Texas Rangers, before and even during the Civil War. Back in the 1840s,
when the Rangers were mainly a volunteer organization, boys as young as
fourteen were full-fledged members of the Rangers. And Nate Stewart,
and his best friend and Ranger partner, Hoot Harrison, are part of a
long tradition of boys, which probably goes back to when the first
soldiers picked up a spear way back in history, of lying about their ages
so they can join a fighting force and head off to war.
Richard: One of my
favorite things about your Lone Star Ranger books is that as Nate
learns about roping, or working on a horse's hoof, the reader does too.
I'm assuming a lot of that comes from your own life's experience?