Blessed Are the Peacemakers follows an outlaw turned preacher who heads to a gold camp in Alaska to start a church. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

In 1972, our family moved to Alaska to do missionary work. One day in Church, I realized one of the Beatitudes, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’, would be a great title for a Western. I wrote it down in my journal. Finally, last year in 2023, I sat down and started writing it.

What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?

In all the Western movies I’ve seen while growing up, the town preachers turned out to be either a Caspar Milquetoast or a bad guy. Someone who was timid and didn’t believe in deadly force to protect his family or the town, or someone who was out to take all they could get. The scriptures say a man who doesn’t provide for his own is worse than an infidel. That includes protection. Why can’t a preacher who is good with a gun be a good guy?

What intrigues you about this time period enough to write such a thrilling period piece?

I have always been interested in the history of the Old West and the Mountain Man era. I grew up in Fairbanks Alaska, an old gold rush town turned modern. I became interested in Fairbanks’s history.

What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it?

More exploits of Coy Tucker, in Blessed Are the Peacemakers. Hopefully out by the summer of 2004.

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