Lone Star Justice follows Texas Rangers Hondo Stone and Kid Carter, who do their best to bring justice to Old San Antonio against the mounting opposition who outnumber and outgun them. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

First, let me thank you for this great interview from your prodigious company, Literary Titan. I truly appreciate it. The inspiration for my story is manyfold. But first and foremost, my inspiration is my late brother, Duane “Mr. Bear” Campos, who is the heart and soul of the 2-Bru Krew. The way he lived with honor, courage, true friendship, and unwavering principles according to his Code of Honor inspired me to write this series of Western novels. The setup of the story is an homage to people of strength and resilience everywhere: law enforcement, soldiers, and other protectors of citizens who put the well-being of others ahead of their own. They are unsung heroes whom an ever-fickle modern society heralds with tickertape parades and yellow ribbons when it makes them feel good, then that same public oftentimes turns around and hypocritically chastises and scrutinizes these same defenders when they see that it takes a wolf to protect the sheep from other wolves.

What is the biggest thing that people THINK they know about the old west/western genre that isn’t so?

Most people live under the misconception that during the Old West, Texas was populated by mostly Hispanics or Whites from the South, when the truth was Texas was a melting pot within the “melting pot” of the United States. Though it is true, Hispanics made up a great percentage of the population and were there long before Anglos, Texas, was filled with Indigenous Native Americans of many different tribes. And Texas was similar to New York in being a key destination for immigration, such as the “Forty-Eighters”, who were European immigrants that came to Texas in the late 1840’s-1850’s and not only settled throughout the state but also founded many new towns with their European culture. My series of Western novels, starting with “Old San Antone” and continuing with “Gunfighter’s Requiem” and “Lone Star Justice”, has several leading characters who are German-Jewish immigrants that settled in Old San Antone, such as the Birnbaum Family, Dr. Issak Jaffe, and Papa Schultze, to name a few. There are a slew of other Europeans too, like the Bohemian Czech gunman Dutchy Laszlo, the French gambler Taj, and perhaps most prominently of all, one of the main characters, the Englishman “Kid Carter”. Other main characters are also transplants to the west: Captain Hondo Stone is originally from Illinois, Jess LeBeau is from Kentucky, Kay Hart is from New York, Sara-Belle Garnett is from Philadelphia. Not to mention the antagonists such as: J.B. Jenkins who is from Ohio, Dickie Diamond and Dexter Gaff are from New York, and the gunman Domino McGillicutty is from Ireland. But the ethnic group that is oftentimes most overlooked is African-Americans, and I’m proud to say they are represented well in my novels, with the lead characters Ma’am Daisy Brown, the gambler Red-Dog Rouge, Madam Rose, the young lad Toby, and an assortment of gunmen, and of course, Moses Brown, whom Hondo makes the first Black volunteer Texas Ranger.

Your novels are extensive and detailed, showcasing the real old-west. Were there scenes you ended up cutting you wish you could’ve kept? Describe them and the decision-making process.

Thank you for the compliment about the detail of my novels, I truly appreciate it, it means a lot to me. To me, a novel should be detailed. People read to be immersed in a world within their mind, and as authors it’s our job to transport them there with words that fly off the page, enter their mind, and take them to another place in time where they can live and experience another life as though they were living it themselves. It’s easy for an author to pump out a 125-page pamphlet that reads like a quick screenplay with little to no description, which leaves the reader guessing what happened, and transports them no where except to a place where they wasted a handful of cash and a few boring hours sifting through a book that should’ve been left unread. But it takes dedication and love of the craft of writing for an author to pour their heart and soul into their books. I am a writer who does that. My blood is in those pages… Not “on” them, but “in” them… Did I cut anything out? No. It’s all there. That’s why I made the conscious decision to make this an ongoing series of books, where one picks up where another left off. Maybe some people might think them long. But to paraphrase the prodigious author Victor Hugo about his novel Les Misérables: “Due to the great length of my book, I don’t know whether this story will be read by everyone… But it is meant for everyone. Because it is written for everyone…”

Do you plan to write more books surrounding Hondo Stone and Kid Carter? If so, where will the story take readers?

That’s a great question. Most definitely, I’ll be writing more books following the “Chronicles of Hondo Stone and Kid Carter”. For those who’ve read the first 3 books thus far, they know that each novel begins with a “Prologue” that takes place in the year 1900, with a young journalist coming to Old San Antone wanting to find out more about the lives of Hondo and Carter, so he can write a series of stories about them. He meets a grizzled old newspaperman who knew them, and the widow of Carter, and together, they tell this journalist the tale. The chapters of each book then immediately transport the reader back to 1867, and they get to “live” the experience first-hand, seeing the events unfold as they did at that time. At the end of the book, it returns to the year 1900, with the journalist begging to know more, and knowing the story will continue in the next novel. So the future books will continue the tale of the two best friends, Hondo Stone and Kid Carter, and the people closest to them, Jess LeBeau, Rachel Birnbaum, Sara-Belle Garnett, Daisy Brown, Professor Birnbaum and his wife, and other main characters, as their lives intersect with events, both tragic and triumphant, that shape not only themselves, but the State of Texas over the years, chronicling the wild west as it actually happened. I am currently working on the 4^th installment, which I plan to publish before the year is out. Thank you so much again for this wonderful interview with your great company and staff. I can’t thank you enough, Literary Titan. You are awesome.

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