Belue, Ted Franklin 1954-

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BELUE, Ted Franklin 1954-

PERSONAL: Born January 12, 1954, in Orlando, FL; son of Frank Owens and Myra (Janell) Belue; married July 4, 1977; wife's name Lavina (a computer programmer). Ethnicity: "White." Education: Florida College, A.A., 1976; Murray State University, B.S., 1982, M.A., 1985. Politics: Independent. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Hunting, fishing, primitive camping, eighteenth-century style, eighteenth-century living-history events, acoustic music, "searching for the world's best barbecue."

ADDRESSES: Home—Murray, KY. Office—Department of History, Murray State University, P.O. Box 9, Murray, KY 42071-0009; fax: 502-762-6587. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Murray State University, Murray, KY, began as lecturer, became senior lecturer in history, 1991—. Muzzleloader, staff writer, 1993—; Kentucky Humanities Council, member of speakers' bureau, 1998-99; History Channel (cable television network), technical and script consultant and commentator; performed as "extra" for the film The Last of the Mohicans, released by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1991, and for the television broadcasts River Pirates and Frontier Medicine, both for History Channel, between 1998 and 2000; public lecturer and historical consultant.

MEMBER: Filson Club Historical Society (member of editorial advisory board, 1997-99).

WRITINGS:

The Long Hunt: Death of the Buffalo East of the Mississippi, Stackpole Books (Harrisburg, PA), 1996.

(Editor) Peter Houston, A Sketch of the Life and Character of Daniel Boone, Stackpole Books (Harrisburg, PA), 1997.

(Editor) Lyman C. Draper, The Life of Daniel Boone, Stackpole Books (Harrisburg, PA), 1998.

The Hunters of Kentucky: A Narrative History of America's First Far West, 1750-1792, Stackpole Books (Harrisburg, PA), 2003.

Contributor to books, including encyclopedias, and to The Book of Buckskinning VII, Scurlock Publishing (Texarkana, TX), 1995; and The Book of Buckskinning VIII, Scurlock Publishing (Texarkana, TX), 1999. Contributor of about eighty articles to periodicals, including Filson Club History Quarterly, Blackpowder Annual, Muzzle Blasts, Kentucky Explorer, and Bluegrass Unlimited.

SIDELIGHTS: Ted Franklin Belue once told CA: "Early in my life, at least by third grade, I became infatuated with the romance of America's first 'far west,' that being frontier Kentucky, and woodland Indians, especially the Shawnee. In school I realized I had a knack for being able to express myself with a pen. After attending college, I found myself out of work. To make money in 1989, I turned to writing historical nonfiction, marketing my work to magazines. While honing my skills in the trade press, to gain greater credibility I submitted essays to historical quarterlies and encyclopedias. In 1991 Murray State University hired me as an adjunct to teach general history courses, a position I still hold today, and with the same level of insecurity. By September of 1998 I had published three books which continue to sell well.

"I have no idea why I have an interest in frontier history. Nor do I know why I write, other than because I find it intriguing and, at times, profitable. Mark Twain and Jules Verne are my primary nineteenth-century influences; Peter Matthiessen, Ernest Hemingway, and Edward Abbey are my primary twentieth-century influences. Jack London taught me discipline. Typically, when not researching, I write in the mornings beginning about four o'clock, and I pick it up later in the afternoon and night after I come home from work. Often I put in twenty-five to forty hours a week on top of a full-time job. It is a lonely way to make a living, but it satisfies me."