Wheeler, Richard S(haw) 1935-

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WHEELER, Richard S(haw) 1935-

PERSONAL: Born March 12, 1935 in Milwaukee, WI; son of S. Lawrence (a patent attorney) and Elizabeth Shaw (a teacher) Wheeler; married Rita Middleton, 1961 (divorced, 1965); married Sue Hart, 2000. Education: University of Wisconsin, Madison.

ADDRESSES: Home—219 South 5th St., Livingston, MT 59047. Office—219 South Fifth St., Livingston, MT 59047. Agent—Robin Rue, Writers House, 21 West 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist, novelist, and writer. Phoenix Gazette, Phoenix, AZ, editorial writer, 1961-62; Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, page editor, 1963-65; Reader's Digest, Washington, DC, staff writer, 1966; Billings Gazette, Billings, MT, reporter, 1968-69, copy editor and city editor, 1970-72; Nevada Appeal, Carson City, reporter, 1969-70; Open Court Publishing Co., Lasalle, IL, book editor, 1973-74; Icarus Press, South Bend, IN, book editor; Green Hill Publishers, Ottawa, IL, book editor, 1982-85; Walker & Co., New York, NY, book editor, 1985-87.

MEMBER: Western Writers of America.

AWARDS, HONORS: American Political Science Association award, 1969, for journalism; Western Writers of America, Spur Award, 1989, for Fool's Coach, 1996, for Sierra, and 2000, for Masterson.; Soyb Award, 2002, for Drum's Ring; Owen Wister Award, Western Writers of America, for lifelong contributions to field of Western literature.

WRITINGS:

"SKYE'S WEST" SERIES

Bannack, Tor (New York, NY), 1989.

Sun Dance, Tor (New York, NY), 1992.

Rendezvous, Forge (New York, NY), 1997.

Dark Passage, Forge (New York, NY), 1998.

Going Home, Forge (New York, NY), 2000.

Downriver, Forge (New York, NY), 2001.

Sun River, Thorndike Press (Thorndike, ME), 2002.

Far Tribes, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Yellowstone, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Santa Fe, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Wind River, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Bitterroot, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

The Deliverance, Forge (New York, NY), 2002.

"SAM FLINT" SERIES

Flint's Gift, Forge (New York, NY), 1997.

Flint's Honor, Forge (New York, NY), 1998.

Flint's Truth, Forge (New York, NY), 1998.

The Children of Darkness, Arlington House (New Rochelle, NY), 1973.

Pagans in the Pulpit, Arlington House (New Rochelle, NY), 1974.

Bushwack, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1978.

Beneath the Blue Mountain, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1979.

Winter Grass, Walker and Co. (New York, NY), 1983.

Sam Hook, Walker and Co. (New York, NY), 1986.

Dodging Red Cloud, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1987.

Richard Lamb, Walker and Co. (New York, NY), 1987.

Stop, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1988.

Fool's Coach, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1989.

Montana Hitch, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1990.

Where the River Runs, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1990.

Fort Dance, Thorndike Press (St. Louis, MO), 1991.

Incident at Fort Keogh, Thorndike Press (Thorndike, ME), 1991.

The Final Tally, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1991.

The Rocky Mountain Company, Pinnacle (St. Louis, MO), 1991.

Cheyenne Winter, Pinnacle (St. Louis, MO), 1992.

Badlands, Tor (New York, NY), 1992.

Deuces and Ladies Wild, Thorndike Press (Thorndike, ME), 1992.

The Fate, Fawcett Gold Medal (New York, NY), 1992.

The Two Medicine River, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Cashbox, Forge (New York, NY), 1994.

Goldfield, Forge (New York, NY), 1995.

Sierra, Forge (New York, NY), 1996.

Second Lives, Forge (New York, NY), 1997.

The Buffalo Commons, Forge (New York, NY), 1998.

Aftershocks, Forge (New York, NY), 1999.

Masterson, Forge (New York, NY), 1999.

Sun Mountain, Forge (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor) Tales of the American West: The Best of the Spur Award-Winning Authors, New American Library (New York, NY), 2000.

The Witness, Signet (New York, NY), 2000.

Drum's Ring, New American Library (New York, NY), 2001.

The Fields of Eden, Forge (New York, NY), 2001.

Restitution, Signet (New York, NY), 2001.

Eclipse, Forge (New York, NY), 2002.

Cultural Gulch, Signet (New York, NY), 2003.

Exite: An Irish Rebel in America, Signet (New York, NY), 2003.

ADAPTATIONS: Several of Wheeler's books have been adapted for audiotape.

SIDELIGHTS: A prolific writer of westerns, Richard S. Wheeler has been a journalist and editor throughout his professional career. Educated at the University of Wisconsin, Wheeler has worked as an editorial writer for the Oakland Tribune, a staff writer for Reader's Digest, and a reporter for the Nevada Appeal. Wheeler's accomplishments also extend to book editing, where he has been an editor for publishers such as Open Court Publishing, Icarus Press, Walker & Co., and Green Hill Publishers. He has been a full-time novelist since 1987.

Wheeler, who once worked as a ranch hand, was described by Twentieth-Century Western Writers interviewer Dale L. Walker as "a study in contrasts. He is shy and self-effacing but imposing figure—six-foot-three, 195 pounds, with penetrating deep-blue, deep-set eyes and show-white hair." Though a westerner in all ways, Wheeler foregoes the typical garb of a westerner in favor of fashion such as "slacks, white shirt, laced shoes, and a Navy-blue sport coat," Walker observed.

Wheeler has achieved his greatest fame in the field of westerns. The author of more than fifty western novels, he is the recipient of four Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, as well as an Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in western literature. Wheeler "has an enviable record, recognized by his peers, as a consistently innovative writer of offthe-main-trail novels with a sound historical undergirding, a deceptively easy style, and a born-storyteller's knack for keeping his readers glued to his pages and guessing," wrote Walker. Often eschewing the tropes and formulas of western writing—"there is not a shot fired in anger" in Winter Grass, Walker observed—Wheeler instead seeks to write a more original story with higher literary goals. "I haven't really varied much from my original wish to write a richer, more literate western story," Wheeler is quoted as saying in Twentieth-Century Western Writers.

Bushwack, Wheeler's first novel, chronicles the efforts of Linda Van Pelt, a cultured widow from the East, to deal with cattle rustlers and other unfamiliar dangers of the western landscape. There is even a bit of romance between Linda and neighbor Canada Parker, and tragedy when she realizes she cannot tolerate the western way of life. "Mr. Wheeler writes clearly, plots action scenes with skill, and has a laudable sense of values," wrote Paul Gigot in National Review. A Booklist reviewer remarked that the book has a "Solid plot, with good characterizations, too."

The main character in Winter Grass is Quin Putnam, a Harvard-educated Montana cattle rancher at serious odds with his neighbors over his fencing in of carefully cultivated local grassland with barbed wire. At the same time, his romance with lawyer Nicole is suffering, and it looks as though he may lose Missy, the Indian girl he has raised since childhood, because of her heritage. "The action is fast, the dialogue brisk, the characters are sharply drawn, and the descriptions often memorable," wrote Sister Avila in Library Journal. Janice Toomajian, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, called the book "A special Western with memorable character relationships and high adventure."

The detail and historical accuracy of Wheeler's novels are frequently remarked upon favorably. A Publishers Weekly critic noted that Dodging Red Cloud "is distinguished by its depiction of life among the Crow" tribe. "Wheeler's grasp of the Old West ambience is considerable," remarked a Booklist reviewer, also commenting on Dodging Red Cloud. Charles Michaud, writing in Library Journal, remarked that reading Cashbox "is to experience life in a Western boomtown." A reviewer in Roundup, commenting on Sun Mountain, wrote, "No one can evoke the feel of grit from dirty streets on one's face and clothes, and the sounds of loud revelry of drunken miners loose on the town with bags of gold dust clutched in their hands as well as Dick Wheeler." And Susan Gene Clifford, in a Library Journal review of Sierra, called Wheeler "a real master at capturing the history, atmosphere, and romance of 1850s California."

Wheeler's talents have been recognized by his peers in the western genre, as evidence by his four Spur Awards and Owen Wister lifetime achievement award from the Western Writers of America. Sierra, which won the Spur Award in 1996, is "Absorbing and eventful, replete with authoritative details on the mortal risks, primitive conditions, and sometimes rich rewards awaiting those who joined the gold rush to California," wrote a critic in Kirkus Reviews. Ulysses McQueen leaves his prosperous ranch, pregnant wife, and domineering father to search for a rich strike in California. Stephen Jarvis, recently mustered out of the army, arrives at Sutter's Mill to make his own claim. Jarvis strikes it rich and becomes even richer by selling scarce tools and equipment. McQueen, however, arrives too late to find a claim that would even allow him to make a living, let alone become wealthy. Stung by his failure, he continually puts off contacting his wife, but she eventually finds him, though the arduous trip proved fatal to their infant daughter. Destitute and desperate, McQueen arranges a deal with Jarvis to provide fresh vegetables for sale to the miners, bringing him full circle, back to the land. "Whether read as an adventure story, a love story, or a riveting fictional account of a watershed event in American history, Sierra is an outstanding novel with crackling good dialogue and unforgettable characters," commented a reviewer in Roundup.

Masterson, winner of the 2000 Spur Award, focuses on the fictionalized life and legend of near-mythical western lawman Bat Masterson. While working as a columnist in New York City, Masterson is interviewed by celebrated literary figures Louella Parsons and Damon Runyon. They want to know the real story behind Masterson's exploits and his association with notorious western figures such as Doc Holliday, the Earp brothers, and others. Masterson realizes that the reality of his life does not match the legend, and he sets off with his wife, Emma, to come to terms with his life as a western hero. Masterson "is classic Wheeler, a solid story about real people told with compassion, and a bit of whimsy," remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

Among Wheeler's more popular books are those from his "Skye's West" series. Barnaby Skye was once on track to attend Cambridge and join his father in a lucrative merchant business. Skye is also a deserter from the Royal Navy, and though his forced "recruitment" at age fourteen through a press gang is dubious, he is still being pursued by British sailors and the Hudson Bay Company as a criminal. In the first Skye novel, Rendezvous, he is pursued across the wilderness from Fort Vancouver to the Rockies. After falling in with a group of friendly Shoshone, Skye is introduced to the life of the mountain man at a Rendezvous, a raucous annual gathering of fur trappers and wilderness dwellers. Though the trappers don't know exactly what to think of him, Skye's courage and grit impress them, and his knowledge of the outdoors, gained by contact with friendly Indians, saves them all during a harsh winter. Eventually, he "realizes that life in the free, open space and beauty of the mountains offers seductions and pleasures that Harvard doesn't," wrote a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. Skye becomes a leather-tough mountain man, "ruling his domain with his belaying pin, his Sharps and Colt .44, his two Indian wives (one a Shoshone, the other a Crow) and his ugly, vicious, battle-scarred horse Jawbone," Walker wrote. More than ten other Skye novels followed in the series. "The Skye novels are Wheeler's best pure storytelling,"Walker commented, "with all the qualities he admires in reading the works of other writers: rich characterization, well-drawn female characters, unexpected elements, eccentricities, lore, and history that never slow the pace of the story."

Wheeler's "Flint" series—Flint's Gift, Flint's Honor, and Flint's Truth—also shows him to be "a master of frontier detail and the fine points of newspapering," wrote a critic in Kirkus Reviews. Sam Flint is a crusading frontier journalist, determined to report the truth and unafraid of rival newspapermen or infuriated targets of his reporting. "The Flint series will be a welcome addition to the reading lists of younger western fans," remarked a Kirkus Reviews critic, "and a happy find for all those who prefer more traditional forms of the genre."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Twentieth-Century Western Writers, second edition, edited by Geof Sadler, St. James Press (Chicago, IL), 1991.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1979, review of Bushwack, p. 1040; September 1, 1979, review of Beneath the Blue Mountain, p. 27; November 15, 1987, review of Dodging Red Cloud, p. 539; November 15, 1987, review of Richard Lamb, p. 539; August, 1988, review of Stop, p. 1891; July, 1989, Wes Lukowsky, review of Fool's Coach, p. 1870; April 15, 1995, Wes Lukowsky, review of Goldfield, p. 1482; September 1, 1996, Wes Lukowsky, review of Sierra, p. 66; May 15, 1997, Wes Lukowsky, review of Second Lives, pp. 1564-1565; September 15, 1997, Wes Lukowsky, review of Flint's Gift, p. 211; December 1, 1997, Wes Lukowsky, review of Rendezvous, p. 610; May 15, 1998, Budd Arthur, review of Flint's Truth, p. 1597; August, 1998, Budd Arthur, review of Dark Passage, p. 1971; March 1, 1999, Wes Lukowsky, review of Aftershocks, p. 1155; May 15, 1999, Budd Arthur, review of Flint's Honor, p. 1672; October 1, 1999, Wes Lukowsky, review of Masterson, p. 345; February 15, 1990, Wes Lukowsky, review of Where the River Runs, p. 1141; June 1, 2000, Joanne Wilkinson, review of Sierra, p. 1848; January 1, 2001, Ted Hipple, review of Flint's Honor, p. 987; January 1, 2002, Ted Hipple, review of Flint's Honor (audiobook), p. 987; June 1, 2002, Margaret Flanagan, review of Eclipse, p. 1693.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1973, review of TheChildren of Darkness, p. 957; April 15, 1994, review of Cashbox, p. 505; February 15, 1995, review of Goldfield, p. 182; August 1, 1996, review of Sierra, p. 1092; August 1, 1997, review of Flint's Gift, p. 1151; October 1, 1997, review of Rendezvous, p. 1482; April 15, 1998, review of The Buffalo Commons, p. 526; April 15, 1998, review of Flint's Truth, p. 526; September 15, 1998, review of Dark Passage, p. 1327; December 1, 1998, review of Aftershocks, p. 1696; April 1, 1999, review of Sun Mountain, p. 487; May 15, 1999, review of Flint's Honor, pp. 754-755; September 15, 1999, review of Masterson, p. 1443; September 15, 2001, review of Downriver, p. 1323; November 1, 2000, review of Going Home, p. 1516; April 1, 2002, review of The Fields of Eden, p. 458.

Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide, November, 1992, Carolyn Angus, review of Dodging Red Cloud (audiobook), p. 55; March, 1999, E. B. Boatner, review of Flint's Gift (audiobook), p. 52; March, 1999, E. B. Boatner, review of Flint's Truth, (audiobook), p. 52.

Library Journal, October 15, 1983, Sister Avila, review of Winter Grass, p. 1975; November 1, 1987, Sister Avila, review of Dodging Red Cloud, p. 123; November 1, 1989, Sister Avila, review of Richard Lamb, p. 123; February 1, 1990, Sister Avila, review of Where the River Runs, p. 109; June 1, 1994, Charles Michaud, review of Cashbox, p. 166; April 1, 1995, Sister Avila, review of Goldfield, p. 127; September 1, 1996, Susan Gene Clifford, review of Sierra, p. 212; September 15, 1997, Susan Gene Clifford, review of Rendezvous, p. 104; February 15, 1999, Melanie C. Duncan, review of Flint's Gift, p. 200; November 1, 1999, Ann E. Irvine, review of Aftershocks, p. 152.

National Review, June 22, 1979, Paul Gigot, review of Bushwack, p. 822.

New York Times Book Review, November 20, 1983, "Do as I Say, Not as I Do?" p. 46.

Publishers Weekly, October 16, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of Dodging Red Cloud, p. 69; May 5, 1989, review of Fool's Coach, p. 67; April 27, 1992, review of The Fate, p. 258; May 16, 1994, review of Cashbox, p. 50; March 6, 1995, review of Goldfield, pp. 59-60; August 5, 1995, review of Sierra, p. 432; April 28, 1997, review of Second Lives, p. 50; August 11, 1997, review of Flint's Gift, p. 387; October 6, 1997, review of Rendezvous, p. 73; February 23, 1998, review of Flint's Truth, p. 49; September 14, 1998, review of Dark Passage, p. 45; November 23, 1998, review of Aftershocks, p. 60; March 29, 1999, review of Sun Mountain, p. 90; June 14, 1999, review of Flint's Honor, p. 50; September 13, 1999, review of Masterson, p. 60; November 6, 2000, review of Going Home, p. 72; May 7, 2001, review of The Fields of Eden, p. 223; October 8, 2001, review of Downriver, p. 40; May 13, 2002, review of Eclipse, pp. 50-51.

Roundup, July, 1994, review of Cashbox, p. 27; October, 1996, review of Sierra, p. 33; August, 1997, review of Second Lives, p. 32; August, 1999, review of Sun Mountain, pp. 30-31; December, 1999, review of Masterson, p. 31; December, 2000, review of The Witness, p. 25; December, 2000, review of Tales of the American West, p. 26; April, 2001, review of Restitution, p. 30; June, 2002, review of The Fields of Eden, pp. 41-42.

Roundup Quarterly, spring, 1989, review of Stop, p. 26; spring, 1990, review of Where the River Runs, p. 51; fall, 1991, review of Montana Hitch, p. 65; fall, 1991, review of The Final Tally, p. 66; fall, 1991, review of Incident at Fort Keogh, p. 66.

School Library Journal, February, 1984, Elizabeth L. Fletcher, review of Winter Grass, p. 88; April, 1998, Pam Spencer, review of Second Lives, p. 159; March, 2002, Patricia White-Williams, review of Downriver, pp. 261-262.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 1984, Janice Toomajian, review of Winter Grass, p. 100; February, 1990, Joanne Johnson, review of Skye's West, pp. 348-349.