Guests: Tom and Mary Walker

Angelica welcomes Tom and Mary Walker to the show today. The novel, Contrary Creek, penned by the brother and sister writing team, Tom and Mary Walker, is narrated 16-year-old Danny Cloud, who lives with his parents and younger sister, B.J., on Rafter C Ranch located in the Mogollon Rim country of Arizona.
This coming-of-age story spans one year, during which Danny witnesses odd events happening in the local town of Faraway. The high school principle engages in a book-banning crusade. The science teacher announces herself as a witch. And a mysterious series of deaths raises puts Faraway’s population of 250 on edge and threatens to tear apart the town.
Tom and Mary Walker grew up on two different ranches: the JV Bar north Wickenburg, Arizona, a desert ranch on state land; and then the Flying W west of Young, Arizona, situated on U.S Forest Service land in rugged Mogollon Rim country. Young is located in Pleasant Valley, the site of the historic Graham-Tewksbury Range Feud in the late 1800s. They roped cattle alongside their parents, wore cowboy garb, ate pinto beans with every meal, and lived a frugal ranching life.
Both went on to attend Arizona State University and pursue careers, Tom in journalism and Mary in social work. After retiring from thirty years as a newspaper reporter and editor, Tom worked as a grant writer in Tucson, Arizona where he now lives. Mary, a resident of southern California, spends her days with homeless, mentally ill adults and children. She also is the creator and owner of Steel Cut Press, a traditional publisher of fiction and non-fiction books, and the e-zine, Witsendmagazine. Although neither wanted to become ranchers, they retain nostalgia for that way of life.
For more information, you also can visit www.contrarycreeknovel.com.