The author of twenty-three books, Patrick Dearen is a former award-winning reporter for two West Texas newspapers. Dearen has produced nonfiction books such as A Cowboy of the Pecos and Bitter Waters: The Struggles of the Pecos River . His research has led to thirteen novels, including The Big Drift , winner of the Spur Award of Western Writers of America, the Peacemaker Award of Western Fictioneers, the Fiction Book of the Year Award from Academy of Western Artists, and the Elmer Kelton Award from West Texas Historical Association. His other novels include When Cowboys Die, The Illegal Man, Perseverance , and To Hell or the Pecos . Dearen lives in Midland, Texas, and has backpacked the Guadalupe Mountains extensively. See patrickdearen.com for more information.