I can’t say exactly when the characters in this Bloodlines & Fencelines started whispering to me, but I do remember the day I decided to put their nonsense down on paper. It was after listening to Bill Wittliff, the legendary Texas writer, give one of his final author’s talks. It was in early 2019, not many weeks before he died. I was at Chez Zee American Bistro in Austin, Texas, at an intimate gathering of locals, all of us starstruck as he wove behind-the-scenes tales about the making of Lonesome Dove.

I’m confident he’d told the stories dozens of times, but still they entertained because, after all, it was Bill. Then there came a moment when I felt he was saying what every author needs to hear. What I needed to hear. He was passing on wisdom from his mentor, J. Frank Dobie., through him, to me. Simple words that stuck with me and inspired me as I wrote this book.

He said authentic fiction is built on the stories of our lives. That simple truth resonated. I’ve been blessed in my life with people who have shared interesting, passionate, heartbreaking, funny stories with me. One of the advantages of being old, and there are damn few, is you’ve had a lifetime to collect precious stories. I drew from the well of my lived experience and the stories I’ve heard from others to give flesh and bone to the characters who populate my make-believe little Texas town. Dobie once said the story belongs to whoever can best tell it. I hope that proves true for the citizens of Lantz, because they are now the custodians of my lifetime collection of tall tales.

Thank you, Bill. May God rest your soul. Thank you, also, to the storytellers I’ve known who made my life a lot more fun.