No Place That Far

Leaving behind a marked trail of evil deeds and havoc as an enforcer for powerful men, J.D. seeks refuge in the American Southwest in 1908. Hounded by the law and haunted by his own memories and his fear of getting caught, he discovers a flaw which smolders at the core of his being. Can a man run away from trouble, from himself? There ain’t no place that far.

Bruce Wilson is a writer, historian, and educator living in both Silver City and Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is a graduate of California State University-Fullerton and Western New Mexico University where he currently teaches Writing and American History. He is a contributing author to the anthology Bug Tales by Paul Klebahn and Gabriella Jacobs and his story “Raven’s Nest” received an Honorable Mention in the Desert Exposure 2015 Annual Writing Contest. Recalling the stories his father used to tell, one tale in particular kept popping up in his thoughts, so Wilson traveled to Kentucky to do some research on his family heritage and discovered the actual events of the story. Last year, he returned to the home of his ancestors in Kentucky and walked the country roads and trudged through the rows of the tobacco fields. Unable to get the story out of his mind, he turned the event into a novel—Death in the Black Patch, which earned the 2017 Laramie Book Award for First Place in Western Fiction and was a Finalist in the 2017 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards.