Stanley Struble

I enjoy writing because it gives me a way to connect with readers. All writers want to be read, but to maintain an active dialogue with readers the novelist must provide insights into what they have learned about life, which is usually found in the context of their stories, characters, settings and plots. I have been very fortunate in that several of my books have been translated into other languages and thus have been able to connect with others outside the English language experience.

I think my unusual background has provided me the experience and knowledge to connect with others interested in the human condition and to write stories. Without going into a lot of detail, I come from an extremely dysfunctional family. I couldn't tell you how many public schools I attended until no one wanted me anymore and an aunt and uncle decided that I would best be helped at Boys Town, Nebraska. I didn't want to go, but it saved my life. Even today I'm pretty connected to the Home.

I was a bit of a lost soul for many years after graduating from Boys Town. I went to a juco in Kansas for several years, worked off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico for a year, returned to school at Kansas State and finally found the curriculum that floated my boat, anthropology. Anthropology, the study of man, and history, both prehistoric and historic, served as templates for my curiosity and creativity in understanding the human condition. I didn't learn enough about that, but I sure learned a lot about myself, my condition, my family, and my place in the universe. I also learned that I'm never, ever going to learn as much as I need to, never really going to understand all the answers to the big questions, and neither does anyone else. As I'm sure you know, it's all very humbling.

Graduate school followed at Wichita State, then again back at Kansas State. Like many in my generation, I drank my share of beer and smoked pot during that era. I'm not promoting that as a thing, and certainly not as a lifestyle, but I must confess that I did enjoy my travels, friends, and the youth movement of that time. Yes...my generation did invent Rock and Roll and our music is better than yours. Sorry.

I had lots of other adventures, too, but they're best not discussed here. After an ill-advised failed marriage of five years, I went to Mexico and lived and worked with one of my very best friends, Tony Gonzalez (no relation to Speedy) who today remains one of my oldest and best comrades. I am very grateful to Tony and his family, and my books would never have been written without their patience and support.

Most of my novels are based on actual historical events with which I have taken substantial liberties. Sometimes I wrote a story because no one had yet written it and I thought that someone should because it was important in some way. After returning to the states, I eventually married the smartest woman I could find, Valerie, a former National Science Foundation Fellow, who also became the world's best editor. There's lots of Val in my books, and she served as the template for the character Sister Angelina in the novel In the Time of the Feathered Serpent. In that book (which is my newest), Sr. Angelina's nightly essays to the pope are all composites of thousands of conversations that Val and I have undertaken over 40 years. Many of them are ongoing dialogues that will never conclude. No wonder my children are all so warped.

Anyway...I returned to Boys Town to work with kids in 1986 and remained there as a youth care worker, counselor, National Alumni Director, etc. for 28 years. I had a brief anthropology teaching assignment of two years at Kansas State University in the mid 70's, and have taught anthropology and sociology at Metropolitan Community College for about 15 years. I'm presently hunkered down during this corona virus period. I walk daily, read, teach online classes while waiting for classrooms to reopen, scheme on another book for the Feathered Serpent series, and have a brew most days. I guess I'm very predictable. If you do read my books, I feel very confident that you're in for a surprise. No one else does what I do the way that I do it - primarily because no one has lived a life quite like mine, or enjoys magical realism to the extent that I do, and it's reflected in my stories. That's not a brag, it's just the way it is. I'm going to stop for now. If you decide to follow up and read some of my stuff, I can only say THANKS! Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review and please tell your friends. Nice visiting with you!