|
 Eugene C. Vories was born in Walsenburg and lucky enough to spend
most of his growing up on the family’s (Capps) ranch near Pryor. The ranch stretched
all the way from the foot of the East Spanish Peak to the flat country east of I-25
and was owned by Eugene's uncle, Harry J. Capps who was also Sheriff of Huerfano
County for many years. His father, Eugene S. Vories, was Walsenburg’s Postmaster.
It was over these formative years that an impressionable Eugene developed his love
of ranching and the independent cowboy lifestyle.
Eugene C. remembers, "In those days everything was done either
on foot or horseback; there were no pickups or stock trailers. At that time, my
uncle pastured cattle for other ranchers. As a boy, my aunt loved to read to me,
and had some very good books for young boys. Maybe that's what started me thinking
I wanted to write. I've been writing western novels for a long time now. My first,
Arrowhead Ranch, was published in 1959 and The Man From Colorado in 1960, so I thought
I was off to the races. Both books were also printed in Great Britain and the Man
from Colorado became my first paperback to be printed in Italian. I pointed to it
with pride saying, 'I wrote it but I can’t read it.'"
Vories continues, "I had three more books published by New York
or big city publishers, but was never happy with those folks. After years of trying,
I sold a book, Ride The Rough String, to a Salt Lake City publisher thinking I was
out of that New York market. The publisher printed the first three thousand copies
and declared bankruptcy. I bought the books from the court and began selling them
myself using my Christmas card list. I learned a lot, but decided if I was going
to do that, I might just as well start publishing my own books. One great thing
about that is I've never had a manuscript rejected by the publisher. I've published
ten books now under the trade name, Vories Family Publishers, Eugene C. Vories,
Author. Most of them are set in Walsenburg, La Veta and Trinidad. My books are in
three series. What I call the Monte series are present day novels about an old cowman
who sells his business and ranching interest on the western slope and retires on
the ranch near La Veta. They're humorous stories about an old cowboy and his escapades
with widows, bankers, forest rangers, oilmen and newcomers. The Button Benton series
is set in the late 1800s. It starts with Mr. Grant's Cowboy, a fourteen-year old
who takes a job on the Grant Ranch to learn to become a cowboy, and goes through
his growing up to Ride For The Brand, Deputy, and The Dark Trail. Two books, Piñon
Mesa and Return to Piñon Mesa are set on the western slope where I ranched for many
years and are about the sheep wars and later, land development. My latest, Return
To The Arrowhead is about a character in my first book who goes back East for several
years then returns to the ranch he loved."
"I write fiction about the kind of real people who lived and worked
in the West to make this country what it is and try to put some history in, as I,
or my family, remembers it. I don't write shoot 'em ups, so if you're interested,
and will send me your mailing address, I'll send a flyer with prices and ordering
information on my self-published books. A lot of people seem to like the way I tell
a story."
|
• local author