Wittliff grew up listening to stories and memories like these in his own family, and in this imaginative novel, they come to vivid life, creating an engrossing story of a Texas Huck Finn that brims with folk wisdom and sly humor. A rogueโs gallery of characters thwart and aid Papaโs pathโOld Karl, hell-bent on bringing the boy back to servitude on his farm, and Herman, Papaโs brother whoโs got Old Karlโs horse-trading instincts and greed; Calley Pearsall, an enigmatic cowboy with โother Fish to Fryโ who might be an outlaw or a trustworthy โoโAmigoโ; oโJeffey, a black seer who talks to the spirits but wonโt tell Papa what she has divined about his Momma; Mister Pegleg, a three-legged coyote with whom Papa forms a poignant, nearly tragic friendship; the โMexkinsโ Pepe and Peto and their father Old Crecencio, whose longing for his lost family is as strong as Papaโs; and blind Bird, a magical โblue babyโ who canโt see with his eyes but who helps other people see what they hold in their hearts. Papaโs adventures draw him ever nearer to a mysterious cave that haunts his dreamsโan actual cave that he discovers at last in the canyons of the Devilโs Backboneโbut will he find Momma before Old Karl finds him?
Bill Wittliff is a distinguished screenwriter and producer, whose credits include Lonesome Dove, The Perfect Storm, The Black Stallion, and Legends of the Fall, among others. With his wife, Sally, he founded the highly regarded Encino Press and the Wittliff Collections at Texas State UniversityโSan Marcos. Wittliffโs fine art photography has been published in the books A Book of Photographs from Lonesome Dove, La Vida Brinca, and Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy.
Jack Unruh (1935โ2016) was an award-winning illustrator whose art has appeared in numerous publications, including Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, Time, Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, New York Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Afield, Field and Stream, GQ, and Texas Monthly. His work has appeared in Communication Arts Illustration Annual since its inception and has been in numerous shows of American Illustration, Graphis, AIGA, and Print.