FAR WESTERN CIVIL WAR SERIES OVERVIEW by P. G. Nagle In the mid 1990's, after selling a number of fantasy and science fiction short stories, I decided to write something different. Since I enjoy reading historical fiction I thought I might enjoy writing is as well, and following the adage, "write what you know," I chose to set my novel in my home state, New Mexico. I began to explore 19th century New Mexico history and very soon discovered the New Mexico Campaign, of which I had never even heard although I grew up within fifty miles of the Glorieta battlefield. I was astonished that a campaign that was so important, not only to New Mexico but to the greater war, was so little known even where it occurred. Though I had not set out to write a war story, and had no more than a passing interest in the Civil War, I knew this story had to be told. Before I had finished writing Glorieta Pass, I was hooked on the history of our nation's greatest conflict. I knew that the Battle of Glorieta Pass was not the end of the New Mexico Campaign, and that the rest of the campaign was as fascinating a struggle, though different in many ways, as the Confederate invasion of New Mexico had been. As I was writing The Guns of Valverde I was also reading and absorbing as much as I could about the war in general, and especially events west of the Mississippi. The battles out west tended to be smaller, scrappier, and almost completely ignored compared with those in the eastern theatre and what was called the western theatre (Tennessee and Kentucky). I felt a growing conviction that the men who fought and died west of the Mississippi deserve to be remembered every bit as much as their eastern counterparts. It is this persuasion that has inspired me to continue writing the Far Western Civil War novels. When I say the men who participated in the far western campains deserve to be honored, I mean all of them. It is never my intent to declare who was right. That discussion continues to this day, and fascinating and complex as it is, I don't wish to enter into it in my novels. Rather, they are about what the experience of war did to its participants and witnesses. For that reason, each of the Far Western Civil War novels is told from three main points of view (with occasional supplemental points of view): Confederate, Federal, and Civilian. The characters themselves may have strong feelings about issues relating to war and patriotism. Those belong to the characters, not necessarily to me. Exploring a crisis from different points of view is one of the interesting aspects of writing. These books are each intended to stand alone, though they tell a continuous story and have characters in common. The first two, Glorieta Pass and The Guns of Valverde, cover the New Mexico Campaign. The second pair of novels, Galveston and the forthcoming Red River, follow the Confederates from the first two books through their major campaigns of 1863 and 1864. Future plans for the series include a pair of books that will pick up the thread of the Federal characters from the first two novels and bring them through 1864, plus a final book wrapping up the war for many of the characters in the previous books. It is possible that I will continue writing about far western battles beyond these plans. There are many gripping stories these books have not touched on. The Battle of Pea Ridge is an example--an important battle I was sorry I could not squeeze into O'Brien's experience. Perhaps a new set of characters will address that tale. Writing this series has proved to be extremely rewarding, often in surprising ways. I have been given advice and support by a wide variety of people, from historians to the descendents of participants in the campaigns. Their attitudes toward the events I depict are as varied as they could possibly be, as evidenced by the many names by which they call it ("War for Southern Independence," "War of the Rebellion," "Lincoln's War," and so on—by the way, I use "Civil War" because it's short and widely recognized). As different as we are, I have found we all share the wish to remember those who entered into this conflict, taking the ultimate risk and many of them paying the ultimate price. The sacrifices made by the heros—military and civilian—who were caught up in the crucible of the Civil War are reason enough for me to continue telling their stories.