Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W Michael Gear

Welcome to the online home of best selling authors Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W Michael Gear.

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Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear are New York Times Best Selling Authors with over 17 million copies of their books in print world-wide. Their books have been translated into at least twenty-nine languages.

Meet The Authors
Kathleen O'Neal & W Michael Gear
Kathleen O'Neal & W Michael Gear
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Since the publication of THE WARRIORS OF SPIDER in 1988, the Gears have been busy entertaining & educating the public with their award winning books. From their popular First North Americans novels to their spine tingling thrillers their books continue to keep readers eagerly awaiting each new release.

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Gear & Gear Book Collection
Kathleen O'Neal & W Michael Gear
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Kathleen O'Neal & W Michael Gear
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W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear are best selling authors & award winning archaeologists who have published over 90 novels.

Frank Waters Award for the Gears

The release of Michael's "Saga of the Mountain Sage" in Four volumes!

...But what does it all mean?

 

Greetings, all!  

June rolled down on top of us like a wave!  You'd think, after all, June usually follows May. But this year, somehow, June 1st smacked us out of the blue! One day, it was just sometime in May, and then, wham! When did that happen?

It's been a wonderous, fantastic, wet and rainy spring here in northwestern Wyoming. The greenest spring we can remember. Better even than 1979, 1987, and 1996! The country looks like Ireland. That kind of eye-popping green! The grass is thick and seeding out nicely. Lots of subsurface moisture, but we're wondering how the hay producers are coping. It's nice to grow lots of lush and magnificent grass and alfalfa, but you need warm dry conditions to cut it, dry it, and bale it. Since we're on the cusp of first cutting, we hope they get a break in the precipitation.

During all of this, our shop/garage was re-roofed and re-sided, and we're having a fence built around the property. Jake, our soon-to-be fourteen-year-old Sheltie, insists on his daily walk, despite the four fused vertebrae in his back. Other than that, he's doing remarkably well. Though with the travel we're doing, he's going to be spending too much time in the "Spa." Jouncing in the truck just hurts him too much.

And, on the book scene?  In May Michael delivered a short story that Wolfpack Publishing had requested for their fall anthology. Mike sent them "Bad Choices", which is set in the Wyoming Chronicles universe. In keeping with the Western theme, it's a very non-traditional save-the-ranch story with twists that should make it interesting and entertaining for modern readers. 

Awards 1

On to awards!  

On June 3rd we received the Frank Waters Award for exemplary literary achievement. The award, given by the Pikes Peak Library Association, was first given to Frank Waters back in the 80s and became eponymous. Other awardees include N. Scott Momaday, Marshal Sprague, Tony Hillerman, CJ Box, John Nichols, and many others.  We are quite honored and humbled to be walking such company.

Kathleen has been delightfully surprised by the recognition generated by her "No Quarter" short story in the Rebel Hearts anthology.  She wrote the story about Bettie and Charlie, two of Jim Bowie's slaves in the Alamo. On June 24th, Kathleen will receive the 2023 Western Writers of America's Spur Award for best short fiction of the year. At the same time, "No Quarter" is a finalist for the Western Fictioneers' Peacemaker Award and the Will Rogers Medallion award in short fiction! And to top it all, she's been informed that on September 11, she will be inducted into the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame.

Guess the bar for Michael's short story has been set pretty high! The lad will be eating humble pie if it doesn't even place, somewhere, in next year's competition. But then, as he likes to say, "If you don't have talent, marry it!" And he did!

So, what is the "Saga of the Mountain Sage?"

Simply put, it's the reissue of Michael's The Morning River and Coyote Summer. First written as a 1500 page saga, and originally published in 1995 in two volumes, the story has long been a perennial favorite for so many. This is the story of Richard Hamilton, a young Harvard philosophy student who is sent to the frontier, gets mugged in St Louis, and sent up the Missouri on a fur trading expedition. There he meets Heals Like a Willow, a widowed Shoshoni woman, and Travis Hartman, an illiterate mountain man. So what happens when a scholarly "know-it-all" superior snob is slapped in the face by the real world? Let's just say, Richard is in for a painful education.

For the first time, The Saga of the Mountain Sage will be available on eBook and eventually in audio. But tastes, and how people read, have changed. Especially in the digital world. Short volumes sell better than large ones, and there's some sort of magical algorithmic benefit to a selling four short volumes instead of one big one that will allow the books to garner a broader readership.  Since The Morning River, part one, has already racked up over one hundred 4.4 Star ratings in the month since its release, we'll accept that the folks at Wolfpack know what they're doing. As of this writing it was the No.1 Release in US Historical Fiction. Part 2, White Mist Dog was the No.1 New Release in Native American Fiction. 

In approaching the re-release, Wolfpack Publishing decided to rebrand the books as "Saga of the Mountain Sage" and release it in four volumes. The first is The Morning River followed by White Mist Dog, which were contained in the original hardback. A Panther's Scream and Coyote Summer compose the second volume. So, to recap: What was two books is now four! 

We're packing now in anticipation of this year's Western Writers of America conference in Rapid City. Should be interesting times.

Until next time, we hope this finds you well, reading in health, and enjoying a cool and refreshing summer!
 
Michael and Kathleen

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Cries From The Lost Island

CRIES FROM THE LOST ISLAND by Kathleen O'Neal Gear is now available for purchase in hardbound & e-formats.

Unreconciled

UNRECONCILED, W. Michael Gear's forth book in the Donovan series is now available in hardbound & e-formats.

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Welcome to the Gear & Gear Web Site

Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear have over 17 million copies of their books in print world-wide which have been translated into at least twenty-nine languages.

The Gears are receiving the prestigious Frank Waters Award from the Pikes Peak Library Association on June 3rd this year. They have also been awarded the Western Writers of America 2021 Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature and were inducted in the Western Writers Hall of Fame at the McCracken Library in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. They are the first Wyoming authors and also the first coauthors to receive this honor.

About Kathleen O'Neal Gear:

Kathleen O'Neal Gear has over two hundred non-fiction publications in the fields of archaeology, history, and bison conservation, and has authored or co-authored 57 books. She has received numerous awards, both for her writing and for her work as an archaeologist. The United States Department of the Interior has twice awarded her a "Special Achievement Award" for outstanding management of America's cultural resources. In 2015, she was honored by the United States Congress with a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition."  Also in 2015, the State of California passed Joint Member Resolution #117 saying, "The contributions of Kathleen O'Neal Gear to the fields of history, archaeology, and writing have been invaluable." She lives with her husband, William Michael Gear in northern Wyoming.

About W. Michael Gear:

Michael has published or is in the process of publishing more than 20 novels under his own name and authored another 37 with Kathleen. Recently released books include DISSOLUTION, UNRECONCILEDFLIGHT OF THE HAWK: THE PLAINS, and STAR PATH along with PEOPLE OF THE CANYONS which he co-authored with Kathleen O'Neal Gear. He also has books with upcoming release dates including AFTER THE EAGLE HAS FALLEN, which will be available soon. His work runs the gamut from historical, to prehistorical, to science fiction, to modern thrillers. All of his work deals with some aspect of anthropological theory. His MORNING RIVER was submitted for the Pulitzer prize in fiction, and the National Book Award in 1998. In September 2021, Michael was inducted into the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime achievement. 

Listen to an excerpt of the audio edition of THIS SCORCHED EARTH, the newly released book by W. Michael Gear.

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Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative

SELTI is an organization that promotes tourism through literature. Each feature offers readers short stories, poetry, and book excerpts about real places to visit. Every story has a companion travel guide with links for more information. SELTI is the nation's premier site for the hot new genre of tourism fiction.

Visit the real places in the Gears' novels

Welcome Message from the Gears - Audio

AudioListen Authors Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear have a special welcome message to fans.

People of the Morning Star - Video

People of the Morning Star

New & Upcoming Book Releases