Killer of Witches: The Life and Times of Yellow Boy

by W. Michael Farmer

Killer of Witches is a powerful story; truth told with fiction that transports the reader to a different background, culture, history, time, and religion. It is the other side of Apache history lived by a people fighting the tsunami of Americans migrating west and the terrors of their supernatural insights.

Five hundred Mescalero Apaches at General James H. Carlton's Bosque Redondo Apache-Navajo concentration camp near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, disappear like ghosts in the wind on a cold November night in1865. The Army never finds the Apaches including a five year-old boy with them, who becomes a legend.

346 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2015

About the author

I live and write in Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Living for nearly fifteen years in Las Cruces, New Mexico, I was immersed in the region's rich history, living in its culture, exploring its deserts, mountains, and ranges and learning much of the rich story life of the southwest. I'm a physicist by training, and I have a couple of books on remote sensing through the atmosphere (the Atmospheric Filter)that were published nearly fifteen years ago and are still in use today. I began writing fiction in 2002 in an attempt to get at the truth behind one of the great mysteries of the southwest - the Fountain murders - I learned while living in Las Cruces. The result was my first novel, Hombrecito's War, which won a Western Writers of America Silver Spur Award for Best First Novel in 2006 and was a New Mexico Book Award Finalist for Historical Fiction in 2007. The sequel, Hombrecito's Search, was released in July 2007, and is based on the remarkable fact that Sierra Madre Apaches still raided across the United States border as late as 1930. Treble Heart Press published my third novel, Conspiracy: The Trial of Oliver Lee and James Gililland, in 2009, which, while a novel, covered in historic detail the trial of the men accused of murdering the Fountains. Tiger Tiger Burning Bright: The Betrayals of Pancho Villa, my fourth novel, also from Treble Heart, depicts the fall into near insanity by Pancho Villa and his raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916. Tiger, Tiger completes The Vanished Trilogy. I have also published short stories in two anthologies, won awards for essays at the Christopher Newport University Writers' Conference, and published an essay on Pat Garrett in Roundup magazine.

Historical fiction, framed with as much accurate detail as possible about the events driving the story, is my passion. I've learned that, as Oakley Hall once said, "The pursuit of truth, not facts, is the business of fiction." I believe Oakley Hall was exactly right, but I've also found that fiction built around the facts provides powerful insights into the life and times of historical characters and events as they actually were. I hope you enjoy my work and I look forward to hearing from you.

Reviews

[Steven Howes · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, the Southwest has always been a place full of natural beauty with a unique cultural history, especially among the indigenous and Hispanic peoples. The title of this book intrigued me so I purchased it expecting to find a mystery steeped in some of the supernatural beliefs of the Apache Indians. Although there was some of this, what I found was a very predictable, superficial and, at times, not very believable story.

The ending of the book indicated to me that the author may be contemplating a sequel. I don't think I will be anxiously awaiting the next installment.

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will admit that this book was well-researched. Reading it directly after Voices of the Apache, it was clear Farmer did his homework. Beat after beat, the story would bring up something that I'd specifically recognize from Voices.

But, while Voices of the Apache felt very much alive with the direct quotes and memorable characters, somehow this work of fiction didn't. The characters felt like puppets just being used to give a history lesson. Despite having the resource of fiction, the ability to do some invention in service of the story, this book seemed much less rich than Voices. I think part of it is that Farmer focused more on name-dropping Apache historical events than on weaving in details of Apache life. If Killer of Witches were more of a story that took place in the world of the Apache than a story that takes place during the events of the history of the Apache, it would have been a lot more engaging.

... worse, the choice of which elements of Apache life that Farmer chose to focus on was telling. It's little more than a footnote in Voices that the Apache are more prudish when it comes to sexuality than other nearby tribes - probably because they were understandably reluctant to do talk about it. But in Killer, this prudishness is the focus of multiple chapters, taking the form of morality plays (at best) and slut-shaming (at worst). When Farmer wants to let us know who the villains are, their sexuality is sure to come up.

It reminded me a lot of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I loved that book as a kid, but when in adulthood I re-read that book aloud to my kid, I was very surprised by how much Divorced Dad Energy emanated from the storytelling. It was distracting and uncomfortable, and my experience with this book was very similar. Boring at best, obnoxious at worst.