Boot Hill: Remembrance (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781517314682)

Louis Antwoord knew from the age of nine he wanted to be a writer, after reading a short story western by Louis L'Amour. At the age of eleven he began writing short stories for his friends and family, but growing up on a small ranch in Idaho left little free time for a boy who had lost his father in World War II. He attended high school and graduated with honors, but seeing that his mother needed help on the farm he decided to give up his dream of writing. The ranch needed to be looked after full time and he soon found his days consumed by working cattle and mending fences. Through all of this he continued to be an avid reader. At the age of twenty-nine his mother succumbed to cancer. Her medical bills and the ranch proved to be more than he could pay, so he sold the ranch to a family friend and moved to Missouri. For the next nineteen years he worked at various jobs: on the barges along the Mississippi river, bucking ties at a sawmill, milking cows on a dairy farm, a cook on a steamboat and serving drinks in a bar. But he always remembered his love for writing. At the age of forty-eight he decided it was time to pursue his passion once again. He hopped a plane to Idaho and moved back onto the ranch he had sold years ago. Working as a cook he began to write and publish westerns. In his writing, Louis tries to convey a message of hope to the people who read it. "No matter how hard life is or how many obstacles it throws your way, keep going. The prize is just around the corner." He writes for the love of writing, and in the hopes that his words will inspire readers to pursue their dreams as he did his own.