|
Acknowledgments
My first novel was so
long in gestation, it gathered a support base like the great pyramid.
The Union-Tribune Publishing Company of San
Diego gave me my first job as a paperboy in La Jolla, California and provided a continuing series of popular articles and
books on local history, especially by Hugh Crumpler and Richard F. Pourade, who alerted me to the characters who eventually
became the cast of The Indian Lover. Fifty other historians filled in the gaps.
The California Historical Society kept
me abreast of new research and well rounded in my viewpiont of frontier and native character. Ditto the San Diego Historical
Society.
Euva Anderson, the love of my life, came up with the title, pushed and pulled to give the story shape, and
was my harshest critic. Jenny introduced me to her tribe's history. Grandpa Bert made me appreciate the Native American
soul that pervades to inhabit all immigrant Americans. Uncle Gary made me appreciate the military, especially the US Marines.
My Father, Garth Ivor, and Mother, Stella Margaret read to me from my earliest days on earth, taught me the ways of the California
oak parklands, streams, lakes and seashore, and showed me the value of work.
Earl McGrath added soap to the soup
and introduced me to my dynamic literary agent, Lynn Nesbit, who took the book to Michael Korda, my expert editor, who kneaded
the manuscript into a novel and made me a writer in the long process.
Thanks to my sisters, Sue and Jan, who were my
first girly friends, and to Danny Durham, Sue Ryan, Nada Medagovich, Nancy Davis, Cindy Lienhardt, Nyarie Abbey, Monik, Louise
Ferrier and Judy Mathews, who made me a man who loves women and put up with me while I learned the hard way. Nancy and Nyarie,
thanks for applying excess kindness as antidote to obsession.
Eric, my brother, most loyal supporter and competitor,
was always my right hand man and punchingbag and soulmate. Trice and the twins, Sean and Barrett were and still are solid
as California granite. Nancy and Patricia, my little sisters, like daughters. Susan Wright, Judy, Loren and Bettina for
taking care of dad.
The Windansea and La Jolla Shores gangs were my not so secret army, backed by the Rincon riders.
Mike Doyle, Rusty Miller, Malcolm McCassey, Don Hansen, John Dahl, Dean Redfield and Russell Hughes taught me the business
of life. Bill Engler was the man when the chips were down. He showed me anything, even fist fighting, was possible to do
with style. Fred and Mary Ryan and brother Mike threw the rescue bouy more than once. Jon Close orchestrated the sound track
for all those days.
Harry Crosby, the great historian of the missionary settlement of the Californias introduced
me to Mexico and showed me how exciting history can be when the powerpoints are connected with live wires, transforming the
million facts into unforgetable story. Read 'Antigua California' and 'Gateway to Alta California' for the thrill of Harry's
skills. Native American writers from Black Elk and Tecumseh to Sherman Alexi infused my native soul. Shakespeare, Conrad,
London, Steinbeck, Hammett, Proulx, Cormac M and Kingsolver showed me how one should write.
In my twenty years in Australia,
Stanley Elkins' thorough studies of aboriginal culture and my many many friends, surfers, artists and thinkers, have provided
a rich perspective on America and California history. The Aussies are our closest kind in this shrinking world, and the sharpest
in instructive criticism. It is a brilliant irony that both the white Australians and native Californians were known derisively
as 'diggers'. The diggers of Sydney and parts north treated this seppo like a prince, and the fiercely independent and good-humored
sheilas were always my princess guides...encouraging when I didn't take myself seriously and laughing at me when I did, a
debt I can never repay. The Witzigs, David and Lissa, Nat, Marilyn, Alma, Jack and Kelly, Lydia and Mark, Penelope, Ricky,
Spider and Louise, Boze, Sam, Flookie, Gary and Terry, Baddy and Robert K, Captain Goodvibes, Mouche and Suzy, the Campbell
sisters, Nell Schofield, Benny and Brian, Gretta and Tim, Brian and Rachel, Norma and David, Lester and Steve, Jack and Di,
Jimmy and Singo, Tommy Emmanuel, Nigel, Hambone, Frolich, Michael McMartin, Phillip Walker, Bob Hawke and many others gave
me a chance to shine as a human being. David Gulpilil provided a personal glimpse into the depths of aboriginal soul.
I owe the foundations of my education to the great public school system of Honolulu, Hawaii, where for ten years I learned
everything from the hula to algebra. At Kuhio, Manoa Valley and Aina Haina Elementaries, William Paul Jarret Junior high
in Palolo Valley. Kaimuki Japanese School rounded out my kamaaina education. Hawaii's innovative system of student care
of the schoolgrounds, pulling weeds, mowing the lawns and trimming hedges, and work in the school cafeteria one day a month,
prepared me for life in the bigger world. Mahalo. In California, the public schools at La Jolla, UC Santa Barbara, and UC
San Diego carried me through to young adulthood. These too are debts too great to be repaid.
The concrete efforts of:
Erin Grayson, critic, sidekick, artist and David Cain on the map. Carol Bowie, Karina Harris, Gabriel Weiss, Honi Werner and
Rebecca Davis at Simon and Schuster brought this book skillfully and generously to fruition. Lorena Tovar for typing the
first draft. Gerry Kuhn and Peter Hoff for research. Erick Jussen took the photos and he and Lily kept my spirits up on more
than one cloudy day. Chris King, my first reader, and Nava Young, my last before publication. Julia Chaplin, Mike Doyle,
Gerry Lopez and Nat Young, the four writers who lent their names, thoughts and great prestige to the jacket; and Robin Ray
Spear, Joanna Hershon, Gordon Chaplin and Alison Bauman for writerly commiseration...
My lifetime heroes: Pat the Brat,
Pal Al and Fleet, Butch, Fisher, Tweek, Peegee, Anchovie, the Pattersons, Cannon, Ekstrom, Glubbo, Stick, Babs, Sally and
Linda, Barry K, Lopez, Reno, Strauch, Nuuhiva, Takayama, Blah, Hynsen, Frye, Hayward, Tejada, McDonaugh, Bear and Nick, Brud,
Mow, Boynton, Scrawn Ron, Lance, the Aabergs, R Dick, Irons, Ford, Doyle, Fletcher, Dora, Grigg, Cabell, Lynch, Nat and Rabbit
and Kong and Chappy and TC, Greenough, MC Bear, Peck, Big Mike, BuddyBoy, Jeff, Laird, Steve and Steve, Mark, Mike, Eddy and
T-Boy.
FRIENDS, LOYALISTS, INSPIRATION, CHARACTERS
Women, smart, talented, with enduring impact: Heroines, Burjas,
Babes.
Anita Oser, Mrs. Hogg, Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Marvel. Signe, Louise LaPoint, Melinda Merritt, Sandy Cogan, Linda Lyerly,
Racquel Welch from La Jolla High. Tanya, Noelle, Stasia, Valeria, Lyndall, Miriam and Olivia, Laura, Alix, Electra, Dibbie,
Nancy, Beth, Judy, Brooke and Bibi, Pilar M, Karine R, Janice D, the Hutt, Stevie, Najma, Hugette, Ella, Double Doris, Lily,
Bitten, Joan Dideon, Margot and Muffet, Sandy K, Fawn, Angelica, Amanda, Atlanta, Maia, Melia, Mary, Valerie V, Paloma, Pricilla,
Kendall, Lisa, Bonnie, Masako, Sarah C, Eva, Wendy, Heidi, Christina, Christine, Chrissy, Chris, Fern, Anita, Karen, Diane,
Leilani, Jennifer, Jan, Merch, Ileana, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Leary, Jan Sharp, and Julia Chaplin.
The Boys: the
Bold, the Bald, the Bountiful.
Lionel, Ian, Eric, Robin, Billy, Beard, Feurer, Kelly, Testino, Brisick, Leary, Harrison
F, Almodovar, Coburn. Lenahan, D Christ, Tim and Neil Finn, Hales, Mathers, Fine, Val, Kenny, Marino, David Keith, Jimi Hendrix,
Jeff King, Bugatti and Musker, Jimmy Reed, Sonnyboy Williamson. Linus Pauling, Wright, Graham, Moses, Schnabel, Amuri, Akito,
Taiji, Kosasa, Heaton, Rath, Curt, Thor, Gabriel Wisdom, Jackson, Gerry, Howard, Cliff, B-Boy, the Hazards, Haskell, Moon,
Newman, Hamilton, Brooks, MacGillivray, Riiick, James O'Mahoney, Sunkel, Oberg, Ortner, Big and Little Pink, Joe Hollow.
The Families: The Augers, the Calands, the Chaplins, the Englers, the Mansfields, the McGonagles, the Olsens, the Cecenas,
the Thompson Twins, the Rufus-Issacs, the Rhodes, the Hoffman/Fletchers.
This list is as incomplete as my memory. So remind
me! I tried to infuse all I know about everything in this one book. And what would I know about anything without these people?
My debts to Jeremy, for taking over in Palm Beach, Russ and Monik, Peter Bauman, and Rick Rubin for sending me on my
way to write, make this an expensive book!
Mexico, the nation, the place and the people of Baja California gave me the
peace of mind and body to sit down and write. Gracias, muy amable.
To the Native Americans and Hawaiians, for their
humor and generosity of spirit in the face of every indignity known to man, and for providing America with a soul.
To
my great canine friends, Patch, Rourke, Zippy, Pasha, Casimiro and Dante, to the pair of doves that returned to me every year
at Lakeport, California; to the horses of La Pastora; to every plant and animal that has succored, comforted, instructed,
thrilled and enlightened me; to every rock and stream and sea and speck of sand and breath of air and curling wave that has
lashed these sacred shores...I worship and adore you all, my shining universe.
Garth Murphy, Encinitas, California,
2002
|
