Tall Tales & Stories from Texas

Bert Wall couldn’t wait to actually get his hands on the novel he just completed, “Seminole Bill.” The only problem seemed to be actually tracking the book down. Late last week, the first 100 or so copies were due to arrive at the local author’s house, but the best Wall knew, they were wandering around lost on a UPS truck that very moment. With a tooth pick pinned between his teeth and a pair of cowboy boots beneath him at the foot of his couch, Wall phoned an employee of his publishing company, speaking with “a little lady from Chicago” to try and get the books down to Texas. “Seminole Bill” — based on a real-life Colt-carryin’ African American cowboy — is no exception. “In this new book, to me this is the way Texas was and the way Texas should be today,” Wall said. “We were freaking renegades. Texas was born from nothing but hell raisers and renegades and look where we got... Pretty good ‘til lately.” The rancher, author and real estate broker ran across the main character for his new book, Seminole Bill, more than 20 years ago in a local newspaper. The short article explained how Seminole Bill was found alongside a burned out wagon by two cowboys crossing the West Texas plains. They take him back to their ranch, and with the help of a Seminole woman, raise him as their own. “This book takes Seminole Bill through where he’s learning to be a cowboy, where he’s learning to be a gun fighter, where he finally sees and learns about black people. He doesn’t know black people for a long time, you have to remember,” Wall said...SanMarcosRecord