W. Michael Gear

W. Michael Gear is an American writer, and archaeologist born in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 20, 1955. He is perhaps best known for his First North Americans series, co-authored with wife Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

Biography

W. Michael Gear graduated from Fort Collins High School in 1972 and pursued both his Bachelor's (1976) and Master's (1979) degrees at Colorado State University. Upon completion of his Master's in physical anthropology he went to work for Western Wyoming College in Rock Springs, WY as a field archaeologist.

Beginning in 1981, Michael, along with two partners, put together his own archaeological consulting company. Pronghorn Anthropological Associates began doing cultural resource management studies in 1982. He sold his interest in 1984.

Gear's writing was inspired by historical inaccuracies he encountered in reading historical fiction. "Irritated by historical inaccuracies in Western fiction, he swore he could do better. ...he read a Western novel about a trail drive.. [&] ... the historical inaccuracies of the story bothered him all night. The next morning... he hammered out his first five hundred and fifty page novel... It reads wretchedly - but the historical facts are correct!"

Gear currently resides in Thermopolis, Wyoming along with wife, fellow author and co-writer Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

Notable works

Forbidden Borders trilogy

• Requiem for the Conqueror (1991)
• Relic of Empire (1992)
• Countermeasures (1993)

People Books - First North Americans (with Kathleen O'Neal Gear)

• People of the Wolf (1990)
• People of the Fire (1990)
• People of the Earth (1992)
• People of the River (1992)
• People of the Sea (1993)
• People of the Lakes (1994)
• People of the Lightning (1995)
• People of the Silence (1996)
• People of the Mist (1997)
• People of the Masks (1998)
• People of the Owl (2003)
• People of the Raven (2004)
• People of the Moon (2005)
• People of the Nightland (2007)
• People of the Weeping Eye (2008)
• People of the Thunder (2009)
• People of the Longhouse (2010)
• The Dawn Country (2011)
• The Broken Land (2012)
• People of the Black Sun (2012)
• People of the Morning Star (2014)
• People of the Songtrail (2015)

Way of Spider

• The Warriors of Spider (1988)
• The Way of Spider (1988)
• The Web of Spider (1989)

The Richard Hamilton Duology

• Morning River (1996)
• Coyote Summer (1997)

Anasazi Mysteries

• The Visitant (1999)
• The Summoning God (2000)
• Bone Walker (2001)

Other Novels

• The Big Horn Legacy (1988)
• Long Ride Home (1988)
• The Artifact (1990)
• Starstrike (1990)
• Dark Inheritance (2001) (with Kathleen O'Neal Gear)
• Raising Abel (2002) (with Kathleen O'Neal Gear)
• The Athena Factor (2005)
• The Betrayal. The Lost Life of Jesus (2008) (with Kathleen O'Neal Gear)
• Children of the Dawnland (2009) (with Kathleen O'Neal Gear)
• Copper Falcon (2014) (with Kathleen O'Neal Gear)

External links

• http://www.gear-gear.com/michael.shtml (Biography of W. Michael Gear on his official website)