DeWitt County, Texas (The Bloody Years)

About the Book

A novel of love, hate and vengeance set amid the bloodiest feud ever to rack Texas. Bill Taylor survives ambush, stampede, hurricane, gunfights and a trial for murder before finding a measure of peace in Indian Territory.

About the Author

Willis Gathright grew up in rural Victoria County which adjoins DeWitt County where most of this story takes place. "I found an old derringer with a half dozen notches filed into the brass handle while playing on a hillside with a cousin. I suppose wondering about its history aroused a curiosity about other events which may have taken place nearby and made me wonder if there was a connection between the gun and the feud."

Willis earned a BA in Education and English at Corpus Christi University (now CC A&M) in 1953 and began teaching elementary school while working on his MA at Texas A&I at Kingsville (now A&M) receiving the degree in 1958. Thirty-one years as an elementary teacher and principal was followed by eleven years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston at Victoria. Before college he served in the US Navy in the Pacific beginning in Australia and ending in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese signed the surrender ending World War II. Five assault landing in the Philippines, Borneo and Okinawa and three typhoons at sea came in between. Lacking one semester of getting his BA he was recalled for the Korean War and sent back to Hawaii, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong before being released to civilian life.

Willis and wife Doris have three married children, ten grandchildren and one great grandchild.