Knowledge Base

Wes did spend copious amounts of time in research for stories, though in my opinion an author can never do enough to "fool" the really knowledgeable reader, especially when it is subjects the author knows little or basically nothing about but wants to tackle as a story subject anyway. Wes has lots of these. He did write about things he is very knowledgeable about, of course.


In Wes's case, often the level of detail in a story indicates how much or little he knew about a given subject, though he was quite good at hiding this in my opinion. For instance he has martial arts experts in several books, mostly the DW series and Tales from Spearfish Lake series, but he knows almost nothing about it. He confessed to me early on in our relationship that he wished he'd never brought them into any stories, but it was way too late by then. I'm fairly certain he knows very little about board surfing, long-distance hiking (backpacking the AT for instance), whitewater kayaking, rafting, any form of skiing (uncertain about this), and I'm likely forgetting other outdoor activities (more mentioned below).


I know for sure that he's not knowledgeable about the wrestling that he had Randy teaching Crystal early in the first Dawnwalker (DW) book. I thought it sounded real good, but he confessed to me when I asked him about it and he said he learned all he needed in a two-hour talk with the local high school wrestling coach. That surprised me because I thought he'd done so well with it. I'd bummed around with wrestlers in high school and college, but never did any myself outside of just fooling around.

I was a swimmer all the way through high school and college, ranked NCAA swimmer during my time though never went further with it.  For instance I've stood several times on the starting block and the guy next to me was Mark Spitz! I know for a fact that the swimming he has Crystal do, especially in his novella, "The Lone Ranger", is quite bogus. She doesn't train anywhere near enough to have achieved that level of expertise. The descriptions of her feats at rescues on the river are entirely fine with me. 


As mentioned his whitewater kayaking and rafting descriptions are generally fine as he has so little detail in them. I've done a lot of both (and even more canoeing) and have helped validate the descriptions in the stories I've worked on (all of 'em now). He has owned a whitewater kayak, but I'm sure hes never paddled it on much whitewater. I know he's never been on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. That would certainly be way above his abilities. He owned at least two touring kayaks, maybe more (Kathy might have them still and is willing to sell them if anyone is interested), though I'm fairly sure that he hasn't done much in long distance paddling of more than an overnight or maybe a weekend in duration. His job at the Hudson newspaper would preclude much of that. Just combining paddling and camping isn't hard to do. I think his knowledge of that was at least acceptable.



There are several topics that Wes is certainly quite knowledgeable on. He was a pilot of small planes himself for many years and basically lived part of Mark Gravengood's life, especially the part in Colorado as a tow plane pilot for gliders. I never asked, but am reasonably certain that he's never been at the controls of a Learjet.



I think he knew trains pretty well. His wife Kathy says he has a fairly extensive model train layout that she wanted to get rid of, haven't asked if she succeeded yet, but I don't know anything about trains myself so can't comment. Others who do know trains are enamored of his stories that include them, so I'm guessing he's up on that subject more than adequately.



Dog sledding? No clue. It would surprise me if he's done much (any?) himself, though there have to be mushers in his area who would let him tag along for rides and learn the basics. I never asked and hate cold weather myself and ain't goin' out of my way to do it.



Wes had some sailing experience, how much I don't know. I get seasick just thinking about it, so I can't check up on his depictions of that activity much. I know that he's never done an Atlantic crossing though. 


Managing a legal Nevada whorehouse?  I know he's never done that either.  He said that he learned everything about it via extensive research online, including monitoring forums meant for the working girls themselves.  It worked, though I'm sure that his depictions differ greatly from many of those actually operating, let's say they vary from "ranch to ranch" so to speak.  

Comments anyone.  I have no problems with people chiming in with rebuttals to the above.  Certainly other readers have chatted with Wes personally about some aspects of his books, and I haven't heard them all.  Believe me, I'm astounded as to what he does depict convincingly in his writing.  Thanks to JP for initiating this, though others have broached the topic in other ways in the past.  Let's continue this for a while.  


Not Wes

Bonno, let me know which book (more than one?) that this is in.  It may be something I wouldn't want to change anyway, as if Wes didn't want to make the change, then maybe it should be left alone, but I'll look and decide when I get to that book.  

Thanks, 

Not Wes

Contact me privately, and maybe we can work out a way to do it.  At least figure out if it would be worthwhile.  Thanks, 

Not Wes