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RTW: Its great to have this opportunity to talk with you again, Matt. Tell us a little bit about your newest novel, KINCH RILEY. What led you to write about Riley?
MB: I was fascinated by a true story of heroic dimensions. Kinch Riley, also known as Jim Riley, was a youngster suffering from tuberculosis, then called consumption. In 1871, at age seventeen, he drifted into Newton, one of the Kansas cowtowns. There, he was taken under wing by Mike McCluskie, a rough customer with a soft spot for a sickly kid. Their friendship would end in tragedy and the stuff of legend..
RTW: It seems so little is known about the life of Kinch Riley. In your novel, is much of Rileys character a composite of people youve known? How did you go about "filling" him out?
MB: Virtually nothing is known about the life of Kinch Riley. Historians place him in Newton the summer of 1871, and afterward, for the most part, he is lost to legend. The challenge for a writer is to take known facts and extrapolate from that to fill in the holes. I tried to place myself in the boots of a tubercular kid who stumbled upon a friend and a father figure at the lowest point in his life. The character, once fully imagined, then writes his own story.
RTW: It has been said that the Newton General Massacre is what earned Newton, Kansas its name of "Bloody" Newton. Care to give us a little background on the event?
MB: The summer of 1871 was a violent period in the cowtown called Newton. Mike McCluskie, the father figure of the story, killed a Texan in a gunfight on August 11. On the night of August 20, several cowhands, friends of the dead Texan, opened fire on McCluskie in a saloon. Kinch Riley then joined in the shootout, and the result became known as the Newton General Massacre. The book also explores the aftermath of the shootout, and one of the most enduring mysteries of the Old West. What happened to Kinch Riley when he vanished from Newton?
RTW: Were there any discoveries while researching this novel that surprised you?
MB: The biggest surprise was Mike McCluskie. Here was a hard man, quick with his fists and a pistol, who all but adopts a frail, tubercular kid. Beneath his tough exterior was revealed a man of compassion and kindness, a man of deep emotions. The relationship between McCluskie and Kinch forms the basis for a compelling tale of loyalty and friendship. The Bible tells us: Greater love hath no man than he would lay down his life for his friends. It's true.
RTW: Were there any special challenges you encountered while writing this story?
MB: The main challenge was in portraying a young man sentenced to death by tuberculosis. In that day and time, there was no cure for consumption, and Kinch knew he had only a few years to live. His relationship with McCluskie restored the spark of life and gave him reason to struggle against the dread disease. He came to manhood the summer of 1871 in Newton, and learned that there are worse things than one's own death. He put his life on the line for the man who had taught him the meaning of friendship and love.
RTW: When you begin a project like this, do you outline your plot on paper before you begin a novel, or do you already have a general outline in your minds eye that you follow?
MB: I outline a book in considerable detail. The historical facts form the time line and an overlay of the general plot. Then I visualize step-by-step what transpired in the character's life within the natural progression of the story. From there, I construct the outline, generally a half-page devoted to each chapter. The research is then integrated into the outline to provide authenticity and a sense of you-are-there immediacy. Finally, imagination becomes reality, and the characters dictate their story to the writer.
RTW: Your novels are always well-researched. Care to supply our readers with some additional recommended reading on Kinch Riley or the massacre at Newton?
MB: by Miller and Snell. by Floyd Streeter. Wild, Wooly & Wicked by Henry Sinclair Drago.
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