George Wilhite

George Wilhite

I have been a member of Western Writers of America as well as member of the Texas Coalition of Writers and a reviewer for the All About Murder website. I became an active member of the Mystery Writers of America Southwest Chapter and was a 2019 Edgar Awards judge for Best First Novel. I have presented at several writing conferences and conducted writing seminars and workshops throughout the U.S.

I am currently an Associate Professor of English at Texas State Technical College, where I have worked since 1999. I have also taught writing classes at Baylor University since 2006. Prior to becoming a college writing instructor, I was a professional journalist for 20 years at various Texas newspapers and have won several state, regional, and national awards from various press associations for writing and news coverage.

I was also a rodeo contestant. I rode bareback broncs (or "bares") for 13 years and bulls for 8. I also was a rodeo bullfighter for 5 years and then became a barrelman and contract acts person (the guy who brings the funny acts to the rodeo) for 5 years. I was the resident barrelman and funnyman at Crider's weekly summer rodeo for three years in Hunt, Texas, just outside of Kerrville. Crider's was at that time the longest running weekly summer rodeo in the country, having been in continuous operation since 1925. I clowned their 65th Anniversary Season. Along the way I was also editor of Rodeo News magazine in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, the official publication of the International Professional Rodeo Association.

In 2003, I was named to the board of directors of the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in Belton, Texas. I and several other more famous rodeo clowns were part of the 2004 Rodeo Clown Reunion in Stephenville, Texas. We and the Reunion were inducted into the Cowboy Capital of the World Walk of Fame.

I was a rodeo photographer for 20 years with covers on Rodeo News, Rodeo Times, Rodeo Illustrated, and Texas Rodeo magazines and provided photos for Western Horseman of the International Finals Rodeo. I have shot photographs at the Texas Police Officers Rodeo Finals and two International Finals Rodeos (IFR10 and IFR11).

I started writing fiction in high school for an English class (thank you, Ms. Archer) and wrote a lot of short stories in college at Temple Junior College. But then I got into journalism and didn't write any fiction for nearly 20 years. When the oil slump hit South Texas in the mid-80s, I went back to school to finish my bachelor's degree and stayed on for my master's. During graduate creative writing courses, I began to write short stories again.

Eakin Press released my first novel, The Texas Rodeo Murder, in 2004. I am currently working on the second Texas Rodeo novel. I am also at work on two more--one set at the 1936 Boston Garden Rodeo and another dealing with a modern-day mystery in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

My most current publication is The Short Go, a chapbook of short stories about “the Cowboy Way” that was published in April 2020. Another chapbook is scheduled for later in 2020 or 2021. A chapbook of short mysteries is slated for some time in the future as well.