Dennis Burges

I'm an Arizona native whose roots go back to colonial Virginia, where my ancestors fought for the Americans. Now my wife Jená and I live and write near Richmond, Virginia.

Trained at various times as a carpenter, a soldier, a musician, and a teacher, I bring a little each to my writing. One Native-American and two European languages add to the mix.

I taught school for a decade in the Arizona canyon lands, where modern life collides uneasily with mysterious geography and the alternate world perceptions of very diverse cultures. There I learned that differing beliefs construct differing realities—just as disbelief fabricates impossibility. The characters in my stories are constantly relearning this truth as they collide with others.

History leaves many unsolved mysteries and fails to explain why people did the things they did. Historians make safe and conventional guesses; I like to make bolder guesses–offer reasons that violate the expected.