D.E. Lamont

I grew up in the rapidly blossoming residential tract developments of the San Fernando Valley of Southern California in the 1950s and 60s. My brothers and I explored the wild chaparral-covered hills and canyons, where we found signs of former Native American inhabitants, including a cave with a natural chimney that had markings on the walls (now obliterated by graffiti), and whose ceiling was black with the smoke from centuries of fires. These discoveries were a revelation to me and excited my interest in earlier times. They left me with the haunting impression that these mysterious, missing people still waited to tell their stories.

Only many years later did I learn who they were - the original people of Los Angeles, the Tongva, who had been driven to near extinction over the last four and a half centuries by the Europeans and other conquerors. I wished to honor the Tongva and let more people know about them through my story, The Way of the Eagle, which is set in the period just before the encroachment of Spain into North America. Today roughly 2,000 descendants of the Tongva live in Southern California and gather again to celebrate, honor and protect their heritage and ancestors.

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D.E. Lamont has been an independent nonfiction book editor for many years and is the co-author of three nonfiction books, several short stories and her novella, THE WAY OF THE EAGLE. She lives with her husband in an apartment overlooking the majestic mile-wide Hudson River, which at rare times transforms into a mystical rolling river of clouds - hence the name of her indie publishing imprint, Cloud River Press. She is presently working on a full-length novel and the sequel to THE WAY OF THE EAGLE. She will also soon publish a collection of her own cartoons.