Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Personal Information
Description
Born in Tulare, California, Kathleen O'Neal Gear is one of six children. Her parents, Harold Arthur O'Neal and Wanda Lillie O'Neal, left Oklahoma and Arkansas during the Dust Bowl and moved to California. For most of Kathleen's youth, her parents owned and operated a small farm in the central San Joaquin Valley of California, growing primarily cotton and alfalfa. But at the same time, her father authored more than fifty short stories, and her mother worked as a newspaper journalist. Kathleen received her B.A., cum laude, from California State University in Bakersfield, and her M.A., summa cum laude, from California State University in Chico. She conducted Ph.D. studies at the University of California in Los Angeles and did post-graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Her family always spent their summer vacations visiting historical and archaeological sites around the United States. Those trips left indelible impressions. She worked on her first archaeological excavation at the age of ten, and won her first writing contest at the age of thirteen, where she took first place in the American Legion essay contest held at Tipton Elementary School. In the 1980's, she worked for the United States Department of the Interior as the Wyoming State Historian, and later as the Archaeologist for Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska. She has twice been the recipient of the federal government's "Special Achievement Award" for outstanding management of our nation's cultural heritage. In 2015, she was honored by the United States Congress with a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition," and the State of California honored her by passing Joint Member Resolution #117, saying, "The contributions of Kathleen O'Neal Gear to the fields of history, archaeology and writing have been invaluable. She and Michael currently operate an anthropological research company called Wind River Archaeological Consultants. Kathleen began writing full-time in l986 and has over one hundred non-fiction publications in the fields of archaeology, history, writing, and buffalo conservation. She has authored or is in the process of publishing 10 novels under her own name, and co-authored 37 international bestsellers with her husband, W. Michael Gear. She has two books which will soon be released including MAZE MASTER along with MOON HUNT which she co-authored with W. Michael Gear. Their books have been translated into at least 29 languages. She and Michael live on a buffalo ranch in the Owl Creek Mountains Mountains of northern Wyoming. She and Michael live on a buffalo ranch in the Owl Creek Mountains of northern Wyoming.
Books
People of the Thunder (North America's Forgotten Past, Book Sixteen)
By 1300 AD, the Sky Hand people had crushed and enslaved the Albaamaha people and built their high-walled capital, Split Sky City, to dominate towns up and down the Black Warrior River. But a violent wind is brewing that may topple the city's mighty walls. Great armies are on the march, and a cunning new leader, Smoke Shield, has risen. He will lead the Sky Hand people either to stunning triumph or to bloody doom. Old White, Trader, and the mystical Two Petals are journeying across the Choctaw lands straight into the chaos. Old White, the Seeker, must play a delicate game of espionage. For Trader the slightest indiscretion--let alone the temptation of forbidden love--could lead to disaster. Two Petals, the Contrary, faces the toughest choice of all : She must betray herself and her friends to Smoke Shield or live forever in the backward grip of madness. And Spirit Power has laid a far deadlier trap for them in the rainbow colors just beneath the rolling surface of the Black Warrior River. A novel of desperate political intrigue and spiritual power, concluding the story begun in People of the Weeping Eye, People of the Thunder once again demonstrates the Gears' mastery of American prehistory. Explore the ancestral heritage of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Yuchi peoples as the majesty and genius of the vanished Mississippian mound builders' civilization comes to life.
Raising Abel
The US edition; in the UK, published under the title Living in the End Times
People of the Sea (North America's Forgotten Past, Book Five)
A spellbinding tale of life and love, death and adventure, in North America eleven thousand years ago, when mammoths roamed the continent. Award-winning archaeologists Michael and Kathleen Gear, using the best archaeological information, have created a stunning vision of our pre-history, and of the men and women who lived in this rapidly changing world. The great glaciers that cover the Sierra Nevada mountains are melting, destroying the habitats of the great elephants, lions and short-faced bears - and giving birth to the rich land that will become California. The few thousand people who have settled along the coast struggle to understand as the world around them changes. Where have the mastodons gone? And why are the mammoths disappearing? The Seer Sunchaser would ordinarily visit the Spirit world and return with answers - but he has lost his way. Meanwhile his rival, Catchstraw, has discovered witchcraft as a way to Power - at the expense of his soul. And what will it mean to the people when a beautiful fugitive arrives? Kestrel, born in Arizona's marsh country, is running from her mad husband, desperately hoping for sanctuary on the coast. But if the Spirits are taking the mammoths now, what will they do should the people shelter an evil woman? Surely they should deliver her to her husband, who will kill her - and who has his own link to the Spirit World through the pitiful, mummified corpse of his little son.… Must Sunchaser choose between the woman he comes to love and the continuation of his world He knows full well that either choice will damn him... People of the Sea tells the story of the initial development of California Native American culture, as a result of climactic warming.
People of the Wolf (North America's Forgotten Past, Book One)
As the Ice Age comes to an end, the climate is changing and game is scarce. Led by a youg shaman who receives a Dream from the spirit of the Wolf, a handful of courageous men and women dare to cross the fragile land bridge linking the Eurasian continent to the Americas to find an untouched, unspoiled continent. Set in what is now Alaska, this is the magnificent saga of the vision-filled man who led his people to an awesome destiny, and the courageous woman whose love and bravery drove them on in pursuit of that dream. A sweeping epic of pre-history that tells the story of the initial migration of Siberian hunters across Beringia and into Alaska. People of the Wolf is the first volume in North America's Forgotten Past, a multi-volume saga that traces the history of these pioneer peoples and their descendants, bringing the story of the ancestors of today's Native American peoples to life in an unforgettable saga of hardship and determination, conflict and passion.
Moon Hunt: A People of Cahokia Novel (Book Three of the Morning Star Series) (North America's Forgotten Past)
People of the Earth (North America's Forgotten Past, Book Three)
The towering saga of prehistoric North America begun in People of the Wolf and People of the Fire continues in this powerful new best seller - the gripping tale of a young woman with the gift of prophecy, destined to lead her people to a new way of life. Set five thousand years ago and ranging through what is now Montana, Wyoming, northern Colorado, and Utah, People of the Earth follows the migration of the Uto-Aztecan people south out of Canada. It is the unforgettable tale of a woman torn between two peoples and two dreams, of the two men who love her and the third who must have her, and of the vision given to the peoples long ago by the spirit of the wolf.
The dawn country
"War Chief Koracoo and Deputy Gonda of the Standing Stone People have successfully rescued their children, Odion and Tutelo, from Gannajero the Trader. Known as the Crow, Gannajero is a figure out of nightmare--a witch who steals children. Odion's friend Wrass is still held captive, along with several other children, in Gannajero's camp, and Koracoo and Gonda are determined to save them all. This time, Koracoo and Gonda have allies: a battle-weary Mohawk war chief and a Healer from the People of the Dawnland, who have also lost children to Gannajero. These bitter enemies must learn to trust each other and find common ground. Will they be able to put their differences aside and rescue the children before they are sold and carried off to distant villages--and lost to their families and homes forever?"--Cover.
People of the Longhouse (North America's Forgotten Past, Book Seventeen)
Six hundred years ago in what would become the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, five Iroquois tribes were locked in bitter warfare. From the ashes of violence, a great Peacemaker was born… Young Odion and his little sister, Tutelo, live in fear that one day Yellowtail Village will be attacked. When that day comes and Odion and Tutelo are marched away as slaves, their only hope is that their parents will rescue them. Their mother, War Chief Koracoo, and their father, Deputy Gonda, think they are tracking an ordinary war party herding captive children to an enemy village. Koracoo and Gonda do not know that Odion and Tutelo have fallen into the hands of a legendary evil: Gannajero the Trader. Known as the Crow, she is a figure out of nightmare, a witch who captures children for her own nefarious purposes. No one can stand against her powers—except perhaps the mysterious Forest Spirit whose tracks have crisscrossed their own throughout their journey. Odion and the other children struggle to survive their brutal captivity. They, too, have seen the Forest Spirit. But like their parents, they can't be sure if the Spirit is a friend—or is in league with Gannajero…. In People of the Longhouse, New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear continue the gripping saga of North America's Forgotten Past.