SHANAYA FASTJE ~ Amazing Young Author

It is always amazing to see the brilliance of the young. I love young kids of any type, color, or class. I have had a few myself, and now as grandkids. When a real shining star comes along it is so hard to resist getting to know them more. It was my pleasure to meet Shanaya Fastje of El Paso, Texas. She was two tables down from me, with her attentive parents, at the El Paso Public Library Great Southwest Book Fair where I was there with my novella “Dos Gringos.” This 11-year old has already published three books (she’s ahead of me,) excelled at studies and sports, and honored by the governor of Texas as a “Shining Star of Texas.”

You can see Shanaya’s “Mystery School“ books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She is personable, articulate, and involved. She was certified a Math Master by the El Paso Community College and has earned the Blue Belt in Martial Arts. In every other way, she appeared to me to be a normal young girl, but just sharp, polite, and confident.

“May the source be with you,” Shanaya.

Shanaya’s web page is at http://www.shanayafastje.com/index.htm

Mexican Revolution Centenary

The story of “Dos Gringos” takes place in August, 1916 in the midst of The Mexican Revolution. The Revolution began on November 20, 1910 and El Paso and Ciudad Juarez were strategic locations in that civil war which lasted a decade into the 1920s.  November 20, 2010 is the official centennial date.  Many affairs will take place in El Paso about then.  The El Paso Public Library will sponsor a weeklong event the last month of October and I have been invited to attend, to discuss “Dos Gringos” and sign books, etc. Other events are scheduled about that time and I am working on a schedule.

I remember my Norwegian grandmother telling me of a cannonball landing in her El Paso front yard, presumably from one of Pancho Villa’s attacks on Juarez—or even El Paso. Many of the places in El Paso now in the history books were common to me as a teen, but now I know why. It has been quite an education writing this book supporting my father’s tale and I am happy to meet old friends and make new ones. I am looking forward to the October visits to my old home town.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.