About Patrick Dearen

A Spur Award-winning author of fourteen novels and ten nonfiction books, Patrick Dearen is a writer today because of his lifelong interest in Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett.

Dearen earned a journalism degree from The University of Texas in 1974 and won nine national and state awards as a reporter for two West Texas daily newspapers. His nonfiction books have centered on cowboy life and the Pecos and Devils rivers, essential background for his novel "The Big Drift," winner of the 2015 Spur Award for traditional western novel, presented by Western Writers of America. His novel "To Hell or the Pecos," a finalist for the Will Rogers Medallion Award, also grew out of his historical research. Another novel, "Perseverance," was inspired by his interest in hobo life during the Great Depression.

Three of Dearen’s books examine legends of lost treasure, which in turn inspired the story of a quest for a legendary interstellar power in his Starflight series, which consists of "Starflight to Destiny" and "Starflight to Eternity."

A ragtime pianist and backpacking enthusiast, Dearen has received awards from Western Writers of America, Western Fictioneers, Will Rogers Medallion Awards, San Antonio Conservation Society, West Texas Historical Association, and Permian Historical Society. He makes his home in Midland, Texas, with his wife Mary and their son Wesley.