Press release by City of Alliance
Alliance, NE – Nebraskan author Bernie Burgess will be speaking at the Alliance Senior Center on Thursday, December 21st. This event begins at 9:30am.
For more information, please contact Angie Flesner at 308-762-1293.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I grew up on a west Nebraska cattle ranch, the oldest of four children. Hills and valleys were my playground; cats, dogs, and a raccoon were my playmates until younger brothers took their places; windmills, BB-guns, and haystacks were among my playthings; horses and cattle were my workmates. Like the hardy people I grew up among, I have many hours working cattle on horses, using heavy machinery, and learning about the flora, fauna, and geography of the region.
My early education came by way of one-room country schools. I often rode horses the three-plus miles each way to school or drove myself in a little Jeep. Two-hole outdoor toilets, coal stoves, and kerosene lanterns are among my childhood memories. Because of Nebraska weather, no phones, and no drivers’ license, I boarded out most of my first two years of high school. I was athletic, loved sports, and participated in all available sports throughout high school.
Growing up without a neighbor in sight or other kids of my age to play with, I learned to live in my head and developed a vivid imagination. That imagination serves me well in creating fictional mysteries. Work ethic came from being the oldest son and starting to work full-time, outside of school, at the age of eight.
I have a degree in Animal Science from the University of Nebraska, and I’ve loved nature and animals all my life. Coyotes were part of the ecosystem, though largely unseen. Their howls welcomed most sunsets. The coyote-wolf hybrid was a natural character for this story, and I wanted to introduce it to the reader.
I first learned of the coywolf hybrid from an Animal Planet documentary, “Meet the Coywolf.” I felt I knew coyotes well and had almost no fear of them, only respect. Then, I happened to see another documentary named “Killed by Coyotes.” This caught my interest immediately, because I knew of no adult human deaths by coyotes. However, an aspiring folksinger, Canadian, Taylor Mitchell, aged nineteen, was killed in 2009 in Novia Scotia by coyotes while hiking in a national park.
I feel that wolf DNA may have played a role in this tragic attack. Such behavior is not typical of the coyotes that I know. For this reason, I decided to introduce the coywolf to readers. While my female hybrid is a well-trained and domesticated fictional animal, the real hybrids are a blend of wolf and coyote and reflect the characteristics of both. The real animals are not necessarily pure coyote-wolf but may have varying degrees of DNA, to include dog.
Readers should understand that this hybrid is spreading across the United States as well as Canada, because of its resilient coyote blood. The wolf DNA makes it a larger, more aggressive, pack hunter, and therefore more dangerous than a coyote. The coywolf, like the coyote, can live and thrive in urban environments. It may be living and thriving in your city. With a typical weight of around forty-five pounds, it’s large enough to be considered an apex predator.
I’m a retired Air Force officer and pilot, and I have traveled extensively across the United States, lived in three foreign countries, and have flown in about 40 different nations. I owned and operated a bed and breakfast in Cody, Wyoming for five years, during which time I was a freelance writer
for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup newspaper. That experience developed my interest and love for writing.
I worked as a private investigator for two years, in Arkansas, conducting surveillance investigations in a variety of locales 212
and situations. That experience is part of the background for the Bert and Norah stories. I’ve also had a lifelong fascination with psychic phenomenon.