6/17/10

Twelve 'The King' ~ A Memoir

Michael Blake

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From author of Dances With Wolves
Michael Blake

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In 1990 while doing research on mustangs for a story he was working on, Michael Blake encoutnered a wild lead stallion captured and held by the Bureau of Land Management near Reno, Nevada. Recalling, his first encounter with "Twelve" at a holding pen, Blake writes...

"There seemed to be an invisible barrier surrounding him, and non of the other horses, whether alone or in gangs, ever sniffed or touched or whinnied at him. The director recalled that on one occasion the entire population came together and circled their king in a massive surround that lasted several minutes."

In this book Blake conveys the unique spirit of "Twelve" and some of the lessons learned on their jounrey together from Nevada through California to the stallion's final home in Arizona, where he and the stallion spent many good years in each other's company.

Twelve, The King is a memoir that reads like a love poem not only to a particular animal, but to all wild things, to what is wild in each of us. This story is equal parts an unsentimental recounting of one person's relationship to an untamable animal and a cautionary tale as to what we stand to lose if we take the existence of these magnificent symbols of North Amreican independence and resourcefulness for granted. The author understood that"Twelve" was not his to own or subdue, considering it a special gift to be his custodian. It is a pleasure for us to offer this moving protrait from the author of Indian Yell, Marching to Valhalla and Dances With Wolves.

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Guest Bio:
Michael Blake's professional writing life began in the U.S. military at age nineteen and continued in college where he worked as an editor and investigative reporter for several university newspapers.
In 1971, his career in journalism ended when he left an editorial position at the legendary underground weekly, the Los Angeles Free Press, to pursue fiction in both movies and books. In the early eighties, a screenplay Blake wrote made it to the screen in the form of a low-budget, independent film originally titled, "Double Down", starring an unknown actor named Kevin Costner, in his first featured role.
Blake's first novel, Dances With Wolves, was published as a mass-market paperback in 1988, receiving no attention until the film version was released to worldwide acclaim in the late 1990s. The phenomenal successs of the movie ended more than twenty years of impoverished struggle to make a living out of literature and resulted in a downpour of awards, including the Oscar. In addition, Blake has received other prestigious awards including The American Library Association's Hero of the Year and Cancervive's Survivor of the Year. His latest work is a memoir about a rescue horse that greatly impacted his life titled, Twelve, The King and his past works include The Holy Road and Indian Yell. Blake also has a new movie in development with Kevin Costner that is based on a short story he wrote titled, "The One". He resides on his ranch, Wolf House, in the foothills of Tucson, Arizona.