Joseph V. Torres-Metzgar is first a history professor--his perspective is historical. His fiction, therefore, includes a larger look, a broader view. This is not to say that he writes historical fiction but that his 1976 novel has allegorical implications that lift it from the merely fictional to the profundity of parable, transcending time.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Valentine's Day 1933 to David Metzgar and Josefita Torres-Metzgar, Joseph Torres-Metzgar is a direct descendant of the Sanchez, Barela, and Torres families. While "Metzgar" is a Pennsylvania-Dutch name, Grandfather Metzgar married a New Mexican Barela; thus Torres-Metzgar has roots embedded deeply in New Mexican history, and his first novel concerns, in part, cross-cultural conflicts and relationships. The Sanchez, Barela, and Torres families settled in what is now New Mexico during the 1700s, when the Spanish, led by Diego de Vargas Zapata, were reestablishing themselves there. During the late 1600s the Pueblo...