Clint Walker was a man.
Yes, I know it seems hard to believe. Even as big as he was (which isn’t as big as they try to claim, but still very large, and quite a physical specimen of manhood), he was still only a man, and he had his weaknesses.
I have thought long and hard over the years of coming out with my story, the real reasons behind the crumbling of my writing partnership with Clint, which could easily have produced several more great books. I think that time is near. I think it is time that the air was cleared.
And yet I still can’t bring myself to do that. In time, I will. But for now? Can’t we simply celebrate the life of a man who stood larger than the rest, almost larger than life, who had a wonderful life, great adventures, and earned himself a high place, adored by hundreds of thousands of fans?
One day I will be strong enough to talk about the why’s and how’s of the end of my writing relationship with Clint, and ultimately the end of our friendship. But NEVER will I bash him or try to bring his legend down. The things Clint Walker did well, he excelled at–if that makes sense. In so many things, such as his belief in God, he was rock-solid. He was a good, solid actor, bodybuilder, book plotter, and husband, at least from everything I saw. He was an all-around good guy, and for the most part with a heart of gold.
It was getting old that was Clint’s undoing, and in that, we will all join him. So if you are looking for me to bash him or try to make him look like anything less than he was, you are going to be disappointed. I will in the near future break down and explain why we stopped writing together, but only because so many people want to know and because there is so much false information out there about what happened.
Thank you for humoring me, and thank you for your fan-ship of Clint Walker. He loved his fans, and I believe he deserved being loved by them. Clint was a man among men, and anyone would have been proud to be called his friend.
If you have never read YAQUI GOLD, the book that was published in 2003 when his mind was still razor-sharp, you owe it to yourself to do so. So much of that big man’s heart and soul went into that book, and although all of the writing is mine, the basic idea was his, as well as much of the plotting.
As to our second book, formerly known by my title LONG ARROW, but later changed to CANYON OF THE HAUNTED SHADOWS, which I didn’t publish under both of our names until after his death (for reasons that will later become obvious), you will enjoy it immensely as well. Some of my readers have told me that is their favorite of all my works. In that book, Clint’s inspiration would be obvious to all who knew him. Almost all of the plotting was his, and I only contributed an occasional idea to the book. I did 100% of the writing because, as anyone who read Clint’s work would know, he was blessed with a lot of great talents, but writing didn’t happen to be one of them. His understanding of that fact was what led him to seek me out as a writing partner, and for that, I will always be grateful. That man, his wife Susan, and my family and I have wonderful memories (and then some not-so-wonderful) of the times we were able to spend together.
I won’t leave my readers hanging forever. Someday I will find the strength within me to tell the story of me and Clint Walker, and from it, you can draw what you wish. But I will always be Clint’s champion, and I will always mourn the sad but inevitable differences that finally tore us apart.
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