Michael Punke might be the most famous writer who grew up in Wyoming that no one has ever heard of. That might be a bit harsh as many of us have read the book, The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge. Or if we didn’t read it many have enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, winning an Academy Award for his performance in, The Revenant.
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| Cold Mountain Stream - The kind early trappers searched for |
Michael grew up and graduated from high school, where his dad taught Biology, in Torrington Wyoming. He spent a few summers working at nearby Fort Laramie, which may have whetted his appetite for the old west and early Wyoming. But there is more to the story, much more. Michael is not your typical, set at the computer and pound out stories, writer.
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| Fourth of July at Fort Laramie |
Michael Punke has a day job. He is the Deputy United States Representative and US Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Not what most would expect for the writer of a world class mountain man tale. He is a lawyer getting his law degree from Cornell. Now for the part, I find to be almost as good a story as the one of Hugh Glass.
He is not allowed, by ethics rules to speak publically about the book. Nor can he attend events, do book signings or anything else that has to do with the book or movie. The reason? Is the result of him being a high ranking government official and not allowed to promote any outside work unrelated to his job. He can receive royalties for the book, however. It like most books was stuck with underwhelming sales when it was released in 2002, but I suspect it has surged now that the movie is out.
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| Elk in the high country |
A quick look at the book on Amazon seems to confirm that sales theory. It is ranked number 3 and 4 in westerns and in the top thousand overall. Considering Amazon has some 12,000,000 books for sale, top thousand is excellent.
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