Joseph Paul Summers Brown was born in Nogales, Arizona in 1930. His family has been cattlemen in Mexico and Arizona for six generations. He graduated from Saint Michaels High School in Santa Fe in 1948 and from Notre Dame University in 1952. He worked as a reporter on two Arizona newspapers and the El Paso Herald-Post until 1954.
Commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1955, he served as an infantry platoon commander in Japan. Transferred to Marine Corp Mountain Leadership School at Bridgeport, California in 1956, he served as an instructor-guide in military rock climbing and animal packing.
Released from the Marines in 1958, he moved to Mexico to trade in cattle and horses. He moved to Navojoa, Sonora in 1960 to buy cattle for American rodeo. He rode the horseshoe trails of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Chihuahua and ranched on the desert of the Sea of Cortez in Sonora.
He boxed professionally in Mexico from 1960 until 1964 and began writing his first novel, Jim Kane. In 1968, he worked on Art Linkletter's Lida, Nevada ranch.
Jim Kane was published in 1970 by Dial Press in New York and made into the movie Pocket Money with Paul Newman and Lee Marvin in 1972.
The Outfit, based on his Nevada experience was published by Dial in 1972. He ranched in Arizona until 1977 when he began providing cattle and horses for Western movie productions in Tucson.
Other fiction that he has written include The Forests of the Night, was publish by Dial Press in 1974. Keep the Devil Waiting was published by Bantam in 1992. The Blooded Stock, The Horseman, Ladino and Native Born were published by Bantam and Doubleday during the years between 1989 and 1994.
His book of short stories titled The Cinnamon Colt was published by Doubleday in 1996. Steeldust was published by MQM Publishing, a company owned by Brown, in 1997.
All these ten novels are still available, republished by Authors Guild.
The World in Pancho's Eye was published by University of New Mexico Press in October, 2007 and chosen as one of Ten Most Notable Books of 2007 by the Arizona Historical Society; also Wolves At Our Door, published by UNM Press April, 2008 was picked as one of Ten Most Notable Books of 2008 by the Arizona Historical Society. This book was also one of three finalists for the Spur Award that was given for Best Long Novel of 2008 by The Western Writers of America.
Other awards include the Will James Society's Big Enough Award that he received for literary achievement in the cowboy tradition in 1999.
He also received the Arizona Historical Society's Lawrence Clark Powell Award for lifetime achievement in Southwestern letters in 2003.
Author's website
