Meet Asa Nacona Big Mountain,
aka Wandering Star. . .

       I am frequently asked where the inspiration for my characters comes from. Sometimes, my readers send it to me--as in the case of this young man, Asa Nocona Big Mountain. While I was writing Book #2 of my Mystic Indian Series, I kept his picture near my computer as inspiration for describing Stalking Wolf's son. His photographs are still part of my office decor.

       When Asa was 4-1/2 years old, his mother, who is one of my fans, graciously gave me permission to put his picture and story into my website so that I can share them with all of you. Over the years, we have all watched him grow up through his photographs. (On this page, you can see Asa at ages 9, 11, 15, and 17.)

       In the Comanche language, "Asa" means "Star" and "Nocona" means "Wanderer." His father, a Native American Dancer, chose Wandering Star as Asa's Indian name.

        Asa's ancestors include Chief Big Mountain, a full-blooded Comanche who was born in 1877 and died in 1954. Chief Big Mountain performed as one of the original riders in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, starting a tradition in which all of his descendants have followed. Late in his life, Chief Big Mountain married Princess White Dove, a young Apache maiden. Asa's grandfather, also called Big Mountain, was the eldest of their six children. Big Mountain, in turn, married a member of the Mohawk tribe, and their son was Little Deer, Asa Nocona's father. So, Wandering Star carries Comanche, Apache, and Mohawk blood on his father's side--while his mother is from England! This boy reflects the best of both worlds.

       Even at four-and-a-half, Asa Nocona was already following in the Big Mountain family tradition. He learned a simple version of the Eagle Dance, which he performed for his classmates at school, and later mastered the Hoop Dance.

       At 15, Asa was working hard at school, and had taken and recieved the first of his GCSE exam results in Biology, Chemistry and Physics with an excellent result. He planned to take tAdvanced Science with a view towards his future goals of studying Zoology. At at that time, his eventual aim was to work with the killer whales at Seaworld, in their study and training program.

       However, now that Asa is 17-1/2 years old, his life seems to have taken a different, thougn not totally unexpected path. His mother tells us:

       "As of this September he has been accepted at the Isle of Wight Music College (otherwise known as Platform One).... It's obvious to his family the last couple of years or so that he is heart and soul in music -- he's a born bass guitar player (loves rock metal mostly). He will do two years at what is called BTEC level, then a further two years which will give him an Honours Degree (BA/Hons) in Commercial Music. The degree guarantees him an album, performances at recognised concerts such as the Isle of Wight Festival (huge!!!) together with things such as recording/sound engineer/studio experience etc.

       "He passed his audition with flying colours and is so excited to be going there. Its a big switch because we'd always expected him to go for Sciences, but he came to us a few months ago and said he wanted to go in for music."

       Asa is now almost 6'2" and towers over his Mother! He loves fishing, music, computer games and good books when he finds them. I hope that he considers my books among those!

       Please don't ask me to give you more information on Asa; I promised his mother that I would protect the family's privacy. However, feel free to go to my email form and say hello to them! I will forward your comments to Asa and his mother.

       When informed that he would be on my website and might hear from some of my readers, Asa replied, "Cool!"