FORT DAVIS — The Jeff Davis County Library will host “West Texas History: Fact and Fiction,” a forum featuring Jason Stone, author of The Beauty of the Days Gone By and Larry Francell, author of My Summer Vacation: The Victorio Campaign Journal of Robert Grierson 1880, from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday April 5.
The event, sponsored by the Friends of the Jeff Davis County Library, will be moderated by Liz Rogers.
San Antonio-based author Jason Stone grew up in West Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. His first novel, The Beauty of the Days Gone By has been acquired by Grove Atlantic and is currently in production for the summer of 2026. Based on historical events that occurred in Comancheria, the region of West Texas and New Mexico controlled by the Comanche in the 18th and 19th centuries, The Beauty of the Days Gone By is an epic novel that weaves the reminiscences of the legendary plainsman Charles Goodnight, who is facing his mortality, against the backdrop of Reconstruction Texas and the haunting ordeals of a family torn apart by a violent Indian depredation — two brothers hauled way into captivity and the father who searches for them.
Fort Davis-based author Larry Francell earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Austin College and a Master of Arts in history from the University of Texas at Austin. He began a 50-year museum career at Fort Davis National Historic Site, where he still volunteers. A partner in FAE Worldwide, a museum and art services company, he sold his portion of the business so that he and his wife Beth, a landscape designer and artist, could return to Fort Davis in 1996 and restore the family home.
He has spent 20 years in county government as county commissioner, emergency management coordinator and county grants coordinator and county judge. He has written extensively on local history, including Fort Lancaster: Texas Frontier Sentinel, How Indian Emily Saved Fort Davis, What’s in a Name: Why Fort Davis was Named for Jefferson Davis and Why the Name Was Never Changed. His most recent work is My Summer Vacation: The Historic Campaign Journal of Robert Grierson, 1880.