Thomas D. Clagett has always had a passion for the West, for films and for writing. His historical novel, "West of Penance," was awarded the first place gold medallion for best Inspirational Fiction from the Will Rogers Medallion Award judges. It also won won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in 2016 for Best Historical Fiction. Clagett's first novel, "The Pursuit of Murieta," won a Will Rogers Medallion Award for Honorable Mention. After graduating from the University of Southern California where he earned a degree in Journalism, Clagett spent nearly twenty years working as an assistant film editor in Hollywood on such projects as Jack Nicholson's "The Two Jakes" and the NBC mini-series "Blind Faith," he still found the opportunity to write. His first book, "William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality," was updated in 2003. "Classic Images" praised this study of the films of the the Academy Award-winning director of "The French Connection" and the horror masterpiece "The Exorcist" as "the definitive work on the subject." Devoting himself to writing full time, Clagett turned to his love of the West. His first novel, "The Pursuit of Murieta," tells the story of Joaquin Murieta, California's first notorious outlaw back in 1853. Booklist wrote, "Readers will side with Murieta in this well told, disquieting story." His second novel, "West of Penance," was inspired by a true story about the wilds of New Mexico and the Colfax County War in 1875. The Historical Novel Society called it "an entertaining read...be prepared for a surprise ending." Clagett is a member of the Western Writers of America. He lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Marilyn.