Courtney Miller's passion for the art, archaeology, astronomy, history and culture of Native America drives him to produce articles and videos for Native American Antiquity.  He is considered an expert on Native American Cultures.

 

He has also set out to create a fiction series of books based on the Cherokee culture before and after the European invasion.   The stories are brought to life through the hopes, struggles, triumphs, and challenges of the characters.  Characters we would recognize and identify with today, but who lived in a very different society and a very different time.

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An avid reader and lover of mysteries, Courtney writes novels in the cozy mystery and "geezer-lit" genres.  His "White Feather Mysteries" are set in a rural mountain valley in Colorado where a Cherokee medicine man competes with the local Sheriff's Office to solve crimes and mysteries.

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Author has the write idea:

 

 

“I was born on a small rural farm in the Panhandle of Texas where my only friends were imaginary.  While my father harvested cotton, I cultivated my imagination.”

 

“When I was very young, perhaps four or five, I hopped on the couch next to Mother and asked that question all parents dread, “Mommy, where did I come from?”  Ever calm in a crisis, she explained that I am Scotch-Irish, English, and Cherokee.”

 

“In high school I was fortunate to study under a very highly rated [Look Magazine's "Teacher of the Year", 1964] and extraordinary English teacher, Mrs. Guthrie, who liked my little stories and encouraged me to become a writer.  When I told my parents, they laughed and explained that ‘you can’t make a living as a writer’.”

 

“The hard work and long hours working on a farm inspired me to look for something else to do for a career.  Becoming a writer was out, so I went to college to search for an alternative career.  After attending three major universities and four colleges, I finally got a degree in mid-management and spent forty years making a decent living in the business world.  When I retired from business, I turned to writing and based upon my experience so far, Mother was right, you can’t make a living at it.”

 

 “When I was around forty, a relative brought a family tree to a family reunion and stated that he was frustrated that he could not say for certain where our Cherokee roots started.  This inspired me to see what I could find.  But, after digging into my roots for years, I learned that the traits that make me a good writer make me a terrible genealogist.   A good genealogist is like a scientist demanding  irrefutable evidence to support each piece of the family story.  As a writer, I am prone to devise fanciful stories out of even the most meager fragments.”

 

“I have not been able to prove my Cherokee roots but have discovered that what I thought I knew is based on Hollywood’s fixation on the Plains Indians.  I found that the Cherokee were vastly different than what I thought and I have been motivated to learn more ever since.”

 

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