Texas-born author Clara Sneed will release her new historical fiction book, Before We Turn to Dust, on Saturday, Dec. 7th at Burrowing Owl Bookstore (400 15th St.) in Canyon, TX. Based on one of the most infamous feuds in Texas history (Sneed-Boyce feud), the story is partly based in the Amarillo area in 1911. Lena Snyder Sneed is madly in love. The only problem is, it’s not with her husband Beal Sneed, a known cattle broker and rancher who is often away from their home in the wealthiest part of Amarillo (leaving Lena to care for the house and their two daughters…and her own devices).

The author, Clara, is the grandniece of Beal Sneed, and she incorporates real family archives, newspaper accounts and trial transcripts in her new novel. Upon the book's official release on Dec. 7th, Clara is thrilled to launch her tour in Canyon, TX. She will then move to her current home state of California in early 2025.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Clara Sneed was born in Texas and never got over it, despite a peripatetic childhood that landed her in California. She earned a BA and an MA in English literature at UC Berkeley, raised a son, managed IT systems for a San Francisco law firm, and had a successful second career as a tutor for writing and Spanish—all the while working on her own writing. Though she began as a poet, she loves complex historical stories that require a lot of research.

Sneed’s historical fiction novel Before We Turn to Dust is Sneed’s first novel acquired by Blue Handle Publishing, and is set to release in December 2024. Her non-fiction account, Because This is Texas, was published in the 1999 Panhandle Plains Historical Review. Sneed and her husband split their time between Berkeley and Milam County, Texas.