Anne Butler
Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and
magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school
football referee. Her first TV job came at WRBL‐TV
in Columbus, Georgia, and led to positions at WROC‐TV in Rochester,
New York, KTSP‐TV in Phoenix, Arizona, and ESPN in Bristol,
Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy and ACE award‐winning
SportsCenter. She finished her on‐camera broadcasting career
with a two‐year stint as the studio host for the NBA’s Phoenix
Suns. Montgomery has been a freelance and staff writer for six
publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and
archeological pieces. Her first novel, The Jerusalem Syndrome: The
Wreck of the Sunset Limited was published in 2004 and took second
place honors in genre fiction in the 13th Annual Writer’s Digest
International Self-Published Book Awards. Montgomery teaches
journalism and history at South Mountain High School in Phoenix and
is an Arizona Interscholastic Association football referee and crew
chief. When she can, she indulges in her passions: rock collecting,
scuba diving, and playing her guitar.
Inspirations
for the book?
When I was a reporter I
was writing a magazine article about ancient ballcourts. People in
Central and South America were playing a ballgame when Columbus
arrived, and he was fascinated by the contest, which resembled
modern-day ice hockey or basketball. While visiting a northern
Arizona ruin
that
had a ballcourt, the archeologist I was interviewing pointed up the
hillside and said, “That’s where The Magician was buried.” I
later wrote a magazine article about the man they call The Magician,
in which I was tasked with uncovering where he might have come from,
since he was different from the people who buried him 900 years ago.
The research entailed learning about pottery and weapons and trade
routes and textiles, the ancestors of the Hopi, the art of pueblo
building, ancient farming practices, and – believe it or not –
sword swallowing. The reporter in me loved the research.
Did
you know you wanted to be an author when you were little?
Oh, gosh, no. In fact, I
recently got an e-mail from a woman who was my best friend when I was
growing up which said “Who would have ever thought you
would be a
writer.” I hated to read as a kid. I now know that I am a bit
dyslexic, which made school difficult. Back then I was called stupid
and lazy, which made me resent most anything with words. Even when I
was in college, my mother would correct any letters I wrote home –
yes, way back when we put actual stamps on mail – and she would
send them back with all of my mistakes marked in red pen. There were
a lot of them, as I recall.
Any
Pet Peeves?
People who lie to me.
Chocolate
or Peanut Butter?
This is not a choice I’m
capable of making. I eat both peanut butter and chocolate every day.
(Separately, though they are just fine together, as I’m sure you
know.)
The
weirdest thing you've ever done?
In 1981, I went to Bill
Kinnemon’s Umpire School in St. Petersburg, Florida. I had been
umpiring amateur baseball for a few years and wanted to improve my
skills. When I got there, I was the only woman in a class of 105 men
and a dozen or so instructors. There were bets that I’d never make
it through the camp, which lasted five weeks. Many of the “campers”
had aspirations to be Major League Baseball umpires.
The program was much
like military boot camp, where everyone was routinely insulted and
yelled at. The logic, of course, was that umpires get screamed at all
the time, from Little League all the way up to the pros. You have to
get used to the abuse. The camp was horrible, initially. Then, like
kidnapping victims who start to associate with their captors, many of
the campers – myself included – developed Stockholm Syndrome. We
wanted to please the Major and Minor League instructors who made our
lives miserable.
While I finished in the
top 32, I found out later it had been suggested to the instructors
that it would be a blemish on the school if a woman ended up too high
in the rankings. How do I know this? Years later, I ran into one of
those instructors who was umpiring in Triple A baseball at the time.
We ended up married for 12 years.
Is
there a soundtrack to the book/Favorite music?
That’s tough, since
much of the book takes place 900 years ago. So, I have no soundtrack.
As for favorite music, my tastes are rather eclectic. I grew up on
Broadway musicals. I also like some Rock and Roll, singers like Billy
Joel and James Taylor, and I discovered Country music when I moved to
Arizona. I play the acoustic guitar, where I like any song that is
comfortable for an alto II.
Do
you need anything to write?
Quiet.
No distractions.
How
long do you write on any average day?
Most days, I don’t
write much at all. I am a high school teacher, so during the school
year, I simply don’t have time, except on weekends, maybe.
Generally, I write over my school breaks, though I am looking forward
to writing full time, when I retire.
Give
us the number one reason to read your book.
The Magician and the
others who, like him, don’t seem to belong where they are history,
might help us to rewrite what we currently believe about how and when
man migrated over the Earth.
Author Info:
https://www.facebook.com/anne.montgomery.359?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=82984029&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic
The past and present collide when a tenacious reporter seeks information on an eleventh century magician...and uncovers more than she bargained for.
In 1939, archeologists uncovered a tomb at the Northern Arizona site called Ridge Ruin. The man, bedecked in fine turquoise jewelry and intricate bead work, was surrounded by wooden swords with handles carved into animal hooves and human hands. The Hopi workers stepped back from the grave, knowing what the Moochiwimi sticks meant. This man, buried nine hundred years earlier, was a magician.
Former television journalist Kate Butler hangs on to her investigative reporting career by writing freelance magazine articles. Her research on The Magician shows he bore some European facial characteristics and physical qualities that made him different from the people who buried him. Her quest to discover The Magician’s origin carries her back to a time when the high desert world was shattered by the birth of a volcano and into the present-day dangers of archeological looting where black market sales of antiquities can lead to murder.
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