- About The Book
- About The Author
- The Story
“Cibolero,” the new novel by Kermit Lopez, is a tale of sorrow and terror, hope and triumph, set in 1800’s New Mexico. Antonio Baca, a former “Cibolero” or buffalo hunter, pursues his daughter’s kidnappers in Post-Civil War era New Mexico and Texas. “Cibolero” is a fictionalized account of the Hispanic experience before and after the conquest of the Southwest by the United States.
On one level, “Cibolero” is an action-oriented adventure tale as Antonio Baca sets out to rescue his daughter from an invading band of Texas Rangers using his skills as a Cibolero hunter. On another level, “Cibolero” deals with the following issues:
- Racism, ethnicity and society in the “old West”
- The historical ties of large parts of the present western United States to Mexico and Spain
“Cibolero” is a fictionalized account of a true but overlooked part of U.S. history.
Kermit Lopez wrote “Cibolero” after researching his family ancestry, which spans four hundred years of New Mexico history. He received electrical engineering and law degrees from the University of New Mexico and lives with his wife and son in Albuquerque.
Mr. Lopez is also the author of the novel The Prodigy
For years, Antonio Baca lived the wandering and restless life of a Cibolero, or buffalo hunter, following the great herds that roamed the endless Llano Estacado-the high plains of a region that would one day be New Mexico. After marrying and settling down, Baca has finally found a modicum of peace in the home he built for his growing family.
But Baca witnesses the transformation of Nuevo Mexico from an isolated colonial outpost of the Spanish empire to a province of the newly independent nation of Mexico and, finally, to a land conquered by the avaricious americanos. Following the United States's seizure of New Mexico, Antonio and his countrymen find themselves treated as foreigners and second-class citizens in their own land.
When his daughter, Elena, is kidnapped by a band of invading Texas Rangers after the American Civil War, Baca desperately tracks them across the llano of New Mexico and into Texas using his skills as a Cibolero. Terrified for his daughter's safety, he plunges into the world of the gringos, and discovers just how much the americanos have changed his homeland. But as the days pass without any sign of Elena, Baca fears for her life-and his own.
Cibolero Book Reviews
- iUniverse
- Lisa Kindrick
- E.G Lopez
- NewBookReviews
- Maurilio E. Vigil
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
By Floyd M. Orr
http://podbram.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
Add Kermit Lopez to the list of competent professionals. His second book, and the first with iUniverse, is relatively indistinguishable from a traditionally published book. This is a quality that is always appreciated and awarded at iUBR. With its relatively low error count, well-designed cover, and competent storyline, Cibolero deserves whatever sales attention it gets. The mystery at this point is why has his first book not attained more recognition? The Prodigy(1st Books, 1999) is twice as long and in a different genre than Cibolero. Is that the reason? Visit the author's website and you will see that it has been unusually designed, too.
“Reading New Mexico” Review -- October 2008
By Lisa Kindrick, Librarian
Genealogical research often sparks the imagination. What are the stories and personalities behind those names and dates? Kermit Lopez used his research into his family’s four hundred year history in New Mexico to develop Cibolero: a Novel. The story focuses on Antonio Jose Baca, a nuevomexicano farmer forced to cope with the changes brought by the Americans to his homeland, especially after 1846 when the area became a United States territory.
Beyond Santa Fe, June 8, 2008 – Amazon.com
Review by E.G Lopez, author of “Sirena” – www.sirenathenovel.com
Our heroes have always been cowboys. Kermit Lopez helps us to "know better." History has always been written by the winners. The conquered and their stories, histories, disappear into the sands of time. Thank you, Kermit Lopez, for a peek back into the other history.
NewBookReviews.org, May 2, 2008
Being a history buff, I find it refreshing to read a book, even fiction, that deals with history. Kermit Lopez's book, Cibolero, certainly deals with old west history, but closely examines people and perceptions, rather than one historical event.
Cibolero: A Novel by Kermit Lopez
Review by: Maurilio E. Vigil*
February 7, 2008
In the tradition of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, the 1986 Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the American west which was later reprised in a popular television mini-series is a new novel by a Hispano New Mexican writer, Kermit Lopez titled Cibolero. As in Lonesome Dove the plot of the book evolves around the activities of some Texas Rangers, but in this case the Rangers are the villains.
