By Jeanne Davant
Author Randi Samuelson-Brown, who writes what she calls “unflinching” history and historical fiction, recalls an evening she spent having dinner with some of her older relatives. They asked her about her choices of subjects: Why, they asked, didn’t she write about schools and churches and civic organizations — “nice people.” Her reply: “The other people are so much more interesting!”
Samuelson-Brown, whose books include works about the Bad Old Days in Montana and Colorado and the Branded series, about a young female cattle brand inspector who investigates crimes, will give the keynote speech at this year’s Mountain of Authors, which takes place from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sat., May 16, at Library 21c.
The event includes a panel discussion, a writing workshop for tweens ages 9 - 12, a poetry workshop for teens ages 13 - 18, and a Local Author Showcase featuring authors from around the Pikes Peak region who will be available for book sales and book signings.
Senior Library Associate Bryan Matthews expects more than 30 authors working in a wide variety of genres to participate, along with several area writing groups, the Collective of Independent Publishers and Authors, and the Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District, which sponsors the program.
“It’s a great chance for our local authors to get some exposure and for the community to meet local authors — a fun networking event,” Senior Librarian Heidi Buljung says. “It’s also an opportunity for people who are thinking of writing a book to learn about the writing and publishing processes,” Matthews adds.
Authors will be handling their own book sales, so Buljung suggests patrons bring a variety of payment options, including cash and credit cards if they wish to purchase books. The event itself is free for patrons and authors.
“This year’s event is special,” Matthews says. “It’s Mountain of Authors 20th anniversary, and the theme of the program is CO150-USA250, celebrating the 150th year of Colorado and the United States’ 250th year.”
Samuelson-Brown is an ideal choice to keynote the event because her work spans both the past and present. A fifth-generation Coloradan, she was born in Denver and grew up in Golden, steeped in the culture of the West.
“I learned my love for Colorado history because my dad was really a great storyteller, and he was very good in Colorado history”
“I learned my love for Colorado history because my dad was really a great storyteller, and he was very good in Colorado history,” she says.
When she traveled with her father, he would talk about what went on in the places they visited. A history major in college, she found that stories from the past stimulated her imagination. In her fiction writing, she draws upon actual stories.
An example, she says, is Branded Past, published in 2024 — part contemporary Western thriller and part history. Samuelson-Brown’s heroine, Emory Cross, returns to her home, the Lost Daughter Ranch, and must resolve a century-old conflict between her family and another ranching clan.
The ranch is fictional, but its name stems from a true incident. The story of a young woman who drove a wagon across a river and disappeared, leaving the wagon and team standing beside the river, chilled Samuelson-Brown when she heard it.
The book tells the story from the perspective of the brand inspector, itself a throwback to the 1860s, when a Colorado sheriff started a detective agency to find missing or stolen cattle.
Today’s Brand Inspection Division, which is part of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, has never changed its mission.
The Branded series illustrates how, “when you scratch the surface of the modern-day West, the Old West is right underneath,” she says.
Her novels blend fact and fiction, but Samuelson-Brown says she thinks it’s important to preserve history without fictional embellishment.
“When I wrote The Bad Old Days of Colorado, I was actually trying to preserve stories that I think are going to fade from sight because people forget, or they're coming in and they don't know,” she says. “And I think people want to know, no matter where they come from originally.”
The Bad Old Days of Colorado: Untold Stories of the Wild West, published in 2020, was a finalist in the 2021 Colorado Book Awards in History and was featured on C-SPAN. The Western Horse: A Popular History of the Wild and Working Animal (2024) is a 2025 Finalist for the Western Writers of America’s prestigious SPUR Award.
Samuelson-Brown also seeks to convey the joys of history and the patterns it reveals.
“History can be dry unless you start looking into like: ‘Well, why would that possibly be?’ And that's kind of where you find the dirt,” she says.
In her keynote talk, Samuelson-Brown will address how history has evolved to become more inclusive, moving beyond the stories of presidents, victors, and famous people into the lives of the working people who built the nation.
“We’re getting new voices all the time — Hispanic voices, Native American voices, Black voices, Asian voices,” she says. “They bring their own perspective to add to the tapestry and give us a more complete view of history.”
Samuelson-Brown doesn’t view that as a political message.
“The president of the United States, no matter what party, is not going to pull me out of a snowdrift. My nextdoor neighbor will or the guy down the street will,” she says.
“I really think we should all just be proud of our pasts,” she says. Samuelson-Brown says Mountain of Authors is one of her favorite events and urges readers, authors, and prospective writers to attend.
