Joe Wise, M.D.
5 books in the catalogue, published 1999 to 2003.
Joe Wise, M.D., is a physician and writer who was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1939 and worked as a cardiologist in Maine and New Mexico. His books for Western Reflections range from historical fiction about John C. Fremont's disastrous winter expedition to a prison thriller, a travel book and the life story of a Lake City native. Our catalogue lists five books by him, published between 1999 and 2003.
About Joe Wise, M.D.
An Encyclopedia.com author entry says Wise earned a B.S. at Texas Christian University in 1961 and an M.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1964. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965 to 1967 and reached the rank of captain. A publisher's note says he spent two years as Medical Director of the New Mexico Penitentiary. He belongs to International PEN, Western Writers of America and the Southwest Writers Workshop.
Writing ran alongside medicine. By his own account in that entry, his first published piece appeared in Journal of the West in 1993 after about ten years of research on Fremont's fourth expedition, and a New York Times travel article was his first major break. His first novel, Cannibal Plateau, was published by Sunstone Press in 1997 and was named best historical novel by the Southwest Writers Workshop. The Colorado Independent Publishers Association gave him a fiction award for In the Moro.
Books
A Sense of Place
The life story of Perk Vickers, born in Lake City in 1914, who worked as a rancher, miner, politician and developer. It is framed as a conversation, and it follows one family from the father's arrival in 1888 through a century of change in the San Juans.
In the Moro
A 1999 novel about Fremont's winter expedition of 1848 and 1849, moving between the present and 1849. A retired physician and a retired history professor try to learn what really happened. The Colorado Independent Publishers Association gave it a fiction award.
The Fish
A 2002 novel in which Dr. Tom Winfohr, newly married, moves to Santa Fe as Medical Director of the state penitentiary and is drawn into a large prison drug trade. Wise himself held that post at the New Mexico Penitentiary for two years.
If You Go
A 2003 travel book of 112 pages about Wise's favorite places in the American Southwest, Central America and Europe. The blurb promises historic and romantic description plus hints for a hassle-free trip. It sits closer to his newspaper travel pieces than to his novels.
A Primer on Heart Disease A Primer on Heart Disease
A short guide in which Wise, a certified cardiologist by the publisher's account, explains common heart problems for general readers. Encyclopedia.com dates the book to 2000.
What the books share
Wise keeps returning to survival and to the high country of the Southwest. In the Moro sends two modern men after a winter disaster in the San Juans, and The Fish puts a doctor inside a state penitentiary, a world Wise knew from his own work. A Sense of Place turns from invention to a real life in Lake City, while If You Go gathers travel from three regions. Doctors turn up often: a retired physician in one book, a prison doctor in another. Encyclopedia.com also lists A Primer on Heart Disease, a 2000 Western Reflections book.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Good to know
How many Joe Wise books does Western Reflections list?
Is Joe Wise really a doctor?
Does he write only about Colorado?
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