Bill at the Bad River
Lewis and Clark Monument,
Ft. Pierre, South Dakota.

Jim Hatzell drawing


Dakota Epic Drawings by Jim Hatzell

Author & Reenactor

Dakota Epic, Bill's first book, reveals what it was like to be an extra on the set of Dances with Wolves.  He has also been an extra in four other movies: Son of the Morning Star, Far and Away, Gettysburg, and Crazy Horse.

Up The Missouri River With Lewis and Clark, Bill's second book, tells of the beginning stages of the United States’ first overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean. The men had to contend with shifting sandbars, treacherous currents, submerged trees, mosquitoes, rattlesnakes, wicked weather, disease, and unpredictable new people. Meet the men of the expedition—deserters, drunks, sergeants, and hunters. See how the first four months of their journey transforms a loose group of individuals into Clark’s Band of Brothers.

Spirits of The Mound, is Bill's first fiction short story.
In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, leaders of the United States Corps of Discovery, climbed Spirit Mound located near present-day Vermillion, South Dakota. Local tribes believed a fierce tribe of little spirit people lived on Spirit Mound. These little spirit people would kill anyone approaching Spirit Mound. I researched Lewis, Clark, and the sergeants journals to portray what it might have been like for the Corps of Discovery the evening before and the day of the visit to the mound. What if there really were little people living at Spirit Mound? And what if there was an encounter not recorded?

Writing 

About Bill 

Reenacting 

Connections 

A member of Western Writers of America and Toastmasters International, Bill is available to talk about Dances With Wolves, the other movies he's worked on, reenacting, and Old West history.  Contact: markley@pie.midco.net

"Sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, always fascinating, Dakota Epic is a superb, up-close scrutiny of the trials, tribulations, and successes of a great movie and highly recommended reading..."
                                            -Mid-West Review on Dakota Epic



 
 

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© Bill Markley 2007
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