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Author Con Sellers Raise Horses, Teaches in Grants Pass

 

Born in 1922 in rural Mississippi, Con Sellers enlisted after high school in the Army, where for 16 years he edited Army newspapers and also served as a combat correspondent during the Korean War.

Moving with his wife and two boys to the Grants Pass, Ore., area in 1961, Sellers began writing for a living, mostly stories for men’s magazines and soft-porn fiction sold in supermarkets.  He also wrote suspense novels about the Korean War.

In the late 60s, Sellers began writing for Hollywood, including a movie tie-in book in 1970 for the Cliff Robertson and Michael Caine film titled “Too Late the Hero.”  His serialized tie-in book for the television series, “Dallas,” sold 400,000 copies.

Sellers raised and trained Morgan horses at his “Bella Maria” ranch on the Redwood Highway 10 miles from Grants Pass.  Beginning in 1977, Sellers taught writing for six years at the Rogue Community College in Grants Pass. 

He told a reporter once that his motivation was making money.  At his death in 1992, Sellers had written more than 230 novels, many under pseudonyms, both male and female.
 

 

Sources: "Sellers (Con L.) Papers." The University of Southern Mississippi -- McCain Library and Archives. Hattiesburg, MS: The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries Special Collections, 2004. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.  Seagrave, Jane. "Author Con Sellers: The Name Says It All,." The Associated Press (Observer-Reporter, Washington, PA) 13 Jan. 1983: C-5. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Dennis M. Powers was a business law attorney with various real estate and business ventures before teaching as a full professor and later professor emeritus at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado (b.a.), the University of Denver Law School (j.d.), and Harvard Business School (m.b.a.).