From the Local News – I’m Famous (or working on it).

LOCAL AUTHOR

Richard Muniz releases ‘Broken People,’ third novel in ‘The Lawman’ series

Richard Muniz, an author who writes under the pen name William Ablan, recently had his third book “”Broken People” published. The book is the third in Muniz’s “The Lawman” series. Muniz, an Army veteran and former police officer, uses his real life experiences in his books. He and his wife have lived in Greeley since 2001. COURTESY — RICHARD MUNIZ

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By Zant Reyez

reyez@prairiemountainmedia.com

When traumas, tragedies and other events that take a toll on our mental health occur, we need an outlet to express how we’re feeling. We need someone or something to confide in.

When local author Richard Muniz returned from the Gulf War in 1991, he also brought back images he needed to tell someone about. He needed an outlet to describe his experiences and to find an outlet to start the healing process. However, that search didn’t yield swift results.

“When I came back from the Gulf (War), I was a mess. I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “People didn’t want to hear it.”

Muniz, who grew up on his family’s ranch in the San Luis Valley in south central Colorado, said he even tried to express his emotions to his parents, but his words fell on deaf ears. Instead, they asked him if he was able to help out on the ranch just like he did during his childhood.

Those experiences in the Army and his work as a police officer led to him writing his first book in his “The Lawman” series in 2019 titled “The Cross and the Badge.” Recently, he released the third book in the series, “Broken People”.

Muniz, who writes under the pen name William Ablan said his latest book takes a look at people dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Muniz said people handle PTSD in various ways, having different triggers. He compared PTSD to a childhood memory of his when mass amounts of rain would fill up reservoirs in the San Luis Valley and he would think, “All it would take is one more drop of rain to break this thing.”

“And that’s true of humans: All it takes is more one thing,” he said.

The third book asks the question of what happens when that one thing happens to characters Sheriff Tony Madril and town marshal Pam Harmon. Madril has Stage 4 Cancer, while Harmon was wounded during a police raid gone wrong.

All the books in the series are from the perspective of the main character, Detective Will Diaz. Diaz is based on Muniz and his life experiences.

Before joining the Army at the age of 29 in 1986, Muniz was a police officer with the Alamosa Police Department from 1979-1980. Even though he never pictured himself as being a police officer, it was there that he witnessed numerous events that would later make their way into his books.

One of these events was his first on-duty injury at a 3.2 alcohol bar one night while trying to get people to leave the bar. He said someone broke something over his head. Even though he wasn’t seriously injured, it left a long-lasting memory.

He also worked in the sheriff’s office in another southern Colorado county for a few years and then continued south to New Mexico to work as a police officer. Muniz said he’s always been a writer since high school thanks in large part to the Star Trek books.

In October 2001, he and his wife Julie moved to Greeley from southern Colorado. He’s been working for various IT companies, as well as writing, since the move. He said the fourth book in the series is scheduled to come out at the end of this year, and he plans to write a total of seven books in the series.

He added, he has a drawer full of Sci-Fi stories he wants to publish, too.

It wasn’t until marrying Julie more than 20 years ago that he found faith. He said his “Lawman” series aren’t quite Christian books but have those divine themes in them and he hopes readers find that comfort in them.

“No matter how bad and ugly it gets, there is a God. Lean on him. All you have to do is have the courage to try,” he said.

His books can be purchased on Amazon at amazon.com/stores/author/B07KGJXY1F.