Award-winning author T. E. MacArthur published several sci-fi series before she shifted her focus to paranormal subgenres including mystery, thriller, romance, and western. Her latest release is the paranormal western novel A Reckoning in Mercy: A Classic Western Ghost Story (Indies United Publishing House, July 2026) that “blends classic frontier realism with supernatural dread — where the past is never truly forgiven, justice is never guaranteed, and the dead have been keeping score.” Look for Thena on her website at TEMacArthur.com, on Facebook, and her Amazon author page. A Reckoning in Mercy is also available on Books2Read. For more about her work, go to her 2023 interview for SouthWest Writers.
What is your elevator pitch for A Reckoning in Mercy?
This is a classic Western Ghost story. A wanderer, trapped in an isolated town, must come to terms with his past and a terrifying future.
What challenges did stepping into a paranormal Western pose for you?
I’m used to writing paranormal stories and used to writing historical settings, but putting them together was, as you say, a challenge. How do I write a complex novel without making it sound like a boring history lesson? Is the ghost real or imagined? How would a nineteenth-century American react to spooky lore, strangers, and destructive weather? Paranormal elements easily fit most narratives, but you can’t just add them on like fresh paint over an older layer of paint. What scares people, regardless of century, is deep: it comes from a primal fear and is honed by years as well as context. What one man fears while living in New Mexico might not be exactly the same for a man in California.
Who is your main character, Eli Mercer, and why is he the perfect protagonist to carry your story? If you’d like, share about a few of your favorite secondary characters.
Eli is my idea of the Wild West lost soul. His life is not what everyone thinks it is. The ultimate loaner who must learn to trust and cooperate. When set against an unrelenting desert, it takes a man of a certain natural intellect to come to terms with the violence, disillusionment, and truth of living in his times. I like that. At once, Eli is confident yet unsure. It takes his code of ethics to get him through his trials. None of us are 100% confident — we often get shaken to our core and this is something that draws Eli and the reader together (I hope!). Doctor Eleanor Carrow is the heroine I would want to be. Every Western film I watched, I mentally imagined how I would interact with the movie characters. Eleanor was my dream female protagonist, but very tempered by her environment, specifically nineteenth century social norms. Santiago de Alvarez is the leader I wish we could have whenever a leader is needed. Not cocky, not arrogant, but compassionate and responsible. To me, Santiago was the answer to many stereotypes of Hispanic men which I felt needed correction after all the Western films of the 1950s to the present. I hope I achieved my goal. If not, I’m open to learning more to do better.
Why is New Mexico the perfect place for your story to unfold?
I adore the American Southwest. I confess that I’m a bit of a weather wimp and could never live there because of the summer heat. However, I love visiting and do so often. I love researching the area too. I grew up in eastern Colorado and have always been intrigued by the ancient civilizations that managed to survive where I could not. Every time I sat to write this novel, my mind told the story from the perspective of red clay and pink dust covering my hands, and of low lying bushes as far as the eye can see. The site rather picked itself. The story could only be set in northwest New Mexico.
Tell us more about the book and how it came together.
A Reckoning in Mercy took about a year to write. I’ve wanted to write a Western for a very long time and finally gave myself permission to do so. The cover is my own design and was much busier at first, but eventually I saw the need to pare it down, to simplify. We often forget that covers these days must be effective in full scale and as a thumbnail. Most sites for selling offer potential readers only a thumbnail and if a cover is too busy, the image is a mess at reduced size. This was the first time I added a sensitivity reader to my list of editors and I believe it was worth the investment. Very worth it!
What makes this novel unique in the paranormal Western genre?
The historical and cultural research will make Reckoning stand out (fingers crossed.) Too often I read Weird West stories and the historical details I happen to want simply aren’t there. I’m a huge history nerd. Perhaps I’m one of a few who really go for the descriptions of clothing, firearms, language, and landscape to an extreme, but I promised myself that any reader who loves history along with a good scare will find all of the above in abundance.
What was your favorite part of working on this project?
Research. What a rabbit hole that turned out to be! I needed to learn about Hispano culture, the lives of women doctors in the West, and everything right down to horse tack and rifle history.
Are you a pantser (discovery writer) or a plotter?
I prefer to call myself a plotser. I start with plans and let them go off the rails. I honestly don’t think what I planned at the beginning was what finally ended up on the page. For a while, I scoffed at authors who said they let their characters write the book, but now I’m a bit more humble about that. My setting and a couple of characters do make demands.
Looking back to the beginning of your writing/publishing career, what do you know now that you wish you’d known then?
An editor is your friend, not the enemy. I wish I’d known that and not felt as if edits were killing my baby somehow. I’ve now used copy editors, sensitivity editors, and development editors. All of them were absolutely essential.
What writing projects are you working on now?
I’m starting on a Western Mystery. No ghosts this time. Just a crime and an amateur detective. I’m setting it in Tombstone, Arizona (as I was staying there last Labor Day Weekend). 1881. And no, it’s not featuring the Earps nor the Cowboys. Tombstone was much bigger and more energetic as a community than is suggested by the famous OK Corral incident.
Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Only that I appreciate all that SouthWest Writers does as an organization, including offering authors such as myself to be interviewed. Very much appreciated. Thank you.
KL Wagoner loves creating worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Her current work in progress is The Last Bonekeeper fantasy trilogy and short stories in the same universe. A member of SouthWest Writers since 2006, Kat has volunteered as the organization’s secretary, newsletter editor, website manager, and author interview coordinator. Kat is also a veteran, a martial art student, and a grandmother. Visit her at klwagoner.com.
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