Hanes Segler was born in San Antonio in 1949. Son of a career military man, he lived in Germany for three years as a young child before returning to Central Texas where he attended school. After a decade of odd jobs, he entered the commercial banking industry and remained for many years. Upon retirement, he returned to San Antonio where he continues to work occasionally and travel at every opportunity. However, writing remains his true passion.
On a whim, he began writing in 2003. Always an avid reader, he had noticed the trend in action/adventure fiction toward characters and situations far removed from what the average person would ever encounter. He set out to write something different. As Segler explains his work:
“I read a variety of stuff, but I always leaned toward action/adventure fiction. Years ago, I noticed each new book had characters, plots, and settings designed to outdo any previous one, to the point of absurdity. Every hero was a steely-eyed agent who, as a former Green Beret-turned-Navy Seal-turned-Special Forces operative, speaks six languages and breaks bricks with his tongue—oh, and he’s the president’s closest friend—is sent on a secret mission to save the world from terrorists operating out of Kathmandu…Do you know that guy? Me neither, nor does anyone else!
“I knew I couldn’t compete in that genre, just don’t have the imagination or desire to engage in that type of story-telling. Instead, I choose to craft a believable story and use characters one might meet in real life—fairly normal people who get caught up in extraordinary situations and become memorable players in their own way. Or, as in my Carlton Westerfield Series, the characters might be a bit off-center in their chosen activities (Carlton’s a low-bid hit man who works for drug traffickers) but none of the guys use “super-powers” to ply their trade!
“Likewise, the women have talents and assets that separate them from the soccer-mom crowd—but not to unbelievable heights. No ninety-pound women using martial arts to defeat three muscled-up, trained body guards (at the same time) and no picking off an adversary from three hundred yards away…with a handgun.
“Whatever their gender or ethnicity, my characters are unique, a bit quirky…but fairly normal, existing in our everyday world and plugging along like the rest of us until an event or situation calls them to action. In my stories, I try to create that setting and turn the characters loose to cope with it.
“Fiction is designed to satisfy the Walter Mitty in all of us, and I think my stories and characters enable my readers to relate to a guy or gal who’s tough and can handle a gun pretty well, but still shops at Walmart, can’t figure out his/her new phone, and doesn’t drive a Ferrari.”
Segler’s first book, Spoils of the Desert, is set in the Trans Pecos Region of West Texas, an area known as the Big Bend. Patriot soon followed, also set in the area, but during the Mexican Revolution of the early twentieth century. Sporadic writing has produced seven more books, the last five comprising the Carlton Westerfield Series, set mainly in San Antonio and culminating with The Truth, Very Rare, released in February of 2022.
Being a Texas native, Segler has traveled extensively throughout Texas, the southwestern U. S. and Mexico for years, observing and enjoying the culture, history, and people—good and bad—of the Border Region.