H Jack Dunn

Every story has a beginning — though we don’t always recognize it when we’re standing in it. Before the war stories. Before the headlines. Before the hard lessons that would come to define us — there were just a few young kids, trying to make sense of who they were and what they were meant to be.

When a young man finds himself thrown into the world of cowboys, ranch life, and an Arabian stallion named Old Smokey Joe, he discovers that the ride isn’t just about learning to stay in the saddle. It’s about learning to stay the course.

In the quiet valleys of southern Utah, in 1857, over 120 men, women, and children from Arkansas were brutally murdered by Mormon settlers and their allies. It was one of the darkest chapters in American frontier history—an event that has long remained shrouded in silence, misdirection, and denial.

Big Boys Don’t Cry is a raw, emotionally charged work of fiction drawn from the real-life experiences of those who serve and protect. Told through the eyes of a first responder, it reveals the deep inner struggles faced by men and women in uniform—long after the sirens fade.