Photo by Erin Nelson.
Madison Thames, author of “Gone Outlaw,” stands beside Champion, her 28-year-old quarter horse, at Shel-Clair Farms.
When Madison Thames was growing up, she liked writing and always thought she might write a fantasy novel.
But she just couldn’t shake the fact that the reality of her life was a different genre: a Western.
“I grew up loving horses,” said Thames, who grew up in the Highway 119 area near Briarwood Christian School. “I started riding when I was six years old. It was a huge passion of mine growing up.”
She took part in rodeos, even winning her first calf scramble. She read stacks of books about horses and loved movies about them, too.
“Westerns were always on my radar,” Thames said.
But she never thought about writing a novel in the genre — that is, until the action-adventure video game “Red Dead Redemption 2,” which is set in the Old West, came out in 2018 and she “really fell in love with the genre.”
“In that time period, there were so many blurred lines and areas of gray,” she said. “It’s so fascinating to me how people had such interesting journeys, how they forged their own path through that wild time.”
From there, Thames had the idea that would become her first novel, “Gone Outlaw,” which released in July.
“I had a strong idea for the story, but what I had to do was spend a lot of time researching because I wanted to make it as historically accurate as possible,” she said. “I spent several months online just reading about the Old West and that time period to immerse myself in it.”
The product was a novel set in 1883, with a complex story about a young woman who watches as her father is killed by a notorious outlaw. After his death, she joins the posse pursuing the outlaw’s gang for justice. There’s also a romantic thread to the book, Thames said.
“Anyone who enjoys a classic Western will enjoy this because it has all those elements, but it’s also so relatable to today,” she said. “It’s not just about revenge; it’s exploring grief and learning to let go, to wrestle with these things, to grow and explore forgiveness and redemption.”
She said she hopes that “Gone Outlaw” will not just entertain but also enrich the reader’s personal journey.
“If any of the stories I write can help someone heal or inspire them or spark their imagination, that’s what I hope for, because that’s what reading stories did for me,” Thames said.
She’s already at work on the sequel, which will be the second book in the “Sunset Legends” series. She works on her storylines while she rides trails on Champion, the horse she’s had since she was 11.
“It’s kind of my peaceful place, my happy place,” she said.
Thames said art is her “day job.” She graduated from Auburn University in 2018 with a fine arts degree and started a career as a professional artist, creating commissions for clients and selling her work at comic book conventions.
“When I started working as an artist, I didn’t think I would be an author, too,” she said, “but then I thought, ‘Why can’t I do both?’”
She’s found her hobbies and skills all tie together. She has a YouTube channel with more than 20,000 subscribers where she reacts to and reviews movies — especially Westerns.
“Because of my love of storytelling, I’ve always loved watching movies,” she said.
Thames also drew the artwork for the cover of “Gone Outlaw” and created all the art for the book’s video trailer.
“It’s cool having different skills cross over and help each other,” she said.
“Gone Outlaw” is available on Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardcover formats. To read more about Thames or her art, visit madisonthames.com or her YouTube channel, youtube.com/@MadisonKThames.
