Members of the Red Sands Writers Circle, Justin Tate and Mollie Connelly-MacNeill were in Pampa researching a local woman who gained fame for her horror novel that garnished nation wide attention. Red Sands is a reputable organization in Phoenix. Tate is known for uncovering books that have fallen out of attention over time and then sharing them along with writing pieces about them. Tate came across “Eat Them Alive” and was left immediately wanting more of who this author was.
“The book completely took over my life, I wanted to know more about this author after sharing the book with our club,” Tate said. “I immediately started trying to uncover who this person was, but it took me a while.”
Nace wrote under many pseudonym’s, making the job of learning about her all the more impossible for the researchers. Through Internet searches, the duo were able to settle on the fact that Nace was from Pampa. Tate then contacted the Lovett Memorial Library for information, and was pointed toward the White Deer Land Museum.
The two were able to make an immediate trip out to Pampa to delve into her life.
“Evelyn is the perfect example of my interests,” Tate said. “She’s very mysterious and infatuating. Through digging through the archives of The Pampa News was how I was able to figure out where she was from.”
Nace worked for The Pampa News writing columns such as “Mending Mature Marriages” and “Peeking at Pampa.” With her writing, she was known in town, but Nace was also a Sunday school teacher and pillar of society involved with as many groups/organizations she could be. Nace’s writing started romance novels when her husband was away at war, one of the things the White Deer Land Museum was able to provide was private letters from Nace to her husband while he was away.
Nace received awards from the Amarillo YMCA for publishing five books in a year, but the organization wasn’t aware the books were erotica books that weren’t for the faint of heart. Every book Nace wrote tied into Texas and the panhandle, showing her appreciation for her time spent here. Nace was a bible school teacher, as well as a member of the church choir at First United Methodist Church and held a writers group, Panhandle Pen Women, at the library or often times at her own home.
“If there was a club, she was in it,” Connelly-MacNeill said. “She was very involved here and many people know here and we’ve got to meet people that knew her and are thrown by the types of book she was writing.”
The first publication from Nace came in ‘46 and many short stories to Pulp Magazine. In the time her husband, Otis Nace, was serving the country in war, Evelyn continued to manage his lumber yard while writing stories throughout. During her first publications, Nace was writing romance books and selling stories. Towards the ‘60s, with changes happening in the world and things changing, Nace began writing the level of novels that gained her the fame amongst communities across the country for her blush worthy books.
“Evelyn was a very active women in her community,” Tate said. “You wouldn’t expect these types of stories or books to be coming from this women, but she earned a name for herself and still has continued to do so.”
The book that she’s most known for, “Eat Them Alive”, has since ended production making it harder to find copies of the book. The duo has since left back to Phoenix after gathering information on Evelyn but are still wanting to hear from Pampa folks that knew her, to help with the book the two hope to write over Nace and her life.
If you have any information on Evelyn Pierce Nace, Justin and Mollie are asking to hear about it. To contact them, their emails are justintate@live.com or mkconnel@asu.edu
