Capital Trusts

By Mike Zaman

Horse Back Magazine and its publisher Steven Long have been an integral part of a growing network of caring Americans. Americans who have and continue to voice concern for our heritage and the principles upon which that heritage existed. “We don’t shoot horses” a respite from an old Jane Fonda Red Buttons movie “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They” today the BLM does, but it’s a different type of gun a tranquilizer stun gun.

Who is Steven Long, the man behind Horseback Magazine?

Steven Long has spent more than 2,000 hours in the courtroom, more time than most practicing lawyers spend there in a lifetime. He has covered some of the most important cases of the last two decades. Few authors can capture the drama of lawyer vs. lawyer quite like him.

His most recent book, Every Woman’s Nightmare (St. Martin’s Press) tells the story of the fairytale marriage and cold blooded murder of Utah’s Lori Hacking, whose body was left in a city dump to rot. She was killed in her sleep by her husband Mark after catching him in the lie that he was about to begin medical school. The book has sparked heated opposition from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons.

Steven’s true crime tale, Out of Control, (St. Martin’s Press), chronicled the strange murder of Dr. David Harris by his wife Clara. Long’s story, set in a wealthy suburb of Houston, is not a typical grisly true crime paperback. He tells the tale of a woman who loved too much, so much that she was willing to kill to keep her man from his paramour.

In his first book, Death Without Dignity, (Texas Monthly Press, 1987) Steven Long wrote the sad story of catastrophic failure in a nursing home. The work prompted the Austin American-Statesman to call it the “literary equivalent of the movie Platoon.” The book won a State Bar of Texas Gavel Award for distinguished journalism. Its release was greeted with rave reviews in the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and Kirkus.

Yet among the numerous awards and praise he has received throughout his career, Steven Long still covets the merit badge for journalism he received as a Boy Scout when his first story was published at age 11.

Death Without Dignity is found in the libraries of many medical and nursing schools. However, it is not a dry factual tome. Instead it is true crime writing at its best, reminiscent of the style of the late Tommy Thompson.

Steven Long does not consider himself a true crime writer, although his work falls into that genre. “I write books about lawyers and judges,” he says. “Murder is boring for the most part, but the pull, tug, and theatrics of the courtroom is high drama indeed.”

Long began his career in radio but quickly moved to print. For most of 11 years, he served as editor and publisher of Galveston’s In Between Magazine, an award-winning alternative weekly famed for its gritty investigative work.

His first freelance piece appeared in the respected Texas Observer.

In the 1982 Texas election for governor, Steven Long asked the incumbent, Bill Clements, a question that changed the state’s history. “Would you appoint a consumer, for example a housewife, to the Texas Public Utilities Commission?” The governor blundered and answered, “There isn’t a housewife in Texas qualified to serve on the PUC.” He lost the election.

After closing In Between, Steven Long carved out a career as a feature writer with the Houston Chronicle. One article resulted in the indictment, conviction and disbarment of the late Houston adoption lawyer Leslie Thacker for buying and selling crack babies from mothers in several Texas county jails. Another series of investigative stories ultimately resulted in the indictment and conviction of the head librarian of the oldest medical school west of the Mississippi for stealing rare and historic medical texts, some dating to the sixteenth century. He exposed the Texas prison system’s wholesale practice of allowing the use of inmates as subjects for medical residents to hone their skills in cosmetic surgery at public expense in a state teaching hospital. The facelifts, tummy tucks, breast reductions, and brow lifts, came to a halt.
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Steven Long covered the Andrea Yates murder case for the New York Post from the scene to conviction. For the same paper, he located rogue CEO Ken Lay who was in for ten days when the Enron scandal broke in the balcony of his Methodist church. He covered the lengthy and complex trial of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm for Agence France Presse, as well as Crain’s Chicago Business. He has appeared on Inside Edition, the CBS Early Show and Catherine Crier Live, as well as Mugshots on Court TV. Steven worked as a consultant to Dateline’s segment on the sensational Robert Durst Case. He has appeared on Northwest Afternoon on ABC/KOMO in Seattle. Steven appeared on the E Network’s series, “Women Who Kill.”

Long served as courtroom analyst and special correspondent with CNBC for its extensive coverage of the Lay/Skilling Enron trial. During the proceedings he frequently appeared on the popular business channel’s “Squawk Box” and “Power Lunch” programs.

Steven and his adopted horse Façade have appeared on Animal Planet’s “Animal Cops Houston.” Façade is an SPCA rescue animal. Steven and his wife Vicki recently adopted Flying Algonquin, a retired race horse saved from slaughter.

His most recent assignment was for Cowboys and Indians Magazine for a story on Willie Nelson and his Paint horses. He was on assignment for the same magazine he had previously completed a story about actor Tony Curtis.

An avid horseman, Steven Long has been a contributor to Western Horseman magazine. Long also serves as owner and editor of Horseback Magazine, (www.horsebackmagazine.com). His work has appeared frequently in the Houston Press.

Steven Long is a regular contributor to the respected true crime forum, In Cold Blog http://incoldblogger.blogspot.com. His most recent journalism award came from the American Quarter Horse Association for his “Hoofbeats on Hollow Ground” which appeared in the respected Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. Besides his writing career, Steven Long holds a certification in corporate community relations from the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College

Steven Long is a co-founder of the National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions (Literacy USA), and completed three terms on the national board of CASA, the Court Appointed Special Advocates Association, based in Seattle. CASA volunteers throughout the nation help the courts place abused and neglected children in safe and permanent homes. He currently serves on the organization’s prestigious Emeritus Advisory Board. He is also longtime vice president of the Greater Houston Horse Council where he also chairs the Governmental Affairs committee.

Steven and Vicki Long, a fiction writer, live in Houston, Texas.

The Point that we hopefully have made is that when Steven Long does an investigation he gets right to the core of the issue. Today that issue happens to be a government agency that is totally out of control, and the reason “Money” money is greed, and there is a lot of that to go around.

Mr. Long can be reached at:

P.O. Box 681397 Houston, TX 77268 - 1397
(713) 202-7644 steven@stevenlongwriter.com

http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/

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