him he had an older sister Patricia [Savage] Hemingway. Patricia, the first child born to Tom's parents, was given up for adoption. Tom did not know Patricia until much later in life and the siblings finally met in 1969. Tom and his sister grew to be close friends and always laughed about their similarities, including that they smoked the same cigarettes, liked the same beer and had the same deep throated laugh. Savage received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979. He used it to write Her Side of It, which he considered his best work. His last novel, The Corner of Rife and Pacific, was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award in 1989. In his writing, Savage dealt with themes of fatal provincialism and the claustrophobia of sexual boundaries. He used his novels to denounce the bigotry he considered entrenched in the western towns and ranches of his upbringing. Savage loosely modeled several character types on his own family. His beloved mother inspired the character of a culturally refined young mother, driven by isolation to alcohol. His grandmother Emma Russell Yearian inspired the character of an iron-fisted matriarch. His stepfather Charles Brenner inspired the character of an honest but slow-witted rancher. His uncle William Brenner inspired the character of a manipulative, calculating ranch hand. Savage wrote himself into many of his novels in the character of an outsider, unsuited to ranch life. These characters appear in many of his novels under different names and different circumstances. When asked to speak of his influences, Savage stated "Mrs. Bridge, by Evan S. Connell, is one of the best novels I ever read. I was influenced by John Steinbeck, Robert Benchley, and Dorothy Parker. I was a history major, read little fiction, chiefly biography and history. I read S.J. Perelman." Awards Honorary M.F.A. from Colby College, 1954 Guggenheim Fellowship, 1979 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, 1989 for The Corner of Rife and Pacific Selected writings Novels The Pass (1944) Lona Hanson (1948) A Bargain with God (1953) Trust in Chariots (1961) The Power of the Dog (1967) The Liar (1969) Daddy's Girl (1970) A Strange God (1974) Midnight Line (1976) I Heard My Sister Speak My Name (1977) republished with the author's approval as The Sheep Queen in 2001 Her Side of It (1981) For Mary with Love (1983) The Corner of Rife and Pacific (1988) Notes