Vicky Ramakka’s environmental novel, The Cactus Plot, features a botanist heroine hired by the Bureau of Land Management to survey endangered plants in northwest New Mexico. It is an intriguing murder mystery with the underlying theme of conflicting uses of public lands.

Vicky lives between Aztec and the Colorado border and enjoys the best of both environments – mountains to the north and desert all around. In addition to writing, Vicky enjoys photographing the flora and fauna that reside in her “back yard” which she considers any place within a mile walk. 

She says, “Being an educator and self-declared naturalist, it tickles my heart when readers tell me they learned more about endangered plants and public land management from The Cactus Plot.”

She has published in local, regional, and national magazines. Her articles have won New Mexico Press Women’s awards. Her short story was awarded first place in the humor category by the Southwest Writers and appears in their 2019 anthology. She is a contributor to the San Juan Writers anthology, Into The West, and the San Juan College literary journal, Perspectives.

“Writing is fun and writing is hard. But if you are paying attention to this beautiful, complex, ever challenging place we live in, you, too, will have something to write about.”