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I really identified with Pocahontas' struggles as a young woman trying to identify herself in a modern, changing world and trying to stay true to her culture and heritage.

My own special knowledge is about the Abenaki people and, to some degree, my Iroquois neighbors. But whenever I write anything about another tribal nation, I always get a lot of help. Not just from books, but from people who belong to that tribal nation.

Here in L.A., you kind of get stuck in your own little dilemmas and your own little life, and hearing a story like Pocahontas' reminds you there's a bigger world out there, and there are so many more important things in life.

I learned to interpret the ancient pictograph codices and read Nahuatl, the Aztec language.

Portraying Pocahontas' story well was important to me because she was a real person and these were real events in her life.

With the Mongolian horse warfare, I did a lot of research into the Mongol art of war.

So, I have my own horse and two ponies. I grew up around horses, and that really is my passion.

I love my tribe, the Maasai are very good people and humble.

Twelve years ago, when I was on the Pine Ridge Reservation for 'Thunderheart,' I was dong research into Native American horses that had come into extinction. I was tracing certain Lakota bloodlines, and it became an obsession.

I'm passionate and I travel the world not just as a tourist but to understand cultures... I've lived with Masai tribe... I travel the world and bring it back in the form of a research book that would become the starting point for the collection.