Bryan Ney has had a harmless obsession with 1860's Montana since he found a copy of Vigilante Days and Ways at a Hollywood used bookstore in the 1990s. Probably he was drawn to the story by the same interest in justice that made him a member of his hospital's bioethics committee for two decades and more. Seeing an opportunity to rectify what seemed to be universal ignorance of this episode, Dr. Ney did what anyone in Malibu would do in this situation-he spent twenty years off and on writing a spec screenplay, naturally with the doctor as the protagonist. That never quite worked, so finally he hit upon the idea of writing Calamity Jane in as the main character, though she had come to the area a few months after the vigilante episode in historical fact. He also changed from screenplay to a novel, as no one ever reads spec screenplays anyway. Dr. Ney now dreams of retiring so that he may enjoy a second career banging out sequels in his local Starbucks.

Since its release, Calamity Jane has been honored as a finalist in the 2016 Wishing Shelf Book Awards and the Rossetti Book Awards.