John Mark Gumert has worked in roughly 70 countries, spent decades in the international oil industry, and written two books. But the 1979 New Mexico State University graduate has never lost his connection to Las Cruces.
His latest novel, “The Girls From Zazza,” draws on the places and experiences he has collected along the way, weaving familiar Southwestern settings into a science-fiction adventure about two aliens stranded on Earth.
Gumert began writing the book in late 2017 while spending time at his beach house in Brazil. An oil project in Suriname had ended earlier than expected, leaving him with time on his hands and no particular plans to write a novel.
“I was just sitting on the porch in Brazil, watching the waves come in, hanging out, and somehow all this stuff popped in my head,” he said.
The manuscript was largely finished by 2018, but work commitments and the COVID-19 pandemic kept it on the shelf. Gumert returned to the project this summer, spending July and August revising it before the book’s September release.
The story follows Olivia and Marlene, two visitors from another planet whose planned trip to Las Vegas takes an unexpected turn when lightning forces them to land on a West Texas ranch. There, they meet Jim, a rancher who helps them navigate Earth as they search for a way home.
Their travels take them through New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, including a stop in Las Cruces.
“I love walking into a new country, not knowing anybody, and half the time not knowing the language,” he said.
That enthusiasm for unfamiliar places began with a career that was hardly what he envisioned as a young student.
Originally from Kilgore, Texas, Gumert attended school in Las Cruces from third grade until his family relocated before his junior year of high school. Determined to return, he attended a junior college in East Texas before transferring to NMSU in 1975.
His early interests pointed toward journalism. Gumert had worked as a high school sports editor and initially considered pursuing the field in college, but he eventually switched to business. After graduating in 1979, he headed to Houston looking for work. His grandfather had worked for Shell Oil Company, and Gumert was familiar with the industry through his family’s ties to East Texas.
Shell hired him for an entry-level position involving warehouse and offshore operations. Although the work was far from glamorous, Gumert saw an opportunity to build a career overseas and repeatedly asked for an international assignment.
In 1984, the company sent him to Cameroon in West Africa. He spent three years there before returning to Houston and eventually moving into consulting, a career that would take him through Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East.
Brazil became especially significant after a consulting assignment in Rio de Janeiro led Gumert to meet his wife. The couple later established a home near the Brazilian coast, where he would eventually begin work on his second book.
Writing, however, had entered his life years earlier during an assignment offshore in West Africa. In the late 1990s, Gumert spent 132 days aboard a vessel supporting oilfield operations, where limited communication and little entertainment left him with long stretches of free time.
“There was nothing to do. Literally, nothing to do,” he said.
He used that time to write about his travels, producing the stories that became It’s in the Book, published in 2000. His second book takes a different approach, combining fiction with an interest in Southwestern history that dates back to childhood. Gumert remembers sitting on his grandfather’s lap at age 4 or 5, listening as he read Coronado’s Children by Texas folklorist J. Frank Dobie. The book’s tales of buried treasure and Southwestern legends captured his imagination long before he began traveling for work.
“As far as writing and everything, Dobie is by far the biggest influence I have,” Gumert said.
The book also became a family project, with a relative of Gumert’s Brazilian wife creating the cover illustration, which features his daughter as one of the main characters.
Gumert said he has no expectations of becoming a bestselling author. He enjoys writing and has considered expanding It’s in the Book with stories from the years since its publication, although he has not decided whether to pursue another project.
“I’m not expecting to get rich and famous with this,” he said.
Retirement has not entirely ended his oilfield career, either. After stepping away from the industry, Gumert was persuaded to return for an offshore drilling project in Uruguay, a country he had never visited, even as he looks forward to retiring again.
Las Cruces remains one of the places Gumert returns to regularly. He moved back in 2001 and, as he approaches his 70th birthday in December, continues to host Friday gatherings at his house with friends dating back to elementary school and his years at NMSU.
During the interview, Gumert recalled losing three friends over the summer. He had seen one of them at a gathering in May, unaware it would be their last visit. Asked what he was most proud of after decades of international work and travel, Gumert did not point to his career or the places he had visited.
“I’m proud to have the same friends that I had 60 years ago,” he said.
Those relationships have endured through years of overseas assignments, moves, and returns to Las Cruces. They are also part of what makes the city more than another stop in a life spent traveling.
“Cruces will always be home,” Gumert said.
