Floyd Salas is an American boxer and author of several works of fiction, including What Now My Love. He was born to a Spanish family in 1931. Raised in Denver, Colorado, Salas remarked that he "grew up in a house of books." Identified as a gifted child from an early age, Salas proceeded through elementary school at an accelerated pace. The family relocated to California in 1939, and Salas' mother died in 1943. Shortly after, Salas' older brother committed suicide. Around this time Salas experienced blindness, and hysteria, and was expelled from his high school for fighting. He admits to being arrested "five times in fifteen months," following his mother's death.
After graduating high school and temporarily leaving his delinquency behind, Salas studied at the University of California at Berkeley. He was soon caught with marijuana and left the school shortly thereafter. While his formal education was turbulent at best, Salas pursued boxing seriously. He also began writing poetry and was encouraged by famed poet Josephine Miles. In 1958 he was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship for his writings. Using the earnings, he moved down to Mexico City and continued to write.
Salas' first novel, Tattoo the Wicked Cross, was released in 1967. It was a critical success and went on to win the Joseph Henry Jackson Award. He followed up with What Now My Love in 1970 which was similarly received. The novel follows several characters as they flee San Francisco following a botched drug bust. They eventually settle in Mexico, where Salas shares his view of the country he himself inhabited for several years. Following the publishing of the novel, Salas received a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship. He has since taught creative writing at numerous institutions, and in 1992 published a critically acclaimed autobiography. In 2003 he was hired to write for Kingpin, an NBC drama program. He continues to work, often previewing work and writing updates on his personal website.
