What Did You Say?

Earlier my daughter said she was going to cut her nails on the porch.  Now my hearing isn't awful, but it's certainly not what it used to be.  I heard that she was going to go cut her nails with a fork.  I honestly sat there pondering how in the world she was going to do that, when I realized she'd gone out on the porch.  Then did the mental smack of the head.


I'm presently working on one of our older westerns.  I scanned it last week and I'm formatting and editing it for the Kindle. So my brain is in western mode.


Hearing her wrong got me to thinking. I know . . . not always a good thing.  But, I can't help but wonder how many of the battles, gunfights, brawls, etc. from history, were caused by a good ol' misunderstanding.  Someone just hearing something a little wrong.  Of course this lead to me thinking about a new character to come to Wind River, a town we wrote a 6 book series about.  This summer might be a good time to revisit Wind River, if we can just find the time.

A Nice Review

There's a very nice review of For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls here.

Also available for the Nook , and trade paperback

Western Fictioneers 2011 Peacemaker Award. Nominees

Western Fictioneers (WF) is proud to announce the nominees for the 2011 Peacemaker Award.

Winners will be announced on the Western Fictioneers (WF) web site (http://www.westernfictioneers.com/) on June 1, 2012.

Entries were accepted in both print and electronic forms with a 2011 copyright date.  The Peacemaker Awards are given out annually.  Submissions for the 2012 awards will be open in July, 2012. Submission guidelines will be posted on the WF web site. The following list of nominees is in no particular order.

Best Western Short Story:

***There were  two ties in this category, which is why there are seven nominees instead of the required five.

“Planting Season” by Johnny D Boggs (Cactus Country Anthology, Volume I – High Hill Press)

“The Way of the West” by Larry J. Martin (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

“Blackwell’s Run” (Western Trail Blazer) by Troy D. Smith

“The Sin of Eli” by Troy D. Smith (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

“Panhandle Freight” by LJ Washburn (The Traditional West anthology, WF)    

“The Death of Delgado” by Rod Miller (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

“Stay of Execution” by Lucia St. Clair Robson (Cactus Country Anthology, Volume I – High Hill Press)

Best Western Novel:

The Sonora Noose by Jackson Lowry (Berkley)

Redemption, Kansas by James Reasoner (Berkley)

Blood Trails by Lyle Brandt (Berkley)

The Assassination of Governor Boggs by Rod Miller (Bonneville Books)

Between Hell and Texas by Dusty Richards (Kensington Pinnacle imprint)

Best Western First Novel:

Unbridled by Tammy Hinton (Roots and Branches Publishing)

The Black Hills by Rod Thompson (Berkley)

Dismal River by Wayne Dundee (Oak Tree Press)

Blessings, Bullets And Bad Bad Men by B.A. Kelly (Oak Tree Press)

The Guerrilla Man by Steven Clark (Solstice Publishing)

Western Fictioneers (WF) was formed in 2010 by Western writers Robert J. Randisi, James Reasoner, Frank Roderus, and other professional Western writers with the mission of preserving, honoring, and promoting the Traditional Western in the 21^st Century. Western Fictioneers (WF) is the only professional writers organization composed entirely of authors who have written Western fiction, the classic American genre. A writer or publisher does not have to be a member to be nominated, or win, the Peacemaker Award.

Contact: Larry D. Sweazy, WF Awards Chair, larrysweazy@prodigy.net

Growing Up Watching Westerns

I’m sure some of you have wondered how I got into western writing.  I grew up watching Gunsmoke, Paladin, Bonanza, etc.  My dad loved westerns.  Top this with the fact I enjoy reading about history.  I didn’t mind having to read the history textbooks in school, in fact I may have been the only kid that read the whole books.  Now that math textbook was a different matter.

My first toe into western writing came with writing Hallam.  The first Lucas Hallam story which was published as a mystery, but it had western touches.  Lucas was a riding extra/PI in the first stories which were set during the 1920’s in Hollywood.  That story is available as an ebook on Amazon and Barnes and Noble along with 3 other stories I had saved on a usb drive I carried with me the day our house burned down.  This past week I have been collecting our missing stories.  The ones published in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and various anthologies.  I’m hoping I can scan them and make them available by this fall.  There are many Hallam stories and he is my favorite ol’ cowboy, but my favorite town would have to be Wind River.  James and I worked on this series together.  We had all six books plotted before the first book had even sold.  The publisher insisted on one name for the author on the paperbacks, so we decided to use James’.  When we republished them as ebooks, we used both of our names.  We were told that they wouldn’t sell with two names.  This time, the publisher was wrong.  They are selling very nicely with both our names.  While Wind River seems like a just a western, we planned a long running mystery to be solved in book six.  If you’ve read the books, you know how much fun we had writing them.  If you’ve only read a book or two, we wrote it where you would never know you missed anything.  But if you read all 6, you'll see what I mean.  Lately I’ve been trying to decide if we should revisit Wind River.  I wonder if there are six more books in the town . . .  The first book is still only 99 cents for the Kindle and Nook.

A Little Irony

Since I finished For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls, it was time to return my research books on the Florida Keys to the Fort Worth Library.  One book didn't make to to the library.  We started out with seven books, but only arrived with six.  The book we couldn't find was A Hidden Florida Keys & Everglades.  And hidden it was.  We looked all around the seat, no book. We thought it must have fallen out at one of the places we stopped earlier.  Retracing and asking brought no results.  That sucker was hidden very well.  It wasn't until I was sitting in my chair at home that I remembered a click in the seat earlier.  A flashlight revealed the little trade paperback had slid between the drawer under the passenger seat and the seat.  I was only able to see it with a flashlight.  Fingers wouldn't reach.  It required a small grabber slid between the drawer and seat and lots of maneuvering to get it out.  Mystery solved.  A Hidden Florida Keys & Everglades was no longer hidden.  Now we'll have to return to the Fort Worth Library sooner than planned, but that's nothing to complain about, more book looking.

For Whom The Funeral Bell Tolls is now available in trade paperback and ebook on Amazon.

and for the Nook

Last Day

Today is the last day to get the HALLAM Collection Free on Amazon.  Link is in the post below.

Free this Weekend on Amazon

HALLAM COLLECTION includes: 


"Hallam", is the first appearance of Lucas Hallam, a cowboy who has outlived the days of the old west to become a gun-toting private eye and stuntman in the early days of motion pictures in California. Originally published in The Eye's Have It, 1984.


In "The Blue Burro", Hallam's search for a kidnapping victim leads him to a shady bordertown nightclub and plunges him into a deadly tangle of international intrigue with high stakes. Originally published in LONE STAR LAW in 2005.


"Ladysmith", an adventure from Hallam's days as a Pinkerton agent that was originally published in GUNS OF THE WEST in 2002, finds him delivering a legacy for an old friend who has passed away, a chore that has him riding right into unexpected danger.


"Hollywood Flesh", published in The Book of all Flesh 2001.  It's a good thing Lucas Hallam is a hard-headed old cowboy and doesn't believe in such nonsense as Zombies, or this case might give him nightmares.


34,000 words.