Catching up.
Not longago, I dusted off a favorite LP record album from the past and gave it alisten. It’s still good. The record, by legendary country singer and songwriterRoger Miller (no relation), is titled, “Dear Folks Sorry I Haven’t WrittenLately.” Well, folks, I haven’t written lately here either, although I doubt Ihave been missed.
The lastfew months on the writing front have been tied up with a lot of busy work.Here’s a rundown.
Andthe River Ran Red,my historical novel about the Massacre at Bear River, is now available inpaperback and eBook from publisher Speaking Volumes at all the onlinebooksellers. Find it in paperback at Amazon US and Barnes & Noble; and in eBook at Amazon US, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo Books.
Also justreleased is an anthology of Western short stories that, so far as anyone candetermine, it is the first crowd-funded Western ever. It’s the result of a lotof hard work by editor Jeff Mariotte and Kickstarter. It’s now available onlineeverywhere in paperback and eBook. My story, “The Incident Above Mentioned” isthe lead story in Silverado Press Presents WesternStories by Today’s Top Writers .
Anothercollection of short stories is due in large print from Thorndike Publishing inlate July. This one is a collaboration with friend and fellow author Michael Norman. Shiny Spurs and Gold Medallionsfeatures our award-winning Western stories (Western Writers of America SpurAwards, Will Rogers Medallion Awards, and elsewhere), along with some newofferings.
Thenthere’s Buckoffs and Broken Barriers: Rodeo Poems, a new collection ofpoetry in the works at publisher Speaking Volumes. The book, as the titlesuggests, is all about rodeo, and includes poems both serious and silly. Somehave appeared in magazines long ago, some in other collections and anthologies,and many are published here for the first time.
SpeakingVolumes also has the manuscript for a new novel featuring RawhideRobinson, ordinary cowboy andextraordinary spinner of tall tales. This adventure, titled Rawhide RobinsonRides with Old Blue, has our raconteur in the employ of Charlie Goodnight,trailing cattle northward led by Goodnight’s legendary lead steer, Old Blue.But Old Blue keeps walking even after reaching Ogallala, and Rawhide Robinsonfollows the big steer into the great white north to fetch him back to Texas.
And, amidstall that, I have been writing short articles from Western history for theonline publication Cowboy State Daily. Of late they have published mypieces about Charlie Siringo; the 1896 Montpelier, Idaho bank robbery; theParcel Post Bank in Vernal, Utah; and Wild Bill Hickok’s gunfight in Springdale,Missouri.
Also onthe horizon is a new novel from Speaking Volumes that will see the light of daylater this year. Where the Long Trail Ends is set on a cattle drive onthe Chisholm Trail. The title is a line from a poem by George Rhoades, an old college professor of mine,who is also an award-winning poet. Then there’s a new novel about the PonyExpress, The Mail Must Get Through, as well as paperback and eBookeditions of my previous hardcover books This Thy Brother and BlackJoe and Other Selected Stories.
After allthat, who knows what else the future holds?
Sorry to fillyour day with so much chin music, but I wanted to make up for lost time.
