Billy Ray And The Good News

Billy Ray #1

by Frank Roderus

A Spur Award-winning AuthorBilly Ray Halstad was just another hard-working miner with a taste for some harmless hell-raising. Then one fateful Saturday night he found himself face-to-face with a preacher feller that told him sinning isn't all it's cracked up to be. To Billy Ray's surprise, the message took. Now he's actually got money in his pocket come Sunday morning. He's got something else, too: an urge to spread the good news.

Available only in Christian Fiction 8.

Genres: Westerns

293 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Frank Roderus wrote his first story—it was a western—when he was five. It was really awful, as might be expected, but his mother kept that typed and spell-checked short story tucked away until the day she died.
Later, Frank became a newspaper reporter, thinking that books are written by authors which he most assuredly was not. He kept trying to write though, and eventually did it wrong enough to learn how to get it right. That first sale, a young adult novel published by Independence Press, was more than thirty years and a good many books ago.
As a journalist, the Colorado Press Association awarded Frank Roderus their highest award, the Sweepstakes Award, for the best news story of 1980, and the Western Writers of America has twice named Frank recipient of their prestigious Spur Award. Frank passed away at age 73 in December 2015.

Reviews

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A horse of a different color. Interesting and surprisingly fun read.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A FR Western About A Miner Turned Reverend

FR had penned a western, if a different cloth, about a young man who works at the mines as the lift supervisor until the union caused him to lose his job because he would neither work for the union not against the mine owners. He then goes on a speed until saved then turns preachrr. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

[Alan Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Payday Saturday night for the miners. Billy Ray is accustomed to spending the evening at Miss Charlotte's place, doing what every other miner is doing. He wins at blackjack, goes to the up-market Silver Garter, and then the next day gets 'saved' at a preacher meeting. Then he baptizes himself, and sets himself up as a preacher. He meets Hattie Markle, a girl she says he has already met (but he can't recall where). That's the setting for a brilliantly-narrated story of sin and forgiveness. Who is Hattie? What's her secret? How will the townspeople react? A great Western about miners, preaching, life in the raw, and the possibility of salvation. Couldn't put it down. Was hooked from the beginning.

[Ju Ephraime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Billy Ray who philosophy is, work hard and play harder. But one night of too much drinking and partying with the ladies at Miss Charlotte’s house, was changed forever after he meets the preacher. The preacher caused Billy to seek redemption and ventures into religion by becoming a preacher himself, leaving his old ways behind. It was while on this path he meets Hattie Markle, a woman from his past, but Hattie has a secret. What would Billy Ray do when he learns Hattie’s secret, will be revert to his old ways or will he forgive, as a true preacher should? Readers of this genre will enjoy this story.

[D.K. Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Redemption.

Billy Ray just wants to have a good time. He’s a miner who works to play. A night of drinking too much and visiting the ladies at Miss Charlotte’s house is his idea of a perfect evening. That is until he meets the preacher. What follows is a story of redemption.

I don’t ordinarily read Western’s but was intrigued by the description. It sounded a bit like the old TV show, Gun Smoke, but with a major twist. I wasn’t disappointed. This story isn’t filled with shootouts and cattle rustling, it’s about the human condition. Well done and fun to read.

[Cws]

W Rod