Peacemaker Nominee: High Stakes by Chad Strong #western

High Stakes

by Chad Strong

2013 Peacemaker Nominee for

Best First Book

Romancing The West welcomes Chad Strong, who's made quite a splash with his first Western, High Stakes.

About the book
With its evocative descriptions of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada as it was post-gold rush in 1877, High Stakes is a compelling tale with the grit of a western and the allure of a romance. The novel reveals aspects of Victoria’s history unknown to most people.

The protagonist, nineteen-year-old Curt Prescott, returns home to Victoria after a three-month poker circuit on the mainland. A new “Moral Action Committee” has sprung up in his absence. Headed by the wife of the new preacher, the committee threatens to cast out all soiled doves and gamblers from the city. He meets the new preacher, “Bud” Andrews, Bud’s shrewish wife, Sarah, and their idealistic daughter, Mary. Bud seeks to convert Curt while Curt plans to destroy the committee. Pressures mount for Curt as he tries to help his young constable friend keep the peace with a notorious lowlife, while at the same time trying to ease his jealous girlfriend Del’s insecurities. As Curt falls in love with Mary, the battle for his lifestyle becomes a battle of life and death, and of love lost and found.

About Chad

Chad Strong, Author
Photo credit: Debby Strong

“While I’m happy to call southern Ontario home now, I love Victoria -- its history, architecture, its natural environment,” says Chad. “I lived there for a great portion of my life. My wife jokingly calls Victoria my mistress.” High Stakes grew out of Chad’s love of western stories and his fascination with Victoria’s history. While the novel is entirely fictional, Chad did a lot of research to make the setting and circumstances as authentic as possible. “Even with its strong British influences, Victoria in those days was a lot like other towns of the Old West. There were indeed saloons and gamblers, lumberjacks and prostitutes, all trying to make their way the only way they knew how.”

Chad Strong has been around horses most of his life, riding western on wilderness trails and in small amateur show rings. He reads and writes in multiple genres, mostly westerns and fantasies. Two of his western short stories have appeared in Frontier Tales, and one of his fantasy short stories, published in Bards & Sages Quarterly, won that magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Story of January 2012.

To learn more about Chad and his writing, please visit his website. 

High Stakes is available at: 

Musa Publishing, Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, BN.com, Smashwords

Congratulations for your nomination, Chad!

The Lifetime Achievement Peacemaker will be presented to Robert Vaughan

2013 BEST WESTERN NOVEL:

• City of Rocks (Five Star Publishing — Cengage) by Michael Zimmer
• Unbroke Horses (Goldminds Publishing, LLC) by D.B. Jackson
• Apache Lawman (AmazonEncore) by Phil Dunlap
• Wide Open (Berkley Publishing Group) by Larry Bjornson

2013 BEST WESTERN SHORT STORY:

• “Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill” (Christmas Campfire Companion — Port Yonder Press) by Troy Smith
• “Christmas For Evangeline” (Six-guns and Slay Bells — WF ) by C. Courtney Joyner
• “Keepers of Camelot” (Six-guns and Slay Bells — WF) by Cheryl Pierson
• “The Toys” (Six-guns and Slay Bells — WF) by James J. Griffin
• “Adeline” (Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT — Goombah Gumbo Press ) by Wayne Dundee

2013 BEST WESTERN FIRST NOVEL:

• High Stakes (Musa Publishing) by Chad Strong
• Wide Open (Berkley Publishing Group) by Larry Bjornson
• Red Lands Outlaw, the Ballad of Henry Starr (AWOC.com Publishing) by Phil Truman
• Last Stand At Bitter Creek (Western Trail Blazer) by Tom Rizzo
• Sipping Whiskey in a Shallow Grave (Sunbury Press) by Mark Mitten

Winners will be announced on June 1, 2013 

on the Western Fictioneers website.