The Last Free Trapper
by Jory Sherman
a short story in
Wolf Creek, Book 9:
Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night. Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors. Today, RTW has the honor of showcasing the story of one of the very best writers today, Jory Sherman.
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| Jory Sherman |
About Jory
Jory Sherman began his literary career as a poet in San Francisco’s famed North Beach in the late 1950s, during the heyday of the Beat Generation. His poetry and short stories were widely published in literary journals when he began writing commercial fiction. He has won numerous awards for his poetry and prose and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Letters for his novel, Grass Kingdom. He won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America for The Medicine Horn. He has also won a number of awards from the Missouri Writers Guild, and other organizations. Literary critics consider Sherman to be among the top five western writers, according to Dale Walker, historian. Warren French, former professor of literature at the University of Florida, wrote that: “Jory Sherman has a strange and powerful knowledge of language and an almost perfect ear.” Sherman continues to write novels and short stories as well as conduct writing workshops. He lives in Pittsburg, Texas with his wife, Charlotte.
Jory's story: The Last Free Trapper
— can Roman Hatchett stay one step ahead of his past?
Mountain man Roman Hatchett has spent decades in the Rockies, but has finally admitted to himself the beaver aren't coming back. He comes south to Wolf Creek, where his long-ago partner Casto Haston is running a tannery, to try out the buffalo hunting trade. But Roman's past has tracked him to the Plains, and he will have to face it down...
About Roman Hatchett
In “The Last Free Trapper” we are introduced to Roman Hatchett. Roman is a fifty-ish mountain man, stern, quiet, and capable. He was a trapper in the Rockies since his youth, but has finally realized the beaver aren’t coming back and he needs to find another way to make a living. He has come down to the Plains to investigate the buffalo hunting trade.
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| Gun for Hire |
His old partner from decades past, Casto Haston, is doing quite well running a tannery in Wolf Creek. The two of them had been free trappers — that is, not attached to a company, but independent. Is the day of the free trapper over for good? Roman discovers that part of his past has been tracking him, and has followed him to Wolf Creek… and now he must face it.
Jory Sherman was unable to participate in this blog, due to a combination of ill health and mounting deadlines, but as series editor I volunteered to say a few words about his character. In a lot of ways, Roman Hatchett is Jory Sherman. He’s been up in the shining mountains for decades, showing the rest of us how it’s done; now that he is older, the world has changed… but he is not afraid to come down and face it head-on. He is the last free trapper, and it is an honor to have him in Wolf Creek.
Wolf Creek Book 9:
The Last Free Trapper
by Jory Sherman
A Savior is Born
by Meg Mims
That Time of Year
by Jerry Guin
‘Twas the Fight before Christmas
by Jacquie Rogers
A Kiowa Christmas Gift
by Troy D. Smith
Renewal of Faith
by James J. Griffin
Wolf Creek, Book 10:
Sarah’s Christmas Miracle
by Big Jim Williams
Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek
by Charlie Steel
A Home for Christmas
by Cheryl Pierson
The Angel Tree
by Chuck Tyrell
The Spirit of Hogmanay
by Clay More
O Deadly Night
by Troy D. Smith
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