Saturday, April 27, 2013

Peacemaker Nominee: High Stakes by Chad Strong #western


High Stakes

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: 

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 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Peacemaker Nominee: Last Stand at Bitter Creek by @TomRizzoWrites #western

Last Stand at Bitter Creek

2013 Peacemaker Nominee for 
Best First Book

Romancing The West welcomes author Tom Rizzo, who spent most of his career writing non-fiction, but has now made the transition to the story world.  What a splash he's made, too--nominated for Best First Book!  So let's see what he has to say about this unique and compelling book. 

The Story
A patrol of soldiers massacred...
A hidden gold shipment missing...
An irreplaceable historical document stolen...
An undercover agent betrayed, and on the run...

When a routine undercover mission gets compromised, a burned out Union spy finds himself in the crosshairs of a cunning and diabolical army commander. Grant Bonner becomes the hunted and the hunter, trapped in an intricate conspiracy that will test his courage and sense of justice.

Facing unrelenting odds, he struggles whether to put the past behind him for good, or risk going undercover once more to pursue the battle-hardened, rogue officer intent on destroying him. For some soldiers, the war isn't over, and won't end until Bonner makes his Last Stand at Bitter Creek.

About Tom
Tom Rizzo is the author of Last Stand at Bitter Creek a historical action-adventure novel set in the mid- to late-1800s. A passion for 19th century American history, Tom's novel includes several elements of historical fact. His writing journey has taken him from radio and television news reporting to The Associated Press, where he worked as a correspondent, followed by several years in advertising and public relations. He grew up in central Ohio, lived in Great Britain for several years, and now calls Houston, Texas home. Visit Tom at his website, Twitter, or Facebook

Origin of the Story Idea
Years ago, I wrote an article for Wild West magazine about the first peacetime train robbery in the United States, which took place a North Bend, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati. If you Google "first train robbery in US history," most results will reference the Reno gang boarding an Ohio & Mississippi passenger train on Oct. 6, 1866, at Seymour, Indiana, and robbing it of $13,000. The Reno Brothers would eventually be caught.

More than a year earlier—May 5th, 1865—the Ohio & Mississippi was robbed on its express run from Cincinnati to St. Louis. Outlaws derailed the train about 12 miles outside the city and made off with at least thirty US Treasury bonds valued at $1,000 each from the Adams Express car, along with whatever valuables they took from a hundred passengers. The robbers escaped in skiffs across the Ohio River into Kentucky, never to be heard from again.

The crime was never solved. From various newspaper accounts, I've concluded the robbery was staged by a band of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Union troops were in the area awaiting discharge, but with little money since pay-periods were so infrequent. Also in the area were Confederate soldiers who had been paroled, but still in uniform. Several passengers reported hearing one of the robbers referred to as "captain," and another as "lieutenant."

Up to then, most of my writing had been focused on news and magazine articles, but the idea of writing a novel persisted. Since the train robbery was never solved, it triggered a lot of "What if" scenarios, which boiled down to handful of questions: What if something was on that train so valuable that less than four or five individuals knew of its existence? To what diabolical means would someone go to protect, and even kill, for this secret treasure?

I've read comments by other authors who have said that once they got an idea for a novel, it sort of wrote itself. In my case, the story did not write itself—otherwise I would have gotten a whole lot more hours of sleep that I did!

Excerpt
Last Stand At Bitter Creek
by Tom Rizzo

Will Denton stood waiting at the railroad siding. By habit, he usually kept his badge pinned on his shirt, beneath the vest. This time, he wore it in a more conspicuous place so there would be no mistake about him being the one in charge. The train carried one passenger. A short, stocky man stepped onto the platform, wearing a gun on his hip, and some kind of leather contraption under his arm. He spotted the sheriff and walked toward him, a saddlebag draped over his left shoulder.

"Sheriff Denton. I'm Frank Mecklin. That killer Bonner still in town?"

Ever since approaching the man who called himself Brady Adams, the sheriff had suspicions. Nothing specific, of course, but over the years he came to rely more and more on his intuition. His exchange with Adams on the night he arrived left him less than satisfied. The stranger seemed to dance around the questions that were asked. Denton didn't quite buy the tale Adams spun about the doctor he telegraphed.

Soon after he contacted the railroad office in Cincinnati and mentioned a drifter who sent a telegram to Doctor Caleb Wright, he received a return wire advising him to expect Detective Frank Mecklin on the next train.

"He's been laid up with a fever for a couple of days now. I doubt he's going anywhere soon. At least voluntarily," he told the visitor.

Denton spotted the double barrels of a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun cradled in a leather sling under Mecklin's arm. Denton used a scattergun at one time, a big advantage in a shootout, but not much of one at long range.

"You aimin' to shoot someone or blow him into little pieces?"

"Whatever hurts the most," he said, delivering the words without a trace of humor.

For a second, Denton questioned whether he did the right thing contacting Mecklin.

"Sounds like you got something personal at stake."

"Yep. Real personal."

The sheriff looked up at the sky, hoping to discourage further explanation. Sometimes, the less he knew about a man's motives, the better.

"Had the son-of-a-bitch in my hands once," Mecklin said, almost to himself. "But he got the drop on us, hogtied us, took our horses and hats, and left us in the hot sun to bake to death."

"Us?"

"Me and a couple of witnesses to the train robbery I deputized. He roughed one of 'em up pretty bad. Kicked him so hard, the man's brains are still scrambled. He threw a shot my way when he left, and almost hit me in the head. So, what's our first move? Where's he at now?"

Denton took a bandana from his back pocket and mopped sweat from his tanned face. Not yet mid-morning, and already the air began to thicken with humidity.

"I don't want to get the town all riled up with a lot of shooting. We need to be smart about this. It's just the two of us. Keep in mind, he already dealt with three of you, if he is the man you're hunting."

Brady Adams—or whatever his name—didn't strike him as an experienced gun hand. But Denton learned long ago, appearances were sometimes deceptive. No telling what a man can do when his survival's at stake.

"It's him all right. I knew the killer made it this far when you mentioned Doctor Wright in your telegram. Son-of-a-bitch got lucky last time we met. But it won't happen again. Let's just get this over and done, and I'll be on my way."

"He can't leave town without his horse. And it's at the livery," said the sheriff, worried about Mecklin's impatience. "But, he's close by, staying at a tavern a few doors down."

"How do you know he hasn't lit out already?"

"I got a man who would tell me," said Denton, as he returned the bandana to his back pocket.

Mecklin looked away for a few seconds, and then slipped the scattergun from under his arm.

"I can take the tavern, and you cover the livery. I suspect between those two, there ain't a lot of places the son-of-a-bitch can run."
# # #
Last Stand at Bitter Creek
is available at

Congratulations for your nomination, Tom!

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 

Which marshal should she marry? MUCH ADO ABOUT MARSHALS #onsale this week! #western


Only 99¢ this week!
Much Ado About Marshals

RttA Winner: 2012 Best Western Historical Romance

*** NOR Top Pick ***
Buy a copy and see for yourself what everyone is talking about. Once youread just one of Ms. Rogers' books, I can assure you that you'll be a fan... Diana Coyle, NOR Reviewer

*** CTRR Award ***
Jacquie Rogers creates a witty, delightful, and downright amusing book with impressive charming players. Cherokee, Coffee Time Romance and More Reviewer

Like romance? Love stories about the old west? Want a dreamy cowboy to cuddle up and read about? Then this is the book for you.
~~My Eclectic Bookshelf, 5 dragonflies

Overview:
In the sleepy western town:
  • A wannabe woman sleuth is determined to marry the recently-hired town marshal
  • But the man sworn in is wanted for bank robbery!
  • Then there's a real bank robber and the actual new marshal who both claim the job...
  • Alas, affairs of the heart mess up everything!
5 Stars from Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews
A hilarious, yet romantic, comedy of errors and assumptions that kept my emotions in constant turmoil... Author Jacquie Rogers penned a fabulous historical romance and then inserted her own brand of wackiness. As a result, this story quickly grabbed me by the throat, kept me reading long past my bed time, and earned a place of honor upon my Keeper Shelf. Unforgettable! I cannot recommend this title highly enough.
Blurb
Daisy wants to be a detective just like dime novel heroine Honey Beaulieu. But her parents insist she marry. What better solution than to marry the new marshal!

Cole, mistaken for the new marshal, faces a dilemma few men have to face--tell the truth and face the noose, or live a lie and end up married. Either way could cost him his freedom.

If you'd like a humorous Linda Lael Miller or an old west Rachel Gibson novel, you'll love Much Ado About Marshals!

Try other fun, romantic books by award-winning author Jacquie Rogers:

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Peacemaker Nominee: The Keepers of Camelot by Cheryl Pierson #western


The Keepers of Camelot

Peacemaker nominee for Best Short Story

Romancing The West welcomes Cheryl Pierson today.  Cheryl's special because although she didn't write the first guest article published at RTW, she was the very first author booked.  Now we have the honor of a return visit so she can tell us all about her short story that was nominated for a Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award.

Cheryl and King Arthur
Who likes the stories of King Arthur and his knights? I do! I have been fascinated with the entire legend of Camelot since I was a child. The Sword In the Stone, the Disney cartoon movie, was a favorite when I was young.

As I got older, I couldn’t get enough of the movie musical, Camelot, with Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, and Richard Harris in the starring roles. I valiantly tried to struggle through T. H. White’s “The Once and Future King” but finally had to admit, it was too heavy for a twelve-year-old. As an adult, I enjoyed it, along with Mary Stewart’s series of the Arthurian legend as told from Merlin’s POV—a “must read” set if you’re a Camelot fan.

So, the story I wrote for the Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas anthology is one that is dear to my heart in many ways. Even the title, The Keepers of Camelot, was not something I had to think about for long. This story has just been nominated for the 2013 Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Awards in the Short Story Category. I am beyond thrilled. It also received a specific mention in Publishers Weekly when the anthology came out. Here’s a bit about the story itself.

Cheryl Pierson, Author
Legend says that Arthur will rise once more when the world needs him the most. But in my story, something goes awry, and Arthur has returned in many times, many places, throughout the centuries since his final battle.

The story opens with Arthur on a stagecoach in the American west—Indian Territory—of the 1880s. But in this life, he comes across two people he’d never thought to see again—Lancelot and Guinevere. Why are they here—and how will it all end…this time?

The stage is attacked by Apaches minutes before the driver gets the passengers to the safety of the next stage station. Though they’re safe for the time being, a nerve-wracking Christmas Eve is in store as the Apaches wait for them outside.

Arthur has a plan. He’s seen the fearless leader of the Apache—the man they call Sky Eyes, a man he knew as Lancelot du Lac a hundred lifetimes ago.

Will Lance’s prowess as a warrior combine with his legendary arrogance to seal the fate of the people inside the station—including Guinevere, the woman he gave up everything for in the past?

One young boy in the group unknowingly holds the key to Lance’s decision. But will the glorious legend of Camelot be remembered?

Excerpt: the set up
In my story, Arthur, and Guinevere have come back during the 1880's to the western frontier. They are under an Apache attack, and Arthur has recognized the leader of the Apaches as none other than Lancelot du Lac. He knows that Guinevere has recognized him, as well. Guinevere is married to the stage station proprietor, and Arthur finds himself on the stage headed for New Mexico. They've each lived a thousand lives since that last fateful day they spent together, when Lance rescued Ginny and then fought with Arthur. The legend says Arthur will return, but why are Lance and Ginny here, too? Here's what happens:

Excerpt from
The Keepers of Camelot 
by Cheryl Pierson

“Come now, Ginny. Let’s have done with this pretense, shall we? We both know Lance is leading that band of savages.”

Her gaze faltered, and she looked away from him, not answering.

“Do you really believe he’ll harm you?” The note of gentleness crept into his tone, in spite of his resolve not to care.

“I—I don’t know, truly. He was—so angry when we last spoke. When I told him I’d made my decision to go to the convent—”

“You haven’t seen him since—since we fought?”

She shook her head. “Not really…Oh, I’ve seen him, during these attacks, but never spoken to him. Arthur, I’ve lived a thousand lives, but not fully. I seem to just wake up in another time, another place. Somehow, I—” She stopped herself, then went on in a controlled tone. “I believe it must be the same for you. And for Lancelot. We’re all trapped in this circle”

“How do we end it, Ginny?”

She moistened her lips in the nervous gesture he recalled so well. “I’m not sure. But I—I wonder if maybe it’s not somehow connected to…forgiveness.”

Anger flared quickly in Arthur’s heart. She dared ask him to forgive? Forgive her treachery? Forgive Lance’s betrayal? Forgive her causing the death of the dream he’d held so dear? A cold smile touched his lips.

“You ask much, my lady. Especially after all you’ve taken.”

She nodded, the stricken look in her eyes almost too much for him. Even in the near darkness, he could see the pallor of her flawless skin.

“Yes. You were always a much better person than I, Arthur. You had a generous heart. A loving soul.”

“Make no mistake, Ginny—I am first a warrior. A ruler.”

In the gathering darkness, she laid a hand on his. “No, Arthur. You are first a man. And a good one.” The softness of her skin on his in the shadows brought a flood of memories that he’d thought were carefully locked away.

“You know Lance won’t attack now.” His lips curved caustically. “He loved Christmas-tide more than the rest of us put together.” It had always been Lance who suggested they find the biggest Yule log in the forest, spearheading the effort to organize the men and making it a festive occasion. It had been Lance who sang the Yule songs with such fervor, his deep baritone booming through the stone hallways of the castle.

Ginny’s eyes filled with sudden tears. “Arthur—when I see him as he was today…I wonder if he even recalls the things we remember. It seems he’s become absorbed in the ways of the Apache. The look on his face is so intent, so—cruel. I don’t believe he’s the person we knew.”

“He was never the person I thought I knew, Ginny. Never.” At her quick look, he smiled. “Yet, there’s a part of me that, even now, wants to call him my brother, as I did before—before everything fell apart.”

Ginny nodded. “I hope that same part of you remembers me in another light as well, Arthur,” she whispered.
♥ ♥ ♥

I have to wait until June 1 to know the outcome of the decision, but no matter what, I feel like I’m a winner to be in such wonderful company of the other nominees, Troy Smith, Jim Griffin, Wayne Dundee, and C. Courtney Joyner.

There are some excellent stories in this book by many great western writers, including Troy Smith, Courtney Joyner, Robert Randisi, L.J. Washburn, James Reasoner, and many more. They’re all paranormal in some way, and they all take place in a western setting—it’s not just for Christmas!

About Cheryl:
Cheryl was born in Duncan, OK, and grew up in Seminole, OK.  She graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and holds a B.A. in English.  She writes historical western and contemporary romantic suspense short stories and novels. Cheryl lives with her husband in Oklahoma City, OK, where she has been for the past 29 years.  She has two grown children, ages 23 and 26.

Her website is under construction, but you can e-mail her at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com  and visit her Amazon author page for a complete list of all work.

Congratulations for your nomination, Cheryl!

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 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Peacemaker Nominee: Red Lands Outlaw by Phil Truman #western



Red Lands Outlaw,
the Ballad of Henry Starr

2013 Peacemaker nominee
Best First Western Novel

RTW: Welcome, Phil Truman, and I'm delighted to host you here today.  It must be a special treat to have your very first western novel nominated for such a prestigious award!  To start us off, tell us a little about Red Lands Outlaw, the Ballad of Henry Starr.  Henry Starr really lived – what makes him so intriguing?  

PT: In the last years of the tough and woolly land called Indian Territory, and the first of the new state of Oklahoma, the outlaw Henry Starr rides roughshod through the midst of it. A native son of “The Nations” he’s more Scotch-Irish than Cherokee, but is scorned by both. He never really wanted to journey west of the law, yet fate seems to insist. He’s falsely accused and arrested for horse-thieving at age sixteen, then sentenced to hang at nineteen by Judge Isaac Parker for the dubious killing of a deputy U.S. marshal, but he escapes the gallows on a technicality. Given that opportunity, the charming, handsome, mild-mannered Henry Starr spends the rest of his life becoming the most prolific bank robber the West has ever known.

Henry Starr was somewhat of a narcissist. He was impatient and compulsive, but a natural leader. He often lied to make himself seem better, he usually put his own needs before others, had very little empathy. He was arrogant, self-centered, and considered himself above the law – all traits that made him an outstanding bank robber, perhaps the best the west has ever known. Certainly, the most high-volume.

Henry’s Cherokee father, George “Hop” Starr, died when Henry was a boy. His mother, less than half Cherokee herself, remarried a hard-drinking Irishman who physically abused young Henry, until he ran away from home at age fourteen. Finding work as a cowhand at a ranch near Nowata, Oklahoma, Henry dreamed of one day owning his own spread, marrying his sweetheart, and raising a family, but fate had other ideas.

Caught up in a tribal factional feud Henry gets framed for horse-thievery, and decides that if the world wants to see him as an outlaw, then, by damn, that’s what he’d become.

About Phil:
Phil Truman, Author
Phil Truman is a native Oklahoman. A 1970 graduate from the University of Tulsa, he is a former teacher, coach, and business analyst. Other books by Truman include his novels Game, a sports inspirational, and the mystery/adventure Legends of Tsalagee. He has won numerous awards for his short fiction, and his western short story “Last Will for an Outlaw” will appear in LaFrontera’s anthology, Dead or Alive, due to be released June 2013. Phil and his wife have lived in the Tulsa suburban city of Broken Arrow for the past thirty years.

You can visit Phil at his website or on Facebook, and he's a regular contributor to the Western Fictioneers blog

Red Lands Outlaw, the Ballad of Henry Starr 
is available at:
Amazon Kindle or print
Barnes & Noble Nook or print 

Congratulations for your nomination, Phil!

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 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Peacemaker Nominee: Christmas for Evangeline by C. Courtney Joyner #western



Christmas for Evangeline
by

Peacemaker nominee for Best Short Story

RTW: All the stories in Six-guns and Slay Bells are excellent, but your story was especially chilling — and enthralling.  How did the concept of Christmas for Evangeline come about?

CCJ: When I heard that the concept behind Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas, a great title, was going to be westerns with a Christmas theme, I was very excited. And then, it was going to be Christmas but with a supernatural or horror element. That sounded great, since I am a huge horror fan, and then my heart sank, because I realized I would have to write one – and had no idea what to do.

C. Courtney Joyner, Author
For me, the holiday means Dickens’ Christmas Carol, in every incarnation, from the novella to Mr. Magoo. At its center, it’s a story of past sins catching up with us, and our own conscience determining what we can and can’t live with, which Scrooge certainly finds out.

After a lot of head scratching, I thought there might be a way to transpose that idea into a Christmas western with a dark stripe running through it.

As we know, Scrooge is visited by the three spirits, and then re-makes his life to compensate for his wrongs. In a traditional western, wrongs are taken care of with a gun, so “personal growth” might be a little tough here. Old Ebenezer wouldn’t have the chance to accuse the Ghost of Christmas Past of being a piece of undigested potato before being blown away, so I shifted gears to focus on the power of guilt. After all, it’s Scrooge’s deeply hidden feelings of guilt that trigger his nightmare.

But what about those ghosts?

This was a true wrestling match; I’ve written western horror for comics and other anthologies, with outlaws facing down vampires, shape-shifters and even a succubus. Since I’ve had that freedom to go as wild as I wanted before, I shifted gears, and made the imagination of the main character his demon.

In practical terms, if someone were becoming mentally unhinged because of the guilt of their past, couldn’t you play with that person, and convince them of things that weren’t real? God knows, it worked on Mission: Impossible about a zillion times, and so, with Mr. Dickens spinning in his grave, that was the jumping off point for my little story.

Elmore Leonard’s 3:10 To Yuma is about as perfect a western short story as one’s going to find, and so much of it is strictly a conversation between the farmer and the outlaw, sitting in a rented room. I thought an interesting way to bring out all of the elements of the Christmas story was to do it the same way, through a conversation between two characters on Christmas Eve, which was the anniversary of their shared crime.

And, of course, things go very wrong from there.

My mental mash-up of inspiration from all of these great authors produced this little story, and I’m very pleased, and proud, that it made the cut for Six-guns and Slay Bells. To be included in this anthology, alongside all the other terrific writers, is a Christmas gift indeed.

RTW: Tell us everything there is to know about C. Courtney Joyner.  Okay, only what you want us to know.

I’m primarily a screenwriter and sometimes book author, I do make the distinction, and live in Los Angeles. I’ve written more than 25 films, including The Offspring starring Vincent Price and Prison starring Viggo Mortensen, both of which have been newly released in special Blu-ray editions (plug!). My writing journeys have taken me from the movies to comics to prose, with equal time spent with horror and westerns. My most recent short story is included in the anthology Hell Comes to Hollywood from Big Time Books. I created the new series Shotgun for Pinnacle, and the first installment will be published in December. Another love is film journalism, and besides writing several movie books, I’ve been fortunate enough to do commentaries on DVDs and documentaries. I currently have regular columns in both True West and The Round-Up magazines, and I am very, very proud of this second Peacemaker nomination.  To find out more about my stories, please visit my website.

Congratulations for your nomination, Courtney!

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” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — WF ) by C. Courtney Joyner
  • Keepers of Camelot” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — WF) by Cheryl Pierson
  • The Toys” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — 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 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Peacemaker Nominee: Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill by Troy D Smith #western

Christmas Comes 
to Freedom Hill
by
Peacemaker Finalist, 
Best Short Story

First published in Christmas Campfire Companion, Jan. 2012
Released as an e-book single, Nov. 2012

Blurb:
Little Danny Jordan and his family joined a wagon train headed West after the Civil War... they were Exodusters, ex-slaves banded together to establish their own town, which they named Freedom Hill. But a greedy cattle baron wants the town gone, and threatens to bring an army to burn it down if the Exodusters aren't gone by Christmas. Danny prays for a miracle for his town, but especially for his pa --a Union veteran who is now the marshal of Freedom Hill...

A touching story of faith, hope, and love by award-winning author Troy D. Smith

About Troy:
Troy D. Smith, Author
Troy D. Smith is a past winner of the Peacemaker Award, as well as a winner and three-time nominee for Western Writers of America’s Spur Award. A native of the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee, he received his doctorate from the University of Illinois and is currently Assistant Professor of History at Tennessee Tech University, where he teaches U.S., American Indian, and Japanese history. Smith is currently the president of Western Fictioneers, and is also president of the TTU chapter of the American Association of University Professors. To learn more about Troy, visit his website, Twitter, or Facebook.

Troy talks about the story:
This is actually a story I had wanted to write for a long time. I’d had it tucked away in my brain, percolating, for years. All I really had was the setting: I wanted to write a story about the “Exodusters,” a movement in the 1870s in which thousands of ex-slaves took their families westward, often in wagon trains, to start a new life away from the hazards and indignities of the Reconstruction South. These groups often started their own towns, at first in Kansas and later in Oklahoma.

I wanted to write about one of those towns. Early on I decided it was going to be on the Kansas Prairie, and be called “Freedom Hill” even though there was no hill anywhere in sight. And I wanted it to be about a little boy, now grown, remembering the courage of his father.

Then a friend of mine, Terry Burns (literary agent and an excellent writer), told several of us western writers who kept in close contact about a new project. An independent publisher, Port Yonder Press, wanted to release an anthology of western-themed Christmas stories. I was onboard immediately. As I was trying to think of something appropriately heart-warming and inspirational about the West and Christmas, it dawned on me that I could turn that long-gestating Exoduster story into a holiday tale.

I framed the story in the 1930s, with a WPA field agent interviewing my narrator, an old man in Kansas. During the Depression, the Roosevelt administration started several public works projects designed to put unemployed people to work –there were a lot of building projects, for example. One of the agencies created for this purpose was the Works Progress Administration. One of WPA’s projects, designed to put jobless teachers and journalists to work, was to hire people to travel all through the South and Midwest and interview every living ex-slave they could find. The resulting collection of slave narratives has proven invaluable to scholars. In Oklahoma, by the way, they went further and interviewed all the elderly people in general they could find, black, white or Indian, which resulted in the Indian-Pioneer Papers, also a treasured resource for historians of the West (there are 80,000 entries in the Indian-Pioneer Papers alone.) I have used both of these archives extensively over the years, both for my historical fiction and my dissertation.

Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill, then, is a story told by an elderly black man in the 1930s about his childhood, his brave father, and the magic of Christmas.

Excerpt of
Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill
by Troy D. Smith

I was eight or nine years old when we got on that wagon train headed West. It was one of those Singleton expeditions. Pap Singleton, he was an old colored fellow from Nashville, used to be a slave when he was young but ran off and made a good bit of money. Things was hard down South in those days—of course, they always have been for folks shaded like I am, but in some ways those days were even harder than slave times had been. The Union soldiers had all went home by then, you see, and the same folks were in charge again that had been running things before the war. And they were none too happy with colored folks, no sir. The U.S. government had promised us forty acres and a mule, but it was just empty air—and them old Confederates weren’t aiming to give us even bright promises. Singleton started putting together his expeditions, talking colored folks into coming West with him for a new start. And a good many of them did. Exodusters, they were called. On account of they were leaving the land of slavery, just like the old-time Israelites left Egypt, and heading toward a promised land—a land that was more dust than milk and honey, but sweet to their souls just the same.

My daddy, he liked the sound of that. Painting it with Bible words made it even prettier to him, because he was always partial to the Good Book. His mama gave him a Bible name, Gabriel. During the war, he ran away from his old master and swam across the river to where the Yankee soldiers were. He joined the Union Army, and then it came time for him to choose another name for himself, a family name. A lot of those old slaves named themselves after their masters, but Daddy didn’t want any slave name. So he called himself after the River Jordan; he was born again, in freedom, just like being baptized, when he swum that river to the Yankee lines.

I remember the day he first set me up in that wagon next to my mama, and we commenced to roll away from the only world we had ever known.

“You remember them stories I told you, Danny, about the baby Jesus?”

I nodded.

“Them wise men,” he continued, “they followed that star a far piece. One of them was black as we are, at least I’ve heard it told that way. Anyways, freedom is a star, boy. It used to be the North Star, but I reckon we’re fixing to follow one that leads West. So say goodbye to Egypt, son. The Lord is out yonder, waiting for us to find him.”

Singleton planted colonies all over Kansas and Indian Territory, and others like him did the same. Our little group, I reckon there was about fifty or sixty of us all together, we stopped at a spot near the banks of the Neosho River. We got the land off the government—it used to be part of an Indian reservation. We filed to homestead it, all according to law. It was my daddy’s notion to name our little town Freedom Hill; right away, several people pointed out that there isn’t any hill there. Shoot, there’s not even a rise.

“Elevation don’t mean nothing,” Daddy said. “It’ll be a hill, once we get it built. We’ll be a city on a hill, just like the Good Book says, shining for the whole world to see.”

There was a chorus of amens, and we all set to work building. It takes more than buildings to make a town, though, so after awhile we set to work voting as well. We elected ourselves a mayor, and a council; everybody agreed that to be a real town we needed a marshal, too, and everybody agreed it ought to be Gabriel Jordan, one-time company sergeant in the 13th United States Colored Infantry and hero of the Battle of Nashville. Daddy still had his old cap-and-ball revolver—he didn’t have a holster for it, so he kept it stuck in his belt. The town blacksmith made him a crude tin star. Daddy kept the badge in his pocket, since everybody knew who the marshal was. He never did go in much for what you might call symbols of authority, he didn’t like to draw undue attention to himself. My daddy was the most dignified man I ever knew, but he wasn’t burdened by a lot of false pride. Besides, it was mostly a ceremonial office. Freedom Hill never had much call for an actual lawman.

Leastways, not until Bob Horner and his bunch rode into town.
# # #
Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill
is available at:

Congratulations for your nomination, Troy!

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” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — WF ) by C. Courtney Joyner
  • Keepers of Camelot” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — WF) by Cheryl Pierson
  • The Toys” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — 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 

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Peacemaker Award Nominee: The Toys by James J. Griffin #western

Author James J. Griffin
Photo credit: Susanne Hall

The Toys
by 
James J. Griffin

Romancing The West is honored to feature nominees for the Peacemaker Awards this week.

The Peacemaker Awards are sponsored by the Western Fictioneers, a group of some of the most talented and prolific Western authors of our time.  On Friday, we showcased Peacemaker Lifetime Achievement Winner Robert Vaughan.  

Today, we're featuring James. J. Griffin.  His short story, The Toys, published in Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas, was nominated for Best Short Story.

About the story:
The Toys is based on actual events which took place during the Johnson County War in Wyoming in the 1890s. Two homesteaders were ambushed and shot in the back by an unknown gunman, who would have been in the employ of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the organization of large ranchers who wanted to drive out all the homesteaders in the region. 

One of the homesteaders, John Tisdale, was killed while on the way home with Christmas presents for his family. 

In The Toys, Tisdale is killed by a gunslinger named Harlan Stoddard. When Stoddard examines Tisdale's body, he notices several toys scattered about, including a doll which seems to be staring at him. Tisdale takes his rifle and blasts the doll's head to bits. Little did he know what that action would lead to.

The Toys is a short story done much as if Stephen King had written a Western. Tension builds as Stoddard is pursued, and attempts to flee Wyoming and his fate.

About the author:  
James J. Griffin is a lifelong horseman, western enthusiast, and amateur historian of the Texas Rangers. His extensive collection of Texas Ranger artifacts is now in the collections of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco. Jim has written a series of Texas Ranger novels, traditional Westerns in the best sense of the term. His books are suitable for almost all ages. Jim is also a contributor to the Western Fictioneers Wolf Creek and West of the Big River series.

Learn more about Jim and his books at his website.

Congratulations for your nomination, Jim!

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” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — WF ) by C. Courtney Joyner
  • Keepers of Camelot” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — WF) by Cheryl Pierson
  • The Toys” (Slay Bells and Six Guns — 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 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Robert Vaughan: Peacemaker Lifetime Achievement Award Winner! #western

Robert Vaughn, author
and
Charley, Muse
A Few Words From 
Robert Vaughan
on the
Peacemaker
Lifetime Achievement Award

So, I’ve won the Lifetime Achievement Award. When I first read that I had won, I was thrilled. That’s quite an honor.

Then I began to think about it. Lifetime? Whoa…that’s pretty absolute, isn’t it? I mean, I only have one lifetime, and I’m not finished with it yet. I hope that I have at least a few more years left.

But, I’ve already been given a lifetime award. “Here you go, Dick, here’s your lifetime award. We’re through with you now. Time for you to go to the Old Soldiers’ Home, or The Villages, or ride off into the sunset . . . whatever it is that old soldiers and Western writers do.

All right, maybe I have done a lifetime of writing — almost five hundred books, at least 200 of which are Westerns. But wait…200 Western novels with Robert Vaughan’s name? Well, not quite. I have fallen into the great Sargasso Sea of literature. I have written under almost 50 pseudonym, many of them names that I’m sworn to secrecy never to reveal. Were I to reveal all of my pseudonyms, a curse would fall upon the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the St. Louis Cardinals, and neither team would ever win another championship  all because they are my favorite teams and I had, by violating my agreement, jinxed them for the next 100 years.

I could never do that . . . I would not want to face Bear Bryant and Stan Musial up in heaven and try to explain to them what I had done. So, these great and respected, best-selling names, will forever remain a secret. All right, I won the SPUR from that “other” organization, writing as KC McKenna. and I can at least say that, though I have despite repeated attempts over the last 20 years, been unable to get that “other” organization to put an addendum on their history page, crediting me with “writing as.”

Ah, but good news! I have a Western coming out from Simon and Schuster this June — UNDER MY OWN NAME!  HOORAY! It is called When Hell came to Texas. It would really be nice to see a book, under my own name, match the sales of some of my ghost projects. Maybe if you would all tell ten friends, and they would tell ten friends and . . . well . . . you know how it goes. [RTW Note: you can pre-order now!]

My heartiest congratulations to the Peacemaker recipients who won with their own names. I have met many of you, but consider all, even those of you I’ve never met in person, to be friends.

Congratulations to Robert Vaughan, a wonderful and talented writer no matter what name his titles are under.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Dawn Luedecke: To Tame a Montana Heart #western #romance


To Tame a 
Montana Heart
by Dawn Luedecke

Romancing The West welcomes Dawn Luedecke, a country girl born and bred, who has spent most of her life surrounded by horses, country folk, and the wild terrain of Nevada, Idaho and Montana. As a child she would spend many afternoons reading books, watching western classics, and Rogers and Hammerstein movies. When she grew up she decided to leave the quiet country life for a chance to find adventure by serving a successful tour in the United States Coast Guard. During that time she found her soul mate (and alpha male) and started a family and writing career. She enjoys writing historical and paranormal romance and spends as much time as she can working on her current manuscript.

RTW: Thanks for visiting today, Dawn!  You have a new book out, To Tame a Montana Heart.  First, so we know a little more about it, please give us the blurb.

DL: Running from a past of privilege, deceit, and danger, Travis Simms is ready to settle down. What better place to forget all he left behind than the quiet little Montana town of Lolo Hot Springs? His goal is clear — build a hotel and his own destiny without complications — until one of the town's most troublesome women captures his attention. Dusty Larson is hell bent on independence, helping her sister run the Triple D Ranch. The only problem is she seems to attract bad luck and danger... and Travis. Can he tame her wild ways and keep his bachelor status intact — or does he risk losing his heart?

Dawn's running several contests on her month long tour. Stop by her facebook events page for all the contest information.  

RTW: Why do you write Westerns? What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into To Tame a Montana Heart?

Dawn Luedecke, author
DL:  I write westerns because not only do I love the genre (it’s one of my faves), but I grew up a country girl. The west is an important part of who I am, and I am extremely interested in history. So combining the two just made sense when I decided which genre to dip into.

The old west just seems romantic to me. I love the serene life of the country, but combine that with the simplicity of the old west and you have yourself the perfect setting for a romance. In To Tame a Montana Heart, I tried to capture that feeling.

RTW: If you lived in 1890 what would you visit first? Is there something you’ve been curious about that you can’t find in your research sources?

DL: I would love to visit Lolo Hot Springs when it was in its natural state. Now, it is a resort perfect for the modern day traveler.

RTW: If a person who had never read a Western asked you for a recommendation, what novel or movie would you recommend and why? What did the author do to bring the story alive for you?

DL:  Lonesome Dove, Tombstone, or Young Guns. Lonesome Dove is a classic cowboy movie, and Tombstone and Young Guns are based on real people and real events in history. 

Excerpt of
To Tame a Montana Heart
by Dawn Luedecke

She watched him with care. “I don’t know if I love you. I like you, a lot, but I don’t have the slightest idea what love feels like.” 

Travis’ smile grew slowly across his face. “I understand. I’m not sure if I love you or not, but I also don’t think I could live without you. So you will always have that.” His voice was almost a whisper when he said the last. 

“Truly?” Her voice cracked and she had to force herself to breathe easy. 

“Truly.” 

She inclined her head and took two brisk steps toward him. She leaned over and kissed him with all the fever of a thousand fires. He reached up and intertwined his hand through her hair to hold her still as he plundered her mouth. 

She released him with a shaky breath and jumped back to turn on her heels. “Put something nice on. I’ll be back with a preacher man.” 

“You know, I heard you only have to say ‘I marry you’ three times and then you’re hitched.” 

She threw him a sassy look and slammed the door shut. 
♥ ♥ ♥


Purchase information for 
To Tame a Montana Heart 
Amazon Kindle, Print
BN.com Nook
The Wild Rose Press Ebook, Print


RTW: What’s next? Is To Tame a Montana Heart a part of a series?

DL: Yes! In fact, I am currently working with my publisher to perfect the second book in the Montana Girl Series, titled Big Sky Brazen. It takes off where DeEtte exited To Tame a Montana Heart.

RTW: Anything else you’d like to add?

DL: I am currently on a virtual tour and have several stops and contests along the way. For more information you can always stop by my website or facebook page.

Here is one of the several contests I am doing during my tour. Have fun!

I am featured in an online magazine (pages 26-29), where I give a free sample chapter of the third book in the Montana Girl series!!! I'll give away one free signed book to anyone who can tell me what Daylene (or Justine as she's known in To Tame a Montana Heart) sings.

Click here for a free download of the magazine.

Thanks, Dawn!