Another grand Wolf Creek adventure - STAND PROUD #western #kindle

Wolf Creek #11

Stand Proud

by Ford Fargo

This has got to be the most fun a writer can have!  It's a Western Fictioneers collaborative novel, the brainchild of Troy Smith, who is also one of the authors (his characters are Marshal Sam Gardner and Charlie Blackfeather).  We all write under the name of Ford Fargo.  I have two characters, Abby Potter who isn't in this novel, and Gib Norwood.  Actually, Gib is head of the Norwood family so I have the whole family. 

When Troy put out the call for characters, I thought Wolf Creek needed some milk.  I grew up on a dairy farm and one thing I know is milk cows.  In fact, I know way too much about milk cows and that's why I live in the 'burbs. LOL.  But one thing about dairymen, they work hard, lift lots of milk cans, bags of grain, and an occasional calf, so you can bet they'd be someone to stay away from in a fight.  And that's how the Norwood Dairy happened--there's Gib, his half-brothers Peter and Paul who are octoroons, and their mother, Glory, who is Gib's half-aunt.

In Stand Proud, the Norwoods are minding their own business, when the nasty bad guy, Andrew Rogers (um, no relation) uses the dairy as a decoy for his other objective, Matthias.  So the Norwoods start off the book.  I wrote chapters one and three.

This book has quite a line-up of authors.  Jory Sherman is one of the most talented writers of today, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, and his chapter is a thing of beauty--nearly ripped my heart out.  Robert J. Randisi is incredibly prolific and has written around 700 books to date--good books, too, so check them out.  His chapter in Stand Proud rocks.  Troy D. Smith has won both the Peacemaker and the Spur awards--he's the glue that holds these novels together (if you haven't read his Blackwells series, do it!  You won't be sorry.).  Jerry Guin has contributions in several Wolf Creek books, and then... there's me!  So here's the blurb:

Welcome to Wolf Creek.

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen.

Greedy and ambitious cattle baron Andrew Rogers has caused a lot of trouble around Wolf Creek, intimidating farmers into selling out to him and hiring a small army of gunmen who have proven themselves capable of almost anything. But now he has set his sights on clearing out a whole town – Matthias, a hamlet near Wolf Creek settled by former slaves. Sheriff G. W. Satterlee has a plan to protect them… but it may be too late.

Writing as Ford Fargo in this volume:

Jory Sherman

Robert J. Randisi

Jacquie Rogers

Jerry Guin

Troy D. Smith

Wolf Creek: Stand Proud

Kindle | Smashwords

The Last Free Trapper by Jory Sherman: A WOLF CREEK CHRISTMAS #western

The Last Free Trapper

by Jory Sherman

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 9:

A Wolf Creek Christmas

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. 

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. 

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: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

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: 

O Deadly Night

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