Rod Thompson: The Saga of Jane Hicks #western #newrelease

Interview:

Rod Thompson

Today, Romancing The West welcomes western writer Rod Thompson, who has a brand spankin' new book out, The Saga of Jane Hicks. First, he'll tell you a little about himself, and then RTW will ask him a few questions.

Rod Thompson: 1889, the same year South Dakota became a state and the Dakota Territory as a whole ceased to exist, Greenberry (GB) and Eliza Ann Thompson, my grandparents, made the move from "Missoura" to "Dakota" in a covered wagon to homestead. In 1897, the same year Geronimo enlisted into the army as a scout, my father was born. I came along in 1938 and spent the first part of my life on a farm near a corner of the Rosebud Indian Reservation where my dad traded with local Indians and I rode a horse to an all-eight-grades-in-the-same-room school while learning to shoot at the age of eight. Later, when one of my brothers died six months after my mother, my dad called it quits on farming and the family broke up, but the Black Hills were always there, along with stories of Indian wars, legends of Deadwood, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickok, Casey Tibbs and rodeos.

Near Sioux Falls, as a teenager, I looked down from a foot bridge into the Devil's Gulch that Jesse James is said to have jumped to escape the largest posse ever formed. My father loved telling stories and I loved to listen. Until he died at the age of 76, I sat at the feet of the master. For years, I dreamed dreams of inventions and made up poems, songs and kid's stories and submitted articles to magazines that were always rejected. When I finally decided to write a book at the age of 70, could it be anything but a western? When I began to write, I realized that all the time I had been listening to my father, I had been learning the lingo and facts of the end of an era. When I sent off my first book, "The Black Hills," I expected the usual rejection notice, but instead, much to my surprise, everyone seems to be loving it for which I'm extremely grateful.

RTW: What inspired these characters? Where do you see them going in the future?

Rod: It is said that writers should write about what they know, I knew how to be a country boy. I spent the first years of my life on a small South Dakota farm. Country folks are good people, and I wanted my protagonist to be a typical Dakota farm boy with a strong moral compass; an honest, hardworking, God-fearing man with a sense of humor and loyalty whose life was shaped by the events in his life, as was the life of the one love his heart would allow him to have. That’s the way things were back before divorces were given out like popcorn. They took their wedding vows seriously.

He wasn’t born a superman with wonderful skills and a desire to save the world. His ideals, love of life, humor, and loyalty were given him by his parents. What skills he had, were developed through hard work, determination, and necessity, as were hers, and that is the thread that connects the thrilogy: two normal people of the time, separately together, struggling to find their way on the frontier and rising to each occasion. They did what needed to be done and were shaped by the doing.

The characters meet in The Black Hills, get married and torn apart in The Saga of Jane Hicks, and I can’t wait to see what happens to them the third book of the thrilogy (not a misspelling).

RTW: What do you think about the mixture of western and romance, and is there any romance in this book?

Rod: Now that is perfect timing for this question. I love romance in the western, romance of the times, romance of the old west, romance between a boy and his horses, romance between a boy and girl—man and woman as long as it isn’t overdone. I’ll leave that to others. My agent first described The Black Hills as an Americana filled, humorous, western action epic and my editor at Berkley added, with a strong underlying love story. So yeah, I love romance and most readers say they like it and want to see what happens to them in the future. I pray I can continue to do it justice.

RTW: What led you to become a writer?

Life…it was in me. Before television, movies, electronic games, and sports bars with 3000 television screens stole everyone’s imagination and creativity, people entertained each other with stories about their ancestors and travels and made up poems and songs and played fiddles, guitars and harmonicas.

My mother played piano, my father played fiddle and harmonica, and together they played at barn dances; and he also loved to tell stories, some of which were even true. He loved to tell them, and I loved to listen. For years I sat at the feet of the master. The desire to write was never about choice. It just was, and I am my father’s son.

RTW: What authors have inspired you?

Rod: My father read Zane Grey while my hero is L’Amour. A few readers have likened my writing to his, however, as fun as that is to think about, I am not now, nor will I ever be in his category. He was nothing short of amazing. Just being mentioned anywhere near him is good enough for me.

RTW: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Rod: Write. And get two books released on the same day. My first book, The Black Hills was re-released by Penguin Berkley with a foreword written by James Drury, the star of “The Virginian” television series who called me to tell me it was the “best book of any kind he had read in years,” and thanks very much to an extra effort from Troy Smith, The Saga of Jane Hicks was released on the same day. What a blast. My daughter and draft editor, Rhonda, went out to dinner that night.

I would like to conclude by saying thank you to the many people who have taken the time to tell their friends about my book: Thank y’all.

 Rod Thompson

America's Secret War by @TomRizzoWrites #civilwar #western

America's Secret War

By Tom Rizzo

In my novel, Last Stand At Bitter Creek, the main character is Grant Bonner, a burned-out Union Army spy who emerges from three years behind enemy lines, ready to move on to the next chapter in his life. He has no way of knowing, of course, that life on the other side of the battle line is just as dangerous and unpredictable.

When Bonner became an operative, the Confederacy had the upper hand when it came to spying. Neither side, however, had much of a formal intelligence network in place.

The Confederacy managed to establish the Secret Service Bureau, an arm of the Confederate Signal Corps, which operated a spy network in the federal capital of Washington, DC, early on in the war. Washington happened to be home to many southern sympathizers.

Union General Ulysses S. Grant, however, didn't realize the need for a reliable spy system until the Battle of Shiloh when a Confederate force surprised the Federals and stormed through their camps forcing a Union retreat.

In the two weeks before the battle, Grant hadn’t bothered to dispatch any spies or scouts.

According to the facts, as he knew them, Confederates were camped at least twenty miles away. But this information came from dispirited Confederate deserters. Grant and his troops eventually drove the Confederates back, and his actions helped shape his reputation as an effective field commander—but at a cost of more than 10,000 Union soldiers killed or wounded.

Grant once wrote, "The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.” He hadn't realized—until Shiloh—that locating the enemy could best be accomplished through espionage.

After this battle, Grant helped forge what would be called the Bureau of Military Information.

The new agency utilized around 70 field agents during the war—ten whom were killed. The bureau also gathered information by interrogating prisoners of war, and refugees. In addition, agents combed through newspapers, and documents left on the battlefield by Confederate officers who retreated, or had been killed.

At the outset of the war, casual gossiping and newspaper clippings served as the main sources for intelligence gathering, until both sides decided to formalize spying operations, even to the point of involving cavalry forces.

Two different organizations carried out espionage activities for the Union. Scouts—as they were called— wore uniforms, and served as an army’s advance force. Their mission: to determine the location and size of the enemy, and weapons capability. Spies—like Grant Bonner—operated mostly behind enemy lines, and in civilian attire.

One daring band of mounted Union Army scouts wore Confederate uniforms, and operated behind enemy lines.

This force was, composed of eager young volunteers who didn’t mind extra dangerous duty, fell under the leadership of Major General John C. Frémont. He dubbed them the Jessie Scouts, named after his wife.

These volunteers risked their lives to collect intelligence on the locations and intentions of enemy forces in their particular area so they could provide a sufficient warning of any possible surprise attacks being planned against Union forces.

Jessie Scouts, however, risked death if caught wearing the enemy’s uniform because this—as defined by the rules of war—represented as an act of espionage, and punishable by death if captured. These scouts used their own ingenuity to keep in touch, and to distinguish each other from real Confederate soldiers.

Some Jessie Scouts units wore white scarves knotted in a particular way. Others used conversational code where they would use a conventional phrase (such as “Good morning”) that would provoke a response from another Jessie that wouldn’t sound strange if overheard by a real Confederate soldier.

Confederate cavalry units also engaged in similar scouting missions.

As their Northern counterparts, Confederate scouts also operated independently, and wore the uniform of the enemy to improve their ability to get access to certain areas, and information. They too risked summary execution, if caught.

Some families, however, suffered at the hands of Confederate scouts. For example, scouts in Union uniforms often asked for help from families that lived between opposing battle lines. If such help materialized, these scouts often returned the next day, wearing their regular uniforms, accompanied by a military force, and burn the homes of those who thought they were giving aid and comfort to Union forces.

Regardless of the army, scouts were special types of soldiers.

For the most part, they were fearless, who embraced such duty without regard for the potential danger they were putting themselves in. According to William Gilmore Beymer’s Scouts and Spies of the Civil War, other soldiers – fearless and brave on their own – found they could not tolerate the kind of pressure experienced by these special scouts.

Overall, the Union experienced more success rate at espionage and counterintelligence. The Confederacy, on the other hand, excelled at covert operations. Both succeeded at conducting a secret war within America’s Civil War. And, in the end, the efforts of both sides established the foundation for the future of military intelligence.

♦ ♦ ♦
2013 Peacemaker Nominee
Best Western First Novel

Last Stand at Bitter Creek

by Tom Rizzo

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Read 

RTW's interview with Tom 

including an excerpt from 

Last Stand at Bitter Creek

Thanks to Tom for guesting at Romancing The West this week!

You can learn more about or contact Tom at:

Facebook | Twitter | Website

Tom Rizzo: Last Stand at Bitter Creek #western @TomRizzoWrites

Last Stand at

Bitter Creek

by Tom Rizzo

Romancing The West welcomes Tom Rizzo, who has been a writer all his life, including a stint at Associated Press.  Now he's moved on from news stories, ads, and obituaries to fiction — which is luck for us.  His first novel, Last Stand at Bitter Creek has been received very well, and if it's not in your TBR pile, you're missing out!  Now, to Tom.  First, please tell us what the book is all about.

TR: Union Army spy Grant Bonner, tired of living a life of deception, desperately wants to put his past behind him, but agrees to one last assignment—the routine surveillance of a cunning, battle-hardened military commander gone rogue.

When the mission is compromised, events spiral out of control, and Bonner finds himself entangled in an intricate conspiracy that could cost him everything—including his life. Undeterred by relentless odds, he emerges from hiding to pursue a single clue he hopes leads to the one person responsible for trying to destroy him. The hunted and the hunter are on a collision course.

RTW: What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into Last Stand at Bitter Creek? What didn’t you include that you wish you could have?

TR: So many things intrigue me about the Old West. For starters, its immense and stunning landscape—a borderless canvas that often evokes powerful emotions within me. Natural beauty aside, the most intriguing aspect of those years—particularly the last half of the 19th century—was the spirit of individualism, the courage, and the determination of those who pioneered and populated the frontier. History of the American frontier reads like a novel, with real-life heroes who had to find ways to cope with incredible odds—the land, wildlife, brutal weather conditions, and actual villains to established and, more importantly, to preserve a special ways of life. I tried, and hoped I succeeded in showing how my cast of characters embraced those qualities.

RTW: Time travel to the year your book is set. You’re the same age as Grant Bonner — what/where would you visit first? (Yes, you have a few dollars burning a hole in your change purse.) What would your occupation be, and what danger would you find?

TR: I'd head to Cheyenne, Wyoming, on special assignment as a newspaper reporter and get a room at the Union Pacific Hotel - considered a "first class hotel on the Plains" – and use it as my base of operations. My assignment would be to cover the Wyoming Cattle Boom, to learn how much of its expansion is linked to Eastern and European investors and determine who's benefitting the most and who is not, and why.

Any danger I'd encounter would no doubt revolve around my poking around for information, some of which would be considered private and privileged, and none of my damn business.

RTW: Would Grant Bonner get along better with Ulysses S Grant, Jesse James, Virgil Earp, or Wild Bill Hickok? Why?

TR: Ironically, Bonner would get along with both. As a former spy, he walked both sides of the street when it came to law and order. And, he's perfectly comfortable in the company of heroes or rogues because of his ability to adapt to different situations.

RTW: What song best portrays Last Stand at Bitter Creek? Who would star as Grant Bonner? What character would Tom Rizzo play?

Tom Rizzo, Author

TR: Well, Jacquie, I would want an original — and inspiring — score of music created for the film. I haven't yet given serious thought to the individual I'd want to play Grant Bonner — as if I would have any say in it! But, I'll give it more thought when Hollywood calls. As far as what character I'd like to play, it's probably the role of Sheriff Will Denton, who Bonner encounters along the way. A man comfortable with himself, but uncomfortable knowing too much about another man's motives. A man who likes all contingencies covered.

RTW: Why must Grant Bonner take this particular story journey? Excluding his outward quest for exoneration and justice, what does he have to prove to himself?

TR: He has a burning need to carry out the original assignment he was given, despite the odds and despite the dangers involved. He also needs to know what makes a man like Marcus Steele tick—what makes a man like him think he can control others by only willing it. And, what is behind Steele's willingness to sacrifice the lives of others to achieve his own brand of success. As much as anything, Bonner wants to know why he was singled out for Steele's relentless wrath.

RTW: It's our lucky day because you have an excerpt for us.  Please set it up for us.

TR: This is Chapter 4, which helps define what Bonner is up against.

Excerpt of
Last Stand at Bitter Creek
by Tom Rizzo

Marcus Steele clenched his fists, regretting the exchange with the junior officer. He should have ignored the incident, but worried about those pine boxes getting damaged. No real harm done, he decided, as he approached the cowboy slouching on the bench a few yards behind him, legs outstretched in front of him.

"Are we all set?" the colonel asked, finding difficulty suppressing the gnawing sensation, which often accompanied him into any important battle. He would rest easier, once finished with this unpleasantness.

"Yep," said the man, tipping his hat back and sitting up straighter, and looking past Steele at Bonner. "Problems?"

"A little too inquisitive for his own good."

"Looks harmless to me," the man said.

"Appearances and reality can often be at odds." Steele glanced back at the lieutenant. "I'm not sure what it is, but there's more to him than he's letting on."

"He gonna be at the livery with the others?"

"I have different plans for him. Actually, he is going to be quite useful. He just doesn't know it."

The man nodded, and Steele thought he detected a spare smile. He admired this kind of physical economy—a man of few words, known only by his surname. The most eloquent statements this cowboy made came from his gun. When the man left, Steele saw the lieutenant standing where he left him. He's up to something. Over the years, he learned to rely on an acute sense of intuition, and it served him well.

The lieutenant's remark about the manifest troubled him. In his experience, most men weren't so observant—unless he happened to be on the lookout for something specific. Steele embraced, as did many of his peers, an adage of Frederick the Great, It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.

He brushed the incident aside, and stepped across the siding into a small clearing where a group of men on horseback waited, looking restless. Some wore faded and wrinkled Union blue; others were dressed in soiled, gray Confederate uniforms, and the rest in civilian clothes. He looked up at the lead rider and nodded. The cowboy raised his hand into the air, wheeled his horse around, and led the group out. Two riders stayed behind. When the dust cleared, Steele joined them.

"Everything in place? And are you clear about where to transport the merchandise?"

"Yep. All set."

"There has been an unforeseen development, which requires a slight adjustment to the plan," Steele told them. "Here's what I want you to do..."

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

RTW: Whew, boy, Bonner's in trouble!  Loved the book video, too.  What’s next? Is Last Stand at Bitter Creek a part of a series? Has it been nominated for any awards lately?

TR: I'm at work now on a sequel; I'm bringing back a few of the characters that readers expressed interest in—such as, Bonner, of course, along with David Webster, the black Union Army officer who played such a key role in the story.

And, I'm pleased to say Last Stand At Bitter Creek is a finalist for a Peacemaker Award for Western Fictioneers' Best Western First Novel.

RTW: Congratulations for the well-deserved nomination!  That's a very high honor and I wish you luck in the final judging.  Anything else you’d like to add?

TR: I'm all talked out, at least for this moment. But I appreciate your invitation to join you on Romancing the West. I've had fun with your questions.

Thanks, Tom, for joining us this week.  

See you Thursday!

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. 

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

Last Stand at Bitter Creek

by Tom Rizzo

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

Amazon, B&N, Smashwords

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 

on the Western Fictioneers website. 

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

The Keepers of Camelot

by Cheryl Pierson

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 

on the Western Fictioneers website. 

Peacemaker Nominee: Red Lands Outlaw by Phil Truman #western

Red Lands Outlaw,

the Ballad of Henry Starr

by Phil Truman

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 

on the Western Fictioneers website. 

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

Christmas Comes 

to Freedom Hill

by

Troy D. Smith

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:

Amazon, BN.com, Smashwords 

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 

on the Western Fictioneers website.