#NewRelease NO SMALL TEMPEST (Muleskinners #2) #western #novella #mules

No Small Tempest

(Muleskinners #2)

by Jacquie Rogers

Amazon | Smashwords

It's here!  The second story in the Muleskinners series took a while, partly because I got caught up in a bunch of other projects and partly because of the publisher's schedule.

What's it about?

Elsie Parry aims to get this load of salt delivered to Kearney, Nebraska, come hell or high water. Or outlaws. Or Indians. Her other driver, Hank, and her former outlaw brother Zeb will help – but her eight draft mules (who think they are Greek gods) will make the difference. If she can keep them from being stolen – or eaten.

The inside scoop

The Civil War wasn't kind to Elsie, her family, her home, or her neighbors.   In 1863, border ruffians abducted her brother, Zeb, along with the neighbor boy, Hank, from the family farm in Missouri. The next year, more came – she didn't know which side – and burned the farm to the ground. Elsie was given responsibility for eight draft mule foals and sent to live on a forested hill out of harm's way. She had little contact with the outside world, but her father visited infrequently.

She learned her mother had passed away, whether from sickness or hunger, Elsie didn't know, and neither did her father. In fact, he disappeared the last year of the war and Elsie thought he was dead, too, but imagine her elation to find him alive and relatively well five years later.

Meantime, those eight mules were her only friends and she'd named them after the Greek gods in her mother's book: Hermes, Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Aries, Apollo, Hades, and Plato (who's not a god but he's quite the thinker).  They have a good rapport, and she's very protective of them. 

Her papa was born with the gift of blarney, and he's a lot better at making deals than actually coming through with them. Still, he's her father and she loves him dearly – her only family other than the mules.

The underlying theme of the Muleskinners series is undoing the emotional damage that the war caused.  It tore her family apart--killed some of them, and scarred the rest.  But Elsie doesn't let these things get her down.  She's determined, bold, and can be a little hard-nosed at times.  She's also compassionate and has a wicked sense of humor.

Part of her character is patterned after my late aunt, who could get just about any animal to do whatever she asked of them.  Some people have it--most don't.  My aunt had it and so does Elsie.  My aunt also lived by her beliefs--right, wrong, or Bisquik.  Elsie has that trait, too, super-sized.  She also has a lot of other traits that my aunt didn't have.  Elsie is, bein's she's a fictional character, larger than life.

The series

Yes, you're better off reading Muleskinners #1: Judge Not first because this is a true sequential series.  Judge Not is the first leg of her journey, so while No Small Tempest could be read as a stand-alone, you'd get a lot more out it if you've read the first one.

Amazon | B&N | Smashwords	Amazon | Smashwords

About the cover model.  Or not.  We simply couldn't find any photos that worked for Elsie.  The one we chose was the least worst, so you'll see the same picture on the next three stories, and she'll be wearing the same thing unless we can find something else.  Despite that, I thought Karen M. Nutt did a great job with the cover.  Thanks, Karen!

I'd also like to thank Troy Smith who got me into this mess in the first place.  He told me I could write a story for the Wolf Creek series and I did--but used my own cast instead of the Wolf Creek characters as he intended.  Through that misunderstanding, this series was born, and now he, at the helm of Western Trail Blazer, is publishing it.  Go figger.  

May your saddle never slip.

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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

Western Trail Blazer presents WESTERN TALES! #NewRelease #amreading #kindle

Western Tales!

Western Tales! is a new, ongoing anthology series from Western Trail Blazer. It will appear monthly, and probably a little more frequently than that. We have the first 6 issues in various stages of preparation, and will be showing you the covers not only of Volume 1 but a couple of others, as well.

Volume One features:
Wearing Out a Welcome by John D. Nesbitt
Shot for a Dog by Cheryl Pierson
Four Gold Coins by Frank Roderus
Man of Iron by Chuck Tyrell
Judah King by Troy D. Smith

Each volume will have five short stories. Here are comments from some of the first volume’s contributors, and a couple of short excerpts…

Frank Roderus

 Western Trail Blazers is fast becoming one of the players in high quality e-books. I am delighted to be counted among their authors, the names of which are among the best in the business. I heartily recommend the Western Trail Blazer list of publications. Anyone who loves westerns, as I certainly do, will be in for hours of pleasure.

Excerpt
Four Gold Coins

“I got money. I got….” A burp interrupted him for a moment. “I got….” He reached into his pocket, ignoring the dampness in the cloth, and pulled out four coins.

When he laid them on the bar, Jason was as astonished as Pete, or more so, to see that they were gold. Four twenty-dollar double eagles, gleaming and beautiful.

“That’s…I can drink on that, can’t I?” Jason said, hiding another nasty tasting belch.

“Jesus!” Pete blurted. He raised his voice and shouted, “Boys, see what I found here.”

A partial hush spread through the crowd as men crowded even closer in an attempt to see.

“Damn you, Myers, where’d you get money like that?” Otis Riordan bawled. “You never had that much in your pocket since the day you was born.” It was a statement of fact, not an idle accusation. Jason indeed never had had so much money at one time in his whole miserable, useless life.

“All right, Jason, what gives? Where’d you get that money?” Burt Kyle wanted to know.

“I…I don’t know,” Jason said. It was the truth. He had no idea where those coins might have come from or why they were in his pocket now.

John D. Nesbitt

 Wearing Out a Welcome is one of my most recent short stories.  This story came about as a result of two ideas coming together.  One idea was about the difficulty a person has in dealing with someone who is unduly interested in the person’s wife.  I have seen this problem in other situations as well as in my own.  People cross the line, and it is difficult for someone to say, “Look, I don’t care for you hanging around and ogling.” 

 The other idea I was working with was about people who point guns at one another.   I just don’t like it.  I know people do it in movies and in stories for purposes of suspense, but I don’t like the emphasis it receives, especially in television advertisements.  So I thought I would write a story about a fellow who has to deal with someone taking interest in his wife and also pointing a gun at him.  I conceived of this story, then, as being about civility, respecting other people’s privacy, and not having to resort to violence to solve a problem.   It is not a conventional story with a gunfight at the end.  Rather, it is a story that stretches the bounds of the genre a little, and I hope it seems real.

I am very happy to see this story produced by Western Trail Blazer.  I have been working with WTB for a few years now, and I have had several different things published under this imprint—short stories, traditional western novels, a contemporary western mystery, and a collection of western poetry.  I appreciate the courtesy and the honesty with which the WTB people have treated me, and I appreciate the distribution my work has enjoyed.  I have more work scheduled to come out with WTB, and I look forward to continued success.

Excerpt
Wearing Out a Welcome

Decker worked at odd jobs in the barn the next morning.  He expected Hayden to come out in his own good time and go on another ride, but the man stayed in the house.  In the latter part of the morning, Rosalie came to the barn and watched without speaking as Decker finished splicing a rope.

“He’s getting on my nerves,” she said.  “He just sits around reading a book, and I can feel his eyes on me.  He’s worse than the grub line riders.”

Decker nodded.  The first year he and Rosalie were together, their house had been a favorite stopping place.  Word must have gotten around that Rosalie was easy on the eyes as well as a good cook, and a couple of the riders had been pretty shameless about sitting around and gawking and not even helping with chores.  Then when Decker put them to work mucking stalls and had them sleep in the barn, word must have gotten around again.

“It shouldn’t be much longer,” he said.  “This is his second day.  If he doesn’t leave tomorrow, I can give him a hint.”

Cheryl Pierson

 Shot for a Dog is the story of a teenage boy’s descent into madness. Is it from hydrophobia, or from his own sick jealousy of his younger brother? At sixteen, Lucas Marshal is eight years older than his younger half-brother, Jeremiah. His hatred and jealousy of Jeremiah is all-consuming, and though their mother is aware of it, she is passive about it until one dark day when it gets the best of him. Luke and Jeremiah are working in the corn patch and Jeremiah decides it’s time to quit. This makes Luke so angry he does the unthinkable, and decides to shoot the family dog, Shadow. But Jeremiah runs to prevent it and is shot, as well. Forced to leave home by what he has done, he tries to convince himself that he doesn’t care, and is not going for the doctor.

But as he journeys into the nearest town, he finds he has a companion he didn’t count on, and can’t get rid of. A river runs with blood, he hears voices, and starts to believe he has hydrophobia. He knows the doctor is his only chance. But when he gets to town, somehow, the townspeople already have learned what he’s done. Will they help him? The sheriff has a terrible secret of his own that may be the death of Lucas Marshal.

Excerpt
Shot for a Dog

It had been an accident—a trick of the relentless, shimmering heat—that had made Luke pull the trigger. At least, that had been the story he told, and the tale he stuck to in his own mind, until he had almost come to believe the fabrication himself

.

He and his younger brother, Jeremiah, had been finishing up hoeing the corn. The late afternoon sun had begun to relent, and though this July day would never cool off enough to be comfortable, at least it was becoming tolerable.

“I’m hungry,” Jeremiah declared.

“We gotta finish,” Luke answered flatly. At sixteen, he was responsible for Jeremiah, who was only half his age—and with no more brains than a turtle.

After a moment, Jeremiah stopped hoeing. “I’m goin’ back to the house,” he stated, straightening to stretch his back muscles.

“You ain’t goin’ back ’til I say we’re done, brother,” Luke said mildly, but when his blue gaze met Jeremiah’s dark eyes, the animosity couldn’t be hidden, nor did he bother to try.

Troy D.Smith

 I never come right out and say so, but “Judah King” is actually Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar set as a western –just as the movies Boss of Texas and Jubal are western versions of King Lear and Othello. I think The Bard’s blend of action and passion would have been perfectly suited for westerns, actually.

My version is not about a Roman general who wants to become Emperor, and his trusted lieutenant who fears for the country if that happens- it’s about an outlaw leader who conspires to become a town marshal, and his loyal lieutenant-turned-deputy who fears for the town. It’s one of my favorites from among the short stories I’ve done.

Excerpt
Judah King

No matter who they were or what they did, everyone loved Judah King. It was a certain air he had about him, I guess¾it was in the way he smiled at folks, the way his eyes looked straight into them. When Judah King grinned and looked at you¾whether you were man or woman¾it made you feel like the only person in the world, and you would do just about anything he asked of you.

People would just smile right back at him, and hand over their money and jewelry like they were doing a favor for their best friend. When Judah would shoot a man down for daring to stand up to him, most of the witnesses would conclude that he had it coming.

Chuck Tyrell

Excerpt 
Man of Iron

God, I wish I hadn't shot that woman.

She was Chiricahua, plain as day, and that meant only one thing. She was one of Massai's people, and he'd sworn to kill me on sight. But there she was, down and bleeding from my bullet, and almighty weak   from bearing a baby boy.

What in heaven could I do with an Apache girl and a new-born babe, only a stone's throw from Hell's Gate?

For a while, I just stood there, rifle cocked and pointed at her belly. She stared back, not about to let me see how scared she was, and clutched the newborn to her.

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New from Western Trail Blazer: LADIES LOVE OUTLAWS #anthology #newrelease #western

Ladies Love Outlaws 

This is the first of what we hope to be many Western Trail Blazer western romance anthologies. Ladies Love Outlaws will be a series, as will Lawmen Love Ladies, and possibly more. This volume features stories by Celia Yeary, Cheryl Pierson, and Chuck Tyrell…

Celia Yeary

Some time ago, I answered a submission call from an ebook publisher for a 25,000 word story, either about an outlaw or a lawman. Addie and the Gunslinger popped in my head very quickly, and that night I wrote about ten pages--the amount for the submission. I included all the requirements and submitted, certain I would get a spot in the series. Nope. They hated it. Literally, the editor wrote more about why this story wouldn't work than I had submitted. 

Needless to say, I was a bit angry because I thought I had a good story. I filed it away.

When Rebecca sent out a call for more Dime Novel type stories, I pulled up Addie and studied it. I still believed it was good.

This time I completed the tale and sent it to Rebecca. Bless her heart, she praised it.

And as I've related before, Rebecca and I call Addie and the Gunslinger "The Little Story That could." Yes, it's still going and going.

Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas

Amazon | Website | Blog | Celia's Facebook Page

Sweethearts of the West-Blog

Excerpt from 
Addie and the Gunslinger

At the screen door, Jude used all his skills to move silently and entered the dark kitchen. Moving stealthily past Caleb's room, he made his way to the stairs. Knowing stairs always creaked, he walked on the end of each one where sounds were less likely to occur. At Addie's door, he paused.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly turned the doorknob and slipped into the dark room. Straining to see toward the bed, he froze when he felt something like the barrel of a pistol jam into his left ribs.

"Hands up," Addie said. 

Damn, he was proud of her. What a woman.

In one swift move, he turned and grabbed the hand with the pistol and raised it high over their heads, bringing their bodies together.

"Gonna shoot me, sweetheart?" He spoke softly close to her face.

♥ ♥ ♥

Cheryl Pierson

The Gunfighter’s Girl was originally titled Scarlet Ribbons after the old folk song of that same name. In the song, made popular by Harry Belafonte, a father sings of overhearing his daughter’s prayer for some scarlet ribbons for her hair. Everything is locked up tight, and there’s no way for him to get her those ribbons. Just as dawn breaks, he goes to check on her and finds her asleep with the scarlet ribbons on her bed. In the end he says, “If I live to be a hundred, I will never know from where/Came those lovely scarlet ribbons, scarlet ribbons for her hair.” I always loved the poignancy of that beautiful song and that’s how I developed the story.

What father could refuse his little daughter something so simple? In The Gunfighter’s Girl, Miguel Rivera, a man who sells his gun, comes home briefly at Christmas to keep a promise to his sister. He’s been gone five years, and when he comes face to face with the woman he left behind, he finds he hopes for what seems impossible—reconciliation. But he also learns that Lina kept a secret from him—one that might have brought him back sooner, had he known. He’s purchased some scarlet ribbons from a street vendor earlier in the day, but they’ve mysteriously disappeared. When he goes in search of the vendor, he finds the answers he is searching for, and discovers that Christmas really is a time for miracles. 

Excerpt from 
The Gunfighter's Girl

Miguel has just come face to face with Lina, the young woman he loved and left five years earlier. Here's what happens:

As she moved past him, he caught her arm, unable to bear her cool contempt.  He met her eyes as she looked up at him from under the thick velvet lashes he’d thought of so often.  She was just as he remembered, but older, and more certain of herself.  A smile teased at the corner of his lips.  Her gaze turned murderous. 

“Something amuses you, El Diablo?  Me perhaps?  Again?” 

He shook his head slowly, letting the saddlebags slide to the floor beside the bed.  “No, Lina.  I’m not laughing at you.” 

“You’ve had five years to do that, haven’t you?”  Her eyes sparked with anger and humiliation. “I never—”

“No.  You never.”  She looked down at where his fingers gripped her white blouse, a loose camisa that contrasted sharply with the dark softness of her skin.  Something seemed to change in her black eyes for an instant as he released her.  The anger fled, and Miguel’s heart skipped a beat at the sadness and wistful hope that took its place. 

“Lo siento, querida,” he whispered.  “I’m sorry.”  How could he have hurt someone who loved him so much?  Why hadn’t he realized before that Lina did love him?  The answer wasn’t hard to find, and surprisingly, he voiced it without thinking. “I never deserved you, Catalina.” 

She shook her head, and he knew what she was thinking; that he was lying, trying to keep her feelings intact.  He reached out and cupped the softness of her cheek, and just for a moment, she turned into his touch, her lips resting against his palm. 

“I never meant to hurt you.” 

A tear escaped as she tried to keep them in, squeezing her eyes shut, her chin quivering.  “I know,” she whispered, her forgiveness thawing out the calm coldness in his gut, leaving an unfamiliar emptiness in its place. 

In the next moment, somehow, she was in his arms, and nothing had ever felt more right.  She didn’t turn her face up to be kissed.  She pressed close to him, her tears soaking his own shirt.  He laid his cheek next to her hair, breathing in the tangy smell of the citrus-scented soap she’d used.  He felt her eyelashes, like butterflies’ wings, against his throat, and realized all over again what a fool he’d been to ride away from Rio Verde and Catalina de la Vega five years earlier. 

“Why did you go, Miguel?” 

Ah.  At last, the question he’d tormented himself with.  And why had he never returned before now?  He gave a short laugh, pulling back to look down at her.  “What could I offer you, Catalina?” 

“Everything,” she answered with no hesitation.  “You were everything to me, Miguel.” 

Irritation and denial surged through him.  “I’m nothing!” He let go of her, stepping back.  He raked a hand through his dark hair.  “I am…a gunfighter.  A hired killer.” 

She shook her head.  “You pick and choose what battles you fight.  I know that much about you!”  She took his hand, her thumb tracing the sides of his fingers.  “You are a good man, Miguel.  You are the only one who doesn’t know it.” 

He had to laugh.  “And you are the only person in the world who’d say that, Lina. “ 

“Then I am the only one who matters.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Chuck Tyrell

The White Mountains of Arizona are one of God’s masterpieces on earth. It’s high country, the plains are at about 6,000 feet and the highest mountain is a bit over 12,000. For some time I’d been thinking of a family of mustangers with a rawhide operation in the foothills of the Blues, which are just to the New Mexico side of the White Mountains. At first, when they started to jell, it was four sons and a mountain man father. But when I started to write Big Enough, the youngest sibling turned out to be a girl. 

Kimberly McCullough went with her brothers on mustanging expeditions, often to Sycamore Canyon and Sheep’s Crossing. On one such trip she saw a little black filly that was built for speed. She immediately put her dibs on the colt and with the help of her brothers, captured it. When I was growing up in that area, we had a little horse named Big Enough. I stole that name, and I stole my uncle’s way of winning the trust and love of a horse. That’s how she set about training little filly, Big Enough. The brothers went on down the mountain, leaving Kimberly alone. Those mountains were a wild and lonely place, so who could know that a ruthless outlaw was headed for Sycamore Canyon?

Except from 
Big Enough

"You must be Mort Eggertson," I managed to say to the tall man without my voice trembling much.

"I am."

"Why was you in jail?"

"Killed a man."

I put on my stone face. "Then you deserved jail," I said.

"Ah, but he'd of killed me if I'd been a hair slower with this S-n-W." He waved the Smith & Wesson, but never far enough away for me to make a move. 

"Come on, Mort. Them guys with Hubbell cain't be all that far behind us. Let's git."

"I could whip up a bit more bacon and biscuits if you want," I said. The longer I could stall them here, the closer the Sheriff's men would be, I reasoned. 

I unbuckled my gunbelt and put it on the ground by the rifle. "Just so's you won't get any wrong ideas about me," I said. 

"You don't seem all that scared of us, missy," Eggertson said.

♥ ♥ ♥

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Twilight of the Gun at Western Trail Blazers #NewRelease #anthology

       Twilight of the Gun

Troy Smith

by Troy D. Smith
     
Since Robin and I took over Western Trail Blazer on January 1st, we wanted to start this new phase of WTB by letting readers know who and what we are. So we started with a nice, big anthology that includes work from many of our regular authors — Twilight of the Gun. Many of the stories in it are tales that we have previously released as shorts; hopefully fans of the individual writers will find it, and discover other authors who are new to them that they like.

Why Twilight of the Gun? To be honest, just because it sounds cool. But there is, of course, a certain elegiac element to the traditional western, the feel that things are changing and the frontier is in the process of receding from the moment it is discovered.

Here are the stories and writers included:

• This Old Star   by  Wayne Dundee 
• Blackwell’s Run   by  Troy D. Smith
• The Keepers of Camelot   by  Cheryl Pierson

  

  Lee Aaron Wilson

• A Fire in Brimstone   by  Tom Rizzo 
• Sharpshooter   by  Kit Prate 
• Trail’s End   by  Les Williams
• The Downfall of Ross Dent   by Lee  Aaron Wilson  
• West of Dancing Rock   by  John D. Nesbitt    
• Morning Shadow   by  Frank Roderus 
• The Prodigal   by  Chuck Tyrell
• Tucker’s Homecoming   by  Kevin Crisp 
• Angel and the Cowboy   by  Celia Yeary                   

Some of these stories have made a huge impact. This Old Star won the Peacemaker Award, and both Blackwell’s Run and The Keepers of Camelot were Peacemaker nominees. Sharpshooter and Angel and the Cowboy have been two of the best-selling books in WTB’s history. And the others are great, as well.

Some of the authors have agreed to say a few words about their stories, and about WTB:

Kit Prate: Sharpshooter is part of a projected series, a trilogy covering 1841 to 1941; about a pioneering Arizona family who struggles to hold on to their land — part of a vast Spanish land grant that came to the patriarch of the clan through a fortuitous marriage.

As often happens when you are fleshing out a story you find yourself intrigued with creating a past and a future for a particular character who seems entirely real.

That's how it was with Clete Benteen.  Where did this boy come from before he assumed the role as the Terril's family Segundo; what was his beginning and how did he end up at Trebol? And is he strong enough to remain?

Les Williams

Les Williams: In 2011, Western Trail Blazer published my first Lance Kelly story Unwanted Reputation. I was surprised that the sales of this story exceeded my two previous westerns. Rebecca said someone had told her they thought the reason was the main character, Lance Kelly, reminded readers of Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke. Rebecca suggested I write another story featuring Marshal Kelly of Freeman, Nebraska. I had an idea of Calvin Hawk , the protagonist from my first published WTB story Under Nebraska Skies, making an appearance in another western. Out of that came the story Trail’s End. I’ve since gone on to write a third story about this frontier lawman.

 My first short western, Under Nebraska Skies, was published online and in a small booklet by Wanderings. This was followed up by being reprinted in The Storyteller Magazine. Then I “met” Rebecca Vickery when she joined Western Fictioneers. When she mentioned that she E-Published short stories as Dime Novels, I knew I had found another outlet for Under Nebraska Skies. Rebecca was easy to work with and ready to answer any question I had, no matter how simple or complex it may have been. WTB came around at a time when no one else was publishing short western stories. She was a big boost to the genre. I’m sure I am not alone when I say: my short western fiction would not have been available to the reading public had it not been for Rebecca and her imprint WTB. Our stories were able to reach a wider section of the western fan base because her. Due to her health preventing her from keeping up with the demand required to keep WTB a force in the western publishing industry, Rebecca turned the reins over to Troy and Robin Smith. I see nothing but a bright future for WTB for now and in the years to come.

Kevin Crisp

Kevin Crisp:  Tucker's Homecoming is a story about two brothers.  One is a by-the-book lawman, but the other will do just about anything to protect his fiancée's inheritance.  Together, they want to ensure that the estate is deeded over to her before anyone figures out her brother Tucker's not dead after all.  But how can they get Tucker out of the picture...  without killing him?

This story first appeared in Frontier Tales eZine in June 2013.  It's part of a series of stand-alone but related tales I've written about my small town in Minnesota, as I imagine life might have been like here back in the mid-1800s.  Another story in this series is Doing Right by Dodd, which will appear in the Western Tales anthology (volume 2), also from Western Trail Blazer.

John D. Nesbitt

John D. Nesbitt:  West of Dancing Rock was my first published short story.  I wrote it as a conscious effort in writing a western story, and I also tried to write it in a more convincing first-person voice than I found in some of the western fiction I read at the time.  I was very fortunate in placing this story with a commercial magazine that came out at about that time.  It was called Far West, and it paid real money, so I was thrilled.  I was also thrilled to walk into a Seven-Eleven and see the magazine, with my name on the cover, on the magazine rack.  This was in 1978.  Several years later, when I included this story in a collection of western short stories entitled One Foot in the Stirrup, I was impressed with what I might call its purity of form as well as with its almost existential starkness.   It was like reading something written by someone else, which is always a good experience when a person goes back and reads something he or she wrote.

The short story collection went into large print and later into e-book format with Western Trail Blazer.  This collection, along with an individual story entitled Rose of Durango, got me started with Western Trail Blazer.  This has been a very good publishing outlet for me, as I have been able to have individual short stories and a book-length collection made available in e-book format, plus a series of traditional western novels, a contemporary western mystery, and a collection of poems all available in both e-book and print format.  

Celia Yeary

Celia Yeary: Angel and the Cowboy is the first Dime Novel I wrote of four. I used Max Garrison, who appeared as a young boy in my first "Texas" novel, Texas Blue. I pictured him as a grown man who left the business of being a U.S. Marshal so he could ranch and settle down. On a trip into town, he noticed the small Tea and Book Shoppe decorated for Christmas. He laughs to himself about the name of the store, but the deceased owners were British. Inside, he encounters the daughter, Daniella Sommers, whose British lineage doesn't ring true.

I almost wrote this story with my eyes closed. It seemed to have a life of its own, a story already formed and all I had to do was write it. There's a twist at the end, a surprise, and I have been thrilled that readers "got" it and told me so.

Western Trail Blazer came along at a time when I wasn't certain I would continue writing Western Romance. When Rebecca J. Vickery first invited me to write a story for an anthology, I accepted because I thought so highly of her. I wrote Angel and the Cowboy, and the anthology was a success. Then she allowed me to publish it as a separate story for her imprint Western Trail Blazer under  the 99Cent "Dime Novels." How clever and catchy! And the magic continued with three more Dime Novels she published for me. In particular, Addie and the Gunslinger has been on one to three of Amazon's Top 100 lists for two years. Needless to say, I have loved those checks!

My desire is to continue a line of novellas with Western Trail Blazer. This depends on my writing ability and if they fit the requirement for Western Trail Blazer. Why give up a good thing?

Chuck Tyrell

Chuck Tyrell: The Prodigal started as A Death in the Family,but the publisher wanted something that didn't give anything away. Again, we’re high on the Great Colorado Plateau, where I've placed my Havelock family. I didn't know this story would involve Ness Havelock until I wrote the first paragraph. I knew that the protagonist was an older lawman, and I knew that he was after his own son for a capital crime. Ness Havelock’s always been a first-person narrator, so I let him carry the ball.

In The Prodigal Son parable, the strong-headed boy who leaves his family and goes out to seek his fortune in the world ends up in a pig sty and repents and walks home to a joyous reunion with his father. In The Prodigal, the boy has been spoiled by his mother and he resents his lawman father, so after he leaves, he goes over to the dark side. It’s hell to have to ride after your own son, but it would be even more painful to leave him to be apprehended by another man. The problem is, of course, that a son who has committed murder will not willingly allow his lawman father to arrest him.

Tom Rizzo

Tom Rizzo: A Fire in Brimstone represents my first Western short story — the first of a series of stories based in this fictional frontier community. The focus of the story is Sheriff Cass Ryan, a man on the mend, psychologically, with a dark past he'd rather keep secret. 

I've always been fascinated by the real-life characters who populated the Old West. They were complicated men and women, many of whom survived a blood-bath called the Civil War, and either returned to their homes on the frontier to resume their lives, while others drifted into the West, hoping to find somewhere to call home. 

Whatever the reasons, these occupants of the expanding American frontier could be generally classified as either hero or rogue, depending on their mindsets and ambitions. But, it's the third category that attract the most attention from me — those individuals who walked both sides of the street of law and order. Lawmen who became outlaws, outlaws who pinned on badges, and the ones that enforced the law but, at the same time, broke the law. In many ways, nothing was as it seemed. A situation that makes for great storytelling.

Cheryl Pierson

Cheryl Pierson: I've always been fascinated by Arthurian legends from my childhood days. In The Keepers of Camelot, the characters we know from those legends, Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin, appear in a most unlikely circumstance.  Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot have lived a thousand lives since that fateful day in centuries past when Camelot fell. But when they “return,” they don’t know when or where it’s going to happen, or how long they’ll be able to “stay” in that life. As The Keepers of Camelot begins, we find Arthur on a stagecoach in the middle of hostile territory, and it’s not long before the Apaches attack.

Once the stage makes it to the nearby stage station, Arthur is even more concerned to discover that Guinevere is the wife of the station’s owner. As the Apaches come back for another round of battle, he discovers what Guinevere already has known…Lance is their leader. Will Arthur be able to stop Lance from destroying the station and all the people inside, including the woman they both love? And how will they ever be able to end this endless circle of  lives without the one thing, forgiveness, they all seem unwilling to give?

Rebecca Vickery is one of my heroes. A few years back, after we'd both been "had" by an unscrupulous publisher, Rebecca did something about it. She opened her own publishing company! She asked me to write a short story for her first anthology with her brand new Victory Tales Press. From that time forward, I contributed to many of her anthologies, and at one point, we talked about how great it would be to have a western imprint. A dream was born and took flight, and Western Trail Blazer came into existence. I was thrilled! Not only another venue for short story writing (which I had discovered I loved to do!) but for my western novels, as well.  

As a free lance editor, I worked for Rebecca, and that's how I met Troy Smith. I've had the pleasure of editing many of his works and through the years, have developed a wonderful friendship with him, as well. Due to health reasons, Rebecca decided she needed some capable hands to take control of the Western Trail Blazer imprint. Troy and his wife, Robin, stepped up and took the reins — and they have made some fantastic plans for expansion with Western Trail Blazer. 

I'm so proud to have been on the ground floor of this venture, and to continue on with it through the reorganization. Western Trail Blazer is a publishing company with the highest standards of integrity. More than the treasured thrill  of seeing my short stories and books in good hands all through these years, is the gift of friendship of two of the best people I could ever hope to meet — Troy and Rebecca.

Here's to many more years of high ridin' for Western Trail Blazer!

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Western Trail Blazer

Western Trail Blazer was established in 2010 by Rebecca J. Vickery. Becca worked tirelessly to make the imprint a success, and to make quality western paperbacks and ebooks available to a hungry audience. WTB came along just as the ebook revolution was entering full swing, and has played a large role in reinvigorating the western short story genre in particular. She has grappled with health issues in subsequent years, though, making it ever more difficult for her to find the energy to tend to her brainchild as she would like. As of January 1, 2014, therefore, she has transferred ownership of the imprint to Troy D. and Robin Smith; Troy has been with WTB almost since the very beginning as a writer, and is just finishing his tenure as president of Western Ficitoneers, whereas Robin is a watercolor artist and trained tax preparer. Troy is here to tell us about their plans for WTB.

How did you get involved with Western Trail Blazer?

In the summer of 2010, not long after the writers’ organization Western Fictioneers had been founded, I got an email from fellow WF member Kit Prate. She told me about Becca and WTB, and said they were looking for new stories – or old stories to give new life to. I had never released any of my work digitally before, so it was all new to me, but I was excited at the prospect of getting in on the ground floor of something. I sent a handful of short stories that had been published in the 1990s, and they did well right out of the gate. Over the next few years Becca was enormously helpful to me, and we got all my backlist out and available. 

I was deeply honored when she approached me back in the summer about taking over, because I know how important this venture has been to her. Her faith and trust in me mean the whole world, and I’m determined to keep up WTB’s tradition of excellence. Of course, much as I wanted to, I could never have said yes without the help and support of my wonderful wife Robin. I’m looking forward to helming this ship as partners.

What does WTB have in the chute in its first month?

Well, we have three anthologies, which we’ll be discussing in more detail the next few days. The first is called  Twilight of the Gun – it is a large volume with about a dozen stories, representing many of our regular WTB authors. This one is intended as sort of a general sampler, so readers can get a sense of what we’re all about and the breadth and depth of our pool of talent.

The second one is called Ladies Love Outlaws, and is intended to be the first of an ongoing series of western romances.

The third is also the first of a series… it is called Western Tales! (exclamation point included!) Every volume will have five short stories by WTB authors, many of which will also be available as ebook singles – but in this format, fans will be able to discover new writers (or new to them) whom they can follow individually if they wish. We’ve had so many submissions to this series it’s going to be monthly, maybe even biweekly.

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On the single-author front, we have several exciting ebook singles. Cheryl Pierson’s suspenseful story Shot for a Dog tells about a young man whose jealousy and ill-will get the better of him, with shocking consequences. Tom Rizzo’s A Fire in Brimstone deals with a smalltown lawman whose dark past catches up with him. And in the fourth installment of Bowen & Baile, by Frank Roderus, our two heroes are approached by a conscience-plagued outlaw with a strange request- he wants help in returning his loot. The rest of his gang, though, aren’t so keen on the idea… Frank also has one called Morning Shadow, in which a French trapper has to make a fateful decision that will affect a little Indian girl.

Morning Shadow

Finally, we have three short stories by Lee Aaron Wilson. Lee, a good friend to many of us at WTB, passed away suddenly in 2012. His wife has delivered us several of his unpublished manuscripts, and we are deeply honored to be able to keep his legacy alive. These three are: Last Badman in Desolation, The Old Dog’s Day, and It Takes a Man.

And even more!

This is really only the tip of the iceberg. We have other projects coming up the pike that we are just as excited about. If your readers haven’t tried out Western Trail Blazer yet, now is the perfect time to get onboard. And if anyone out there has stories they’d like us to consider, by all means send ‘em our way.

In the meantime, we’re extremely grateful to Jacquie for this opportunity to make our “second debut.” Over the next three days we’ll have more details about the stories and writers in those first three anthologies.

I’m going to leave you with a brief excerpt from Lee Aaron Wilson’s Last Badman in Desolation, in which love blooms between that Badman and a bad – but not too bad – girl:

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Last Badman in Desolation 
by Lee Aaron Wilson

"Am I too forward. Jacob? You been to see me. It was pretty nice. I'm ready for it to be just you, for as long as you want it that way. For a long, long time seems nice."

"I remember. I liked visiting you. I tried to take my time and hoped you liked it, too."

"After the first time, you came on Sundays."

"It seemed you were less busy Sundays and we could take our time."

"We did." She blushed slightly, surprised she could still do that. "Did you know, I don't work Sundays? I just saw you, when you asked, 'cause I liked you. It seemed as if the rest of the time, and the other men, were my job. I was being a dreamy little girl. When you came to me, I imagined I was your gal and you was my feller."

"Oh, I... thank you, Mattie. Me, too. I didn't know you kept Sundays special. I just knew you didn't seem rushed, and I could take my time... we could take our time, and... and..."

"And you could make love to me, not just get your poke into me, and be on your way."

"Uh, yeah, sorta." He looked red now.

"Do we need to rush back? You aren't the stable boy any more. I guess you want to get into your new job?" She took his hand and strolled back into the big bedroom, with its made up bed.

"I'm in no hurry. Be nice to talk a while and get to know each other."

"Earlier you said something about testing the bed."

"Mattie...."

"That name's for work. My real name is Mary. Do you want to?" When he didn't move, or speak, she added, "I do. I'm ready. I've decided to be your woman. If you want me."

He touched her cheek. She put her fingers over his and leaned to meet his lips. The first kiss was soft and tentative. The second felt much better. When she opened her mouth during the third, he knew how to kiss.

It Takes a Man

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Western Tales! Vol. 1

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A Fire in Brimstone 

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Morning Shadow

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