Me, Doc and Val
New Cover for Lottie’s Luck
This is a revised edition of a book published by Eaken Press in 1989 under the title The Lady and Doc Holliday. I never liked the original cover nor the title, so I convinced my favorite editor and publisher to go with the title as I first submitted it. Harriet agreed, so it will now appear as I originally envisioned it.
Val as Doc
The Lady and Doc Holliday was the only book I ever published that resulted in impressing my kids when they were still living at home. After the movie Tombstone came out in 1993 I, like everyone else, was enamored with Val Kilmer’s portrayal of Doc Holliday.
One evening I brought in the mail and held up a small envelope hand-addressed to me on the front with an embossed address on the back flap. I recognized the New Mexico address and said, “Kids, guess who this is from?” They didn’t know, and they didn’t care until I said, “It’s from Val Kilmer.”
“No way, Dad,” was their reply until I opened it, and their jaws dropped. It was indeed from Val Kilmer, a handwritten thank you note no less. Finally, Scott and Melissa were impressed with my writing prowess.
Nothing ever came of the prequel, but the thank you from Val Kilmer was a special moment for me, as I had finally impressed Scott and Melissa, not to mention Harriet
This year in rewriting portions of the book and taking off some of the hard edges of the original novel, I included a subtle homage to Mr. Kilmer for his performance in Tombstone and for his courtesy to me. You’ll have to read the book to figure out the tribute.
Thank you note from Val Kilmer