Western Humor
The September issue of True West has a review of my latest novel by Spur Award-winning author Rod Miller. Of Bluster’s Last Stand, Rod says “if there’s one thing missing from most western bookshelves, it’s humor.” He goes on to praise me for filling the gap with my protagonist H.H. Lomax. He concludes the review by […]
Stealing History
We just returned from a trip to Ruidoso and the obligatory visit to Lincoln, N.M., where Billy the Kid rode into legend. I’ve been there many times over the years to walk what President Rutherford B. Hayes once called “the most dangerous street in America.” I’ve climbed the stairs where Billy the Kid made his last […]
Back in the Saddle Again
Writing is a creative, yet solitary endeavor. What makes it worse is that writers, unlike painters or sculptors, don’t really have anything to frame or display when they are done other than a thick stack of typing paper, which is not very glamorous. That’s why it’s always fun to get a new book cover of […]
Not Killing Custer
My favorite fiction genre is the historical novel. I’ve always loved history and have enjoyed reading and writing novels that insert fictional characters into historical events. One of my favorite western historical novels of all time is The Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer by Douglas C. Jones. When I started writing westerns, one of […]
Bluster’s Dozen
In researching Bluster’s Last Stand, I read close to a hundred books on Custer and the Little Bighorn in search of historical details and odd facts I could use in my novel. The nice thing about writing fiction is that you can use the accounts that serve your story best without having to confirm their […]
Lomax Is Back!
With the release of Bluster’s Last Stand by Wild Horse Press this fall, my loveable scoundrel H.H. Lomax has returned with another misadventure, this time culminating at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The story of Lomax goes back to the mid-1990s when the editor of Bantam approached me about working with Book Creations Inc. […]
Picture Books
As a writer, I am always fascinated by the differences in techniques for various forms of entertainment media. Over my career I’ve written numerous articles, 30 published novels, two produced playscripts (performed far, far from even off Broadway), one screenplay (unproduced and unlikely to see the big screen) and even a published poem. So, I’ve […]
Gentleman of Letters
I am proud to report that my western caper The Fleecing of Fort Griffin has received the Elmer Kelton Award for best creative work on West Texas from the West Texas Historical Association. It is always an honor to see your work rewarded but this recognition is especially meaningful. First, it comes from an organization […]
Ideas Aplenty
Probably the most frequent question I have gotten as a published author is this: Where do you get your ideas? My wife once asked me where I came up with all that stuff, though “stuff” was not her exact phraseology. Even my daughter gave me a Father’s Day Card one year that read, “Fatherhood: the […]
O.K. Song
Over the weekend I had occasion to re-watch Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the 1957 movie that I first saw at the Yucca Theater in Midland, Texas, when I was a kid. It was a wonderful movie that holds up well even today for pure entertainment. What I remember most about the showing that night […]