Excerpt: The Western Star by Craig Johnson
I’ve been following Craig Johnson’s Western mysteries since his “Old Indian Trick” won the 2005 Tony Hillerman/PEN USA Mystery Short Story Contest sponsored and judged by Cowboys & Indians magazine back when I was an editor there. I remember being captivated by his characters, settings, and masterful storytelling. Johnson’s gone on to earn New York […]
Review: Huck Out West by Robert Coover
W.W. Norton & Co.books.wwnorton.com In the final lines of Mark Twain’s 1884 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, our narrator-hero declares: “I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” We have here […]
Interview: Michael Okon Author of Monsterland
A fun, fast-paced YA read chock full of zombies, werewolves, vampires—and a crew of misfit kids. WordFire Presswordfirepress.com Shelf Unbound: Monsterland is an amusement park featuring real vampires, zombies, and werewolves. How did you get the idea for Monsterland? Michael Okon: I was binge watching a movie marathon with my son, the classics—Goonies, Gremlins, Back […]
Interview: Titus Plomaritis Author of Titus
Titus: Immigrant Son, Football Legend, Presidential Confidant, Highly Honored Chiropractor The Life of Dr. Titus Plomaritis Titus Pomaritis is a 5’5” powerhouse of a human being—and his inspiring memoir covers everything from his early days delivering chickens to a small grocer, to his still-talked-about high school football career, to his romance and long marriage. Through […]
Interview: Matt Ingwalson Author of Sin Walks Into the Desert
El Viejo saved Sin’s life back when the boy was a 12-year-old punk hellbent on shooting up the school bus with his daddy’s .357. And now the old man’s gone missing. So Sin straps on his guns, grabs his go-bag, and hikes into the desert to find him, only to uncover a nest of killers […]
Interview: Joseph Scapellato Author of Big Lonesome
Fiercely inventive and bringing classic themes of the American West into a modern literary mindset, Joseph Scapellato’s stories will chew you up and spit you out in the best possible way. Mariner Bookshmhco.com Shelf Unbound: Big Lonesome is filled with a nameless cast of drifters beaten up by life. What interests you in writing from […]
Interview: Ian Stansel Author of The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo
Ian Stansel writes a modern Western classic with his Cain and Abel story. Houghton Mifflin Harcourthoughtonmifflinbooks.com Shelf Unbound: The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo is a gorgeously written contemporary Western about the lives of two brothers, beginning with one shooting the other and the widow setting off on horseback to follow her brother-in-law and exact […]
Interview: Susan Hallsten McGarry Author of Pure Quill
Winner of the 2017 IPPY Bronze Medal (Photography), the Best Photography Book from the Independent Press Awards, and the Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Photography Book at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Pure Quill is a compelling view of the American West and its habitants as well as a closer look at photographer […]
Feature: Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award Winners
Historical Nonfiction The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, The Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton (Crown) “They called him Mickey Free. His kidnapping started the longest war in American history, and both sides—the Apaches and the white invaders—blamed him for it. A mixed-blood […]
Review: Do the Dead Dream? by F.P. Dorchak
If you’re looking for a good scare (or several dozen good scares), then look no further than F.P. Dorchak’s anthology of short horror fiction Do the Dead Dream? Collected here are forty-five short stories spanning the entirety of Dorchak’s writing career, many of which originally appeared in publications like Black Sheep, Apollo’s Lyre, and The […]