Sep 19, 2024 | Action & Adventure, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Westerns |
Award-winning author Robin Somers spent her middle years in the foothills of Tuolumne County in the Sierra Nevada, where she wrote for the daily newspaper, taught high school English, and kept a horse. Today, she lives in Santa Cruz, California. She retired from the University of California, Santa Cruz faculty, where she continues to teach an occasional class and is a volunteer ambassador for the American Wild Horse Campaign. She is a founding member of the Coastal Cruisers chapter of Sisters in Crime and is also a member of Western Writers of America and Mystery Writers of America. She is the author of Beet Fields, a murder mystery, and Backyard Burning, a collection of poems. Her book Eleven Stolen Horses, a Wild Horse Mystery, launches September 17, 2024, with Sibylline Press. She returns frequently to Gold Rush Country, where the Wild Horse Mystery Series is set.
Pitch In Eleven Stolen Horses, a woman disappears without a clue from her home in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and her best friend, a reporter for the town’s daily newspaper (and the story’s protagonist), stops at nothing to find her—dead or alive. Along the way, she discovers secrets about her missing friend while crossing paths with the dark world of kill buyers and the horse slaughter pipeline.
I was thirty-seven when I started to write my first novel. I’d returned to school at the University of California, Santa Cruz, majoring in Literature and taking as many creative writing courses as possible. My creative non-fiction writing teacher, Page Stegner, announced he was taking his class on a week-long rafting trip down the San Juan River on the border of the Navajo Nation. I came away from that river with a bad case of hyperthermia, a passion for Indigenous culture, and a lasting belief in the spirit of landscape, which formed the perspective from which I write.
This first attempt brought me to a village of stick huts and tamped earth floors on the eastern slope of the Sierra de San Pedro Martir in Baja, California, where the Kiliwa live. The chief, whose name was Cruz, only spoke Kiliwa, a disappearing language. He believed I was there for the gold; I explained I was writing a novel. I wrote that book on my electronic typewriter and packed it away in a briefcase. Since then, I’ve written four more novels, one stored on a floppy disc, one in a file on my laptop, and another self-published. My most recent book, Eleven Stolen Horses, a Wild Horse Mystery, launches September 16, 2024, by Sibylline Press, an ass-kicking publishing company that specializes in the work of women over fifty. This is my first traditionally published book.
What took so long? As the late author/teacher Jim Houston (Continental Divide) said, “Writing is an evolutionary process.” I’ve taken many forms as a writer since I began forty years ago. I’ve reported and written essays, columns, features, lots of poetry, and fiction, narrowing the fiction to the mystery genre. I wrote freelance for the alternative presses in Santa Cruz and landed a full-time job as a beat reporter for a daily newspaper in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I was briefly an editor for the Forest Service. I taught high school English in that same town before moving back to Santa Cruz to attend San Jose State’s fledgling MFA program in Creative Writing, where I finished my second novel, Tornado, Kansas, which took a decade to write. I began the Olive Post eco-mystery series based on my son’s organic farm, Dirty Girl Produce. I self-published the second book in that series, Beet Fields, a murder mystery, in 2020, the year of Covid. All these parts of my evolution as an author launching her first traditionally published mystery at 75 affirm, “Never give up.”
Are my stories real or imagined? My stories are born of reality until my imagination takes over due to a trained journalistic mind that resists confinement to fact. I’m a pantser, which means I write the story as it comes to me, and sometimes the dang thing won’t come. But I got to the end of Eleven Stolen Horses. The story is about two women, one who goes missing and the other her best friend, who will not give up the search to find her—dead or alive. The premise came from the tragic disappearance of my friend Patty Kelly Tolhurst, who disappeared in the Sierra Nevada ten years ago and has not been found. Patty helped me pick out my first horse, which became a scene in the novel. My fiction is my way of processing experience. Eleven Stolen Horses is a prayer for my missing friend.
What kind of research do I do? Eleven Stolen Horses took me to a working horse and cattle ranch in Northeastern Utah, in the nape of the Jarbidge Wilderness, where ranchers bring their truths to the page and the geological hoodoo formations lend their spirit. The story also drew me to the Modoc Forest in Northern California, home of the Devils Garden Wild Horse herd, where I observed the round-up helicopter of these beautiful thriving horses, one of many roundups in one of many government wild horse management areas throughout the western states. Those mustangs not adopted into homes far too often live out their lives in holding facilities or, worse, are sold to kill buyers for slaughter. To keep my Wild Horses Mystery Series informed, I serve as an ambassador for American Wild Horse Conservation volunteer at a local wild horse rescue farm, scooping horse poop, stuffing hay bags, and grooming Sunset, a beautiful sorrel gelding.
Reaching out to an association member: In 2019, some NorCal Sisters in Crime wanted to create a chapter in the Santa Cruz/Santa Clara area. I live in Santa Cruz and jumped on the opportunity to help create the Coastal Cruisers chapter of SinC. I met women for whom publishing books was as natural as buying groceries. I was looking for an agent for my mystery Beet Fields. My SinC sister Alec Peche suggested I query a certain number of agents, say, eleven, and if I didn’t get results, to self-publish. I queried a few, then took the self-publishing leap. Alec, like so many women in SinC, was eager to help. I followed her instructions, put out Beet Fields, and became an author. If you’re starting, I can’t recommend enough joining your local chapter of SinC.
Who’s your favorite author(s): Louise Erdrich. Favorite book: Love Medicine. I’ve read each book in her Ojibwe series and taught Round House to my university students. Now: Everything by Peter Heller. He canoes and flyfishes, knows rivers, loves wolves and writes killer mysteries with an environmental twist. I wallow in Jane Harper’s dry land mysteries and Molly Gloss’ historical fiction about women and horses. When I’m stuck, I read these and other masters until their words open a door, and I can write again.
Yet, how to weave subplots into my working manuscript’s arc baffles me: Book coach Anne Janzer, author of The Writer’s Process, advises: 1) Clarify the problem and 2) form a question. Then, 3) walk away and do something mindless, like making the bed or weeding the walkway. Meanwhile, your deeper mind works out the solution. I’m writing the draft of Three Marys, the second book in the Wild Horses Mystery Series. My subplots don’t cohere, and this is problematic. The question I articulated was, “What do arson and homicide have to do with rescuing wild horses, and how do I weave these disparate and geographically distant subplots into the novel’s arc?” My mind came up with this: The solution is the arc. While a homicidal arsonist pulls a shroud of darkness over a community, the protagonist restores the light by returning a pair of endangered wild horses to freedom.
Are my settings real or fictional locations? Real until they must don a disguise. That said, the very real spirit of landscape has remained the lens from which I tell a story ever since that San Juan River trip with my first creative writing teacher, where I was lucky enough to experience the transformational power of landscape and live through it. That spirit entered me; I hope it will always reside in my work and, with any luck, touch my reader.
Here’s the link to preorder Eleven Stolen Horses
Website: https://www.robinsomers.com/
My new email: info@robinsomers.com
Facebook: RobinSomers
Insta: r_somers
TikTok: Horseygrandma
Aug 22, 2024 | Action & Adventure, Crime, Historical, Mystery, Westerns, Young Adult |
Michael A. Black is the award winning author of 50 books, most of which are in the mystery and thriller genres. He’s also written in the sci-fi, western, horror, and sports genres. A retired police officer from the Chicago area, he did everything from patrol to investigating homicides to conducting numerous SWAT operations. Black was awarded the Cook County Medal of Merit in 2010. He is the author of over 100 short stories and articles and wrote two novels with the late television star Richard Belzer (Law & Order SVU). He wrote eleven novels under the name Don Pendleton in the Executioner series and numerous westerns the Gunslinger series under the name A.W. Hart (Killer’s Choice, Killer’s Brand, Killer’s Ghost, Killer’s Gamble, and Killer’s Requiem).
His Executioner novel, Fatal Prescription, won the Best Original Novel Scribe Award in 2018. His recent novels are in the ongoing Trackdown series, most recently Devil’s Lair. His most recent works are Concho: Border Blood (written as A.W. Hart) and Where Legends Lie under his own name.
You write in more than one genre. What brought you into writing? I’ve been writing all my life. I wrote my first short story in the 6th grade. The class laughed, and the teacher admonished me to never do it again, but I didn’t listen.
Tell us about your writing process. What’s the most challenging part? The challenge is to write something that’s entertaining and will hold the reader’s attention. My process is just to put my butt in the chair and write. Sometimes, I think beforehand, too.
All right, I’ll accept that. Do you outline, or are you a pantser? I’m a staunch supporter of outlining. I’ve done it both ways, and while you have to figure out the method that works best for you, an outline helps you stay on track. Pantsing is fun, but you end up going off on tangents and wasting a lot of words. It’s like trying to build a house without any blueprints.
Your latest book, Where Legends Lie, is a western set in both 1913 and 1880. What kind of research did you do? I did extensive research on this one. I’ve written a lot of westerns so I was familiar with a lot of the weaponry of the times, but this one also has scenes involving the Philippine Insurrection and the early days of motion pictures. The Philippine Insurrection was one of our bloody and tragic little wars, and back then, our society knew next to nothing about the effects of PTSD. I dedicated the book to our fallen military members, many of whom came back as walking wounded due to what they went through.
You also have a historical figure in the book. Tell us about him. Ambrose Bierce was a Civil War veteran who went on to become one of the best-known writers of his time. I read his stories in high school and always admired him. When I was plotting out Legends, I suddenly knew I had to include him as a character. He perished in Mexico in 1913 during the revolution. It’s conjectured that Pancho Villa’s men executed him, but the actual circumstances are unknown. I wanted to give Mr. Bierce one more great adventure before his untimely end.
What obstacles do you face when writing about historical figures? My mentor, Stuart Kaminsky, once told me, “You’re better off writing about them if they’re dead.” I followed Stuart’s advice because, like I said, Bierce died during the Mexican Revolution. I did copious research on him, however, and tried to use some of his actual quotes in the story.
Let me get this straight… It’s set in two different time periods? Right, it opens in the Philippines during the last battle of what was termed the Moro Rebellion. It was bloody and violent. Then the story shifts to a few months later, and returning veteran Jim Bishop lands a job with a fledgling motion picture company in southern California. They’re filming a version of a famous, or infamous, shootout that occurred thirty years before. Next I do a shift and go back to the site of the actual shootout in 1880. The two stories evolve in tandem until they finally coalesce at the end. It’s billed as two stories told as one, which I guess it is.
You’ve also got a couple of other books out, correct? I do. One of them is Devil’s Lair, which is the 8th book in my Trackdown series. It’s about ex-army ranger Steve Wolf, who spent time in prison for a war crime he didn’t commit. Upon his release, he becomes a modern-day bounty hunter or bail enforcement agent. He’s also a mixed martial arts fighter and is struggling to clear his name. There’s a common thread of intrigue and betrayal that runs through the series, starting with the first one, Devil’s Dance. Devil’s Lair is the eighth one in the series and, at this point, might be the last. I’ve managed to tie up almost all the major plot threads, but I wouldn’t be averse to penning a few more. I think Wolf still has his legs, as they say in boxing.
What about the book you wrote as A.W. Hart? Ah, yes, Concho: Border Blood. A.W. Hart’s a house name for Wolfpack Publishing, and I’ve written numerous books under that pseudonym. Old A.W. is an Amazon Bestseller, so I owe him a lot. Concho is a half Black, half Indian Texas Ranger. The books are set in modern times, and I touched upon our border mess and human trafficking in this one. I should add that the other ten books in the series were written by different authors.
Anything else you’d like to say, Mike? George, I appreciate being on your excellent blog. We know each other from the PSWA (Public Safety Writers Association), and you’ve always been a great friend and an inspiration to me, brother.
Contact Info:
Email: DocAtlas108@aol.com
Phone: 708-903-7458
Buy Links:
Blood Concho – Amazon
Devil’s Lair – Amazon
Where Legends Lie – Amazon
Feb 26, 2024 | Action & Adventure, Crime, Westerns |
Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 55 novels, eight novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements, hints of humor, and engaging characters.Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes about the Western lifestyle, but she also lives it.
Thank you, George, for inviting me to your blog.
The Pinch, book 5 in my Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series, was published on February 22nd. It is available for pre-order.
Dela Alvaro, a disabled veteran and head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is doing a security check for a casino on the Oregon Coast when a child is kidnapped and Dela’s friend is murdered.
The idea for this story has been in my head for many years. I usually plan two writing retreats a year at the Oregon Coast. I stay a week and get a lot of writing done because I’m not catering to the animals or my husband. There aren’t any chores, and I write, walk on the beach, and write more.
On one such trip, I was walking along the beach, enjoying the briny salt air and the mist of the fog and waves. I noticed an older man with a boy about four or five out at the water’s edge. The boy was splashing and digging with a plastic shovel. I continued walking and noticed a boat close to the shore, or closer than any I’d witnessed before. My gaze gravitated to rocks sticking up out of the waves a good thirty or more feet from where the water lapped at the beach. Watching the splashing waves and enjoying the moment, I thought I saw the head of a seal bobbing by the rocks. That seemed dangerous, but they are good swimmers. I continued on and eventually turned around, heading back to where I’d entered the beach.
The boat was gone, and the older man walked up to the hotel without the boy. I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere. That was where my imagination kicked in. By the time I was back at the place I was staying, I’d come up with a kidnapping, a premise, and how it would play out. My only problem is that I was writing romance books at the time, and I didn’t see how to use this in western romance.
However, the idea stayed with me, and when I started writing mysteries, I kept coming back to the idea, trying first to make it fit with my character in the Shandra Higheagle mysteries, but I didn’t see how I could make it work. Then, when I started writing the Gabriel Hawke novels, I thought, now, I can use that story. But even though I took Hawke to Iceland for a book, I couldn’t find a plausible reason for him to be on the Oregon Coast.
Then came the Spotted Pony Casino mystery series and Dela Alvaro, my disabled veteran who is head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. After four books where she has helped the FBI and Tribal Police track down killers, she has a reputation for running a tight security staff. She is invited to a Tribal casino on the Oregon Coast to help them tighten up security, and now I could finally see how my story and premise would play out.
When I decided now was the time to write the book, a friend and I went on a road trip to visit a casino on the Oregon Coast. I had planned to use that casino in the book. Still, when I started making fictional employees at the casino accomplices in the crime, I decided I needed a fictional casino. Then, my mind wasn’t tied to logistics anymore, either.
Even though I had visited the casino and talked to security staff, I kept running into things I hadn’t realized I’d need to know to write the story, and the emails I’d sent to the casino asking questions went unanswered. Having the epiphany to use a fictional casino as I do in the Spotted Pony Casino books freed up my mind to work on the kidnapping and murder rather than logistics.
This series points out the widespread danger that Indigenous people- mostly women, face. My main character lives with the fact that in high school, she left her best friend in a small town not far from the reservation because she didn’t want to leave when my character had to get back for basketball practice. She is found the next day murdered and sexually assaulted. In the first book where this character comes to life, Stolen Butterfly in my Gabriel Hawke novels, she helps find two women missing from the reservation and last seen at the casino.
In this book, she not only has to deal with a missing child but she is reunited with a best friend from her time in the military, only to have her murdered. One more slash to my character’s heart and one more spark to make her always find justice.
This book took a long time to come to fruition, but I believe it was worth it.
Recent Projects
I published Christmas Chaos in October to give readers of my Shandra Higheagle Mystery series some closure. A short story with Dela and Heath characters in my Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series is available in the Windtree Press Whispers anthology.
Blurb / Long- Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino than a child is kidnapped. The parents are a dubious couple. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.
One of Dela’s best friends from the Army appears, and they catch up, only to find her friend strangled the next morning after having divulged to Dela she may have photos of the kidnapping.
As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, her lover, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver, arrives, and the two begin untangling the lies, bribes, and murders.
In the end, as Heath carries the child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.
Blurb / Short – Dela Alvaro, a disabled veteran and head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is doing a security check for a casino on the Oregon Coast when a child is kidnapped and Dela’s friend is murdered.
Groups I belong to:
Crimescene writers loop
Sisters in Crime
Niwa
Alli
Author’s Guild
20 Books 50
Links
Book link for The Pinch – Universal book link- https://books2read.com/u/38Y787
Social Media Links –
TikTok – @authorpatyjager
Instagram – @patymjager
YouTube – @PatyJager
Facebook – Author Paty Jager
Twitter – @patyjag
website – https://www.patyjager.net
blogs – https://ladiesofmystery.com and https://writingintothesunset.net
Oct 23, 2023 | Historical, Mystery, Westerns |
Michael A. Black is the award winning author of 50 books. A retired police officer, he has done everything from patrol to investigating homicides to conducting numerous SWAT operations. He wrote eleven novels as Don Pendleton in the Executioner series and many Westerns in the Gunslinger series under the name A.W. Hart. His recent novel is in the Trackdown series, Devil’s Lair.
Devil’s Lair – With witnesses falling and a federal case against the cartel in ruins, ex-army ranger Steve Wolf and Special Agent Lucien Pike head to Mexico, chasing both a traitor and an irresistible reward. But betrayal thrives in the heart of darkness, dragging them into a merciless battle where survival is a blood-soaked quest with no mercy given or expected.
When death comes knocking, there’s no quarter given or expected.
Do you write in more than one genre? Most of my stuff is in the mystery and thriller genres. I’ve also been published in other genres, including westerns, sci-fi, horror, pulp fiction, young adult, and sports. Mysteries and thrillers will always be my first love, but I also believe in genre blending. My Western novel, Gunslinger: Killer’s Ghost, is a Western but also a monster story.
What brought you to writing? I’ve been writing all my life. I wrote my first short story in the sixth grade. I was always begging the teacher to let me write a short story. One Friday, she relented and told me I’d have to read it in front of the class on Monday. I struggled all weekend. After I read it aloud, the teacher gave me a “D—Poor Work” grade and told me never to do it again. I look back on this experience as invaluable. It foreshadowed my entire writing career: I got my first assignment, my first deadline, my first writer’s block, and my first rejection, all in three days.
What are you currently working on? My latest book in the Trackdown series is Devil’s Lair. It follows the continuing adventures of ex-army ranger Steve Wolf, who served time for a war crime he didn’t commit and has been trying to clear his name while working as a bounty hunter. He also has some very powerful enemies who set him up and are trying to kill him. In this entry in the series, he gets to strike back a little.
Who’s your favorite author? If I had to pick a single writer who influenced me more than most, I’d have to say, John D. MacDonald. He was a real pro.
How long to get your first book published? My first one never got published. Looking back, It was that bad—a lot of rookie mistakes. I’d gotten some short stories published, so I knew a bit about writing. I wrote a second manuscript and felt it had legs. I sent it off with high hopes and optimism and started a third novel. I’d written the opening line one morning: It had been a year of ups and downs… Then the mailman came, and I found my second manuscript had come back with a rejection letter. I sat down and stared at the computer screen for a long while, trying to decide if I wanted to continue. After a time, the second line came floating to me: More downs than ups. I liked the sound of it and made a solemn vow right then and there that I was going to finish writing the manuscript and I was going to make it the best I could, even if I was the only person who would ever read it. This one eventually became my first published novel.
Do you ever kill a popular character? If so, what happens to your story? A few authors have done this, and I always thought it was a dumb move. I suppose you could make a case for your hero to die heroically, but it would pretty much end any chance of a continuing series. Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes and eventually had to bring him back.
How do you raise the stakes for your protagonist? It’s a simple formula: introduce conflict and make things worse as the plot progresses. Then, when it reaches critical mass… BOOM! You have your climax.
What obstacles do you face when writing about historical figures? The biggest problem is avoiding anachronisms. I just read a book set in 1913, and the author still had Maximillian as the emperor of Mexico. He was executed in 1867. Naturally, this ruined it for me, and I didn’t finish it. This unfortunate practice of rewriting history started a few years ago and needs to stop. It’s not only irritating, it breeds stupidity.
What is the best book you have ever read? I’d be hard pressed to pick just one, but I’d have to say James Dickey’s Deliverance is in my top ten. Dickey was a nationally recognized poet who spent ten years crafting the novel. The imagery is stunning, and the writing is lyrical. After I read it, I reread the opening and realized he’d foreshadowed the entire story in that first line.
Do you have any advice for new writers? You can’t be a good writer unless you’re first a good reader, so read all you can and learn from it. Take the time to perfect your craft, get feedback on your work, and try to write every day, even if it’s only one line.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and your books? If you’re looking for a good thriller, I’d appreciate it if you’d check out my new one, Devil’s Lair. It’s got a little something for everyone—action, thrills, and romance. And many thanks to you, Big George, for this opportunity to be on your blog once again.
How do our readers contact you?
Give me a shout at DocAtlas108@aol.com
I’m a member of the VFW, the FOP, the WWA (Western Writers of America), and the PSWA (Public Safety Writers Association).
Sep 12, 2023 | Action & Adventure, Historical, Native American, Westerns |
Halito (hello), fellow authors! I appreciate George having me on his blog today. I’m Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer, a Choctaw author and digital course creator. My signature course, Fiction Writing: American Indians, equips authors to write authentic stories that honor Native American history and culture. I also teach a live Dictation Bootcamp for Authors that takes you through the process of mastering dictation through easy exercises that lead you to become the master of your fictional worlds.
As a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, I’ve written and published 16 historical fiction books. I’m highlighting pieces of my writing life in the hope you find them helpful on your journey.
Do you write in more than one genre? Historical fiction is my primary (and favorite) genre to read and to write. Something about digging into the past gives me a deeper connection to the present. That is especially true of my American Indian heritage. My books range from the Choctaw Trail of Tears in the 1830s to the Choctaw Code Talkers of World War I. I love a good old-fashioned western, which I get to share through my Doc Beck Westerns series set in the 1890s, featuring an Omaha Indian woman doctor. I write clean stories with close family relationships, fistfights and gunfights, and accurate cultural heritage.
What brought you to writing? When I was five years old, I had a story I wanted to share about being kind. But I was horribly shy and knew the only way to share my message was through writing it. My mama has saved that story to this day, and she continues to be my greatest fan and encourager. In my early twenties, I released a lot of the chaos in my life, wiped the slate clean, and handed the chalk over to God. He brought writing back into my life and let me know I was born to tell stories.
What are you currently working on? I released Fire and Ink, 
book 5 in the Choctaw Tribune series, in August and am outlining the final book in that series. There are 3 more books to go in the Doc Beck Westerns that are also underway. I have my first traditionally published nonfiction book coming out this fall, a biography on a WWI hero who was Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee — Otis W. Leader: The Ideal American Doughboy (Chickasaw Press).
How do you come up with character names? Authenticity is a significant component of my work. One of my methods for naming my American Indian characters is diving into historical records. Census, tribal rolls, and recorded stories are great sources for me to find authentic names for the people and times I’m writing about. Do you base any of your characters on real people? Absolutely. My novella, Tushpa’s Story, was based on a young boy who had a dramatic experience crossing the Trail of Tears in 1834.
Though the main character is fictional, the characters in Anumpa Warrior: Choctaw Code Talkers of World War I are the real men who were the code talkers and their commanding officers. I had the honor of interviewing descendants who knew these men and shared personal aspects that lent so much to the story. There are many historical figures sprinkled throughout my stories.
What kind of research do you do? I didn’t start off as a good researcher. I was scattered, but I knew research was vital because of the roles my work plays in the world. These books let readers experience authentic First American history and culture in an entertaining story. Through that, my stories are ambassadors. They are also a way to preserve this heritage for generations to come. My research has taken me down the backroads of Oklahoma and our homelands in Mississippi; deep into the secure vaults of the National Archives in Washington, DC; reading through stacks of nonfiction books and online archives; the WWI battlefields and cemeteries of France; sitting quietly and listening to elders.
Today, I love research and the treasures I discover of my ancestors that I get to share with readers.
Looking to the future, what’s in store for you? I’m terribly excited to get started on an action-adventure series set in the 1970s that stars a Choctaw artist who has to fight the bad guys and retrieve priceless historical American Indian art pieces. In between my own books, I’m actively teaching authors how to create authentic stories that honor Native American history and culture. I’m also gearing up for my live Dictation Bootcamp for Authors in October. Nearly 100 authors joined me in April of this year to master the skill of dictating their stories. It was a rousing success, and I can’t wait for the one this fall.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and your books? The faith of my ancestors continues to inspire my writing life. They walked the trail for me, and I’m so grateful to share their extraordinary lives through my real and fictional characters so that you, the reader, can go on the journey with us.
Find out more about my books (and my mama’s art) over at ChoctawSpirit.com
Interested in the Fiction Writing American Indians digital course? Find it here: https://www.fictioncourses.com/americanindians
Want to join the live Dictation Bootcamp for Authors in October? That’s here: https://www.fictioncourses.com/dictationbootcamp
Oct 6, 2022 | Action & Adventure, Historical, Mystery, Thriller, Westerns |
Our guest today is Michael A. Black, author of over 47 books, including his latest series featuring ex-army ranger Steve Wolf as a modern-day bounty hunter.
Michael A. Black is the award-winning author of 47 books, most of which are in the mystery and thriller genres. He has also written in sci-fi, western, horror, and sports. A retired police officer, he has done everything from patrol to investigating homicides to conducting numerous SWAT operations.
Black was awarded the Cook County Medal of Merit in 2010. He is also the author of over 100 short stories and articles and wrote two novels with television star Richard Belzer (Law & Order SVU). His Executioner novel, Fatal Prescription, won the Best Original Novel Scribe Award. His latest novels are the Trackdown series (Devil’s Dance, Devil’s Fancy, Devil’s Brigade, Devil’s Advocate, and Devil’s Vendetta) and Chimes at Midnight (under his own name), Dying Art and Cold Fury (under Don Pendleton), and the Gunslinger series (Killer’s Choice, Killer’s Brand, Killer’s Ghost, Killer’s Gamble, and Killer’s Requiem) under the name A.W. Hart.
Let’s start with something off the beaten track. Tell us something about yourself that isn’t in your bio. Okay…One of the reasons I was interested in writing westerns is that Zane Grey is a distant relation of mine.
You have a new book out. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about it? I’d be glad to. It’s the latest
installment of my Trackdown series about disgraced ex-army ranger Steve Wolf, who was wrongfully accused and convicted of a war crime in Iraq and sentenced to prison. Upon his release, his mentor, Big Jim McNamara, picked him up and helped him get back on his feet with Mac’s bail enforcement business, i.e., bounty hunting. Wolf and McNamara had several adventures through the first four books in the series (Devil’s Dance, Devil’s Fancy, Devil’s Brigade, and Devil’s Advocate), and the newest one takes up where the last one left off. It’s called Devil’s Vendetta.
Sounds like a devilish series; what’s the new one about? Devilish is right. Wolf’s goal is to clear his name since he was wrongfully convicted, and through the first four books, he fought to do this by trying to bring the rich and powerful adversary who framed him to justice. In the fourth book, he came close to succeeding, but as everyone knows, nothing is simple when it comes to our justice system. Devil’s Vendetta continues this theme and begins a new story arc. In this book, Wolf receives a call from his mother in North Carolina that his younger brother, Jimmy, has fallen in with a bad crowd, and an intervention is needed. After going back home for the first time since his release from prison, Wolf finds the old adage, “You can’t go home again,” grievously accurate. His hometown has a bit of a problem with political corruption and a growing crystal meth epidemic. To make matters worse, Wolf’s brother and his friends have concocted a dangerous scheme to rip off a drug kingpin. Wolf finds himself battling against superior odds trying to save what family he has left.
And this one continues the series, correct? It does. It’s actually number five in the series. Numbers six and seven are also coming out in short order as well.
You’ve got three new books coming out together? Right. Number six is Devil’s Breed, which
takes up where Devil’s Vendetta left off, and then number seven, Devil’s Reckoning, follows in short order. My publisher, Wolfpack, is releasing all three books in the space of about a month (October 4th, October 25th, and November 15th) under their new Rough Edges imprint. I’m feeling a little bit like Charles Dickens. He used to do a chapter a week when his novels were serialized in the newspaper.
That certainly does sound like a quick succession. How long did it take you to write these? I started working on these three last year (2020) in August. I wrote straight through to this past August, with a few other projects interceding from time to time. It was a busy year.
It sounds like it. Three novels in a year is pretty impressive. Actually, I managed to squeeze in a fourth one, but that was a co-author project. I did a novella, too. They don’t call me the fastest keyboard in the Midwest for nothing.
That sounds like a well-earned title. So does the series continue beyond these seven books? Well, each book is a story in itself, with continuing plot threads. At this point, the series could end, but I’ve left enough of a thread that it could continue. That’ll be up to the readers.
What are you working on currently? After spending so much time with Wolf and Mac, I had a yearning to do something different. I also write westerns and had an idea on the back burner for a while. It’s set in 1913 during the early days of motion pictures. It’s got a troubled veteran of the Philippine/American War, a silent movie being filmed, real-life author Ambrose Bierce, the Mexican Revolution, and of course, some nefarious goings-on.
Sounds ambitious. Good luck with that one. But, before we let you go, I have a question about a group you are active in, the Public Safety Writers Association. I understand that you are not just engaged but, in fact, chair the annual PSWA Conference. Please tell us about that.
Sure. I’ve been a member of the PSWA for a number of years and work with the other board members to run the annual conference in July. We always host it in July at the Orleans in Las Vegas and have a great time. I’ve been to many writer’s conferences, and I can truly say that the PSWA Conference is the best. It’s all about sharing your experiences and becoming a better writer. The people are great, and the members come from a variety of backgrounds. It’s affordable and always a lot of fun. Check out the PSWA website for a glimpse of this past conference.
Thanks for stopping by.
Always a pleasure to be on the best of the best blogs, George. Thanks for having me.
How can our readers contact you and buy your books:
Well. Someone in China hacked my website, and I still haven’t gotten around to organizing another one, but all of my books (Ebooks or paperbacks) are available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or at your local bookstore. If you want to get hold of me, my email is DocAtlas108@aol.com. I’m always glad to hear from people.
Whatever you wish to list here, like links to seller/buy sites or any URL.
Devil’s Vendetta: A Steve Wolf Military Thriller (Trackdown Book 5) – Kindle edition by Black, Michael A.. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
Devil’s Breed: A Steve Wolf Military Thriller (Trackdown Book 6) – Kindle edition by Black, Michael A.. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
I’m reading Eleven Stolen Horses right now and completely enjoying it. Your line “a lasting belief in the spirit of landscape” is seen in every chapter of your book. Good job. Keep writing.
Thank you, Glenda! For the compliment and for reading 11SH! See you November 2 at Orinda Books!
Such passion in what you write! Lovely! Best of luck with ELEVEN STOLEN HORSES from a fellow horse-lover and Sister at SinC ( ;
I love talking horse, especially to a SinC sis, Pamela. I always learn something while I’m at it. Which chapter, if you don’t mine?
Oh my God, do we have similar tastes. I’ve read all of Jane Harper, one of my very favorite crime fiction writers. Loved Love Medicine. And a big yes to Peter Heller’s The River, although I didn’t like The Guide nearly as much.
Also, my husband and I gorge on dry-farmed tomatoes from Dirty Girl!
l look forward to riding to the Fall Showcase with you and learning more about you.
OMG is right, Vinnie. I’ll bring Joe’s tomatoes on our trip to Orinda!
Your evolution as a writer sounds like an adventure novel itself. God bless you for looking out for the wild horses and may you have much success with your new novel. Stay strong
Thank you, Michael. That’s exactly how I feel about and so kind of you to say that. The wild one break my heart and make it sing. I think it was Rumi who wrote ‘break my heart, break my heart, break my heart so I can love again. That’s the kind of emotion they elicit. Thank you, again!