Saturday, February 2, 2013

Six Sentence Saturday--Death Rides the Rails James J. Griffin



Howdy, and welcome to this week’s edition of Six Sentence Saturday. I’m Jim Griffin, and I’ll be your host for today. Later on, I’ll be placing names in my Stetson and drawing one name at random from all today’s commenters and visitors. That person will receive an autographed copy of my latest book from Solstice Publishing, Death Rides the Rails, A Texas Ranger Jim Blawcyzk story (or an ebook if the winner is from outside the United States, since the Postal Service has just jumped shipping rates tremendously). So make sure to leave a comment before you check on out. And speaking of Death Rides…

   “Conductor, I insist you tell me why this train is being delayed. Immediately!”
     In vain, a flustered Mike Hardy, chief conductor on the Texas and Pacific’s Shreveport-El Paso Limited, looked around the crowded Dallas station platform for help.
     “I’m sorry, Miz…”
     “It’s Mrs. Mrs. Isaac Hollister,” the middle-aged matron snapped. She waggled her finger under his nose. “I demand to know when we’ll be on our way.”
     “As I’ve already explained, Mrs. Hollister,” the harried conductor replied, “I really don’t know any more than you. I can only tell you we have orders to wait for the local from Austin, and it’s late. There’s a passenger on that train who must make his connection with this one. I checked with the station agent a few minutes ago, and he assured me the Austin train will be here within a half-hour. Once it arrives and the passenger transfers, we will be on our way, I assure you.”

All right, I’ll admit there’s a couple more than six sentences. Math never was my strong suit. Mea Culpa.

So, fairly innocuous start to the story, right? We have an fast passenger train being held for some V.I.P., probably an important businessman or prominent politician. After all, it must be some really high and might muckety-muck for the Texas and Pacific to delay their crack express.

The only thing is, the person the train is being held for is Texas Ranger Lieutenant Jim Blawcyzk, and his one man horse, Sam. Jim will be riding the train to what should be a routine assignment up in the Texas Panhandle. Unfortunately, a gang of outlaws have other plans. They wreck the train, kill the engineer, fireman, and messengers, and loot the express car safe of $20,000.00.

Jim barely survives the flaming wreckage, but after helping the survivors, the badly injured Ranger goes after the men responsible for so much death and destruction. However, what at first appears to be a simple train robbery turns out to be something much more sinister. The robbery is part of a much larger plot to destroy the Texas and Pacific Railroad. Jim finds himself in a race against time to ferret out the men behind the plans, before they cause even more mayhem.

Death Rides the Rails was originally released as a self-published book, Trouble Rides the Texas Pacific. Nik Morton at Solstice liked the original and picked it up to add to the Solstice catalogue. Thanks to Nik and fellow Western Fictioneer Charlie Whipple, who did a fantastic job of editing, this is a much improved version of the novel.

Since I’ve always been interested everything Western and particularly in the Texas Rangers, when I started writing (thanks to the encouragement of another Western Fictioneer, James Reasoner), it was only natural I would write Texas Ranger novels. Jim’s unusual last name is Polish, a tribute to my Polish ancestors on my mother’s side, and to the many Poles who settled in Texas in the 1850s. Like all my stories, there is plenty of action, and good guys who are unequivocal good guys. Most of my books are suitable for anyone from age ten and up. You can let your grandma read them and not be embarrassed.

If you like a good, traditional, action-packed Western, (and you want to learn how to pronounce “Blawcyzk”) I hope you’ll order a copy of Death Rides the Rails. It’s available in print and as an ebook from the publisher at www.solsticepublishing.com, through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online retailers, and autographed copies are available through my website at www.jamesjgriffin.net, or drop me a note at PO Box 1714, Keene, NH 03431. If you get a chance, check out my site for information on my other books, and also to see me and my horse Yankee doing some of our therapy work and tricks.

Next time I’m blogging here at Western Fictioneers, February 7th, we’ll be talking horses. Want to know what a pie-biter is? Stop by and find out.

Adios for now. See ya down the trail, and thanks!

Jim

Photo credited to Susanne Hall

22 comments:

  1. Okay, you hooked me -- it will be worth buying the book just to find out how to pronounce the Ranger's name. Besides which, it sounds like a pretty darn good read.

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  2. Now that is a real action man picture, Jim! And it sounds an action packed novel. My curiosity is roused!

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  3. Hey Jim, this appears to be a pretty good book. You've done a good job of picquing my interest.
    And I really like the cover.
    Jerry Guin

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  4. I'm hooked, too. Always up for a good Ranger story ...

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  5. Like the mention of your Polish ancestry and Poles in Texas. I always enjoy learning new things.

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  6. Ok, here's my burning question. Did it feel weird writing a story where the hero has the same first name as yours? I used my daughter's name in a story, and it wasn't so hard, because she was so much younger at the time than my heroine was. This looks like a great story.I'm eager to read it. There was a large German settlement in Texas, too. It's always interesting to learn about our ancestry, isn't it? BTW, I live about 10 miles from a town called Yukon. It was settled by the Czechs and they have a huge festival every year in October. It's also on the path of the Chisholm Trail (another big festival there). Loved your post. Gotta get this one!
    Cheryl

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  7. First, congratulations on the book being picked up and given new life. It really does sound like a great read. Love the title. (I had written a murder mystery script for the Royal Gorge Route and Red Herring Productions and used that title a few years back)

    Will be looking for the book and thank you for the heads up.

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  8. I will also add that I changed the title before we performed the script to Murder Rides the Rails. Seemed to work better for my purpose.

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  9. Wow...you've sold me on your writing, Jim! I adore westerns, and the more realistic, the better. My favorite TV show is Walker, Texas Ranger. My fave movies when I was growing up were Randolph Scott movies...and the old B&W western shows on TV back in the 50's and 60's.

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  10. Sounds interesting, Jim! I love train stories. :-)

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  11. This one sounds good-and I really do want to know what a pie biter is. I am going to head over to your site and take a look-see.

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  12. Quick one.... thanks to all, more specific answers to everyone later tonight, since I'll be getting home late may announce the winner of the book tomorrow.

    Jim Griffin

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  13. Keith,

    The air temp was about 35 degrees (Fahrenheit we don't use those wimpy Celsius readings here) and the water temp about 40 when that picture and a whole bunch of others were taken. Yankee, as usual, wanted to swim across the Sound and clean to Long Island... about 14 miles.

    Jim Griffin

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  14. Jerry,

    Credit for the cover goes to the folks at Selectografix and Nik. They did a great job of putting it together.

    Jim Griffin

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  15. Cheryl,

    No, didn't feel weird because I planned it that way. Where I did goof in the first edition was using two Jims, since my Ranger friend Jim Huggins is also a character. So for the new version we just used his initials, J.R. (no, not THAT J.R.)

    Been to some of the German towns in Texas. There are also quite a few Czech towns in the Lone Star State. And of course my story in The Traditional West, The Great Texas Kapusta Incident, is set in Panna Maria, one of the earliest Polish settlements in Texas. The main character, Texas Ranger Sean Kennedy, isn't Polish, but the story is partially written in Polish, and he learns some about the culture. (Kapusta, btw, is Polish for cabbage.

    Jim Griffin

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  16. RW,

    Glad you like the new title. Only one I could com eup with, and Nik liked it a lot, so we went with it.

    Jim Griffin

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  17. Neil,

    Yes, please visit my site. It's a lot of fun, at least that's what folks tell me. As far as finding out what a pie-biter is, as well as a biscuit-eater, come back here on this Thursday, the 7tn, when I'll be the blogger du jour again, and you'll find out. BTW, there's a Neil character in one of my other Jim Blawcyzk novels.

    Jim Griffin

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  18. And everyone else. As you can tell, I love Ranger stories, and also love trains, so this all tied in together for my original novel.

    Now if only I could figure out how to make this doggone blog accept one of my accounts so I don't have to be anonymous and keep signing my name.

    Jim Griffin

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  19. And the winner of an autographed copy of Death Rides the Rails is....

    Sorry, my Stetson's full of snow and all wet. Can't put the names in there until it dries out overnight. So be sure and stop back tomorrow (Sunday) and find out who the lucky winner is.

    Jim Griffin

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  20. And finally, the lucky winner is.... (drum roll)..... MEG!!!! Congratulations. Drop me your snail mail address on my website email www.jamesjgriffin.net and I'll get your copy off first chance I have to get to the Post Office. And once again thanks to all of you for your kind words.

    Jim Griffin

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  21. WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!! I almost *never* win anything. My daughter usually has all the luck. :-D Thanks, Jim! I will definitely look forward to getting this book and finding out how to pronounce the Polish name. LOL

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