#CHRISTMAS TIDINGS - Meg Mims

Christmas Tidings

Merry Christmas from the Western Fictioneers! Have you been following the Wolf Creek series? It's an exciting string of books by Ford Fargo, who is a "conglomerate" of WF members writing varied protagonists who populate the fictional 1871 Kansas town of Wolf Creek - "a wild, wide open town where no one asks about your past, because almost everyone has a secret." So soon after the "War of Rebellion", many residents have moved west and now scrape out a living in the prairie-tough town... but not everyone survives the dusty streets, back alleys and sometimes dangerous saloons.

Book 1: Bloody Trail, starts off with a literal bang - when a a small army of former Confederate guerrillas rob the bank, leaving many innocents dead after their hasty departure. Sheriff G.W. Satterlee and his posse must overtake the outlaws before they reach Indian Territory—but the chase is complicated by the secret pasts of several members… The series continued the adventures from Book 2: Kiowa Vengeance, Book 3: Murder in Dogleg City and all the way through Book 8: Night of the Assassins. You can bet the latter has some sinister action! It's such a great series, and best to read them in order - except for the Christmas anthologies. Those will give a reader a taste of just how interesting these characters are, and what kinds of trouble they face.

Some of the authors participating in the Wolf Creek series include Troy D. Smith, Bill Crider, Phil Dunlap, Jory Sherman, James J. Griffin, L. J. Martin, Cheryl Pierson, Charlie Steel, Robert J. Randisi, James Reasoner, Clay More, Chuck Tyrell, L. J. Washburn, Big Jim Williams, Matthew Pizzolato, Jacquie Rogers, and many others. 

I introduced a new character in last year's Christmas anthology - Book 9: A Wolf Creek Christmas. Phoebe Wright, who is always right, is a widow who arrives in town to make sure her niece, Lucy, is safe. No letters have arrived from either Lucy or Phoebe's sister Ann Haselton, the town's teacher.

Unfortunately Phoebe soon learns that Ann died months ago during the guerrilla bank raid while protecting a child - and that Lucy has vanished. Phoebe knows her niece had very little money, so the search is on... She soon runs into other problems including the greedy saloon owner Ira Breedlove - whose place breeds only the love of money, and who doesn't appreciate Phoebe's righteous and judgmental attitude.

Phoebe definitely has her hands full in "A Savior Is Born" (written by Meg Mims).

But Book 9 also includes many other interesting stories featuring Roman Hatchett, a world-weary trapper (written by Jory Sherman), Gib Norwood, a dairy farmer (by Jacquie Rogers), Indian scout Charley Blackfeather and deputy marshal Quint Croy (by Troy D. Smith), and livery owner Ben Tolliver (by James J. Griffin) -- everyone seems to get a holiday surprise. The anthologies, as stated before, give readers new to the series a taste of great characters.

And the fun doesn't end there. Another Christmas anthology is Book 10: O Deadly Night, which explores more holiday happenings. Hutch Higgins needs a doctor (written by Big Jim Williams), new arrival Kelly O’Brian finds an unholy welcome (by Charlie Steel); town doctor Logan Munro just wants to celebrate Hogmanay (by Clay More), Billy Below and his favorite soiled dove team up for the holiday (by Chuck Tyrell), while Derrick McCain's sister slowly recovers from trauma (by Cheryl Pierson), and Marshal Sam Gardner stays busy (by Troy D. Smith) during the not-so-peaceful post-Christmas season in Wolf Creek.

While the series has slowed down a bit, with two books out since last year, it still continues the adventures of the town's embattled law officers dealing with a devilish rancher in Book 11: Stand Proud and Book 12: The Dead of Winter. And more books should be coming in 2015, according to Troy D. Smith, the series' editor - a tough job, given the interweaving of so many characters and so many viewpoints in a complex plot and setting. It's masterful, to say the least.

Once again, Merry Christmas, happy reading of the wild and woolly west, and a prosperous New Year in 2015 from the Western Fictioneers!

Mystery author Meg Mims lives in Southeastern Michigan with her husband and a 'Make My Day' Malti-poo dog. Meg loves writing novels, short novellas and short stories, both contemporary and historical. Her Spur and Laramie Award winning books - Double Crossing and Double or Nothing - are now among the Prairie Rose Publications book list. Meg is also one-half of the D.E. Ireland team writing the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery series for St. Martin's Minotaur. Wouldn't It Be Deadly, Book 1, is out now! Book 2, Move Your Blooming Corpse, will be out in 2015. You can find Meg (and D.E. Ireland) on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. If you're in the mood for short, sweet Christmas novellas with rescue dogs and cats, check out the following:

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Review Roundup: Peacemaker Award Nominees, Short Fiction

By Kathleen Rice Adams

The winners of Western Fictioneers’ fourth annual Peacemaker Awards for excellence in western fiction will be revealed June 1. Below are reviews for three of the nominees in the Best Short Fiction category.

“It Takes a Man”

By Cheryl Pierson

in Wolf Creek: Hell on the Prairie

Western Fictioneers, June 2013

$9.89 paperback, ISBN 1490505059

$2.99 Kindle, ASIN B00DPPFUPM

$2.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781301613717

Derrick McCain, a recurring character in the Wolf Creek series of collaborative novels, returns to his former home among the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory to confront recently discovered secrets about his family. His father, a Cherokee leader whose illicit affair with a white woman produced McCain, allegedly is at death’s door. Tortured by his mixed heritage and allegiances to both sides, McCain reconnects with a childhood friend and a Cherokee woman ostracized in a classic case of society blaming the victim for a heinous crime. McCain must make some difficult choices that will affect his life, and the lives of others, for years to come.

Author Cheryl Pierson writes both traditional westerns and western historical romance. In “It Takes a Man,” her strong skills in the romance genre shine. McCain emerges as a swoon-worthy hero, yet Pierson manages a delicate balance between romantic sentimentality and thorny issues including race relations and society’s expectations.

“The Last Free Trapper”

By Jory Sherman

in A Wolf Creek Christmas

Western Fictioneers, November 2013

$8.99 paperback, ISBN 149372651X

$2.99 Kindle, ASIN B00GFEZA5A

$2.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781310352843

Mountain man Roman Hatchett faces the end of an era, unwilling to change but unable to prevent the disappearance of the only life he knows. In “The Last Free Trapper,” author Jory Sherman, recipient of the 2012 Peacemaker Award for Life Achievement, spins a character-driven tale rife with subtle symbolism. Using simple, unadorned prose in achingly eloquent ways, Sherman evokes a time and place of tremendous upheaval in the American West.

Hatchett searches his soul while attending a dying enemy. What he learns about himself and humanity as a whole is both heart-wrenching and hopeful.

“Charlie’s Pie”

By Livia J. Washburn

in Wishing for a Cowboy

Prairie Rose Publications, October 2013

$12.60 paperback, ISBN 061591070X

$2.99 Kindle, ASIN B00G9GTWVC

$2.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781311521330

Alone in a remote Texas cabin while her husband and son seek a suitable Christmas tree in the forest some distance away, Lauralee Brannam bakes her son’s favorite pie for the boy’s Christmas Eve birthday. When a wounded stranger collapses at her doorstep, she assumes the man is an outlaw on the run. Nevertheless, she nurses him back to health, setting in motion a whirlwind of violence.

Award-winning author Livia J. Washburn weaves tragedy, traditional western action, and romance in a way that touches the heart but never veers into the maudlin or syrupy. The suspense and ultimate resolution of the mystery at the core of the story will push readers through the tale like a West Texas wind. Ultimately, redemption ties up the package with a Christmas bow made all the more beautiful by its frayed edges.

Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and an author. She received review copies of Wolf Creek: Hell on the Prairie, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wishing for a Cowboy from the publishers. Her opinions are her own and are neither endorsed nor necessarily supported by Western Fictioneers or individual members of the organization. Links in the review are for convenience only; they do not produce affiliate revenue.

ON THIS DAY - CARRIE NATION by Meg Mims

On December 27^th, 1900, a dour-faced woman stood before the saloon doors in the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. Intimidating at almost six feet tall and 185 pounds, Carrie Nation marched in with a hatchet and began smashing the place—the tables and chairs, the bottles and the mirror behind the bar, until the law arrived and arrested her.

Born Carrie Amelia Moore in November of 1846, to parents George and Mary Campbell Moore of Kentucky—slaveowners—she had little education due to the family’s financial troubles that brought about several moves until settling in Missouri. During the War of Rebellion, she nursed soldiers to health and then married a physician, Dr. Charles Gloyd, who had served with the Union Army. Her husband was also an alcoholic—not unusual, given the culture of the day when babies were given whiskey to quiet them, or worse. Carrie and Charles decided the marriage wasn’t working before they had a daughter, Charlien, on September 27, 1868. Carrie had no need for a divorce, since her husband died the following year.

Carrie married for the second time in 1874. David Nation was an attorney, newspaperman and a minister and almost twenty years older. Together they moved to a cotton plantation in Texas but failed to proper. David began to practice law, and in 1880 Carrie ran a hotel in Columbia owned by the Park family. She attended the Methodist Church and lived at the hotel with her daughter Charlien, her first mother-in-law and her husband’s daughter. David also owned a saddle shop near the hotel, but the family chose to move to Richmond, Texas, to run another hotel. Due to her husband’s involvement in a political feud, they moved to Kansas. David began preaching and Carrie took on another hotel to run. But Kansas also had enacted a ban on liquor—with plenty of trouble enforcing the law.

Although Carrie started a chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, the group seemed to have little effect on the problem. So Carrie took a personal interest, first using rocks to smash bottles in saloons to protest the lack of enforcement, or singing hymns to patrons going in and out of places serving liquor. She often greeted saloon keepers as “destroyers of men’s souls,” or as “swill-faced, beak-nosed bed mates of Satan.” By 1899 Carrie felt God had called her to step up the work – taking her husband’s advice to use a hatchet for better effect.

Carrie divorced David in 1901, having never had children with him, and continued her campaign either accompanied by other WCTU members or alone. She was often arrested, and her fame grew through her “hatchetations.” She undertook lecture tours and sold small souvenir hatchets for another ten years until her death on June 9, 1911. The WCTU erected a stone to honor her near the unmarked grave in Missouri, with her name spelled as “Carry A. Nation” and “Faithful to the Cause of Prohibition, She Hath Done What She Could.”

Meg Mims is an award-winning author with two western mysteries under her Eastern belt. She lives in Michigan, where the hills are like driveway slopes and trees block any type of prairie winds. LIKE her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or check out her books on her website. Double Crossing won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel and Double or Nothing is the exciting sequel. Her story, "A Savior Is Born," is included in A Wolf Creek Christmas published by Western Fictioneers.

Review Roundup: Christmas Comes to Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek Book 9: A Wolf Creek Christmas
By Ford Fargo
Western Fictioneers, November 2013
$9.99 paperback, ISBN 149372651X
$2.99 Kindle, ASIN B00GFEZA5A
$2.99 most other e-formats, ISBN 9781310352843
204 pages

In little more than a year, the Wolf Creek series has found its legs and become the sort of popular phenomenon typically found in graphic novels and the Saturday movie serials of yore. By producing roughly one volume per month since August 2012, the Western Fictioneers who compose the house pseudonym known as Ford Fargo have set a standard: Readers are accustomed to a regular diet of high adventure in an 1871 Kansas cattle town. That kind of prolific production can be exhausting for authors.

Fortunately, Western Fictioneers is growing, and so is the talent pool writing as Fargo. Wolf Creek Book 9: A Wolf Creek Christmas is the group’s second anthology and its first Christmas-themed edition. The book introduces a host of new characters and new voices, many of whom will become series regulars.

In Jory Sherman’s “The Last Free Trapper,” mountain man Roman Hatchett faces the end of an era, unwilling to change but unable to prevent the disappearance of the only life he knows. The character-driven story is rife with subtle symbolism. “A Savior is Born” by Meg Mims introduces Phoebe Wright, a middle-aged widow who comes to Wolf Creek in search of her niece only to find the girl in a less-than-savory occupation. A moral crusade undoubtedly lies on the horizon.

Jacquie Rogers introduces dairy farmer Gib Norwood and his mixed-race half-brothers, Peter and Paul, in “Twas the Fight Before Christmas.” Departing from her usual humor-laced style, Rogers plays a Christmas Eve shootout at the farm fairly straight, although a houseful of snowbound hookers and newborn calves is inherently amusing. Her story and Jim Griffin’s “Renewal of Faith” introduce multiple new characters. Griffin hangs his tale on Ben Tolliver, a Wolf Creek resident who’s been around since Book 1. The Texas Ranger-turned-hostler is no stranger to violent confrontations, but he really shoehorns himself into a tight spot when he befriends two Irish Catholic newcomers. The Yanks and Rebs in town may tolerate one another, but apparently none of them are willing to abide either Irish or Catholics.

Troy Smith and Jerry Guin stick with characters Wolf Creek fans will recognize. Black-Seminole scout Charlie Blackfeather and an army patrol deal with Indian mischief on Christmas Eve in Smith’s “A Kiowa Christmas Gift.” For hardened loner Charlie, an unexpected invitation is the most difficult part of the adventure. In Guin’s “That Time of Year,” white-hat deputy Quint Croy shows his diplomatic chops when he helps two young lovers avoid the crossfire between their feuding bosses.

Like the previous anthology (Wolf Creek Book Six: Hell on the Prairie), A Wolf Creek Christmas is an enjoyable departure from the series’ usual collaborative novels. A couple of caveats apply to A Wolf Creek Christmas, though.

First, several stories do not close on tidy “peace on Earth, goodwill to men” endings … but this is, after all, Wolf Creek. Just because a door is shut doesn’t mean someone won’t fling it open and start shooting.

Second, although each story in A Wolf Creek Christmas stands alone as a self-contained tale, readers will find copious references to characters and incidents from previous novels in the series. Those who have not followed the series from the beginning will stumble across a couple of big spoilers in this book.



Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and an author. She received a review copy of Wolf Creek Book 9 from the publisher. Her opinions are her own and are neither endorsed nor necessarily supported by Western Fictioneers or individual members of the organization. Links in the review are for convenience only; they do not produce affiliate revenue.

Sunday Short Story

My Take on
Short Stories
by Jacquie Rogers

Normally, the guest for Short Story Saturday tells us all about his favorite. I’m taking a different angle, since I came at short stories from a rather odd route. You see, I despised short stories when I was younger, mostly because of the dreadful reading assignments in junior high and high school, and I didn’t read another one until I actually wrote one in 2006.

Even then, I didn’t appreciate value of shorter fiction, although I quickly gained an understanding of the form — they’re not the same style of writing as novels. Some writers do better in short form, some are better at novels, and only a few are good at both. Now I greatly appreciate the talent of an author who can tell a compelling story in under 10,000 words, complete with characterization, conflict, and a satisfying ending.

With that in mind, I’m going to tell you where to get some terrific short stories. The first is a one-man anthology by Troy D. Smith, The Blackwells: Volume 1 (I haven’t read Volume 2, but it’s available). The Blackwells are brothers from Tennessee who set out for California in 1849. Naturally, they end up going their separate ways, each stumbling into exciting and sometimes scary adventures. Every single one of the stories in Volume 1 is excellent. We start off in true Western style with Max, who’s in the US Cavalry, fighting for his life against Indians, and the last story, The Wendigo, has a good dose of thriller because... well, there’s a wendigo. This volume shows the incredible range of Smith’s talents, much like a five-octave singer who’s just as at home singing opera as rap.

Another writer who is just as entertaining in short form as in novels is Robert J. Randisi. His story in Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas is Sheriff Santa and the Ghost of Two Gun Jim, a true delight to read and definitely a different take on Santa. I enjoyed all the stories in this Christmas anthology.

And about those Christmas anthologies—I love those best of all! And one of the authors in Six-guns, Cheryl Pierson, also has a story in Wishing for a Cowboy called Outlaw’s Kiss. Lemme tell you, that was some kiss! Debut author Kathleen Rice Adams shows her talent with a heartwarming story, Peaches.  This anthology features another author who’s just as accomplished at short and long fiction — Livia J. Washburn, who wrote Charlie’s Pie.  Loved the emotion and it has an exciting shoot-out, too, just in time for Christmas.

Which brings us back to Troy D. Smith, and his two Christmas stories, A Kiowa Christmas Gift in A Wolf Creek Christmas  and O Deadly Night in the anthology of the same name.  The first features Troy’s Wolf Creek character, Charley Blackfeather as he helps keep the peace between the Kiowa and the cavalry. The second features his other Wolf Creek character, Sam Gardner. 

I can’t tell you which character I like best because they’re so different. Gardner is a lawman in the spirit of Wyatt Earp and gains more depth as the series continues — a very complex character. But then so is Charley Blackfeather, a Seminole/black scout who has endured war his entire life, is nearly indestructible, but is also very spiritual.

So there you have it, five anthologies with nary a so-so story in the lot. Christmas is a season when I love to get my fiction fix, but it’s also insanely busy. Sounds like short stories are just the thing!  And you know what?  At this time of year, I'll generally pick up a shorter work instead of a novel.  I'm more surprised at that than anyone.  But don't get me wrong — I've always loved to read novels, and always will.  It's just an added bonus to enjoy these short stories, too.

Jacquie Rogers

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♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ series, ♦♣ Sleight of Heart ♠♥

'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (Wolf Creek, Book 9: A Wolf Creek Christmas)

A Gift for Rhoda (Wishing for a Cowboy)