I’d like to say a little something about “MURDER IN DOGLEG CITY,” Wolf Creek Book 3.
My character Quint Croy is 25 years old; burned out and wizened by four cattle drives from Texas to Kansas. He came to Wolf Creek flat broke and disillusioned after the untimely death of his best friend and fellow drover Randy Grey in an Abilene saloon. Taking the job as deputy marshal gave Quint a livelihood as well as, hopefully, a chance opportunity to catch up to the man who shot Randy Grey. The only identifying feature that Quint could remember being a dollar sized birth mark on the man’s jaw.
There’s a lot of vice and corruption in Wolf Creek, particularly in Quint’s assigned territory of Dogleg City. Quint is a little too honest and it pains him to look the other way when some of those in authority are clearly being dishonest. But when it comes to doing his job, Quint can be as tough as a situation calls for. He’ll charge right in on saloon brawls and won’t hesitate to pull his six-gun when deemed necessary. I’m hopeful that Quint will be able to confront Randy Grey’s killer in a future episode.
Troy Smith, our editor, has done a masterful job of streamlining each chapter to flow smoothly into the next one. Special thanks also to Livia Washburn for her brilliant work on the Wolf Creek book covers and getting this series into print. It’s an interesting series; fiction yes, but believable as well and was a whole lot of fun to write!
After a hitch in the Navy, I went to work as a lumber salesman for a redwood sawmill. I spent the next 25 years as a sales representative for various northern California sawmills.I liked the life, wrote about it and lived it. My wife has said that at the time, the only thing that came out of my mouth was sawdust. I took that as a compliment because when I take something on it is wholeheartedly. I haven’t asked my wife what she thinks comes out of my mouth now that all I speak of is writing about cowboys and horses.
I have been writing about one thing or the other for thirty years. At first it was bit pieces for magazines. It took a while to get over the rejection slips; that is until I realized that writing for hire is like fitting a piece to a puzzle. It has to fit. The subject matter has to be relevant to the publication. You must know something about what you are writing about. The timing has to be right as well. Old news is just that, whereas something new and exciting is generally well received if it is pertinent.
I wrote “Matsutake Mushroom” a nature guidebook in 1997 using a word processor. It was one of those that had a selectric ball that did the typing one letter of the alphabet at a time. It was slow but fun to watch and not much of a comparison to today’s computers. Thank goodness for computers, though I am mystified as to how to use one efficiently as I would like. There is so much to learn in regards to the value of what a computer is capable of doing.
In 2011, I was fortunate enough to become a member of Western Fictioneers. I had stories appear in “Award Winning Tales” by Moonlight Mesa Assoc. and “The Traditional West” by Western Fictioneers.I wrote the novel “Drover’s Vendetta,” which was released by Create Space in November.
I had a story appear in “Outlaws and Lawmen” by La Frontera. Appearances in “Six-Guns and Slay Bells” and the first chapter in “Murder in Dogleg City Wolf Creek book # 3 for Western Fictioneers rounded out the highlights of 2012.
As for 2013, I have been informed by Robert Hale Ltd. London, that my novel “Drover Bounty” will be published as a Black Horse Western at a future date. I am currently working on the sequel and am hopeful that it will be accepted as well.
I plan to write more short stories this year and hopefully make the jump into novellas and novels. I am looking forward to any challenges that may come my way this year.
