THE NEVER-ENDING DEBATE by Tom Rizzo

Most people realize the value and joy of reading—to explore, to learn, or to just kick-back and relax and be whisked away to a crime scene in the Far East, a shootout on the high plains, or standing on the deck of a luxury ocean liner struggling to keep afloat. 

I learned the importance of reading early in life. Both my parents were readers, but my father harbored an enormous appetite for reading. He read everything he could get his hands on. Novels, biographies, daily newspapers, how-to books, and so much more. 

He was a stickler, however, for not reading during meals, so he banned newspapers and books and other materials. But I did manage to fool him by reading the marketing copy on the back of cereal boxes and other food products containers. 

He always kept a dictionary close-at-hand and a pencil for scribbling various remarks in the margins. When he was in his later-80s, before his eyes began deteriorating, I handed him an Ebook and explained how it worked. He looked up, glasses perched on his nose. “Exactly how would I take notes and underline or circle things?”

I mentioned it was possible to highlight certain passages in the text and access a dictionary—all electronically. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “No thanks,” he said with a short, quiet laugh. “I’ll stick to paper.”  The memory of that brief conversation still amuses me. But, in reality, the debate continues over Ebook vs Paper. 

For the record, I love libraries and bookstores—even second-hand book shops. Visits to these places always bring to mind the character of Lt Col. Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, who proclaimed “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” 

It's the same with bookstores. The musty smell of old books or the scent of new paper and ink is intoxicating. 

Roaming the aisles represents a journey of discovery—untold stories, mysteries, and long-held secrets. One the other hand, I enjoy the portability feature of an Ebook—and the ability to store a broad range of books or documents inside a tablet less than a half-inch thick. 

But the convenience factor of an Ebook, I’ve learned, doesn’t appeal to everyone. 

Naomi Baron, a linguistics professor at American University, reported that in a survey of over 300 university students from Japan, Germany, Slovakia, and the U.S.,  92 percent preferred reading paper books when it came to serious reading. 

In an interview with the New Republic, Ms. Baron said students “care about the smell of a book,” adding, “…There really is a physical, tactile, kinesthetic component to reading.”

In her book, Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World, she points out students find Ebooks fine for casual reading but not for serious reading. 

At the same time, Professor Baron suggested there were a couple of physical issues involved.  

Students “say they get distracted, pulled away to other things. The second had to do with eye strain and headaches and physical discomfort.”

The reaction, on an informal basis, is all over the board. One person described Ebooks as a “minor blip on history’s radar,” insisting that paper books will always dominate. 

Someone else suggested that denying the relevance of digital reading products strike her as a head-in-the-sand mentality, almost like saying “the Internet is a fad.”

Author Michael S. Hyatt, blogger, speaker, and former chairman of CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, recently published a post declaring he’s focusing on physical books for 2016 and putting Ebooks on the shelf. And he cited for eight specific reasons. Among them:

• Ebooks Engage Fewer Senses: 
• Ebooks Result in Less Retention and Comprehension
• Ebooks are More Difficult to Navigate
• Ebooks Provide Less Satisfaction in Finishing

You can read all eight of Mr. Hyatt’s reasons here. 

So what’s your take on this?  Do you prefer Ebooks or physical books? Are arguments against Ebooks legitimate? Is it time to shelve this debate?

_______

A Visit to The Bryan Museum by Gordon Rottman

 A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting The Bryan Museum in Galveston, Texas. This museum opened last June in the old Galveston Orphans Home, an impressive brick and stone three-story building. Built in 1895, it was severally damaged in the devastating 1900 Hurricane that killed over 6,000 people on the island. The orphans survived. The orphanage closed in 1958 and remained empty for many years.

In the meantime multi-millionaire J. P. Bryan and his wife Mary Jon had been collecting Old West artifacts, firearms, implements, relics, accouterments, uniforms, books, maps, documents, artwork, and more for over 40 years. Some of the Bryan collection’s 70,000 items were displayed at the Houston offices of Bryan’s Torch Energy Advisors and in their home. When Bryan decided to retire and liquidate the firm, he needed a place to display and preserve the expansive collection, “to clean house,” as he put it. Bryan’s interest in Old West history is partly due to him being the great-great-great grandson of Moses Austin (1761-1821), the original American colonizer of Spanish Texas, and of course, the great-great grandson of Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836), the “Father of Texas.”

The Bryan is a first class museum in full compliance with international museum display and preservation standards. The 30,000 square foot building’s first floor is dedicated to Galveston and Texas history while the 2nd floor focuses on “The Rest of the West.” In this regard the museum is unique among Western museums in that it is not just limited to a state or region, or the Southwest, for example. The museum highlights all regions and aspects of the Old West as well as the American and many foreign settlers, Mexicans, Indians, Spanish, and French. The displays, lighting, and accompanying commentary plaques are excellent. The ground floor includes a children’s activity center. The Museum Store is in a separate building behind the main building. It was closed at the time of my tour, but includes artwork, books, jewelry, pottery, educational toys, T-shirts, and other mementos and gifts. There is also an on-line store. A large annex building is under construction in back.

There are collections of ancient saddles, old sombreros, firearms from all eras, edged weapons, period clothing and uniforms, Spanish mission and other religious artifacts; hundreds of maps, paintings and drawings; a huge and quite accurate diorama of the Battle of San Jacinto, and more. The building’s floors, walls, ceilings, stairs, and window and door frames are works of pre-turn-of-the-century art in themselves.

The museum is located at 1315 21st Street, Galveston, Texas.

Phone: 409-632-7685.

www.thebryanmuseum.org

It is open Friday through Monday (Closed Tuesday through Thursday.)

11am to 4pm.

Adults $10, Seniors/Military $8, Children 6-12 $4, Children under six are free

No photography, food, or drinks.

Backpacks, bags, and large purses must be checked in.

Handicapped accessible.

Adequate street parking is available.

Galveston itself is a great place to visit, an hour southeast of Houston. It is a shame that more living in the region do not take advantage of what the island city has to offer: Lone Star Flight Museum (mainly restored military aircraft plus flights available in classic aircraft), Galveston Railroad Museum, Galveston Children’s Museum, Maritime Museum and the Elissa turn-of-the-century sailing schooner, Galveston Country Historical Museum, Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum, several art museums and galleries, Moody Gardens—a diverse family entertainment park with IMAX theater, a one-acre indoor rain forest, and more; Schlitterbahn Waterpark, Galveston Bay and Harbor boat tours, off-shore fishing boats, beach and pier fishing, Seawolf Park/Undersea Warfare Center (with a World War II submarine and destroyer escort), the Great Storm Theater, Galveston Island Historical Pleasure Pier (over-the-water family amusement park with rides), historic home tours, The Strand old downtown historical district with lots of unique shops, eateries, and galleries; lots and lots of really good restaurants, gift and novelty shops, several festivals throughout the year, and more. And that’s all in addition to the beaches and campgrounds. There are lots of family condos and beach houses that can be rented for one night or for as long as you want. A big plus is that in most areas there is plenty of parking and free trolley cars run the length of the Strand. There are also rental bicycles for self-touring and cycling the 10-mile length of Seawall Boulevard. Galveston is also the home port for Caribbean cruise ships. Something our family likes to do is drive aboard the 50-car Galveston-Port Bolivar ferry and take the 20-minute ride across Galveston Bay to Bolivar Peninsula to catch the sights from the observation deck, toss bread to the following sea gulls, then drive off the ferry, make a U-turn, and re-board the ferry for the return trip, all for free.

You don’t have to wait for the summer. All this is open year around. Oh, and the San Jacinto Battleground, the San Jacinto Monument with the Texas Revolution Museum, and the Battleship USS Texas is on the mainland less than an hour away as is the NASA Johnson Manned Spacecraft Center and NASA Museum and family park.

The Coming Bryan Museum Visit

I’m planning on organizing an informal group visit to The Bryan Museum this coming spring for local Westernfictioneers. Let me know BACK CHANNEL if you are interested and I will keep you posted.

rottmang@sbcglobal.net

CHARLIE STEEL SINGS! AND WRITES!

What a nice surprise from one of our own WESTERN FICTIONEERS! Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie by Charlie Steel, for your enjoyment. And see the link for Charlie's latest book release, FIRE CANOE FINNEGAN, below!






http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Canoe-Finnegan-Denis-Harrington-ebook/dp/B018W4WKOO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1454563495&sr=1-1&keywords=fire+canoe+finnegan

Ranger Jim's Ramblings for February

Well, winter has finally arrived in New England. Got out in the snow for a ride on Sunday, then went sledding, but now, with temperatures in the teens and the winds blowing 30+ m.p.h. for the next three or four days, Yankee will be in the barn at night, and I'll be in the house.

As everyone knows, I'm a writer of traditional Westerns. I love a story with lots of action, plenty of fistfights, and lots of gun battles. And where the good guys usually win in the end. However, you can't have a story with nothing but shooting and punching. I like to add some humor (although some folks would question my sense of humor) and a touch of romance. Since this is February, it's the month of St. Valentine's day and love.

Now, when I say I like a touch of romance, I don't mean any explicit sex scenes. I find it much more interesting, and romantic, for love to take a bit of time to develop. Even when one of my characters makes a trip upstairs with a saloon gal, the sex scene is almost always implied. I think it's far better to leave things to the reader's imagination than to write a raunchy, sweaty romp in the bed.

And of course, the main character in my stories would never, ever mistreat a woman. He might end up in bed with her, but it's by mutual choice, and the woman is never roughly treated.

In short, a western does need its love scenes, but it doesn't need to be like today's R rate movies. A little goes a long way, and lets the reader fill in the scene as he or she pictures it.

Until March,

"Ranger" Jim

A Trail of Tears

Christmas Eve, 1989, winter in Dakota. Trees explode in the nighttime cold. The moon lights the snowscape as if it were noon. And the wind sweeps across the Badlands, armed with ice crystals to attack noses and cheeks and patches of bare skin.

A tiny sun burns in the celadon sky, warming the days to 20 below. The craggy Badlands are transformed into gentle swells and hollows by a 10-foot blanket of snow; weary marchers plod over its frozen crust.

The pilgrimage began on the banks of the Cheyenne River four days ago—Native   Americans and their friends reliving the cold and the hunger of Big Foot's band of Miniconjou Sioux on its march toward death at Wounded Knee.

Four days they've struggled over the dazzling desert of snow. Four days they've taken no food and had only frozen crystals of snow for water. No fires. No heat. Just the warmth of human companionship and fusion of the spirit.

One of the pilgrims is Shonosuke Okura, heir to 600 years of Japanese Noh traditions and spirit brother to Dennis Banks, a Native American Movement leader.

"We think alike," explains Okura. "Native American rites use percussion and chants in the same kind of spirituality we experience in Noh. I took the pilgrimage to expand my spiritual horizons.

"On the journey to Wounded Knee we sought to fuse body, mind, and spirit," Okura says. "Native Americans say that only fusion can put you in touch with the primal mind; the Creator; the spirit-that-moves-in-all-things. And it can only be done by overcoming the demons inside yourself -- distraction and self-doubt."

Okura says fusion takes concentration so absolute, so pure, that there is no room for distraction and no possibility of failure. "It comes only when your goal is absolutely clear, and so important to you that you are able to transcend the limitations of your body to come in touch with the spirit of true freedom."

For Okura, Christmas Eve brought a inkling of fusion. "It was bitter cold," he explains, "the fourth day of fasting. But I felt myself rising to a more spiritual plane. The wind drifted darts of snow across the land. I could see cattle here and there, all with tails to the wind and heads held low out of its blasts. We bent into the wind, too. The Native Americans around me started a low chant, its rhythm exactly in time to our beating hearts. Slowly our bodies began to warm. And soon we were walking easily across the snow dunes, buoyed by the chant.

"That night, I slept snug in my sleeping bag . . . actually, it was the first good night's sleep I'd had. My stomach had decided it wasn't going to get fed and stopped growling. My mind was clear and unfettered. I felt that I could see every cell in my body, and I said to it 'farewell and be warm' as I went to sleep.

"It was still dark when the leaders woke us. A bonfire lit the snowscape. I tried to sit up in my warm bag, but it was frozen to the snow. So I donned my down trousers and coat inside the bag, and crawled out, fully refreshed. That morning, we drank hot broth, breaking our fast."

Three days later the pilgrim band stood on the bluff overlooking Wounded Knee Creek. There, in a bend of the stream, Big Foot and 350 Miniconjou Sioux, 250 of them women and children, camped on December 28, 1889 – 99 years ago to the day. The pilgrims made their way to Big Foot's campgrounds for the night.

As the sun lightened the sky in the predawn, drums began to throb. Chants filled the air, reminiscent of a century past. When the sun was up, the storyteller stood and told of a band of Miniconjou Sioux, headed for the Pine River Indian Agency as the agent had ordered. He told of the 500 soldiers who surrounded them, of Hotchkiss guns on the bluff.

The Indians were told to lay down their arms, which they were loath to do. The soldiers came closer. One tried to wrench a rifle from a deaf man. It went off, and the melee began. Soldiers and Indians shot, stabbed, and clubbed each other in hand-to-hand fighting. Big Foot and most of his chiefs fell to the soldiers’ rifle fire. Then the soldiers fell back to let the 1.65-inch Hotchkiss guns pour 50 rounds a minute into the fleeing Indians.

 

Big Foot 

Carnage reigned. At least 150 of Big Foot's band died, mostly women and children; some 50 were wounded. The soldiers lost only 25, with 39 wounded.

 

Hotchkiss Gun

"We have come," the storyteller proclaimed, lifting his arms toward the heaven. "We have come." He surveyed the pilgrims who stood in a circle around him, hands clasped in fellowship. He spoke once more, echoing Dee Brown's words. "We have come . . . over a trail of tears . . . to bury our hearts at Wounded Knee."

Mass grave at Wounded Knee

# # #

This article was selected for a prize in the annual Writer’s Digest competition.

Charles T. Whipple

Why Write? by Sara Barnard

Problem. You have written THE story. The one everyone has to read in order for the world to keep turning. 





You exercised show and not tell, trimmed the purple prose as easily as you trimmed the lawn last week. You triple checked your P.O.V and tenses, avoided cliches and all allegorical alliteration and emerged victorious at The Battle of The Writer's Block. Then, you got off Facebook and Pinterest long enough to bring your writer's dream to fruition. 

Now what? 

Three agents' rejections, four publisher "I regret to inform you's", and five snarky beta readers left you wondering why you ever bothered to pick up a pen in the first place. 

Where do you go? What do you do? 

For normal people, they would shrug it off and turn on the t.v. Binge on a Netflix series.

Go out with friends. 

Do something normal. 

For a moment you wish you, too, were normal. Like them. 

Like everyone else. 

Alas, you are not.

Then, it comes. 

The one YES that changes everything. 

Be it from a reviewer, beta reader, agent or publisher. 

Once you connect with that person,

make them feel what you wanted them to feel through your words,

the pen that was so heavy before becomes feather light. 

You're on top of the world. 

And then it starts all over again. 

How do you keep motivated?

Cattle drives -- moving herds of cattle from one location to another on foot -- were especially important in the American west between 1866 and 1886. Around 20 million cattle were herded from Texas to stockyards in Chicago and other eastern cities. Long-distance cattle driving was traditional in Mexico, California, and Texas, and horse herds were sometimes also driven. The term "drive" does not refer to carrying, as in driving a vehicle, but to forcing the cattle to move forward.

Cattle drives had to strike a delicate balance: the cattle needed to move as quickly as possible, but not so quickly as to cause them to lose weight. Fat, healthy cattle brought the best prices at market. The ideal speed was somewhere between 10 to 15 miles in one day, with rest periods for grazing at midday and at night. This meant that a drive could take several months to complete on a long trail. One of the most famous trails, the Chisholm Trail, was 1,000 miles long, stretching from Texas to Abilene, Kansas.

The more cattle you could move, the more money you made when you sold them at the end of the drive. A typical drive consisted of 1,000 to 3,000 cattle. With this many cattle, it was highly profitable for a town to encourage a drive to pass through, or even make it their destination once the railroads began expanding. So-called cattle towns experienced a boom between 1866 and 1890, as railroads reached them and the towns made themselves available for gathering and shipping cattle. The most famous towns were railheads, where the herds were shipped off to Chicago stockyards.

Abilene, Kansas was one of the first, and most famous, cattle towns. Other Kansas towns included Wichita and Dodge City. There were certainly other famous cattle towns, however: Las Vegas, New Mexico; Greeley, Colorado; Medora, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Ogallala, Nebraska; Miles City, Montana; and Prescott, Arizona are but a few of them. Texas was a frequent starting point for many drives, and Amarillo, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls were all important cattle towns.

A drive couldn't exist without the cowboy, of course. A crew of at ten to fifteen men was needed for a sizeable herd. Each man needed from five to ten horses (ridden in shifts so that no one horse became exhausted), so a drive also included a small herd of horses, called a remuda. The cowboys worked in shifts to watch the cattle around the clock, herding them in the right direction during the day and making sure they were safe at night. Theft was a big danger, as was a stampede, when cattle became frightened and dashed away at top speed in any direction.

A typical drive would consist of the trail boss, who might be the owner of the cattle, the crew of cowboys, a horse wrangler to handle the remuda, and the cook, who drove the chuck wagon. This wagon carried not only food for the crew, but also the medical supplies and bedrolls. The cook was especially well-respected by the crew for his knowledge of food and practical medicine.

Once the herd was moving, everyone had an assigned spot. A good trail boss would rotate the positions of his crew so that no one cowboy had to ride in the most unpleasant spots all the time. First out of the camp would be the chuck wagon. This would travel in front of the herd, and usually be out of sight before long. A scout traveled ahead of the herd as well, seeking out the best routes and serving as go-between for the chuck wagon and the trail boss. The main herd followed the trail boss and the point riders to his right and left. Swing riders were positioned to either side of the herd, and were responsible for keeping the cattle bunched together, chasing down stragglers and driving them back into the herd.  To the back of the herd, in roughly the same positions as point, were the flank riders. Their job was to push the herd along, making sure they kept to the desired speed. The worst job of all was drag, which was directly behind the herd, pushing them forward and watching for stragglers. Drag riders were covered with dust and less-desirable products of the cattle, kicked up by thousands of hooves.

Here are some words of wisdom from cattle rancher Oscar Thompson to his son Webster before his first drive:

·      First of all, obey your boss -- he's paying you for your service
When you camp at night, always point your wagon tongue toward the North Star.
Explain to your men in a quiet voice what they are to do.

·      Never say "no" to your employer.

·      Be ready to go at all times.

·      Don't say "You boys do this," but "Come on, boys, follow me."

·      Put your best two men on point.

·      Water your cattle and fill them up before night.

·      Explain to your cook that he must be ready with meals at all times.

·      Watch your horses -- don't let the men abuse them.

·      Keep your harness and camp equipment clean and up out of the sand.

·      Don't fight your men unless they jump you; but if they or anyone else jumps you, give them the best you have.

·      Don't ever misrepresent anything to your employer; tell it just like it happened.

·      Don't get rattled. No matter what happens, keep your head clear.

·      Don't lose confidence in yourself.

·      Look after the comfort of your men, and they will follow you to hell.

·      Keep your mind on your business and make your head save your heels.

Book Publishers of Western Novels

The Peacemaker Awards competition has been announced, pursued, and closed as of January 15.  In the process of the judging (for me, of Best Western Novel) still going on, I became interested in learning what I could about publishers of Western Fiction. 

Book Publishers

Two search strings, “Book Publishers of Western Novels” and “Who Publishes Western Novels” turned up 41,900,000 and 17,800,000 hits respectively.  At first, I could not figure out where they all came from. 

Then,as I struggled to create a coherent 1,000 words out of this, I noticed that the results varied every time I logged off and came back to my search later under the same string.  So, 41.9 million hits became 24 then 31 then 37.  I switched strings and 17.8 became 8.1 then 12.
 
I stopped.  What started out as an amusement had evolved into a suspicion.  To fantasize about the time and energy to track down every one of them clearly would be a wasted fantasy (I am a subscriber to the belief that not all fantasies are wasted—in fact, they are necessary precursors to discovery) because whatever the search string algorithm was doing, it was doing it differently every time I logged on and off. Alas, it was all I could manage to try to figure out whether this was a subject that could even possibly hold enough interest for today’s first Monday.

I decided to focus on the first ten pages of results.  That, at least, provided a tangible number out of which to create some kind of understanding.  (About 15 listings per standard Google page, of which 4-5 were paid listings.)

So out of 100 assumed legitimate listings of “Book Publishers of Western Novels” I found—drumroll because you are not going to believe this—25 discrete names that I could identify as separate entities ready and able to publish western novels.  Western Fictioneers was one of those discrete names. Both Amazon and Create Space were not, although a recently purchased company, now a subsidiary of Amazon, showed up on the list as an ongoing, independent company that publishes westerns.
 
While my instinct tells me this count is off by a factor of four, there are several aspects of this “discovery” (if such un-earthing of truly self-interested information can truly be labeled a discovery).

For one, some publishers I know from my personal (and woefully inadequate) knowledge did not even show up on the hundred unadvertised Google entries or any of the lists contained within the hundred entries.  

For another, Five Star showed up on the 9th page, about listing 83.  Three other publishing companies, one of which is Five Star’s parent, showed up as discrete listings in the preceding nine pages.  Happily for us Western Fictioneers, WF showed up on page 2, the 12th listing, just before WWA and right after the Five Star facebook page.

On that latter, the Five Star facebook page did not show up as 11th (unpaid) listing until I had checked the positioning of WF.  No, I don’t think Google has figured out a way to monitor my blog drafts and sneakily try to undermine my shock.  I just take it as a learning experience. Like, build it and they will come, well, click and it might change.

Finally, what is surprising to me about this is that I was reliably able to find what I expected to find:  a compiled list of publishers, but only for mystery and romance novels (and each had about 100, what my instinct tells me would be the number for publishers of western novels if ever a true list gets developed.) 

Agents, Books, Resources, Writers

So what do those 8 – 42 million hits really hit?  Here is an impressionistic list.  I gave up trying to be systematic.

Agents – to my great surprise, I found a list that identifies itself as “Western Literary Agents.”  It listed 67 agents who accepted western novels, or more precisely, the writers of western novels.  There are several sites that purport to tell writers all about agents but this one came as a surprise.  (Since I have not vetted it, I do not show a link. Having said that, I will acknowledge that the agent I suspect is most well known representing Western authors was not on the list.)

Books – well, this really means Amazon.  Think about how many categories, let alone books, are ordered under the word “western.”  I suppose, although I did not test it, the “western novels” led the algorithm to identify everyone published and listed on Amazon.

Resources – now this was an unwelcome result that was truly useful.  I had absolutely no expectation that I could start out with this (to my eye) pointed and limited question and turn up so many references to resources for writers.  I suppose four trigger words—book…publishers…western…novels—scream out to the algorithm “We got a live one.”

Writers – and this one really surprised me.  The search string turned up three very long, not entirely in agreement with each other, essays on the history of westerns, western literature, and western writing.  It also turned up a compiled list of Western writers.  Since I was looking for a compiled list of Western novel publishers I greedily swallowed this list whole.  It lists 217 writers, living and dead, and a lot of Western Fictioneers.  Among those names listed are those of many writers I personally know (and, blessedly, they are all still among the living.) Alas, coming as no great surprise, it does not list mine.

To bring this all back where it started.  The Peacemaker Awards competition is well underway.  Until it is over, it is not appropriate to identify or comment on the publishers who made these 2015 entries possible—except to say it is wonderful that there are book publishers of Western novels. 

E-mail Edward Massey with comments, author of 2014 Gold Quill winner, Every Soul Is Free and Amazon ABNA 2009 Quarter-finalist, Telluride Promise.

New Western Fictioneers Officers Announced

Western Fictioneers is proud to announce that Bill Crider will serve as president of the organization and Douglas Hirt will serve as vice president for the next two years.

Greetings and Salutations to all the Western Fictioneers.

I learned today that I’d been elected as your president by an overwhelming majority of the vote. Or possibly by only one vote.  But numbers don’t matter.  I am the president, and I’m honored to serve such a fine organization of writers.

Most of you, I know, have never met me, but I met at least a couple of our founders, James Reasoner and Bob Randisi, long ago.  Those two and I go back over 35 years now, and counting.  Both of them are younger, more prolific, and better looking that I am.  They’ve been publishing longer, too, as have a good many of you here.  I’m humbled to be the figurehead of a group with so many distinguished and successful writers in a genre we all love.

The first westerns I remember were movies.  Every Saturday afternoon, I’d be at the Palace Theater in Mexia, Texas, for the double feature with Johnny Mack Brown and Monte Hale, or Tex Ritter and Wild Bill Elliott, or Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.  I remember radio, too.  The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Bobby Benson and the B Bar B Riders, Gunsmoke, Have Gun, Will Travel.  The books came later.  Will James, Zane Grey, the Whitman books about Roy and Gene.  The 1950s brought some great western movies for grown ups, like Shane and Winchester ‘73 and Seven Men from Now.  I saw them all, and I was watching TV, too.  Wanted: Dead or Alive, Wyatt Earp, Maverick, and many, many more.

My own career in westerns began back in 1987 when I told my agent that I’d always wanted to write a western novel.  She asked me why, and I more or less recited the previous paragraph.  She told me to go for it, and Ryan Rides Back was published by M. Evans the following year.  Some of you, I know, wrote books for that house.  I can only hope you got paid.  My own experience with the company was less than pleasant.  A couple of the books were reprinted by Ballantine.  One of them went into a second printing, which I found out about when I saw it on the stands.  I was never paid a penny for any of the paperbacks.  The only benefit I got from them was that I met the Ballantine editor at a convention for mystery writers.  That’s when I learned that the western field was in trouble.  She told me that Ballantine wouldn’t be acquiring any more westerns, and when I asked her why, she said that while westerns were making money for the company, they weren’t making “enough money.”  She didn’t specify what “enough” was, but I knew that attitudes like that weren’t good for the genre.

In the years since then, I’ve written a good many westerns, some of them under my own name but most of them under other names that some of you have also assumed from time to time.  I don’t know about you, but I loved writing those books.  Some of the most fun I’ve had in writing was in working out plots for characters that someone else created.   

We don’t see a lot of westerns on the paperback racks now.  (For that matter, we don’t even see paperback racks.)  Westerns on TV are hard to find, and western movies don’t come along very often.  It’s a shame, for sure, but the members of Western Fictioneers keep the flame burning.  A good many of you have not only continued to write high-quality western fiction but are actually making money at it, thanks to the eBook revolution.  We old dogs have learned new tricks, and westerns are selling well, no matter what the traditional publishers say.  Western Fictioneers keeps calling attention to the genre with the Peacemaker Awards, too, and I’m very proud to have won one of them.

I hope that in the next year, this group will continue to flourish and grow and that we’ll see westerns continue to sell and to rise in prominence.  If we all keep plugging, it can happen.

I’m not quite sure yet what my duties as president are, but I’ll do my best to fulfill them.  For now let me say again that I’m happy to serve, and I think you all for bestowing the honor of the office on me.

Bill Crider

BILL is the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories. He won the Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1987 for Too Late to Die and was nominated for the Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel for Dead on the Island.  He won the Golden Duck award for “best juvenile science fiction novel” for Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror.  He and his wife, Judy, won the best short story Anthony in 2002 for their story “Chocolate Moose.”  His story “Cranked” from Damn Near Dead (Busted Flush Press) was nominated for the Edgar award for best short story.  Check out his homepage at www.billcrider.com, or take a look at his peculiar blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.com. 

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Hello stranger.  Haven’t seen you around.  New to town?  Don’t be shy. Come on over and say howdy. Here, have a sarsaparilla on us.  Who are we?  Whal, we’re some of the friendliest folks you’re likely to ever meet.  We’re a passel of professional fiction writers, and although our members write about all sorts of things, what ties us together is that we mostly write westerns.

We’re a purty young outfit and some of our shoots are still a mite green and tender, but not our rootstock.  Our roots are strong and they go down deep. You see, these roots have been nourished by some of the finest writers who ever put a quill to foolscap, or rolled a carbon copy set into a typewriter platen (you young’uns can look that up on Wikipedia), or have fought the infamous blue screen of death to beat a deadline.  You’ll certainly recognize some of their names: Zane Gray, Wayne D. Overholser, Donald Hamilton, Gordon D. Shirreffs, Elmer Kelton, Frank Roderus.  The list is long and proud, and it even includes a bunch of TV shows and exciting movies that go all the way back to 1903 with The Great Train Robbery.

If you’ve a hankering to write westerns, then you just might want to ride along with us. We’re all pretty serious about this western writing business and so we’ve set a few requirements. They aren’t too onerous.  You simply have to have written a western novel or short story, and have been paid for it, not self published. If you have done so, and you think you’d like to ride for the brand, then welcome aboard.

Tell them Douglas Hirt sent you. I’m honored to be vice president of this fine organization.  I’ve been writing westerns professionally for over thirty years, and I can truly say you’ll not meet a friendlier, more helpful group of writers anywhere than the Western Fictioneers.

Douglas Hirt

DOUGLAS was born in Illinois, but heeding Horace Greeley's admonition to "Go west, young man", he headed to New Mexico at eighteen. He drew heavily from this "desert life" when writing his first novel, Devil's Wind. In 1991 Doug's novel, A Passage of Seasons, won the Colorado Authors' League Top Hand Award. His 1998 book, Brandish, and 1999 Deadwood, were finalists for the SPUR award given by the Western Writers of America. A short story writer, and the author of thirty-four novels and one book of non fiction, Doug makes his home in Colorado Springs with his wife Kathy. When not writing or traveling to research his novels, Doug enjoys collecting and restoring old English sports cars. You can find more about Douglas Hirt at www.douglashirt.com

WF thanks Cheryl Pierson and Keith Souter for their great service as president and vice-president for the past two years.