Now Available on the Nook

Wolf Creek: Murder in Dogleg City Now Available at Amazon

Welcome back to Wolf Creek.

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen. Each author writes from the perspective of his or her own unique character, blended together into a single novel.

In our latest adventure: Dogleg City is what folks in Wolf Creek call the seedy part of town. Life is cheap there, and death is common. At first this murder seemed like any other –but the more Marshal Sam Gardner and his deputies learn about it, the more it seems this death will blow Wolf Creek wide open…

About the author: Beneath the mask, Ford Fargo is not one but a posse of America's leading western authors who have pooled their talents to create a series of rip-snortin', old fashioned sagebrush sagas. Saddle up. Read ‘em Cowboy! These are the legends of Wolf Creek.

Appearing as Ford Fargo in this installment: L. J. Washburn, Matthew P. Mayo, Phil Dunlap, Chuck Tyrell, Jerry Guin, & Troy D. Smith

    Coming soon for the Nook at Barnes and Nobles

Sample - Wolf Creek: Kiowa Vengeance

The six-man Kiowa scouting party came down on the Manning ranch like a wolf on the fold.

Roy Manning and his younger brother, Hal, had been about to go looking for a couple of strays. They’d just ridden out of the barn when Hal got an arrow through the throat. He made a gurgling sound and clutched his neck with both hands. Blood spurted between his fingers, and his horse broke into a run, throwing Hal’s body off about twenty yards away.

A ball from an 1866 Henry Yellow Boy blew a hole in Roy’s heart, and he pitched from the saddle, dead before he hit the dirt.

Two of the Kiowa warriors jumped from their horses and drew their knives. One cut away Roy’s scalp while the other was busy stripping Hal to remove his genitals.

The other four warriors had already stormed into the house, where Sue Manning was trying to hide her son and two young daughters. A warrior knocked her to the floor with one blow, while the other three dealt with the screaming children. All the surviving Mannings were dragged outside.

They killed the boy first, then held Sue while they raped her daughters. She’d fainted long before they got to her.

When the warriors rode away from the ranch, no one was left alive. And in that, they were lucky. The scouting party, steeped in blood, headed northeast, toward the road where the stage from Wichita would be heading for Wolf Creek.

This Sample is from the opening chapter by Bill Crider. Crider is a native Texan and former college teacher and administrator living in scenic Alvin, Texas, near enough to the Texas Gulf Coast to have been through two hurricanes. He has written around seventy-five novels in various genres, including both standalone westerns under his own name and series western novels under various house names. His mystery novels featuring Sheriff Dan Rhodes have been appearing just about every year since 1986. He has been nominated for the Edgar Award and the Shamus Award for his novels, and He won the Anthony and Derringer Awards for his short crime fiction. His wife, Judy, is his proofreader and constant inspiration. They make a great partnership. If you want to learn more about them, check out Bill's website at www.billcrider.com or follow his blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.com.

Wolf Creek: Kiowa Vengeance

Welcome to Wolf Creek.

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen. Each author writes from the perspective of his or her own unique character, blended together into a single novel. In our latest adventure, Wolf Creek is threatened by marauding Kiowa warriors who seek to avenge the deaths of their comrades at the hands of buffalo hunters. While the town fortifies itself, and a cavalry detachment looks for the raiders, the stage from Wichita is attacked –leaving a handful of Wolf Creek citizens alone and on foot in hostile territory…

About the author: Beneath the mask, Ford Fargo is not one but a posse of America's leading western authors who have pooled their talents to create a series of rip-snortin', old fashioned sagebrush sagas. Saddle up. Read ‘em Cowboy! These are the legends of Wolf Creek.

Appearing as Ford Fargo in this installment:

Bill Crider, Jackson Lowry, Kerry Newcomb, Troy D. Smith, Frank Roderus, Robert J. Randisi.

Trade paperback only $8.99 

Ebook only $2.99

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Sample 3: Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Western Fictioneers presents a sample of a James Reasoner's story in Six-Guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Presents for One and All

JAMES REASONER, a lifelong Texan, has been a professional writer for more than thirty years. In that time, he has authored several hundred novels and short stories in numerous genres. Best known for his Westerns, historical novels, and war novels, he is also the author of two mystery novels that have achieved cult classic status, Texas Wind and Dust Devils. Writing under his own name and various pseudonyms, his novels have garnered praise from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as appearing on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. He lives in a small town in Texas with his wife, award-winning fellow author Livia J. Washburn. www.jamesreasoner.com.

Sample: Wolf Creek: Bloody Trail

Sample from chapter two, by Clay More which is a pen-name for Keith Souter.  Keith was born in St Andrews, Scotland. He studied Medicine at Dundee University and then practiced as a family doctor in the city of Wakefield, England for thirty years. While he was at medical school he started to write children’s stories for a family magazine, but after qualifying as a doctor the exigencies of the job were such that the focus of his writing was on medicine. He has also been a health columnist for almost thirty years and haswritten about a dozen medical and health books. In addition he writes non-fiction books including Schoolboy Science Remembered; The Pocket Guide to Dice and Dice Games; The Little Book of Genius; The Little Book of Golf; Medical Meddlers, Mediums and Magicians – the Victorian Age of Credulity and The Classic Guide to King Arthur. Using the pen-name of Clay More he writes traditional westerns with the Black Horse Westerns imprint of Hale of London: Raw Deal at Pasco Springs; Nemesis for the Judge; Double-Dealing at Dirtville; A Rope for Scudder and Stampede at Rattlesnake Pass. He also writes Scottish-based crime novels as Keith Moray for Hale: The Gathering Murders; Deathly Wind; Murder Solstice and Flotsam and Jestsam. In 2006 he won a Fish Prize for his short historical story "A Villain’s Tale" and writing as Keith Souter started a series of historical mysteries set around Sandal Castle, the ruined medieval castle that he lived within arrowshot of: The Pardoner’s Crime and The Fool’s Folly. Hen. The summer of 2012 the first in his series of Victorian children’s adventures begins with The Curse of the Body Snatchers by G-Press. his website is www.keithsouter.co.uk and his blog is http://west-uist-chronicle.blogspot.co.uk  He is a member of the Society of Authors, The Crime Writers’ Association, Medical Journalists’ Association, International Thriller Writers, Western Writers of America and Western Fictioneers.

. . .

Jim Danby took a final glance at his watch then stowed it inside his vest. He ran the back of his hand against the three days’ growth of stubble on his cheek and stretched himself in the saddle. He was a lean, rangy man of about thirty with a ready, toothy smile and cruel eyes. A product of the War, he and his men had ridden with Quantrill and reveled in the Lawrence Raid. Since then, under his leadership, the Danby gang had become one of the most successful and feared gangs in the West. They had parlayed their wartime skills into bank-robbing. And in Danby’s eyes, they were the best, because he was the best. Planning and ruthless execution were his tenets.

“Any moment now,” he said to Wes Hammond, his lieutenant and comrade of almost ten years.

Wes Hammond nodded dispassionately. Unlike Danby, he was not given to smiling, unless he was doing what he was best at—hurting people. He was about the same age and build as his boss, although with his longer hair, petulant lips and clean-shaven face he looked somewhat younger. He nodded and pulled his hat firmly down on his head.

Danby put a hand on the pommel of his saddle and turned round to face the twenty mounted men. They had gathered out of sight of the town in the trees that fringed the boulders on the other side of Wolf Creek. “Okay boys, we go in as planned, as soon as we hear the first two shots. We cross the ford and hit the town. I’ll take the first column down the main street. Wes will lead the other down the first left, then along Lincoln Street. You all know the layout.”

Wes turned in his saddle. He drew out his beloved .42 Le Mat cap and ball black powder revolver. Not made for fast drawing, it was virtually a one-man artillery piece. With nine shots in its cylinder for shooting from the regular barrel, it also had an 18-gauge shotgun barrel beneath for its tenth shot. He hefted it in his hand and raised it. It had been a popular piece among various elements of the Confederacy. It took time to load—but as a killing piece, he was proud of it. And on a raid such as this, once he had discharged every round, he had his Navy Colts to fall back on.

“We are all armed to the teeth. This will go as smooth as silk. We’re going to divide up into threes and fours. Each group will take one of the sections of the two main streets. Bates and Milton will already have cut the town in two and contained the law, so one man from each group will cover all the alleys and side streets in his section. If anyone so much as pops their head into an alley, discourage them. If they won’t stay discouraged—kill them.”

Danby grinned. Although Wes had needed to be shown who was the master in their early days, he liked to think that he had inculcated and refined a streak of ruthlessness in him. “Ketch and Jackson, you two know what you have to do?”

A stocky young rider at the back grinned. “Sure we know, boss. We shoot every damned horse we see.”

To read more of this entertaining western, you will have to buy the book and now is the time because Wolf Creek Book 2: Kiowa Vengeance is coming soon.

Sample 2: Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

 For Halloween Western Fictioneers presents a sample of a second story in Six-Guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

The Longest Night 

by Larry D. Sweazy

LARRY D. SWEAZY won the WWA Spur Award for Best Short Fiction in 2005, won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction 2011 and 2012, and was nominated for a SFMS Derringer award in 2007. He has published over 50 articles and short stories, which have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine; The Adventure of the Missing Detective; Boys’ Life; Hardboiled, and other publications and anthologies. Larry is the author of the Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series (Berkley). He is a member of MWA (Mystery Writers of America), WWA (Western Writers of America), and WF (Western Fictioneers). Larry lives in the Midwest, with his wife, Rose, two dogs, and a cat. www.larrydsweazy.com

 The flames had died down, leaving only the glowing orange coals to give off any heat. Neither man noticed; they were fast asleep after a long journey. But the wolves noticed. They could smell the meat of a fresh kill, see the white-tailed deer strung up from a gangly cottonwood by its hooves, left, oddly, to bleed out overnight.

The alpha, a stoic gray wolf, his fur dotted with more than a fair share of scars, padded around the perimeter of the makeshift camp as softly as he could. The deer felt like bait left out to draw in the pack. Something wasn’t right. The behavior of the humans was unusual—or the alpha assumed they were stupid. Unaware of the way of the world beyond the fire.

The rest of the pack stood in wait, just beyond the shadows, listening for the grunts and growls that would command them into action.

The deer was easy pickings for a pack this size, bound and hung like it was, the hard work of the kill already done for them. There were twelve wolves in all, most of them hungry—but not starving. The pack was glad to see, and feel, the depths of winter, when the hunting was easier. The sick and tired were less of a challenge, less trouble to bring down. Especially the bison, weak, and caught knee-deep in snow. The snow season was more bountiful, but some of the pack still longed for the long days of summer when the sun offered more time to play—and kill.

There was snow on the ground, but not so much that it was difficult to walk. The leaves had turned to gold on the aspens and fallen to the ground, urging the elk to move to higher ground, off the moraine, more than two moons ago. The bison had begun to move, too, albeit slowly, gobbling at what tender roots they could find under the snow. All in the world was right, progressing along the way as it should. Except for the presence of the humans.

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Sample of Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Sheriff Santa and the Ghost of Two Gun Jim

A “Sheriff Santa” Story

 By Robert J. Randisi

ROBERT J. RANDISI is the author of more than 550 books in the Western, Private Eye, Men's Adventure, and Horror genres. As J.R. Roberts he is the creator and author of the long running series "The Gunsmith." He also wrote and created the Tracker, Angel Eyes, Bounty Hunter, Mountain Jack Pike, Widowmaker, Gamblers, Sons of Daniel Shaye and Ryder series. Born in Brooklyn, New York he currently resides in Clarksville, Missouri—a town of 500 people overlooking the Mississippi River—with writer "Christine Matthews."

As the legend goes, Two-Gun Jim Turner suddenly changed his villainous ways on Christmas Day, stood up against a gang that wanted to take over a whole town as a Christmas present to themselves. He saved the town, but got gunned down at the same time. They say Turner died angry, and still roams the earth trying to find a way back.

That was forty years ago . . .

* * *

Kate Timmons told Sheriff Andy Tate, “Stand still, will you?”

“You’re pinching me.”

“We wouldn’t be having this problem if you hadn’t gone and got yourself shot last year while wearing your Santa suit.”

“Wasn’t my fault somebody tried to rob the bank during our fittin’,” he complained. “Besides, why couldn’t you just darn the hole?”

“It wasn’t just a hole, Andy,” she said. “You bled all over it.”

“Well, excuse me for bleedin’ when I get shot!”

Kate sat back on her heels and stared up at the man in the red suit, standing on a stool. They’d been playing this game for many years, and the townspeople were still waiting for them to make it legal.

“My God, Andy, did you get fatter since last year?” she demanded.

The Sheriff of Great Bend looked down at his own belly critically. She said this to him every year.

“I don’t think so,” he said, giving her the same answer.

Before Kate could respond a man rushed into Kate’s Dress Shop.

“Sheriff, that fella Brannigan and his boys are over to the bank.”

“Which one, Harvey?” he asked. The town had two banks.

“The Great Bend.”

“What are they doin’, Barney?”

”I think they’re gonna rob it.”

Andy Tate looked at Kate, then stepped down from her step stool and reached for his gun.

“Oh no, Andy Tate, don’t you do this again!” she said.

“I’m sorry, Kate,” he said, “but I gotta go.”

“Don’t you get shot in your Santa suit like you did last year!”

“Kate,” he said, “I’ll try my best not to get shot, at all.”

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Review of Six-Guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

. . . VERDICT This anthology lives up to its claim of being "the most unusual Western Christmas anthology every published." For horror and Western aficionados.       Library Journal Review

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Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

 

Now Available

Put on your Santa hat and saddle up for this collection of creepy Christmas stories from the Western Fictioneers, the world's only organization of professional authors devoted solely to Western fiction. 'Tis the season for ghosts, vampires, monsters, aliens, and other bizarre creatures to make these Old West holiday tales truly special. Legendary Western author Robert J. Randisi spins the spectral yarn of "Sheriff Santa and the Ghost of Two Gun Jim". Peacemaker and Spur Award winning author Troy D. Smith takes the reader on a murderous Christmas journey to "Bitter Mountain". New York Times bestseller and Peacemaker Award winner James Reasoner writes about a strange encounter on the Staked Plains in "Presents for One and All". Larry D. Sweazy, two-time winner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western fiction, tells the story of an epic battle between good and evil in "The Longest Night". An isolated stagecoach station under siege by Apaches is the setting of Cheryl Pierson's "The Keepers of Camelot", a tale of rebirth and redemption. These and many other stories by some of today's top writers in the Western field make SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS the most unusual Western Christmas anthology ever published.

SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS is the newest anthology from the Western Fictioneers.  Founded in 2010 to promote the oldest genuine American art form, WF is the only writers organization composed entirely of professional authors of traditional Western fiction.  Its worldwide membership includes best-selling, award-winning authors as well as the brightest up-and-coming new stars in the Western field.

SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS is a collection of 15 Christmas-themed original Western stories with paranormal elements including ghosts, vampires, monsters, and aliens. The best-selling, award-winning line-up of authors includes Robert J. Randisi, Chuck Tyrell, Troy D. Smith, C. Courtney Joyner, Matthew P. Mayo, Douglas Hirt, James Reasoner, Jerry Guin, Charlie Steel, Clay More, Cheryl Pierson, Larry D. Sweazy, James J. Griffin, Christine Matthews, and L.J. Washburn.

Western Fictioneers previously published THE TRADITIONAL WEST, the largest anthology of all-original Western fiction ever published, which met with critical acclaim and included the Best Short Fiction winners of both the Peacemaker Award, given by WF, and the Spur Award, given by the Western Writers of America, as well as several other finalists for those awards.  Earlier this year WF published BLOODY TRAIL, the first book in the Wolf Creek series of collaborative novels with more to come.

This is an anthology you're not going to want to miss. Trade paperback only $12.00 E book $2.99.

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Western Writer Michael Newton aka Lyle Brandt

1. What was your first Western novel or story and was it published?

Vengeance Ride, published by Carousel Books in 1979.

2. What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?

"George G. Gilman" (né Terry Harknett) and Elmore Leonard.

3. Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing?

I'd have to go with a movie, actually: the climax of The Wild Bunch. Overall, I do try to write in a "cinematic" style, with various points of view to cover action from different sides. 

4. What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?

The Deputy, by Roe Richmond (1960), a novel based on Henry Fonda's TV series of the same title.

5. Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?


Doc Holliday. I first encountered him on a "famous gunfighters" postcard at Calico Ghost Town, and have been fascinated by his strange life ever since, both factual and fictional.

6. How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?

I strive for accuracy, relying on a fairly extensive reference library—and, since the late 90s, on selective research from the Internet. Research online saves long days and gas burned commuting to and from libraries, but discretion and double-checking are obviously vital. There's a lot of nonsense floating around on the Web that can make a writer look foolish if s/he swallows it uncritically. (I've been burned on occasion by print sources, as well—including those published by one so-called "Dean of True-Crime Writers.")

7. How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned?

Setting is critical in fiction, whether the characters circle the globe or spend the whole story stuck in one room. Setting is key to atmosphere. Whether you're describing a well-known location or "world-building" in the realm of fantasy or sci-fi, consistency is vital. Detail can vary. I admire—but do not emulate—authors who can name every plant in a villain's flower bed. That said, you can go overboard in that direction, too. Tom Clancy's "thrillers" always read like hardware catalogs to me; I've never been able to finish one. My favorite Western in this regard is Elmore Leonard's Hombre.

8. How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?

Most of my contemporary thrillers have prologues, usually introducing a threat or a villain, but on Westerns I normally jump straight in with Chapter 1. I was taught to "hook" readers with action as soon as possible, so I always try to open with something that will keep them turning pages. Nonfiction, on the other hand, often demands a preface and/or introduction, but once I get to the actual text, I still try to lead off with something exciting, frightening, amusing—whatever fits.

9. Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along?

I've written so many reference books and how-to volumes for writers over the past 20-odd years that I pretty well know what I'm talking about (or, at least, I hope so). If anything's vague to me as I go along, Google is my salvation.

10. Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why? Was there a role model for this particular character?

In Westerns, I like to think there's some part of myself in my protagonists, though my life experience is nothing like theirs. I've lived in the West and witnessed an execution in Nevada, but that's the limit.

11. Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads?

I always outline, both the overall story for starters and "slap-dash" outlines for individual chapters as I proceed, though I feel free to deviate at any point. My publishers generally want to know where a story's going before they cut a contract—and, of course, in series work they don't want me killing off the protagonist(s) unless they're already pulling the plug. I admire authors who work solely from inspiration—like my mentor, Don Pendleton—but when I hear them say their characters "took over the story and wrote it themselves," I frankly don't know what they're talking about.

12. Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why?

I'll try anything and see if it flies with an editor. In one recent episode of my "Lawman" series, Jack the Ripper popped up in Oklahoma Territory, circa 1893. For the contemporary action-adventure stories, anything goes, as long as its feasible in real life.

13. Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?

I'm overrun with cats in my office on a normal day. My wife plays music in adjoining rooms, which provides nice background, but I don't have any running in my office itself. I tried a Walkman once, for about thirty seconds. It was a no-go.

14. Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?

I've been lucky in this respect, never suffering any significant writer's block. Sometimes I'm stalled for a few minutes on the opening line of a novel or chapter, but never for long. It helps that I work on several books simultaneously, both fiction and nonfiction, which allows me to switch off if something starts to feel stale.

15. Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?

Western-wise, I'm fond of Jack Slade, still alive and kicking from Berkley after 11 novels. He's  about to have some competition from Gideon Ryder, an early recruit for the U.S. Secret Service at its foundation in 1865.

16. Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?

I grew up reading Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, James Bond, Tarzan, and Bomba the Jungle Boy, among others. More recently, my favorites include Jack Reacher, Raylan Givens, Kay Scarpetta, Gretchen Lowell, Aloysius Pendergast, Virgil Flowers, Lucas Davenport, and the inimitable Hannibal Lecter. 

17. Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?

I've definitely dealt with racism and women's issues, (hopefully) drawing some strong female characters. My protagonists always encounter brutal individuals, on both sides of the law, and some of them are absolutely "mental." I've only touched on pedophilia (and human trafficking) in some contemporary thrillers and nonfiction; ditto for genetic disorders and sociopathy, examined at length in my work on serial killers.

18. Have you found that being able to self publish through Kindle and Nook, that you find yourself writing more of what you want rather than what the agent, editor, and publisher wants?

I've self-published five books, with very disappointing results: $11 and change, so far. My living still depends on traditional publishers, much of it under "house names." The nonfiction published under my own name, however, is always focused on topics that interest me particularly.

19. Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?

I'm fortunate enough to have been self-supporting as a full-time author since 1986, although our economic situation has caused some stress the past couple of years, along with belt-tightening or outright abandonment of traditional printed books by a couple of my longtime publishers. This time next year, I may be a Wal-Mart greeter!

20. What are you writing right now?

Two Western series from Berkley, written as "Lyle Brandt"; a four-book contract from Gold Eagle Books for the ongoing "Mack Bolan" action-adventure series; and a couple of nonfiction books for McFarland. One of those breaks new ground in the 1946 "Phantom Killer" case from Texarkana. I also have a continuing deal with Schiffer Books, my "Strange Monsters" series, touring the USA with a state-by-state review of unknown creatures reported by everyday folks.

21. What do you plan to write in the future

I hope to keep my two Western series going with Berkley, under the "Lyle Brandt" name. Beyond that, I'll write anything that has a hope of selling.

22. What made you decide to write Western fiction?

It was a fluke, in fact. While I've enjoyed Western films, TV shows, and novels since childhood, my entry to the field was suggested by an L.A. editor in 1979. A porn house I'd been writing for, run by Cleveland Mob associate Reuben Sturman, created Carousel Books as a way to "go legit"—and also, as I soon discovered, as a tax dodge. I'd done several XXX-rated books for them at the time, and got in on the ground floor with Westerns, thrillers, and police procedurals. Once they folded, in the early Eighties, I did no more Westerns until Berkley approached my literary agent, Nancy Yost, about starting a series under a pen name. They wanted something starting with a "B," to stand near the top of limited shelving in bookstores, and thus "Lyle Brandt" was born.

Writing under the pseudonym Lyle Brandt, Michael Newton has become a popular writer of Western novels. He has written a number of successful non-fiction titles as well, including a book on genre writing (How to Write Action Adventure Novels). His book Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. Newton's "Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology" won the American Library Association's award for Outstanding Reference Work in 2006. Newton is best known for his work on Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan series.
www.michaelnewton.homestead.com

Western Romance Writer Madeline Baker

.1. What was your first Western novel or story and was it published?

The first book I wrote was Comanche Flame. It was published after several rewrites. My first published book was Reckless Heart. I wrote 3 sequels (Reckless Love, Reckless Desire, Reckless Embrace). It won The Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Indian series.

2. What Western writer or writers of the past were the biggest influence on your work?

I read a lot of western fiction when I was growing up....I don't recall any one of them being more influential than the others.

3. Is there a particular scene from a Western novel that was so powerful when you read it that it stuck with you? Perhaps has become a scene you've tried to live up to/equal in your own writing?

  Being a woman and a romantic, I'd have to say the scene in Hondo when John Wayne takes Geraldine Page in his arms and kisses her.

4. What's the first Western you remember reading from cover to cover?

   Shane. I still have that old paperback book. I was so disappointed in the movie. Alan Ladd was the worst actor for the role. He was too short, too blond, and looked nothing like the dangerous man-in-black on the cover of the book. That's one movie I wish they'd remake! Although I'm not sure anyone could replace Jack Palance. 

5. Who is your favorite historical Western figure, and why?

   Crazy Horse. His story fascinates me.

6. How much historical research do you do, and how do you go about it?

     As much as needed. I used to go to the library. Then I started buying books. Now I do a lot of it online.

7. How important is setting? How important is it to get setting right? What's the best use of setting in a Western as far as you're concerned?

    I think it's very important. You can't really tell the story without the proper background and setting, whether you're writing western or vampires.

8. How do you choose where to begin your story? Do you use prologues?

    Hmm, good question. Usually the beginning just comes to me. The main one I remember is from a book titled Midnight Fire. The line, He was dying and he didn't care" came to me out of the blue. I wrote it down (because if you don't write them down immediately, you forget them!) and then sat down to find out why he was dying and why he didn't care. I use prologues from time to time, as needed.

9. Do you do all your research ahead of time, or as you go along?

  I do it as I go along. Of course, sometimes I get so lost in it that my writing suffers.

10. Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and why? Was there a role model for this particular character?

   I love all my heroes. The role model for most of them is Eddie Little Sky. Eddie used to dance at the Indian village in Disneyland many moons ago. As a young girl, I was intrigued by him.

11. Do you outline and plot your story or do you write as the inspiration or MUSE leads?

     I write it as it comes to me....

12. Are you a conservative in your writing and stick with traditional ideas for your characters and plots or do you like to go beyond the norm and toss in the unexpected and why?

     My books are more romance than western, but I guess basically traditional. Except for my time travel books, which are really fun to write, whether I'm sending a modern man or woman back to the 1800s, or bringing them into the future. Most of my heroes are Indian or half-Indian because of the impression Eddie Little Sky made on me.

13. Do you need quiet when you write, listen to music, or have the TV on and family around?

   Why my Muse is hot, I can write anywhere - at home, at the bowling alley, in a restaurant, in the car, on vacation.....

14. Have you experienced the "dreaded" writer's block and how did you deal with it?

      When the words don't come, I go do something else. I can't think of a bigger waste of time than staring at a blank computer screen.

15. Who is your favorite fictional character that you have created?

 You know that's like asking a mother to pick her favorite child, don't you?

 I guess it would have to be Shadow, from my Reckless series. I liked him so much, I wrote 3 other books because I couldn't bear to say good bye :)  A close second is the hero from The Angel and the Outlaw, which is a time travel book. J. T. Cutter is an outlaw, and I've always had a thing for bad boys.

 
16. Who is your favorite fictional character that someone else created?

Hondo from the movie of the same name.

17. Do you address "modern" issues in Westerns? Racism. Feminism. Downs Syndrome. Mental disabilities. Genetic disorders. Sociopathy. Immigrant questions. Brutality. Pedophilia. Any more?

   Except for the discrimination against Indians by whites in the old west, I tend to stay away from social issues.

18. Have you found that being able to self publish through Kindle and Nook, that you find yourself writing more of what you want rather than what the agent, editor, and publisher wants?

   Not more. But I have written a few short stories that have gone straight to Kindle.

19. Do you make a living writing? If not, what is your day job?

   Writing is my day job. And my afternoon job. And my night job  And the only one I want. The pay is fair, the hours are flexible, and I can write in my PJs.

20. What are you writing right now?

    Since I no longer have a publisher for new westerns, I'm writing vampires as Amanda Ashley. EC Blush is publishing many of my old out-of-print books. And Amazon will be publishing some others.

21. What do you plan to write in the future?

  Probably more vampires.....although I'm currently working on a western set in Deadwood.

22. What made you decide to write Western fiction?

  As far back as I can remember, I've loved cowboys, horses, and Indians. One night, when my husband was at work and my kids were asleep and I was bored, I started to write a book. I had no intention of even publishing it, or letting anyone else see it. I lived that book (Comanche Flame) day and night, and when I finished it I wrote another. And another.  It wasn't until a friend of mine read one of my manuscripts and persuaded me to look for a publisher. It took six years and 31 rejections, but I finally sold Reckless Heart. I've been writing, and loving it, ever since.

www.madelinebaker.net

www.amandaashley.net