Friday, June 1, 2012

Peacemaker Award for Western Fiction- Winners

I am deeply honored that my story "The Sin of Eli," published in the 2011 Western Fictioneer anthology The Traditional West, has been named the winner of this year's Peacemaker Award for Western fiction in the short story category. As icing on the cake, another of my works -"Blackwell's Run," available as an ebook from Western Trail Blazer -was also among the finalists. The honor for me is compounded by all the excellent writers who were also winners and finalists.


 

Other winners include:  WAYNE DUNDEE for best first novel, Dismal River. Wayne won in the short story category last year, and is one of the fast-rising new stars in the western genre.


JAMES REASONER for Best Novel- Redemption, Kansas. If you could read the fine print on the cover, you'd find a blurb by me... and turns out I wasn't the only one who loved it.



JORY SHERMAN won the first Peacemaker for Lifetime Achievement... and I can think of no one more deserving. Jory's work is magnificent... and he is a top-notch human being. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer (for Grass Kingdom) and was on the Beat poet scene (you should hear his Bukowski stories. Or read 'em, in Bukowski and Me: The Beast and the Bastard.)



Here is a complete list of finalists:

Best Western Short Story:
***There were  two ties in this category, which is why there are seven nominees instead of the required five.

Winner: “The Sin of Eli” by Troy D. Smith (The Traditional West anthology, WF)

Finalists:
“Planting Season” by Johnny D Boggs (Cactus Country Anthology, Volume I – High Hill Press)
“The Way of the West” by Larry J. Martin (The Traditional West anthology, WF)
“Blackwell’s Run” (Western Trail Blazer) by Troy D. Smith
“Panhandle Freight” by LJ Washburn (The Traditional West anthology, WF)    
“The Death of Delgado” by Rod Miller (The Traditional West anthology, WF)
“Stay of Execution” by Lucia St. Clair Robson (Cactus Country Anthology, Volume I – High Hill Press)

BEST WESTERN NOVEL:





WINNER: James Reasoner -- Redemption, Kansas  Publisher: Berkley



FINALISTS:
 

The Sonora Noose by Jackson Lowry (Berkley)


Blood Trails by Lyle Brandt (Berkley)


The Assassination of Governor Boggs by Rod Miller (Bonneville Books)


Between Hell and Texas by Dusty Richards (Kensington Pinnacle imprint)





BEST WESTERN FIRST NOVEL:

WINNER: Wayne Dundee --  Dismal River        Publisher: Oak Tree Press




FINALISTS:
Unbridled by Tammy Hinton (Roots and Branches Publishing)


The Black Hills by Rod Thompson (Berkley)


Bullets And Bad Bad Men by B.A. Kelly (Oak Tree Press)


The Guerrilla Man by Steven Clark (Solstice Publishing)


3 comments:

  1. CONGRATS, Troy!! Well-deserved! Is Blackwell the same character in Bound/Promise-Land? If so, I'll be getting that book too. Loved that character.

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    1. I just checked it out on Amazon - AWESOME, hope they are all in one collection one day! :-) Keep writing these great characters.

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    2. Actually, I was originally shooting to reprint my collection from 10 years ago, The Stealing Moon, and add several other stories to it... my publisher recommended breaking it into two volumes, as (and experience bears this out) the shorter a work is, the more likely it is to sell online. And the Jake Blackwell of "The Divided Prey" is indeed the same Texas Ranger that Alfred befriended in Bound for the Promise-Land. "Blackwell's Run" is about his brother Max... I actually have 5 Blackwell short stories available as ebook shorts from Western Trail Blazer, with plans for many more.

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