Two Great Christmas Anthologies

I am delighted to have my work in two different -and very different from one another -western-themed Christmas anthologies this year, either (or both!) of which would make great stocking stuffers.

And -quite by accident -both my stories have a very similar theme: the supernatural bond of love between father and child.

My story in CHRISTMAS CAMPFIRE COMPANION is called "Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill."

 Amazon   B & N

In this tale, a group of "Exodusters"- ex-slaves migrating west -try to establish their own town in Kansas. A local cattle baron is opposed to such a venture on land he considers his, and threatens to wipe them out -on Christmas. Little Danny Jordan's father, a Union veteran, has agreed to be the marshal of Freedom Hill... and Danny knows he must pray for a miracle...

My story in SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS: A CREEPY COWBOY CHRISTMAS is called "Bitter Mountain."

Amazon

B & N

Donald Andrews killed Curtis Baker because he wanted his friend's wife for himself. He wasn’t too happy about the boy that came with the deal, but figured he could work around that.Curtis Baker is buried where he was murdered, on Bitter Mountain.

But little Jimmy says his daddy has been visiting him late at night, and promising that this Christmas he is bringing his son one final gift...



Needless to say, both these books are filled with great stories from some of the best authors working in the genre today. Check them both out, and buy a copy for that western or horror lover in your life!

Wolf Creek Characters #6 Dr. Logan Munro

Wolf Creek is probably the most unique Western series ever produced. It is published by Western Fictioneers and written by Ford Fargo- who is actually about twenty different Western authors. Each one has created a unique character, and in each installment six authors collaborate to tell a story from the points of view of their particular creations.

amazon     B & N

It may sound complicated. but the result is anything but: each volume holds together remarkably well, and the series has been creating quite a bit of buzz.

I am the series editor, and one of my two characters appears in each book to help tie things together. Other than me we have a wonderful mix of genre veterans and best selling authors and up-and-coming newer writers who are making their mark.

This blog is the fifth in a five-part series highlighting the six main characters / writers of Wolf Creek Book I: Bloody Trail. The sixth installment will appear on Tuesday, Oct. 23, and the previous ones can be found here:

Part 1- Spike Sweeney, by L.J. Martin
Part 2- Sheriff G.W. Satterlee, by James Reasoner
Part 3- Charley Blackfeather, by Troy D. Smith
Part 4- Bill Torrance, by James J. Griffin
Part 5- Derrick McCain, by Cheryl Pierson

GIVEAWAY: One of our authors, Chery Pierson, has upped the ante- she has offered to give away a trade paperback copy of Bloody Trail to one of our visitors. Anyone who leaves a comment on this or any of the other five blogs and leaves a contact email address will be eligible to win (you can also send said addy to me, at troy_d_smith@hotmail.com, if you prefer it not be public- but you still have to leave a comment!)

A winner will be chosen at random at 9am Central Time Friday morning, October 26, and will be emailed with the good news- it will also be announced in a comment here. You can multiply your chances to win- by commenting on more than one of the six blogs. For every installment of the blog series you comment on, you will get one additional entry in the contest (alas, only one more per blog, so a possibility of six in all.)

So, that said, let's look at the character/writer who rounds out Book One of our series!

LOGAN MUNRO
(Doctor)
Clay More

 Logan Munro is a Scottish doctor. Shortly after graduating from Edinburgh University he served with the British Army Hospital in Scutari in Constantinople during the Crimean War. In 1856, at the end of the war he had the opportunity to go to India. While there he married Helen, a young governess. A year later The Indian Mutiny took place and he was involved in the siege. Sadly, Helen died from malaria. Disillusioned with life, and bereft at losing Helen, Logan sailed for America. Along came the Civil War, during which he served as a surgeon in the Union Army. When the guns ceased and the smoke cleared he settled down in Wolf Creek. He has seen a lot of action in the three wars he served in and he has honed his surgical skills on the battlefields. He is tired of all the killing and he just wants to settle down as a family doctor in a sleepy town.

*

CLAY MORE is also a Scottish physician -Dr. Keith Souter. In addition to being a medical writer, Keith publishes fiction in four different genres.

"I am a member of the Crime Writers’ Association, International Thriller Writers, the Society of Authors, Western Fictioneers and the Western Writers of America. With my medical hat on, I am a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and of various other professional bodies.

                                              

I live with my wife Rachel in Wakefield in West Yorkshire within arrowshot of historic Sandal Castle."

*

I have been accompanying my introductions to our authors' point of view characters with a description of a member of the supporting cast. This time around it is Tsu Chiao -or, as most citizens in Wolf Creek pronounce it, "Soo Chow."

Tsu is in his early 60s. He speaks very good English, having grown up in Hong Kong- as a young man, he had fought against the British in the opium wars. Now he sells opium in his own den. The establishment has a large common room, decorated in red, for lounging –and several small private rooms. There is another interior room, called the Jade Chamber, where clientele can choose the services of one of the several young Chinese women and girls who borrowed money for passage to America and are now trapped in a life of prostitution. He has several young Chinese men on hand as security- he calls them his nephews, but it is doubtful they literally are. 

Tsu is a very well-educated man, and one of the Five Chinese Classics is a novel called The Dream of the Red Chamber- perfect for an opium den. He calls the inner room where one can choose among his prostitutes the Jade Chamber because that is a Taoist euphemism for the vagina.  

Tsu has an adversarial relationship with Li Wong. Li Wong and his wife Li Jian are in their early 40s. They have five children- the oldest is a lovely 16 year old daughter named Jing Jing. There are not very many Chinese in Wolf Creek, so one might assume Li would interact with Tsu Chiao –but he does not. Li Wong despises the opium dealer and pimp, and is very protective of his own daughter -Tsu would like nothing better than to corrupt her. Jing Jing, meanwhile, is having a secret romance with one of Tsu's "nephews," Tsu Dong.

 Now, a brief excerpt from WOLF CREEK: BLOODY TRAIL featuring Dr. Logan Munro:

Almost immediately, like human buzzards, Wil Marsh - with some help from Elijah Gravely the undertaker - started arranging the bodies of the gang into suitable poses. Then, with his tripod and camera, he methodically set about taking the photographs that he imagined he would be able to sell to the Eastern magazines. 

Sheriff Satterlee took control and started to form a posse from the available able-bodied men and whoever had horses. He called an impromptu meeting in his office and prepared to swear in whoever could go.

            "Doc Munro, you had best stay in town and look after the wounded," he said, as he looked over the volunteers gathered in the office.

            "The hell with that, Sheriff. I have done what needs to be done. Doctor Cantrell knows enough medicine, as a dentist, to look after the wounded here. And Martha Pomeroy is a capable nurse." He started filling his meerschaum pipe. "I took the Hippocratic Oath and it is my duty to tend to the sick. I think I need to go, just in case any more of my friends here get hurt. And if we shoot any of that gang, it will be my solemn duty to treat and keep them alive."

He lit his pipe and his eyes narrowed as he blew out a stream of smoke. "Until we can hang the bastards, that is!"

Wolf Creek Characters #5 Derrick McCain

Wolf Creek is probably the most unique Western series ever produced. It is published by Western Fictioneers and written by Ford Fargo- who is actually about twenty different Western authors. Each one has created a unique character, and in each installment six authors collaborate to tell a story from the points of view of their particular creations.

amazon           B & N

It may sound complicated. but the result is anything but: each volume holds together remarkably well, and the series has been creating quite a bit of buzz.

I am the series editor, and one of my two characters appears in each book to help tie things together. Other than me we have a wonderful mix of genre veterans and best selling authors and up-and-coming newer writers who are making their mark.

This blog is the fifth in a five-part series highlighting the six main characters / writers of Wolf Creek Book I: Bloody Trail. The sixth installment will appear on Tuesday, Oct. 23, and the previous ones can be found here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

GIVEAWAY: One of our authors, Chery Pierson (who is being highlighted today) has upped the ante- she has offered to give away a trade paperback copy of Bloody Trail to one of our visitors. Anyone who leaves a comment on this or any of the other five blogs and leaves a contact email address will be eligible to win (you can also send said addy to me, at troy_d_smith@hotmail.com, if you prefer it not be public- but you still have to leave a comment!)

A winner will be chosen at random at 9am Central Time Friday morning, October 26, and will be emailed with the good news- it will also be announced in a comment on Blog 6, "Logan Munro." You can multiply your chances to win- by commenting on more than one of the six blogs. For every installment of the blog series you comment on, you will get one additional entry in the contest (alas, only one more per blog, so a possibility of six in all.)

That said, let's take a look at Cheryl's character.

DERRICK MCCAIN
farmer

Derrick is 18 when the War Between the States begins. His two older brothers leave immediately, refusing to take him with them. A few days after they leave, Derrick strikes out on his own, determined to make his own way. He joins up with the regular Confederate Army, with the hope that one day he will return to Wolf Creek and marry his sweetheart, Jolene. Things don't work out as he'd thought. His brothers are killed at Shiloh, and not long after, he receives word that his father, Andrew, has been murdered for his outspoken politics by a band of Jayhawkers. At this news, Derrick deserts to join up with Jim Danby's guerrilla band, who ride with Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson,  to seek revenge on the Jayhawkers who murdered his father. 

The day comes when Danby intends to do something so heinous that Derrick rebels, refusing to obey direct orders from the gang leader. Derrick tells him that he will not torture and murder their captives,  a small band of black Union soldiers who were sent to attack Bloody Bill Anderson during the Centralia Massacre. Danby has Derrick beaten and left for dead, giving orders for the others in his band to shoot the Union soldiers. But one of the black men, Charley Blackfeather, manages to get away, never knowing that Derrick stood up for them.

Derrick is found by a farmer who lives nearby and taken to the man's house, where he's cared for. The end of the war comes as Derrick heals enough to ride once more. He returns to Wolf Creek, not sure of his place in the world--Jolene has married a Yankee, and he finds himself the only male survivor of the McCain family. He steps into the unwanted role of settling into the life of a farmer, his younger sister less than welcoming since she has married due to necessity because of his absence. Derrick's world is turned upside down a few  years down the road when the Danby gang comes to pay the citizens of Wolf Creek a call. Derrick is sure of only one thing this time around: in order to make peace with himself, he has to ride with the posse to avenge what Danby's gang has done to his town. He swears to kill or be killed, on the BLOODY TRAIL.

With each installment, I have also been including info on one of the supporting characters that the writers share. This one was also created by Cheryl Pierson:

CARSON RIDGE:  A full-blood Cherokee and Derrick McCain's childhood best friend. Raised in the eastern part of Indian Territory in the Cherokee Nation, he's well-educated having attended the Indian school where Derrick's father was headmaster for several years. When Derrick's family moves to Wolf Creek, Kansas, Carson hopes that once Derrick learns the reason for the move, he will someday return to Indian Territory and the heritage that belongs to him. Carson's past is something he doesn't talk about much. He has become a Lighthorse officer for the Cherokee Nation. As the years pass, he believes he will never see his friend again...until fate brings them together under the most unlikely circumstance.

And here is some background on Cheryl Pierson:

Cheryl was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, and grew up in Seminole, Oklahoma. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and holds a B.A. in English. She has taught numerous writing classes and workshops over the past years and also works on an individual basis with many of her students, and other authors, locally and nationwide.

Cheryl's most recent publications include the first two novellas of her YA historical western serires, "KANE'S REDEMPTION" and "KANE'S PROMISE," with WESTERN TRAIL BLAZER publishing. Her debut novel, "FIRE EYES," was released in May, 2009, and was an EPIC AWARD FINALIST in 2010. With a brand new cover and a complete re-edit, "FIRE EYES" was re-released in 2012 through WESTERN TRAIL BLAZERS. Her second novel, "TIME PLAINS DRIFTER," was re-released through WESTERN TRAIL BLAZERS in July, 2011. Switching from the historical genre to contemporary romantic suspense, her third novel, "SWEET DANGER" was released through THE WILD ROSE PRESS in 2010.

Cheryl lives with her husband in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she has been for the past 27 years. She has two grown children, ages 23 and 26.
You can e-mail her at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com

Horror Short Stories for Halloween

The season of fear is upon us!

Check out some of these 99-cent ebook shorts to satisfy your hunger for terror...

"Two frontiersmen stumble across a wildly swirling aperture -mesmerizing, fantastic, and unspeakably evil. And something is trying to come through... to a place called Little Bighorn."

Amazon       B & N

"A small group of prospectors lost in the north woods reallize they are not alone. The wild, keening howl floating on the wind chills their bones -it is a hunger older than time."

Amazon      B & N

"Colonel Jeffords has more to worry about than the Confederate Army. He has chosen to employ an infamous Union guerrilla band led by the mysterious Captain Vincent Caine -a band so bloodthirsty that the enemy might not be enough to satiate them. Vincent Caine has a secret, you see -a terrible, terrible secret. And a terrible hunger..."

Amazon          B & N

"Jerry Carp's day takes a turn for the worse when he awakens to find himself bound and gagged. But that is not as disturbing as the sobs and screams... and the whirring of the drill..."

Amazon       B & N

And coming Nov. 1, from Western Fictioneers:

Featuring the story "Bitter Mountain" by Troy D. Smith

"Killing Curtis Baker was much easier than he thought it would be.

That is not to say that Donald Andrews had anticipated any moral qualms at the last instant, or that he had been uncertain whether his conscience would allow him to take the fatal action. He had decided in late autumn of 1884 that his friend Curtis had to die, and once that realization had dawned on him he lost no sleep over the matter. It was only a matter of waiting for the right circumstances to arrive..."

Lifetime Achievement Award for Fred Hoxie

I was delighted to hear that Frederick Hoxie -my mentor, co-adviser, and dissertation director -has been selected to receive the American Indian History Lifetime Achievement Award at the Western History Association's conference in Denver on Oct. 7, 2012.

Hoxie is the Swanlund Professor of History and Law at the University of Illinois. He is a rigorous editor, an excellent writer, and a consummate scholar.

About twenty years ago, I was an unpublished author who had never been to college -I was in my mid-20s, supporting a family by cleaning floors. I was very excited about the new Time-Life American Indian series, and one of the few purchases I was able to make with my very limited disposable income was the new volume of that series, mailed to my house monthly to be devoured at once. I never could have imagined at that point that fifteen years later the general editor of that collection would be my friend and mentor.

I tried to sum up Fred's accomplishments for this blog entry, and decided that the best approach would just be to simply quote from his page at the University of Illinois website:


An American historian who specializes in Native American history, Professor Frederick E. Hoxie is Swanlund Professor of History and professor of law at UIUC. His undergraduate courses include a two-semester survey course on the history of Native Americans, upper level courses in American Indian law, "Natives and Newcomers" (a comparative look at indigenous peoples and European expansion), and other special topics. He regularly offers graduate seminars in Native American history and ethnohistorical approaches to the past. He also teaches undergraduate survey courses in U.S. history.

Dr. Hoxie came to Illinois in 1998 from the Newberry Library, a private research library in Chicago, where he had served as vice president for research and education. At the Newberry, he developed programs for scholars, students and teachers that promoted the study of the Native American past and administered an internationally-acclaimed research and fellowship program for scholars in all fields.

He also oversaw the Library's exhibits and programs for the general public. These programs were supported by a variety of foundations and government agencies, including the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dr. Hoxie received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College in 1969 and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1977. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from Amherst College (1994) and Long Island University (2000). He taught at Antioch College from 1977 to 1983, and from 1986 to 1998 was an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University. His publications include A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the American Indians, 1880-1920 (1984), The Crows (1989), Parading Through History: The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805-1935 (1995), The Encyclopedia of North American Indians (1996), and Talking Back to Civilization: Indian Voices From the Progressive Era (2001). In 2006 Houghton Mifflin, Co., published a Native American history text co-authored by Professor Hoxie, R. David Edmunds, and Neal Salisbury entitled, The People: A History of Native America.

Professor Hoxie has served as a consultant and expert witness to the U. S. Department of Justice, the U. S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes and Little Big Horn College.

He is general editor of The American Indians, a 23-volume series of books published by Time-Life that has sold over two million copies, and series editor (with Neal Salisbury) for Cambridge Studies in American Indian History, published by Cambridge University Press.

Dr. Hoxie was a founding trustee of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian and has served on the boards of the Illinois Humanities Council and the Organization of American Historians. He is the former president of the American Society for Ethnohistory and has held fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.



Congratulations on a very well deserved honor.