tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2834859164169420332024-03-06T01:42:20.470-06:00BackstoryAdventures in writing -- with photos.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-9594379725536436712013-12-27T18:56:00.001-06:002013-12-27T18:56:29.229-06:00BACKSTORY has movedMax McCoy's <a href="http://www.maxmccoy.com/backstory/">BACKSTORY</a> blog has moved. Please update your bookmarks. Thanks!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.maxmccoy.com/backstory/">http://www.maxmccoy.com/backstory/</a>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-74713650399932425432012-01-29T14:10:00.000-06:002012-01-29T14:10:27.072-06:00SIXTH RIDER at No. 44 on Amazon bestsellers list<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJ1RVWWzn8q8DKqG3n_e2GKWcswN1putzl50m-1oMtZfGhyt4eP0ToFAkdvShJ2gPodOZ6PsKzW1NB-1LcgIaxYAWmVA5gCKr-D2W9Y0ZeqCf03FAhiSvdqnSQPfGRD2G80_-CrSMekQ/s1600/Untitled+picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJ1RVWWzn8q8DKqG3n_e2GKWcswN1putzl50m-1oMtZfGhyt4eP0ToFAkdvShJ2gPodOZ6PsKzW1NB-1LcgIaxYAWmVA5gCKr-D2W9Y0ZeqCf03FAhiSvdqnSQPfGRD2G80_-CrSMekQ/s400/Untitled+picture+2.png" width="400" /></a></div>THE SIXTH RIDER has reached No. 44 on Amazon's Top 100 list.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-59808451914458759022012-01-29T02:38:00.001-06:002012-01-29T02:45:57.103-06:00Giving away a few thousand books to new friends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaM6hpjTX6tJxtR3IgqkO3kujm44dqSpVKajf9Frsjqxh9q0y_M6tzpv3LHYNDdgo3c4XVCgchgpArqcYnWDbdGIJy6FKN5iXDmz13opXOgwlG58wpa4n5ovFbM8m0m8hA4Act5x5CbM/s400/Untitled+picture.png" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I write this, the Kinde edition of my novel THE SIXTH RIDER is now #1 in Kindle westerns, #3 in Kindle historicals, and #75 for all books. That's right, all Kindle books. Up 78,886 ranks from the day before.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How did I land my novel in the top 100 Kindle list on Amazon?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm giving it away.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now, giving away books seems like a foolish idea, especially when the numbers can run into the thousands. In fact, the number of ebooks given away in the last 24 hours exceeds the entire print run of the original Doubleday hardcover. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But as any media weasel can tell you, the problem today is not throwing advertising at a mass audience, but figuring out how to reach just the right audience. In my case, readers who are likely to respond to the kinds of stories I tell -- dark and quirky (and I hope, literate). So, with no fanfare, I dropped the price on THE SIXTH RIDER from $3.99 to free to see what would happen. I'll spare you the details but the promotion was made possible by Amazon through a special program involving Amazon Prime. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Kindle readers are apparently very hungry for good, free books. The promotion began at 3 a.m. Saturday, and the response has been dramatic. The proof is in the screen shot of my sales figure from Amazon's Author Central, top. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the face of it, it would seem I'm throwing away away thousands of dollars in royalties -- $13,950 in royalties, in fact, based on the thousands of copies given away so far. So, why would I do it? Simple: I want receptive readers. I've been frustrated in the past with the way publishers and bookstores have marketed my books. They always seem to be shelved in the wrong areas, or the covers suggest a traditional westerns, which I don't do. Some readers have even been angry that the book wasn't what they expected, and I can't say I blame them. I'd be mad, too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Take HELLFIRE CANYON, for instance. It won the Spur Award for Best Mass Market Novel from the Western Writers of America and also was named a Kansas Notable Book by the state library, but the cover and cover copy didn't remotely match what the book was about. With the Kindle books, at least the ones that I have the rights to, I can control the covers and the copy. In the case of THE SIXTH RIDER, I even asked Johnny D. Boggs, a noted western writer and former president of WWA, to write an introduction that would signal the tone of the book. I wanted to make sure that readers knew what they were in for.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">THE SIXTH RIDER has had steady but modest sales since being released as Kindle, but I always thought it could do better. The problem was finding a bigger audience. After all, my books get great reviews, they win awards, and I've have a small but passionate fan base. Now, in just one weekend, I have thousands of readers who were interested enough to download THE SIXTH RIDER and give it a try. And I think they'll like it enough to pay to give my other books a try as well, especially the trilogy that begins with HELLFIRE CANYON.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We'll see. If it works, I'll let you know. If it doesn't -- well, I'll let you know that, too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The worst that can happen is that I gave a few thousand people a free copy of a book I believe in. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And if you're reading this before midnight Sunday, Jan. 29, when the promotion ends, then click on the heading above. It will take you to the Amazon page where you can download THE SIXTH RIDER to your Kindle device. If you like the book, please blog about it or post a review. After all, you got it for free. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Now, I have to get back to what I'm supposed to be doing: finishing my next book under contract, the first in a paranormal mystery series set in the Old West. I think readers who have liked my other stuff will love this. So, back to work.</div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-24525365948900299812012-01-02T03:38:00.004-06:002012-01-02T03:42:09.111-06:00DAMNATION ROAD in school libraries? Yes!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qJPZ9iDQFYAF6jQf7Fs-Ofyv1sOB0tyrHFEdFFrrwl4RyFfKguL2CQtHqJQwlTiFSTn3kVcI4WwFbLWqTXGdq5u89cq0jbsKOq4S0HfJChw66rYAvLI5vSBwnEu51kXZndR50s25V84/s1600/9780786021215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qJPZ9iDQFYAF6jQf7Fs-Ofyv1sOB0tyrHFEdFFrrwl4RyFfKguL2CQtHqJQwlTiFSTn3kVcI4WwFbLWqTXGdq5u89cq0jbsKOq4S0HfJChw66rYAvLI5vSBwnEu51kXZndR50s25V84/s1600/9780786021215.jpg" /></a></div>I love it when my material connects with readers. Here's a surprising review posted over at <a href="http://www.abookandahug.com/westerns-2/21200-damnation-road">A Book and A Hug</a>, a site to help encourage kids to read. The reviewer, Robert L. Hicks (a high school librarian) does an admirable job of characterizing the book while cautioning teachers:<br />
<br />
<i>DAMNATION ROAD for mature readers, ages 14 and up. <br />
<br />
This is the third book in the award winning "Jacob Gamble" trilogy (Spur Awards). Yes, westerns also have series novels. The first two novels being Hellfire Canyon and Canyon Diablo. Whereas in Hellfire the reader met Jacob at thirteen-years-old, now it is 1898 and the main character is nearing fifty. The wild west is disappearing. As with many westerners, Jacob is on the wrong side of the law, sometimes on the fence, and sometimes his heart coerces him to do what's right. The reader is always hoping he will finally redeem himself and eventually go straight. <br />
<br />
Since the author grew up in Kansas and teaches at Emporia, Kansas, it's no surprise the setting of his novels are Missouri, Kansas cowtowns, and Oklahoma Territory. Will his life end like the real Oklahoma outlaw, Bill Doolin? While in the Guthrie jail, his defense lawyer ends up being the historical and colorful character,Temple Houston--son of the legendary father Sam and the model for Ferber's Cimarron (1929)main character, Yancy Cravat. Not trusting the legal system, Jacob escapes and flees to Cuba with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Might the Colonel give him a pardon? <br />
<br />
On the other hand, there's this temptation of a big haul from a train robbery--no such luck. And there's a corrupt Pinkerton dogging his trail but also a "too good to be true" tale of a lost, Confederate treasure from the lips of a mysteries and seductive woman he can't resist. Could this be his last chance? Isn't that what the West was, a place for second chances or where one could erase the past and begin anew? <br />
<br />
This is no candy coated cowboy story. Representative of the real West, there is some profanity and soiled doves do populate the novel although readers are assumed worldly enough so practicing details of their profession are unnecessary. The author's literary strengths are fascinating, rounded characters, convincing dialog, real gun play, and yes, humor. As a cat lover, I appreciated this exchange: ' "I'm a Pinkerton operative"..."Shush," the old man said, "You'll wake Killer." But the cat seemed far from disturbed. "What did the subject buy?"..."Don't recall." Don't you keep a record of sales or--" "Now why the hell would I do that?"..."How do you know if you've made a profit?" "If there's money left over at the end of the month to buy coffee and beans, I've made a profit....You chew or smoke?" "I avoid tobacco,...It's a filthy habit"..."Killer don't think so." "What Killer may or may not think is immaterial...Describe his [Jacob's] companions." "...a wicked hellcat of a girl...She was trouble, wasn't she, Killer?" The old man scratched the cat beneath the chin and the cat roused briefly and shook his head annoyed. "Sorry, Princess Killer. I'll let you sleep." "What kind of a name is that for a common cat?" Jaeger asked. "It doesn't even make sense." "My damned cat," the old man said. "I can name it what I damned well please." '<br />
<br />
For those interested in the novel's setting, historical personalities, and books the author probably utilized, pick up Paul I. Wellman's A Dynasty Of Western Outlaws (1961), Draw: The Greatest Gunfights Of The American West (2003),Bill Doolin, Outlaw O.T (1980) by Hanes, and any Glenn Shirley books such asTemple Houston: Lawyer With a Gun (1980) & West Of Hell's Fringe(1978). I might also suggest you play the 1973 Eagles Desperado album while reading such literature:<br />
<br />
<br />
Go down, Bill Doolin, dont' you wonder why<br />
Sooner or later we all have to die?<br />
Sooner or later, that's a stone--cold fact,<br />
Four men ride out and only three ride back.<br />
<br />
2011 winner of the Spur Award for best original paperback novel. 280 pages.<br />
<br />
Recommended by Robert L. Hicks, high school librarian</i><br />
<br />
Do check out the rest of his rather lengthy review... he excerpts one of my favorite scenes, featuring a cat named Killer (those who know me will immediately recognize the feline), makes some shrewd guesses about my nonfiction source material (Paul I. Wellman and Glenn Shirley), and even suggests playing the Eagles' 1973 album Desperado while reading. Right on all counts, Mr. Hicks. I'd love to visit your school library someday and do a workshop for your students.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-55678167679486721092011-08-06T02:03:00.000-05:002011-08-06T02:03:45.096-05:00Sixty-six years ago today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgErDEMmK9_nzE0HIwYOfoEVsxDJ_moT7i1tB31GrrTT931VdWFqaTzKCPvYhp2stoqAL3VHJ3pkkBbPk7n6BhYaN1R6z1Zd13G78xIihEBle3duVBPoiH868_EGidl9D0iXMuIAfGY66U/s1600/Japan+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgErDEMmK9_nzE0HIwYOfoEVsxDJ_moT7i1tB31GrrTT931VdWFqaTzKCPvYhp2stoqAL3VHJ3pkkBbPk7n6BhYaN1R6z1Zd13G78xIihEBle3duVBPoiH868_EGidl9D0iXMuIAfGY66U/s400/Japan+3.jpg" width="277" /></a></div>Today is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. At left is a photo I made on the day of the 41st anniversary, looking through the canopy of the Memorial Cenotaph to the A-bomb dome in the distance. The dome capped the city's industrial exhibition hall in 1945 and was directly beneath the atomic bomb, which exploded in the air. The dome survived because it had a steel framework and wasn't subjected to lateral blast pressure; other buildings near ground zero were destroyed. People caught outside buildings were vaporized, some leaving only their shadows on sidewalks and stone steps.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-7451789869244929782011-08-05T00:52:00.002-05:002011-08-05T00:54:09.997-05:00ZERO MINUTES update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4rLp01PFzbifDDVsYGdUV9VxZ7B2ZAIUmK_99Zy8_730MyZYohqSAN_AaBfO9qaEYLkoAtkKc2SVlKfgz7gnkotC_llDn2VXU9ZOBVJfwayaUPD7_zLyixCZsZhdLjC7bxOjbtt_rPI/s1600/Japan+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4rLp01PFzbifDDVsYGdUV9VxZ7B2ZAIUmK_99Zy8_730MyZYohqSAN_AaBfO9qaEYLkoAtkKc2SVlKfgz7gnkotC_llDn2VXU9ZOBVJfwayaUPD7_zLyixCZsZhdLjC7bxOjbtt_rPI/s320/Japan+7.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>Tomorrow is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, so I've been in some rush to add more photos to the companion site to my Kindle book, ZERO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span>I'm happy to report that my photos of Yoshito Matsushige and other survivors (made in 1986) are now up. For the photo minded among you, the images were made with a Canon F1n on 35mm black-and-white Ilford film, rolled from bulk. The lens (for most of the portraits) was a 135mm 2.8, as I recall. ZERO MINUTES has been doing well since its release, and made the top ten in the bestseller category of <i>Nonfiction... Disaster. </i> If you have a moment, please go to Amazon and check it out (just click on the link above). Don't have a Kindle? You can download a free app that will let you read and manage Kindle books on your Mac or PC. Several people have emailed to ask if ZERO MINUTES will also come out in print, and the answer now is probably not. The digital edition, I feel, is the right format. Also, a print version just could not compete with the 99-cent digital book.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-67196855689378998122011-08-05T00:37:00.001-05:002013-09-24T11:11:55.712-05:00ZERO MINUTES updateMax McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-52871783701339771432011-07-31T19:48:00.003-05:002011-07-31T19:52:23.992-05:00Companion site to ZERO MINUTES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPmPTR_JcQSdUeS57AiHdbDwXOAtwP-a-e-f2wshFJbxxOFTC1rQLtZRFJokcGl4lXFN7vCHYB3dqUejUBsTMI5Ufizys8fCkIhTaWxBEfFGqQtSxGEn6f7W_f1WwCxFU8KFZS1kG2Bw/s1600/Hiroshima-2thumb+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPmPTR_JcQSdUeS57AiHdbDwXOAtwP-a-e-f2wshFJbxxOFTC1rQLtZRFJokcGl4lXFN7vCHYB3dqUejUBsTMI5Ufizys8fCkIhTaWxBEfFGqQtSxGEn6f7W_f1WwCxFU8KFZS1kG2Bw/s1600/Hiroshima-2thumb+copy.jpg" /></a></div>Next week, Aug. 6, is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. As a companion site to my Kindle edition of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Minutes-to-Midnight-ebook/dp/B005EV5U0K"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">ZERO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT</span></a>, I have posted the only known images made in Hiroshima the day the bomb fell. They were made by 32-year-old newspaper photographer Yoshito Matsushige. I met Matsushige in 1986 and he gave me five prints he made from the original negatives, along with his captions in English. Go to the site and click on the thumbnails for high-resolution scans of each of the photos. The detail in three of the photos is heartbreaking. There are also imperfections in the negatives, where the emulsion has run or cracked; lacking a darkroom, Matsushige developed the images in kitchen trays and washed them in a nearby stream.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-68141725869606556712011-07-29T14:33:00.001-05:002011-07-29T14:40:34.110-05:00ZERO MINUTES debuts on Kindle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7DdqBrdH4OyxgduE5l2ilhcOxHp7IdHoNAkRde50fUzOnKgqw3bFfoOkGi9Jsw8dx18vatgMeA4nkr2s6ir2S4o6Q6b2YjWNG2MSCc6bdfzbEKhhx0Vg0_R-EFVw7p0SN_38My0xX8I/s1600/Zero+Cover+3x4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7DdqBrdH4OyxgduE5l2ilhcOxHp7IdHoNAkRde50fUzOnKgqw3bFfoOkGi9Jsw8dx18vatgMeA4nkr2s6ir2S4o6Q6b2YjWNG2MSCc6bdfzbEKhhx0Vg0_R-EFVw7p0SN_38My0xX8I/s320/Zero+Cover+3x4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My new Kindle ebook, ZERO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT, which has been available for less than 48 hours, was ranked in the top 25 on two paid Amazon bestseller lists this morning. ZERO MINUTES collects my interviews with the survivors of the atomic bombings in 1986, when I traveled to Japan on a journalism grant, and adds new material as well. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the book description: </span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Forty-one years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, award-winning journalist Max McCoy traveled to Japan to interview and photograph the survivors. "Zero Minutes to Midnight" is the result, a nonfiction narrative in eight parts which gives voice to those who witnessed nuclear apocalypse.</span><br style="font-family: inherit;" /><br style="font-family: inherit;" /><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Japanese, the survivors are called hibakusha -- literally, "those who received the bomb." Featured is the story of Yoshito Matsushige, the newspaper photographer who shot the only images of Hiroshima the day the bomb fell. A special section includes some of those historic photos, as well as black-and-white portraits of the survivors made by McCoy in 1986. </span><br style="font-family: inherit;" /><br style="font-family: inherit;" /><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a new introduction, the author recalls the effect of that trip on his own life, and in the afterword--written in the wake of Japan's March 2011 earthquake and nuclear meltdown--he reminds us that apocalypse is always only a minute away. "Zero Minutes to Midnight" is long enough to present a compelling and historic portrait of the hibakusha, but short enough to read in a single sitting.</span></i></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Did I mention it's only 99 cents? </span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-23848051307319185862011-07-17T15:05:00.002-05:002011-07-17T15:46:02.401-05:00RIDER on Kindle<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheI7VcR_eZasKx4htiiMr03gVPaxlW2gQLh1pnX0jaYQvbk-kOmRuXU9w1uJ33Z4B3RhbdbYF5xqyubyoPjj5MUMgb29R6_OdjbdCWVSnAUrz30_FJ5RORz1cI1sFcGPeYQAbHE42v274/s1600/IMG_0538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheI7VcR_eZasKx4htiiMr03gVPaxlW2gQLh1pnX0jaYQvbk-kOmRuXU9w1uJ33Z4B3RhbdbYF5xqyubyoPjj5MUMgb29R6_OdjbdCWVSnAUrz30_FJ5RORz1cI1sFcGPeYQAbHE42v274/s640/IMG_0538.JPG" width="396" /></a></div><br />
</div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-7650613938276245142011-07-02T01:03:00.001-05:002011-07-02T01:21:50.513-05:00A pair of 2011 Spurs<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0WniWttWF5rXqHPxMQaqlSoKXjAwawwXLu3KPcKz2zFamnbVW7EsASYwYrc7sU4jvzhDTlM0GEvd7KEhw8AiNYHksLxznFYnPN4dxj-cf8p_1mtHxebskpOyv7ZQHY38OQDesi2oxSo/s1600/IMG_7086-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0WniWttWF5rXqHPxMQaqlSoKXjAwawwXLu3KPcKz2zFamnbVW7EsASYwYrc7sU4jvzhDTlM0GEvd7KEhw8AiNYHksLxznFYnPN4dxj-cf8p_1mtHxebskpOyv7ZQHY38OQDesi2oxSo/s320/IMG_7086-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here I am with my friend Red Shuttleworth, rounder and poet, immediately following the awards banquet at the Western Writers of America Convention last Saturday, June 25, at Bismarck, North Dakota. Red won the poetry award and I won the mass market fiction award for <i>Damnation Road. </i>Actually, the award I'm holding isn't really my award, but the Spur for the writers of the HBO film <i>Temple Grandin. </i>There was some snafu with my award reaching Bismarck, so the HBO award was used as a placeholder for my presentation. The photo is used courtesy Johnny D. Boggs. <i> </i></div></div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-7794511221483077472011-06-21T23:57:00.001-05:002011-06-22T00:04:56.508-05:00Deliver us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37qKqPDbXzaPyg8bUNX9DAeYKyjomBPzIdbxGqIlh9ZfOiO4ED2vUIz3fYMvQhijEyl6fN1K12pgzkSLHYhqu6kRFgAH7VW_fA42PwMJ9Ky-s0tj9bckA72EWid5SfJlrvYDtwM1wezQ/s1600/IMG_00165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37qKqPDbXzaPyg8bUNX9DAeYKyjomBPzIdbxGqIlh9ZfOiO4ED2vUIz3fYMvQhijEyl6fN1K12pgzkSLHYhqu6kRFgAH7VW_fA42PwMJ9Ky-s0tj9bckA72EWid5SfJlrvYDtwM1wezQ/s200/IMG_00165.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKry0pG8SFZYvFh2Q4bzJvnfxK5O11REfxJxA13zbHgpn16IOaplhDQFCP7-yNTSouEW76S8w39rtczl4IkBy4YBv_joXM0u9oDG57tuLw_wMtROS3CIFYlEZrW4LcAQRNN9__IeCrRVw/s1600/IMG_0021s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKry0pG8SFZYvFh2Q4bzJvnfxK5O11REfxJxA13zbHgpn16IOaplhDQFCP7-yNTSouEW76S8w39rtczl4IkBy4YBv_joXM0u9oDG57tuLw_wMtROS3CIFYlEZrW4LcAQRNN9__IeCrRVw/s400/IMG_0021s.jpg" width="400" /></a>Walking around Bismarck this afternoon I spotted this statue in the courtyard of St. Mary's at Eighth and Broadway. A Marian figure, obviously. Nicely done. But what intrigued me was what lurked beneath Mary's right foot.Yes, I know it's supposed to represent a victory over evil. But the serpent doesn't seem quite contained... but perhaps I'm just reacting to the historic floods here, the twisters back home, the economy, the Japan nuclear crisis, a fall down the stairs. I'm in North Dakota for the annual Western Writers of America convention, and took advantage of a break in the rain to explore a bit. Surprising what you find.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-27387428116820119892011-05-28T15:34:00.001-05:002013-09-24T11:11:55.664-05:00<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0Yb3_omnsOTF48fgdQF0fqCYbjYn16W-aymraIejLDUIULRU-827XwibiaQK87xFjfFtbwyCBPkSlas0imu_GtZXW5qJ4oLWDFrXGoVKXCzOmu61TLLtNcGpTZ3lw_C1xn9b3eaWgQs/s1600/IMG_0151.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0Yb3_omnsOTF48fgdQF0fqCYbjYn16W-aymraIejLDUIULRU-827XwibiaQK87xFjfFtbwyCBPkSlas0imu_GtZXW5qJ4oLWDFrXGoVKXCzOmu61TLLtNcGpTZ3lw_C1xn9b3eaWgQs/s320/IMG_0151.JPG" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img align="middle" alt="Posted by Picasa" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 50% transparent; border: 0px none; padding: 0px;" /></a></div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-11222590893748641322011-05-11T12:14:00.001-05:002011-05-11T12:14:44.161-05:00Father's Day special<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rxRpeRmPve3htjo-8iqXR_8UrwoUVJ_ni39L41xXMLTHHK5owzKrRBcw7sFGkCJbffBfX4EijpSAu0UvEawZra21ZSnerRVCVytk0VpiMwruKD7xQzrE2HkbOTIPwWM5QtDU9eqhVOA/s320/Sixth+Rider.jpg" width="213" /><span id="goog_590424336"></span><span id="goog_590424337"></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">From now until Father's Day, June 20, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004KABA28/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0R45R07APJRCBBBM24XH&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846" style="color: cyan;">THE SIXTH RIDER</a> Kindle edition will be on sale for $2.99. That's a savings of nearly 40 percent off the regular price of $4.77 for this book, which won the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for Best First Novel.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-21788383692874277012011-04-18T20:27:00.001-05:002013-09-24T11:11:55.629-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcG4XjZDIKew_0iPqybAy-4BmXkBFfVMlddmj_QoRbRG_CNF3S8D5bYzSQw_IRkFR7vRMQ9Ic4wNQ_lXhJ7erD6r05Tj4LqSVFNv9nl1zY-GtkLG_IF6uqDnesScVMX-6uUffcGg7Daw/s1600/CRW_0071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcG4XjZDIKew_0iPqybAy-4BmXkBFfVMlddmj_QoRbRG_CNF3S8D5bYzSQw_IRkFR7vRMQ9Ic4wNQ_lXhJ7erD6r05Tj4LqSVFNv9nl1zY-GtkLG_IF6uqDnesScVMX-6uUffcGg7Daw/s400/CRW_0071.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Here's Earl running the material we got from the Llano River. We were at Long's Camp, north Kingsland, Texas, where you can fish or dig for a few bucks a day. The Llano basin is rich in history, and the surrounding hillsides are full of old silver mines. A mineralogist by the name of N. J. Badu also discovered a rare form of radioactive Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-35834391273585374672011-04-18T20:05:00.059-05:002011-04-20T00:06:53.390-05:00Gold prospecting adventure<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtwLNT4e-FBbm6faDsKIzMDkAVHIejZPWbRTtvZqxlPKzK2XOkIptrh6HzDyqcBUPsu33ot67dJbqjsHFkyvt2m3riqfELbnLFzL67UIXmmWKFed8vAaMfJdDMXdz5MD3OSm_2rSNIqd4/s1600/IMG_0109.JPG"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRP_vwWIaLMe_ARjovBPkgr0ZKTzsZmvPe0kh_rOkgFxFufNXvEdsMC_bhmdwNAKTAUz4ZmpWWSfM9EnvTWH2bdNZUKPzjpDf2H2hn2KhUbsnWmyGSJHjhlehL32KK0kNYQENOeMYRLuk/s1600/IMG_0103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRP_vwWIaLMe_ARjovBPkgr0ZKTzsZmvPe0kh_rOkgFxFufNXvEdsMC_bhmdwNAKTAUz4ZmpWWSfM9EnvTWH2bdNZUKPzjpDf2H2hn2KhUbsnWmyGSJHjhlehL32KK0kNYQENOeMYRLuk/s640/IMG_0103.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtwLNT4e-FBbm6faDsKIzMDkAVHIejZPWbRTtvZqxlPKzK2XOkIptrh6HzDyqcBUPsu33ot67dJbqjsHFkyvt2m3riqfELbnLFzL67UIXmmWKFed8vAaMfJdDMXdz5MD3OSm_2rSNIqd4/s320/IMG_0109.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /> With gold topping $1,500 an ounce for the first time in history today, it seems a good time to post some photos from my gold prospecting adventure on the Llano River in the hill country of central Texas. My friend W.C. Jameson introduced me to gold prospector Earl Theiss, who graciously brought out his equipment to let me do some hands-on dredging. After briefing me on what to expect -- rocks either slick with moss or as harsh as sandpaper, water typically between three and five feet but with some holes over your head, and being prepared for a physically and mentally adventure -- he turned me loose. The dredge is sort of like a souped-up vacuum cleaner that Hoovers material from the bottom of the river into a 4-inch nozzle and spits out out into a floating sluice box. Air was supplied by a hookah rig on the dredge (I supplied my own wet suit, mask, gloves, and dive experience -- this is scuba diving, so if you'd like to try it, you'd better be certified). After gathering material for a couple of hours from the beautiful pink granite bottom of the river, and paying particular attention to cracks and crevices, as Earl instructed, we were ready to see what we got. That's Earl (left) and me transferring the stuff we collected in the sluice on the dredge into a bucket to further refine and, eventually, to pan. We were at a place called Long's Fishing Camp, north of Kingsland, and it was a beautiful spring day. Eighty degree weather. Back in Kansas, it was snowing.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-31360955997038739512011-04-18T20:02:00.029-05:002011-04-20T00:02:56.399-05:00Llano gold!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZZYvexZC6T86v_LlMog-h1nwxk8odZOON7-rOxCxi-1D5OsBVrRqpRG8vpBVN7Ovc1pVJhXglE5TM3cXn26BTg-k5uPfJLS-BAGz4A-wMO3_5oPsOWq7eGo4SaKQyumvGMQwd4uPkEU/s1600/IMG_0386-1.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZZYvexZC6T86v_LlMog-h1nwxk8odZOON7-rOxCxi-1D5OsBVrRqpRG8vpBVN7Ovc1pVJhXglE5TM3cXn26BTg-k5uPfJLS-BAGz4A-wMO3_5oPsOWq7eGo4SaKQyumvGMQwd4uPkEU/s320/IMG_0386-1.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a>The end result of a half-day diving, dredging, and panning the Llano River. Not enough to retire on, but not bad for a few hours of fun. Thanks, Earl!<br />
<br />
We ate lunch at Cooper's Barbecue in Llano -- and it was the very best barbecue I've ever had, and just as good as I remember it when W.C. and Fred Bean took me there some 15 years ago.<br />
<br />
I'll be returning to central Texas on Sept. 24 and 25, 2011, to sign books at the<span style="color: cyan;"> </span><a href="http://www.llanoexpo.com/" style="color: cyan;">Llano River Outdoor Expo</a><span style="color: cyan;">.</span> There will be a gold panning and metal detecting competitions and much more. And if you're interested in more about gold prospecting, geology, the history of the Llano area in general, and the local gold prospecting club, check out <a href="http://llanogold.com/" style="color: cyan;">llanogold</a>.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-12277677546607434092011-04-12T15:20:00.001-05:002011-04-20T00:08:47.902-05:00Signing at Guthrie May 7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0DpZcQWpEgi0Zlfn4gVKs9mVrYpTTWiDQVEQZNJ8GgAn63Yk42DATbzNjKrfBSn5qHYsKtuq1zmEmzTRrs664S92f7Gvn9A2CbdLRigR3L6RhhVJH1hWXHA2yOhmU7iCytkz_XJ9Wp5A/s1600/23088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0DpZcQWpEgi0Zlfn4gVKs9mVrYpTTWiDQVEQZNJ8GgAn63Yk42DATbzNjKrfBSn5qHYsKtuq1zmEmzTRrs664S92f7Gvn9A2CbdLRigR3L6RhhVJH1hWXHA2yOhmU7iCytkz_XJ9Wp5A/s200/23088.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The Guthrie Public Library is hosting a DAMNATION ROAD book signing from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 7. The novel -- which has won a 2011 Spur Award form the Western Writers of America -- is largely set in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, at the close of the 19th Century. The library is at 201 North Division Street.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-7619600093509767762011-03-28T13:59:00.000-06:002011-03-28T13:59:37.872-06:00DAMNATION ROAD wins Spur Award<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLTaXf_E-u3iELModk_pe6lc5pJP0eK8h1JlS_hnHc_JT4UTQxC_7c4TurHHq2nWQHo3YYuOTU_wqOEsBTMtFK4LXzXnalLHG3gdaEcUBzfXikd8pUd_0Nax9qCbg2xkBO_t94im3AKs/s1600/Damnation+Road+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLTaXf_E-u3iELModk_pe6lc5pJP0eK8h1JlS_hnHc_JT4UTQxC_7c4TurHHq2nWQHo3YYuOTU_wqOEsBTMtFK4LXzXnalLHG3gdaEcUBzfXikd8pUd_0Nax9qCbg2xkBO_t94im3AKs/s320/Damnation+Road+Cover.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>Max McCoy has won a 2011 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for his novel, <i>Damnation Road</i>. Set in Oklahoma Territory at the turn of the last century, the book continues the story of irascible outlaw Jacob Gamble, who is now nearing fifty and confronted by a new west of telephones, smokeless powder and moving pictures. <i>Damnation Road</i>, which was named the best mass market original novel by the WWA, was published in September by Kensington, New York. It is the final novel in McCoy’s western noir trilogy. The first book, <i>Hellfire Canyon</i>, which introduced Jacob Gamble at age 13 during the Civil War, also won a Spur and was named a 2008 Kansas Notable Book by the state library.<br />
<br />
This year’s awards were announced Monday by the Western Writers of America. Other winners include <i>True Grit</i>, a film by Joel and Ethan Coen, for best drama, and <i>The Killing of Crazy Horse</i> by Thomas Powers, for best historical nonfiction. The awards will be presented at WWA’s annual convention June 21-25 at Bismarck, N.D.<br />
<br />
The Spur Awards, given annually for distinguished writing about the American West, are among the oldest and most prestigious in American literature. In 1953, when the awards were established by WWA, western fiction was a staple of American publishing. At the time awards were given to the best western novel, best historical novel, best juvenile, and best short story. Since then the awards have been broadened to include other types of writing about the West. Today, Spurs are offered for the best western novel (short novel), best novel of the west (long novel), best original paperback novel, best short story, best short nonfiction. Also, best contemporary nonfiction, best biography, best history, best juvenile fiction and nonfiction, best TV or motion picture drama, best TV or motion picture documentary, and best first novel (called The Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award). Winners of the Spur Awards in previous years include Larry McMurtry for <i>Lonesome Dove</i>, Michael Blake for<i> Dances With Wolves</i>, Glendon Swarthout for<i> The Shootist</i>, and Tony Hillerman for <i>Skinwalker</i>.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-59245376383222396512011-03-20T15:33:00.004-06:002011-03-28T16:54:07.077-06:00Sunshine<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last week was Sunshine Week. It is especially fitting that on Friday Judge Maryann Sumi issued a stay of Wisconsin's controversial bill that would limit the collective bargaining rights of most state workers, on the grounds that the lawmakers violated the state's Open Meetings Law.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In her ruling, Sumi said that Wisconsin residents own their government.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;">"And we own it in three ways," she ruled. "We own it by the vote. We own it by the duty to provide open and public access to records, so that the activities of government can be monitored. And we own it in that we are entitled by law to free and open access to governmental meetings, and especially governmental meetings that lead to the resolution of very highly conflicted and controversial matters.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p> "</o:p>That’s our right. And a violation of that right is tantamount to a violation of what is already provided in the Constitution, open doors, open access, and that nothing in this government happens in secret."</span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p>Sumi went on to quote the late William A. Bablitch, a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice: "An open meetings law is not necessary to ensure openness in easy and</o:p> noncontroversial matters where no one really cares whether the meeting is open or not. Like the First Amendment, which exists to protect unfavored speech, the Open Meetings Law exists to ensure open government in controversial matters. The Open Meetings Law functions to ensure that these difficult matters are decided without bias or regard for issues such as race, gender, or economic status, and with highest regard for the interests of the community. This requires, with very few exceptions, that governmental meetings be held in full view of the community.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p>A district attorney had brought the Open Meetings complaint, alleging that Republicans did not observe the 24-hour public notice requirement before convening a conference committee. Democratic legislators had fled the state in an attempt to halt passage of the bill. Sumi ruled that the public did not have ample time to attend the meeting. </o:p></span>Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-67794396593619708082011-03-03T16:02:00.001-06:002011-03-03T16:04:28.929-06:00Walter Zacharius: A man among sharks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWoNPxNFLj4N3yvHhTwhQNwUnSTgf5RKAUOmwKllLjVNHugCGReB628quqeIsD9J1qMoZs8b9rkWQz3OEVwKOj2zlYB_CiaM2AAn-nL-zEs0MbXtM5IA-1n8GutSh67QCazwYC4lO2oY/s1600/walter6.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWoNPxNFLj4N3yvHhTwhQNwUnSTgf5RKAUOmwKllLjVNHugCGReB628quqeIsD9J1qMoZs8b9rkWQz3OEVwKOj2zlYB_CiaM2AAn-nL-zEs0MbXtM5IA-1n8GutSh67QCazwYC4lO2oY/s320/walter6.gif" width="298" /></a></div><i>This bit of sad news from our friend Gary Goldstein, senior editor at Kensington Books:</i><br />
<br />
Walter Zacharius, founder and former CEO of Kensington Books, passed away this morning at the age of 89.<br />
Kensington was founded in 1974 by Mr. Zacharius, who previously had been one of the founders of Lancer Books. Walter started Kensington with a little capital and a big dream. In the 36 years that followed—a little fish in a big pond (and one filled with sharks)--Walter defied all the odds and built Kensington into a major publisher with a number of current and past NY Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors, among them Fern Michaels, Lisa Jackson, William W. Johnstone, and many others. He also discovered a good number of authors who would go on to have careers at many of the major publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster and Random House. Kensington currently has close to 100 full time employees and publishes and distributes more than 400 titles a year in mass market, trade paperback, and hardcover.<br />
<br />
But it was the western that was, and continues to be, a big part of Kensington’s success. From Zane Grey to Ernest Haycox to Johnny D. Boggs and Max McCoy, Kensington did ‘em all. And when conventional wisdom said that the western was all but dead as a category, Walter reacted as he always did—he charged head-first into the category and filled the void left by the other publishers. With great success. Till the end, Walter was a huge supporter of the western and of the WWA. When Richard Wheeler won the Spur Award for Vengeance Valley in 2005—Kensington’s first such honor in more than three decades of publishing Walter was so proud that he displayed the publisher’s plaque on his office wall right next to a picture of his grandchildren.<br />
<br />
The plaque is still there.<br />
<br />
Walter Zacharius was the last of a breed—a maverick independent in an industry now run by corporate wonks.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-69564818958586092842011-02-27T18:56:00.000-06:002011-02-27T18:56:22.506-06:00Sixth Rider featured in Kindle Reader BlogThe Sixth Rider 20th Anniversary Edition (a Kindle ebook) has been featured in Jan Zlenditch's Kindle Reader Blog. I'm in good company, because she also mentions Elmer Kelton in the same post (and Joyce Carol Oates elsewhere). Here's the <a href="http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/2011/02/kindle-genre-watch-new-in-romance.html">link</a>.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-75441559667361221152011-02-26T15:52:00.002-06:002011-02-26T15:53:37.245-06:00"These long-tailed heroes of the revolver"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdG9n4kcDRg4YVSyngWsoM6F4sDkIdYHSLVqga2L8gAi7GcFrRfiTFrg2X1i6u40ndnbwwlWlPf8_-6_3LbxD4mYC4ws9Fm5U5NLL_XNb6itssMQUCZd8j5R4qpZD5qwKzkobF4yjfRg/s1600/9780806140766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdG9n4kcDRg4YVSyngWsoM6F4sDkIdYHSLVqga2L8gAi7GcFrRfiTFrg2X1i6u40ndnbwwlWlPf8_-6_3LbxD4mYC4ws9Fm5U5NLL_XNb6itssMQUCZd8j5R4qpZD5qwKzkobF4yjfRg/s320/9780806140766.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><i>Deadly Dozen: Forgotten Gunfighters of the Old West, Vol. 3</i><br />
By Robert K. DeArment (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010) Hardcover, 396 pp.<br />
<br />
Robert K. DeArment has given us a third volume in his meticulously researched series on “forgotten” gunfighters of the old west, although some of his subjects – Charley Harrison and Ed Short, to name two – will be familiar to western history buffs. Others, such as Jewish gunman Jim Levy and the maniacal Hill Loftis, will offer new and wicked delights. <br />
<br />
A foreword by historian Roger McGrath explains that DeArment himself has some experience with handling a gun, as a soldier during World War II. “He understands that there is nothing more dramatic than a man fighting for his life and nothing more courageous than a man hearing the snap and crack of bullets about his head yet cooly and deliberately returning fire.” This may help explain why DeArment isn’t given to the hyperbole and hero worship that has infected other nonfiction writers on the same subject. What we get from DeArment is the unadulterated truth, culled from an exhaustive sifting of the historical account, and presented in a logical and straightforward manner. With each of the dozen subjects, we get a brief family history (often, the second paragraph recounts their birth) followed by a detailed account of their gunfights and their immediate or eventual deaths. Of the dozen subjects, most met violent ends. Six died in gunfights, two were dead by suicide, and one was lynched by a mob. Only two died of natural causes, and the fate of another is uncertain.<br />
<br />
In setting the scene for an early Nevada pistoleer named Farmer Peel, DeArment gives us a bit of Mark Twain in describing how gunmen were regarded in the silver camps: “The desperado stalked the streets with a swagger graded according to the number of homicides, and a nod of recognition from him was sufficient to make a humble admirer happy for the rest of the day… When he moved along the sidewalk in his excessively long frock-coat, shiny stump-toed boots, and with dainty little slouch hat tipped over left eye, the small fry of roughs made room for his majesty,” Twain recalled in <i>Roughing It</i>. “The best known names in the Territory of Nevada were those belonging to these long-tailed heroes of the revolver.” <br />
<br />
Farmer Peel (who was given the nickname by his peers because he looked nothing like a farmer) died on in Montana in 1867, during a gunfight with gambling rival John Bull. Peel was walking arm-in-arm with his mistress when, according to one account, they were confronted by Bull with pistol drawn and murderous intent. But Peel could not jerk his gun hand loose from the frightened woman’s grasp quick enough to defend himself, and Bull ended the dispute with three bullets – the last fired into Peel’s head at point-blank range. <br />
<br />
In recounting the life of gambler Charley Harrison, DeArment does a good job of portraying the rip-roaring days of early Denver and Harrison’s death, as a Confederate officer, after a running fight with a band of Osage on the Verdigris River in southeast Kansas. As for lawman Ed Short, the author gives us a sober account of his killing in a toe-to-toe shootout in a Rock Island mail car with a member of the Dalton Gang. But DeArment truly shines when he recounts the life of Jim Levy, the only known Jewish gunman in the west.<br />
<br />
Levy, a professional gambler, gained fame for his drunken and deadly shooting matches in gambling halls from Deadwood to Tombstone. After an argument with a fellow sharp in Tucson, Levy – who was flat-broke and perhaps mentally unstable – agreed to end the quarrel with a duel across the border into Mexico, and a hat was passed to raise thirty dollars to pay for a wagon to convey the combatants and their entourages. But the law got wind of the fight and spoiled the fun. But that wasn’t the end of it; the other fighter and two of his friend ambushed Levy when he emerged from a Tucson hotel. Levy fell dead on the sidewalk, and a newspaper reporter on the scene claimed he was unarmed. Levy was forty, rather old for his line of work.<br />
<br />
But the story of Hill Loftis is perhaps the most disturbing of DeArment’s dozen.<br />
<br />
Loftis – who also went by the aliases Tom Ross and Charles Gannon – had a rap sheet that ran from the Old West to the eve of the Great Depression. He was part of the Red Buck Waightman Gang that attempted robbery and successfully pistol-whipped the owner at Waggoner’s Store in Oklahoma Territory on Christmas Eve, 1895, and later holed up in a dugout and fought it out in the bitter cold with a posse of lawmen. But Loftis escaped, and remained a fugitive for many years, spending some time in South American but eventually returning to the states. Loftis was apparently easy to spot, having a head shaped like a buffalo’s and chilling black eyes. One Texas Ranger who chased him even believed that perhaps the outlaw’s peculiarly elongated head “caused some pressure on the brain, and might account for his vicious tendencies.” Loftis was convicted of murder in Texas, but later broke prison. He remained on the run until 1929, when during a thirty degree below night in a Montana line camp he killed a range detective by the name of Ralph Hayward who had been sent to smoke him out. After shooting Hayward to death, Loftis ordered the other cowboys out into the cold, burned all personal papers, and wrote a suicide note – then put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.<br />
<br />
With this volume, with its copious notes and thorough index, DeArment has once again added to the body of Old West scholarship. He has also provided solid entertainment for the casual reader looking for something fresh amid the stale and often-told tales from the outlaw trail.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-41294631067717237102011-02-03T17:52:00.002-06:002011-02-03T17:58:57.075-06:00Snow day<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZT27fOO7tYq3zCZ1l269UcSocVqHjiNTcID-djM2vNKp5XiAJrwZPNukp8wdlIBddrlsoTLLuzoNN0G-Y9kpRALwfukeX-HJB_neeFXT4_wM0sFPO0CKoLV7jza6Ru2UnVdAuI_JqCo/s1600/IMG_0016.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZT27fOO7tYq3zCZ1l269UcSocVqHjiNTcID-djM2vNKp5XiAJrwZPNukp8wdlIBddrlsoTLLuzoNN0G-Y9kpRALwfukeX-HJB_neeFXT4_wM0sFPO0CKoLV7jza6Ru2UnVdAuI_JqCo/s320/IMG_0016.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a>The university was closed for two and one-half days for snow and bitterly cold temps. Here's a shot of Plumb Hall, where I work. Made the photo yesterday on my way back from the student newspaper. The staff was composing this week's issue (they made deadline, the campus opened this morning, and the paper was delivered this afternoon). As I told the students, there are no snow days for journalists.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283485916416942033.post-26683560117496309622011-01-31T16:16:00.000-06:002011-01-31T16:16:42.242-06:00Dig this<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibrzn5hR9LxbYjKi5TSO_-eEs1HqaEgtsYi73px9wJpVCc84adx4TOSFPkFxLC7Lv1yzYCi7CBs4ax9ydJ1gePYSnP_tzPoWTZUm2bGyDPms3SFJQovqDu4cUqPP4mydcchZTl6BdBJro/s1600/maxdet2a.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibrzn5hR9LxbYjKi5TSO_-eEs1HqaEgtsYi73px9wJpVCc84adx4TOSFPkFxLC7Lv1yzYCi7CBs4ax9ydJ1gePYSnP_tzPoWTZUm2bGyDPms3SFJQovqDu4cUqPP4mydcchZTl6BdBJro/s320/maxdet2a.jpg" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a><br />
Here's a photo of me taken by my journalism student, Kellen Jenkins. Kellen is a senior at Emporia State and is a part-time shooter for the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Emporia Gazette.Max McCoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00152513516016373348noreply@blogger.com