Heading Out

Howdy.

Seems appropriate to open with that colloquialism seeing as how I'm devoting this blog to the westerns I've written.

Back in 2006 I was a struggling screenplay writer. I was doing really well in the festival circuit. After a couple of tries with comedies and horror, I wrote a western called Brothers in Blood.  It got some buzz at the Action on Film Festival out in Los Angeles. But nothing came of it.

Right about the time I realized I was losing money as a screenplay writer, I turned my attention to that new frontier: The Internet. I delved into it, saw it as a new era of pulp fiction. There are some really good websites out there for fan fiction, flash fiction, and pulp fiction. I found communities of pulp-squeezers like me. Pretty soon I found some success as a crime writer.

Then one day I rediscovered the western. I now had a series coming out about a young, altruistic sheriff in a frontier lumber and mining town of northern Michigan. Write what you know or think you know, right?

The Sheriff of Sorrow series currently has three chapters or episodes or parts. The first has been released by my long time publishing house, Mind Wings Audio. Cal Haskell rides into Sorrow from Wyoming hoping to win over a corrupt city council and clean up the town. Nothing ever goes as planned or hoped and Cal will soon realize the law is being hired to uphold isn't one of the people. The stories can be downloaded to electronic platforms or purchased as an MP3 or CD.

The Lily Dair series is set a little later in the cowboy era. It features an upstart gal named Lily Dair, an amateur archaeologist with a desire for adventure. When a ne'er do well conman comes into her shop with a tale of native American sorcery linked to precious gemstones he seeks, Lily finds herself entangled in espionage and murder. Grit City Publishing is running the Lily Dair episodes in its emotobooks line. According to publisher Ron  Gavalik, emotobooks use illustrations that enhance the emotional experience of the story.

So these are the beginnings of a greenhorn western writer. Hope you enjoy.