Coming Soon: Silverado Press Presents, Volume 1

I'm pleased and proud to be included in this anthology with some of the best Western writers in the business today. Livia and I collaborated on a story for this book, the first-ever team-up between Judge Earl Stark and Lucas Hallam. It's a Fort Worth-set adventure called "The Cowtown Inferno", and it worked so well I hope we can team up Hallam and Big Earl again sometime. This book will be out soon, and I'll let you know when it's available. In the meantime, you can pre-order it on Amazon and get the best price guarantee. 

Neither Beg Nor Yield - Jason M. Waltz, ed. (Part 5)

This is the fifth and final batch of reviews of stories from NEITHER BEG NOR YIELD, the new sword and sorcery anthology from Rogue Blades Entertainment and editor Jason M. Waltz. The previous installments of this series can be found here, here, here, and here.

In most anthologies, collections, pulps, or any bunch of stories that I read, there’s usually at least one that I bounce off of, which is not to say that they’re bad stories, just ones that don’t appeal to me personally. This has finally happened in this anthology with “The Last Vandals on Earth” by Steven Erikson. This tale of a small group of Vandals being pursued by and battling enemies in Africa is written in an elaborate, highly distinctive style that just doesn’t resonate with me. I suspect some of you would really like it, so don’t go by me. But I didn’t care for it.

“The Barbarian’s Lawyer” by Lawrence A. Weinstein is just the opposite. It introduces two excellent characters, the barbarian called Blazgorn and Cynric Magsen, the lawyer who defends him before the High Arbiter when Blazgorn is accused of stealing treasures from the mansion of one of the city’s most powerful nobles. Doing humor in a sword and sorcery tale is a tricky proposition, but Weinstein manages quite well, prompting a number of smiles and one out-loud laugh from me while I was reading the story. But at the same time, he also gives us some very effective action. This is a wonderful story, and I’d love to see more of these two characters.

Last year, the first novel in Howard Andrew Jones’ Hanuvar series, LORD OF A SHATTERED LAND, was one of the best books I read. I have the second book, THE CITY OF MARBLE AND BLOOD, but haven’t read it yet. I was very glad to see Jones and Hanuvar in this volume, as well. For those who haven’t yet made his acquaintance, Hanuvar is sort of an alternate world version of Hannibal (although that’s really too simplistic a description). His goal is to locate the survivors from his conquered country, Volanus, who have been scattered all over a world ruled by the Dervan Empire (think Rome) and get them to a safe sanctuary. In “Reflection From a Tarnished Mirror”, he runs up against an unusual threat to his quest, and as usual, Jones spins a well-written, compelling yarn. I’m not sure where in Hanuvar’s saga this story takes place, exactly, but it’s a strong reminder that I need to get around to reading that second book.

Finally, we have “Maiden Flight” by Adrian Cole. This is the first adventure of Ulric Wulfsen, a Viking raider who has a strange and dangerous encounter on a corpse-littered battlefield that leads to an epic confrontation and a poignant, very effective ending. I’ve been aware of Adrian Cole’s fiction for decades but have never read anything by him as far as I recall. This is a very good story and a near-perfect way to wrap up the anthology.

Looking back, I have some definite favorites among the stories in this volume. The top rank, for me, consists of the tales by Steve Dilks, Chuck Dixon, Keith J. Taylor, David C. Smith, Eadwine Brown, Jeff Stewart, Lawrence A. Weinstein, and Howard Andrew Jones. Four out of those eight authors are ones I’d never read before, and that’s one of the great appeals of a book like this, introducing the reader to new authors, or at least, authors they’ve never read before. I’ll definitely be looking for more work by several of these gentlemen.

In the meantime, if you’re a fan of sword and sorcery, I give my highest recommendation to NEITHER BEG NOR YIELD. Even though it’s relatively early, I have no doubt that it’ll be on my Top Ten list at the end of the year.

Double Trouble Kickstarter

The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers is doing a Kickstarter for an anthology called DOUBLE TROUBLE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF TWO-FISTED TEAM-UPS, edited by Jonathan Maberry and Keith R.A. DeCandido. The theme of this anthology is team-ups between various public domain fictional characters (with a few historical characters thrown into the mix), and naturally, when I was invited to participate I came up with a story using pulp characters, one fairly well-known and another pretty obscure. Some of the novels featuring G-Man Dan Fowler have been reprinted, and a number of New Pulp stories about him have been written and published by various authors. I've always really liked the character and am looking forward to writing about him. For one thing, it'll give me an excuse to read more of the original stories from the pulp G-MEN to get in the proper frame of mind.

In my yarn, Fowler will be teaming up with two-fisted sea captain Stinger Seave, who appeared in several stories in ACTION STORIES and has never been seen since. You may remember that I reviewed the series here on the blog a while back. When I was reading them, I wasn't thinking about using the character, but then when this opportunity came up, he seemed like the perfect fit for the plot I concocted.

I think this will be an excellent anthology, and I'm honored to be part of it. You can help it come about by checking out the Kickstarter and pledging some funds to it, if you're of a mind to.

Coming Soon: Bullets and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider - Rick Ollerman, ed.

From the Down & Out Books website:

In a career spanning nearly four decades, Bill Crider published more than sixty crime fiction, westerns, horror, men’s adventure and YA novels. In this collection 20 of today’s best and brightest, all friends and fans of Bill’s, come together with original stories to pay tribute to his memory. Authors include: William Kent Krueger, Bill Pronzini, Joe R. Lansdale, Patricia Abbott, Ben Boulden, Michael Bracken, Jen Conley, Brendan DuBois, Charlaine Harris, David Housewright, Kasey Lansdale, Angela Crider Neary, James Reasoner, James Sallis, Terry Shames, S. A. Solomon, Sara Paretsky, Robert J. Randisi, SJ Rozan, and Eryk Pruitt.

William Kent Krueger (Ordinary Grace, the Cork O’Connor series) brings us a story of romance and grift. Bill Pronzini (the Nameless Detective and Carpenter & Quincannon series) offers a taut episode of a midnight raid. Joe R. Lansdale (The Bottoms, the Hap and Leonard series) tells a tale of two hit men working through their differences. James Sallis (Drive, the Lew Griffin series) shows us how a deadly figure once helped out a man called Bill. Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight, Texas series) reminds us to be careful of what we wish for. Sara Paretsky (the V.I. Warshawski series) shows how truly deadly a terrible storm can be.

These and fourteen more stories are offered here in the appreciation of our friend and colleague, Bill Crider. These stories were written for him.

I'm so happy this book is coming out. Bill was one of my best friends for more than 40 years, and I still find myself thinking nearly every day, "I need to ask Bill about that" or "I have to tell Bill about that." The story I wrote for this anthology is a sequel to "Comingor", the first story ever published under my name, and my second published story overall, 43 years ago. It's set in the same part of Texas as Bill's Dan Rhodes novels, in the next county to the east, in fact. I also think it's one of the best stories I've written. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the other authors came up with. The book is available for pre-order on the Down & Out Books website and will be showing up in all the other usual places later on.

More Rocket's Red Glare News

Last month I posted about the three stories from ROCKET'S RED GLARE that are going to be reprinted in THE YEAR'S BEST MILITARY AND ADVENTURE SF, VOLUME 4, published later this year by Baen Books. You can now read editor David Afsharirad's introduction to this anthology here. There are more stories from ROCKET'S RED GLARE in this book than from any other source, and I'm very proud of that fact. I'm also proud of all the other great stories in ROCKET'S RED GLARE, and it's still available in ebook and print editions from Rough Edges Press, of course.

Good News for Rocket's Red Glare

Three stories from ROCKET'S RED GLARE, the science fiction anthology I edited and published last year, have been selected to be reprinted in the next volume of THE YEAR'S BEST MILITARY AND ADVENTURE SF, edited by David Afsharirad and published by Baen Books. The stories are "Orphans of Aries" by Brad R. Torgersen, "A Hamal in Hollywood" by Martin L. Shoemaker, and "A Man They Didn't Know" by David Hardy. I'm really excited that these fine stories are being honored this way and can't wait to see them appear in the anthology. Makes me feel proud to be an editor.

Now Available: Rocket's Red Glare

The trade paperback edition of the new Rough Edges Press anthology ROCKET'S RED GLARE is now available on Amazon, and ebook editions for all platforms are available at the various on-line retailers.

I just want to say how proud I am of this book and all the authors involved, and how grateful I am to them and to Brad R. Torgersen and Livia J. Washburn for their work on the cover. There are some great stories in ROCKET'S RED GLARE: a major new novella from Brad R. Torgersen, a USAian story by Sarah A. Hoyt, gritty military SF from Nathan E. Meyer, an interstellar epic by Keith West, a superb first contact yarn from Robert E. Vardeman, suspenseful tales set in our solar system by Christopher Chupik and David Hardy, a poignant look at the future on Mars by Lou Antonelli, and stories set on Earth but involving galactic conflict from Martin L. Shoemaker and myself. Classic SF from top-notch authors. You can't go wrong with that.

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Now Available for Pre-Order: Rocket's Red Glare, A New Anthology from Rough Edges Press

From distant galaxies to the mean streets of Hollywood . . . from the war-torn skies of France in 1918 to the far side of the moon . . . The stories in Rocket's Red Glare exemplify the adventure, courage, and sense of discovery so vital to the American spirit. Whether daring to cross interstellar space or battling alien conquerors when they come right to our own back yard, the characters in these tales never give up, never stop fighting for their country, their lives, their honor. Featuring all-new stories by Sarah A. Hoyt (part of her USAian series), Brad R. Torgersen, Martin L. Shoemaker, Lou Antonelli, James Reasoner, Robert E. Vardeman, Nathan E. Meyer, Keith West, Christopher Chupik, and David Hardy, Rocket's Red Glare is packed with space opera excitement, dazzling scientific speculation, gritty action, and compelling characters.

I'm really proud of this book. This is the kind of SF I love to read. The ebook is available for pre-order through Amazon and Smashwords and will go live on Thursday, and the print edition should be available then, too.

Forgotten Books: The Vortex Blasters - Sam Moskowitz, ed.

This book has some special meaning for me because I remember that my brother-in-law (who introduced me to science fiction) had a copy of it when he and my sister lived down the street from us in the early Seventies. I borrowed it from him and read the title story, but I don’t think I ever got around to the others. The stories in THE VORTEX BLASTERS were pulled from another anthology edited by Sam Moskowitz, MODERN MASTERPIECES OF SCIENCE FICTION, published by World Publishing Company in 1965. “Masterpieces” might be going a little too far, but there are some good stories in here.

“The Vortex Blasters” (originally published in COMET, July 1941 under the title “The Vortex Blaster”) was my introduction to the work of Edward E. “Doc” Smith, PhD. (Gotta add the PhD after his name.) It’s set in the same universe as his magnum opus, the Lensman series, and is sometimes counted as part of that series although the only Lensman in the story is a supporting character. The protagonist is an atomic scientist named Neal “Storm” Cloud. Earth has atomic power, but it’s not very stable and will sometimes generate out-of-control vortices, which are basically atomic tornadoes. One of those vortices kills Cloud’s wife and children, and in his obsession for vengeance he comes up with a way to destroy these violent forces of nature.

I enjoy Doc Smith’s work, but I’m not a huge fan. His prose is pretty stiff and his dialogue usually sounds like nothing that ever came out of a human mouth. But his ideas are always big and interesting and the stories move along well. His stodgy heroes kind of grow on me, too. I enjoyed “The Vortex Blasters” when I read it 40-some-odd years ago, and I enjoyed it when I reread it now, too. That same long-ago summer, my brother-in-law and I both read Smith’s Skylark of Space series. That was enough Doc Smith to last me for a good long while. He had a huge influence on science fiction for decades, though.

Edmond Hamilton’s “Requiem”, from the April 1962 issue of AMAZING STORIES, is a far-future tale about an expedition sent to explore a planet about to be consumed by an expanding star and then observe its extinction. That planet, of course, is Earth, the birthplace of the by now far-flung galactic empire. I loved Hamilton’s pulp space opera stories, but late in his career he was writing thoughtful, poignant stories like this that are even better. I liked this one a lot.

Eric Frank Russell is almost totally forgotten these days (although I’ll bet many of you reading this remember his work), but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by him. Good ideas and a nice undercurrent of humor running through all his stories. “The Witness” (OTHER WORLDS SCIENCE STORIES, September 1951) is a first contact story of sorts, with an alien visitor being put on trial for possibly being a spy for a race that wants to invade and conquer Earth. Russell has a lot of fun with the legal system. This is another good one.

Lester del Rey’s “Kindness”, from the October 1944 issue of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, is also a far-future story in which a new, super-smart mutation of humanity, homo intelligens, has replaced good old homo sapiens . . . except for one guy. His fate has a bittersweet taste to it that echoes Hamilton’s “Requiem”. I’ve never been a big fan of del Rey’s work and this story is maybe a little too predictable, but it still has some nice touches to it.

“—We Also Walk Dogs” (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, July 1941, under the pseudonym Anson McDonald) is part of Robert A. Heinlein’s Future History series. It’s the story of a company that hires out to do any sort of legal job, no matter how seemingly impossible, and how they manage to set up a diplomatic conference for various alien races and in the process come up with an unexpected bonus. I’ve read a lot of Heinlein’s work over the years (he was my brother-in-law’s favorite SF author) but don’t recall ever reading this story before. The prose is as smooth as always and I love the premise, but I don’t think Heinlein did as much with it as he could have. Still a good story.

Fritz Leiber is another author I usually like, but his story “Coming Attraction”, originally published in the November 1950 issue of GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, was kind of a miss for me. Set in New York City after it’s been semi-devastated by a limited nuclear war, it’s mainly about how women have started wearing masks over their faces as a fashion trend, inspired by anti-radiation garb after the war. I’m not sure why it didn’t work very well for me, but it didn’t. A little too much of a kitchen sink story, maybe, with lots of changes in society but no real point to any of them. Or maybe I’m just dense.

Then we come to the final story in this volume, Henry Kuttner’s “We Guard the Black Planet!” (SUPER SCIENCE STORIES, November 1942). Now this is the real deal! A hardboiled Norwegian spacer throws in with a couple of shady characters to track down the origin of the Valkyrie myth on Earth. Seems he’s got this golden armband with the directions to a legendary invisible planet engraved on it, and the inhabitants of that planet are supposed to be beautiful winged women who visited Earth in the far distant past and gave rise to the stories of Valkyries bearing fallen warriors off to Valhalla. This is by far my favorite story in this anthology. Kuttner’s prose is colorful, imaginative, and very fast-moving, and the story has some decent scientific background to boot. I really enjoyed it. My kind of SF.

So all in all, THE VORTEX BLASTERS is a pretty strong anthology, with a couple of excellent stories (“We Guard the Black Planet!” and “Requiem”), several very good ones, and only one that I didn’t care for—and it wasn’t terrible. I’m glad I finally got around to reading the whole thing after so many years.

Now Available: Weird Menace Volume 2

The Shudder Pulps are back! In fact, it's like they never left in this second great collection of new stories inspired by the classic Weird Menace magazines such as DIME MYSTERY and TERROR TALES. Those pulps may have ended in the early 1940s, but some of today's top authors give us the same sort of pulse-pounding, spine-chilling tales they might have published if they had stayed around. 

World War II casts its looming shadow in Mel Odom's "The Spider-God of Nauru!" 

Hell comes to a tropical paradise in Keith Chapman's "Lust of the Cave Spirit". 

American GIs encounter a horror unlike any they ever expected in Michael Bracken's "Attack of the Nazi Snow Warriors". 

Weird Menace mixes with hardboiled detective thrills in Paul Dellinger's "Ghost Writer". 

The protagonist of John McCallum Swain's "The Hades Mechanism" confronts a legendary, undying evil. 

And Ray Lovato's popular character Doc Atlas returns to face a new challenge in "Howl of the Werewolf"! 

These action-packed stories are sure to entertain. Editor James Reasoner and Rough Edges Press are proud to present WEIRD MENACE VOLUME 2!

Rough Edges Press Anthologies - Call for Submissions

A while back I announced that Rough Edges Press was going to be publishing an anthology of new Weird Menace stories inspired by the "Shudder Pulps" such as DIME MYSTERY, TERROR TALES, HORROR STORIES, and SPICY MYSTERY. This anthology is still open for submissions. I have some excellent stories on hand, creepy tales from some of today's finest authors, but I need more! If you're a fan of those pulps, you know what I'm talking about: Old dark houses. Sinister scientists. Grotesque henchmen. Death cults. Beautiful women who run screaming into the night. Stalwart heroes who are, at times, not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they manage to emerge triumphant in the end anyway (sometimes due as much to luck as anything else). Supernatural-seeming threats should wind up having logical (if far-fetched at times) explanations, although a hint of the unexplained in the story's resolution is fine, too. Stories need to have plenty of action and a headlong pace to go with a strong sense of menace and dread. Stories should be between 7500 and 10,000 words, although if they go a little longer than that it won't be a problem. I'd like for them to be set during the 1930s or '40s, but don't go overboard with period detail, just enough to capture the feeling of the era. The boundaries on language, violence, and sex are a little looser than those of the pulp editors, but nothing too graphic. Obviously, yarns like this can be a little tongue-in-cheek and over the top—I'm sure most of the pulp authors felt that way about them—but play it straight for the most part. So if you've already started a story, or have a great idea for one, I want to see it!

In addition, I'm pleased to announce that Rough Edges Press will be also be publishing an anthology of Alternate History stories, and I'm looking for stories for it as well. There's no particular theme for this anthology other than Alternate History, so I'm expecting a wide variety of stories. Take an important event in history, historical characters who are famous, infamous, or obscure, and change that history. These are classic "What if?" tales, and I hope you'll let the possibilities spur your imagination. These stories should also range from 7500 to 10,000 words, approximately, and can take place anywhere, during any era.

Submissions for both anthologies should be emailed as attached Word documents to james53@flash.net. Thanks!

Forgotten Books: The Traditional West - Western Fictioneers

I don't know if this massive anthology is actually forgotten, but it's been out for almost four years now and I haven't mentioned it lately. Not only that, but it's on sale for a limited time for only 99 cents, and you can't beat that price. At approximately 120,000 words, I'm pretty sure THE TRADITIONAL WEST is the biggest anthology of original Western fiction ever published. Several stories in it either won or were nominated for Peacemaker and Spur Awards, including Livia's "Panhandle Freight", an excellent Western mystery featuring Lucas Hallam. My story is a short, odd piece called "Rattler". The other authors in the book are Steven Clark, Phil Dunlap, Edward A. Grainger, James J. Griffin, Jerry Guin, C. Courtney Joyner, Jackson Lowry, Larry Jay Martin, Matthew P. Mayo, Rod Miller, Clay More, Ross Morton, Kerry Newcomb, Scott D. Parker, Pete Peterson, Cheryl Pierson, Kit Prate, Robert J. Randisi, Dusty Richards, Troy D. Smith, Larry D. Sweazy, and Chuck Tyrell. That's quite a line-up. Check it out!

Weird Menace Anthology Now Open for Submissions

I'm going ahead with that Weird Menace anthology idea I mentioned on the blog a couple of days ago. If you're interested in possibly writing a story for it, here are the submission guidelines.

I'm looking for the sort of stories that would have been submitted to pulp magazines such as DIME MYSTERY, TERROR TALES, and SPICY MYSTERY during the heyday of the Weird Menace pulps in the 1930s. If you're a fan of those pulps, you know what I'm talking about: Old dark houses. Sinister scientists. Grotesque henchmen. Death cults. Beautiful women who run screaming into the night. Stalwart heroes who are, at times, not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they manage to emerge triumphant in the end anyway (sometimes due as much to luck as anything else). Supernatural-seeming threats should wind up having logical (if far-fetched at times) explanations, although a hint of the unexplained in the story's resolution is fine, too. Stories need to have plenty of action and a headlong pace to go with a strong sense of menace and dread. The best way to get in the mood to write stories like this is to read some of them. A number of anthologies reprinting actual Weird Menace stories are available from Altus Press, Ramble House, and Black Dog Books, and there are stories on-line at www.pulpgen.com that can be downloaded and read for free.

Stories should be between 7500 and 10,000 words, although if they go a little longer than that it shouldn't be a problem. I'd like for them to be set during the 1930s, but don't go overboard with period detail, just enough to capture the feeling of that era. The boundaries on language, violence, and sex are a little looser than those of the pulp editors, but nothing too graphic. Obviously, yarns like this can be a little tongue-in-cheek and over the top—I'm sure most of the pulp authors felt that way about them—but play it straight for the most part. No smirking.

Stories should be emailed to me and attached as Word files. Doc format is preferred, but .docx is acceptable. Any normal font is fine, just don't include headers or footers. Deadline is May 1, because I'd like to get the book out during the summer. I expect to use eight stories, and if I get more good ones than that I'll just do another anthology a little later on. Questions about anything I didn't cover, email me. Thanks!

Zombies From the Pulps!: Salt is Not for Slaves - G.W. Hutter (Garnett Wilson)

G.W. Hutter's "Salt is Not for Slaves", which was published originally in the August/September 1931 issue of the pulp GHOST STORIES, also takes the form of one character spinning a yarn for another character, as several of the previous stories in ZOMBIES FROM THE PULPS! have done. In this case it's an old, old woman, a native of Haiti, who tells a tale of an ill-fated love affair doomed by voodoo and a slave rebellion. It moves right along at a brisk pace, with just enough lurid elements to make it an exciting story.

Hutter was really Garnett Wilson, who also wrote the early horror film WHITE ZOMBIE, which I've never seen. Judging by how much I enjoyed this story, I should probably check out the movie. 

Now Available: Hearts and Spurs

HEARTS AND SPURS, the second anthology of Western romance stories from Prairie Rose Publications, is now available.

How do you capture a cowboy's heart? HEARTS AND SPURS is a collection of nine stories by some of western romance’s best—just in time for Valentine's Day! Following up their Christmas collection WISHING FOR A COWBOY, these ladies have done it again with new stories of handsome cowboys and the women who captivate them in HEARTS AND SPURS.

HEARTS AND SPURS features nine sensual Valentine's Day love stories of the old west that will leave no doubt--Cupid is a cowboy, and he's playing for keeps!

THE WIDOW’S HEART by Linda Broday
Desperate and alone, Skye O’Rourke finds courage and a love she thought she’d lost when a man from her past emerges from the shimmering desert heat.

GUARDING HER HEART by Livia J. Washburn
Outlaws threaten a Valentine's Day wedding!

FOUND HEARTS by Cheryl Pierson
An enemy from the past threatens Alex Cameron’s future on the day he’s set to wed mail-order bride Evie Fremont. Can they survive their wedding day?

OPEN HEARTS by Tanya Hanson
A woman living as a man to practice the law she loves must guard her identity--and her heart--from a handsome sheriff, who discovers her secret and must decide whether to turn her in or fall in love.

HOLLOW HEART by Sarah J. McNeal
Lost love and the hope for possibilities…

A FLARE OF THE HEART by Jacquie Rogers
Celia Yancey heads west to marry a preacher her father picked for her. Bounty hunter Ross Flaherty has traded his guns for a pitchfork and is content to be a farmer, but Celia brings his nemesis right to his door. Can Celia and Ross shed the past and forge a new beginning?

COMING HOME by Tracy Garrett
Sometimes it takes two to make dreams come true. When a man who believes he’ll never have a home and family finds a woman who has lost everything…It takes a lot of forgiveness and a few fireworks to realize that together, their dreams can come true.

TUMBLEWEEDS AND VALENTINES by Phyliss Miranda
The wildness of a tumbleweed and the sweetness of chocolate bring Amanda Love the love of a lifetime.

THE SECOND-BEST RANGER IN TEXAS by Kathleen Rice Adams
A washed-up Texas Ranger. A failed nun with a violent past. A love that will redeem them both.

I've read all these stories and enjoyed them. For readers like me whose interests run more toward the Western part of the genre rather than the romance, there's a considerable amount of gunplay in some of them, and some stuff even blows up pretty good. Plus a scene in one story that could have come right out of a Republic Pictures B Western. That one had me grinning when I came to it. The book is available in both Kindle and print editions, and you can find the e-book version at Barnes & Noble and Smashwords as well.

Now Available -- Six-Guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

The new Western Fictioneers anthology, SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS: A CREEPY COWBOY CHRISTMAS, is now available in both print and e-book editions from Amazon, as well as an e-book edition for the Nook. It's a Christmas anthology, but with its supernatural theme it's perfect for Halloween as well. As usual with WF publishing projects, it's a little out of the ordinary. I'm not sure anybody has ever done a supernatural Western Christmas anthology before. But it worked out really well, and I'm not just saying that. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and LIBRARY JOURNAL agree and have published very positive reviews of the book. My story features Cobb, my Texas Ranger character who always seems to get involved in offbeat yarns, and Livia's story brings back Buffalo Newcomb, who starred in a couple of her novels and several short stories. If you're a fan of Weird Westerns or know someone who is, be sure to check out SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS.

Now Available: Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT

Today marks the release of the second Lost Children anthology, PROTECTORS: STORIES TO BENEFIT PROTECT. I'm very proud to have a story in this anthology, and I think it's a pretty good one, too. And what a line-up of authors! I'm looking forward to reading all the other stories. Here's what editor and mastermind Thomas Pluck has to say about the book:

41 stories.
One cause: PROTECT
100% of proceeds go to PROTECT and the National Association to Protect Children - the army fighting what Andrew Vachss calls "the only holy war worthy of the name," the protection of children.

We've rallied a platoon of crime, western, thriller, fantasy, noir, horror and transgressive authors to support PROTECT's important work: lobbying for legislation that protects children from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

Powerful stories from George Pelecanos, Andrew Vachss, Joe R. Lansdale, Charles de Lint, Ken Bruen, Chet Williamson, James Reasoner, Charlie Stella, Michael A. Black, Wayne Dundee, Roxane Gay, Ray Banks, Tony Black, Les Edgerton and 16 more, with 100% of proceeds going to PROTECT.

PROTECTORS includes a foreword by rock critic Dave Marsh, and fiction by Patti Abbott, Ian Ayris, Ray Banks, Nigel Bird, Michael A. Black, Tony Black, R. Thomas Brown, Ken Bruen, Bill Cameron, Jen Conley, Charles de Lint, Wayne D. Dundee, Chad Eagleton, Les Edgerton, Andrew Fader, Matthew C. Funk, Roxane Gay, Edward A. Grainger, Glenn G. Gray, Jane Hammons, Amber Keller, Joe R. Lansdale, Frank Larnerd, Gary Lovisi, Mike Miner, Zak Mucha, Dan O'Shea, George Pelecanos, Thomas Pluck, Richard Prosch, Keith Rawson, James Reasoner, Todd Robinson, Johnny Shaw, Gerald So, Josh Stallings, Charlie Stella, Andrew Vachss, Steve Weddle, Dave White, and Chet Williamson.

Among PROTECT's victories are the Protect Our Children Act of 2008, which mandated that the Justice Department change course and design a new national nerve center for law enforcement to wage a war on child exploitation, the Hero to Hero program, which employs disabled veterans in the battle against child abuse, and Alicia's Law.

Join the fight, with 41 stories by top writers. Be a Protector!

You can go here for the links to buy the book, including details on how to buy the book directly through the website and ensure the largest possible donation to PROTECT. Check it out!

Now Available: Crime Square, edited by Robert J. Randisi

Check out this fine new anthology edited by Robert J. Randisi. Bob's put together a great line-up of authors including Reed Farrell Coleman, Max Allan Collins, Parnell Hall, John Lutz, Warren Murphy, Mel Odom, Gary Phillips, and Wallace Stroby. Looks like a winner to me!

The Lone Ranger Chronicles

The past few days have been so busy that a box from Moonstone Books has been sitting on the table in our living room unopened for a while. Until this morning, when I opened it and found my author copies of the new anthology THE LONE RANGER CHRONICLES. (To be honest, I was pretty sure that was what was in the box.) This is a great collection, with stories by Paul Kupperberg, Matthew Baugh, Johnny D. Boggs, Kent Conwell, Denny O'Neil, Chuck Dixon, Tim Lasiuta, Richard Dean Starr and E.R. Bower, Troy D. Smith, Bill Crider, Joe Gentile, David McDonald, Howard Hopkins, Mel Odom, Thom Brannon, and yours truly. It's available in both trade paperback and a limited edition hardcover, and while they're both fine-looking books, I'm especially impressed by the hardcover. You can't go wrong either way with that line-up of authors and two of the most iconic characters in Western fiction in the Lone Ranger and Tonto. I haven't read all the stories yet, but the ones I have read are excellent. As a fan of the Lone Ranger for as far back as I can remember, it was a great honor and pleasure to contribute a story, and this book gets the highest recommendation from me. By the way, my entry is called "Hell on the Border" and features Judge Isaac Parker, the famous real-life Hanging Judge, with the Lone Ranger using his legal training to take part in a high-stakes murder trial. It was really fun to write, too.

New This Week

This week was much more normal when it comes to book-buying, with only a single e-book to show for it.

ACTION: PULSE-POUNDING TALES – Matt Hilton, editor. Lengthy anthology of 37 original action stories in a variety of genres, edited by British thriller writer Hilton. This blog's old friend and fellow Owlhoot buckaroo Evan Lewis is one of the authors included, along with my friend and occasional collaborator Steven Savile, Paul D. Brazill, Zoe Sharp, and many others.