Going for a ride!

Over in the US, it’s a special day for fans and readers of the western.  National Cowboy Day! 

One author who is promoting it is Jacquie Rogers – you can see her work here

Here are my western books that are still in print (I’m listing the UK Amazon site as the prices are better!):

The $300 Man

A review of The $300 Man: I recently read this author's book on how to write a western novel [see below]. It is great by the way and I refer to it frequently as I try to write western short stories. I was wondering if his novels were any good so I read this one. Well, it is really good and I enjoyed reading it. The characters are all interesting and compelling and the plot is great. I had to keep turning the pages which for me is the test of a good book, that it keeps my interest and this one did. I also learned some western history which was a bonus. I find that a lot of westerns have simple, worn out plots that you see over and over. But this novel had a new, complex plot that unwound slowly until the very end. I will be reading more of his western novels. –Thank you, D. Moring!

TheMagnificent Mendozas

 

 

Blind Justice atWedlock
 

 

Old Guns

This is an anthology I edited, A Fistful ofLegends
 

 

And this one is an e-book (10 reviews in Amazon UK and 45 reviews in Amazon COM),
 Bullets for a Ballot:

 

This is the best-selling Write a Western in 30Days – with plenty of bullet points referred to in the review above (8 reviews in Amazon UK, 14 in Amazon COM):

 

Part of a review: When I started Nik Morton's WRITE A WESTERN IN 30 DAYS, what struck me was that this wasn't just a book of guidelines and tid bits for someone attempting a western, this is a fantastic map to anyone who wants to dive into the world of genre fiction. What Morton lays out are some of the best, common-sense rules for writing that I've ever come across…

 PS - Two other westerns that are out of print are Death at Bethesda Falls and Last Chance Saloon, both under the penname Ross Morton.

Writing – and readership

Most authors write to be read. The financial consideration is important, naturally, but it is rarely the main impetus. We write because we cannot not write.

So the transformation over the last decade or so has to be welcomed, whereby readers can post reviews on the Internet – whether that’s in a blog or on Amazon and the other online book sites. Considered feedback is always welcome. We’re trying to entertain – following in a long line of storytellers stretching back to that distant age in caves when the social media was verbal and illustrations were paintings on rock.

The other helpful feedback tool for the author has been around for twenty-five years – the PLR. Last year’s (July 2013-June 2014) Public Lending Rights statements have just been issued, and they make interesting reading.

Of all 20 of my books registered with PLR, only 5 titles show readers. This is because the rest are not supplied to or obtained by British libraries. The five titles reflect the hardback and the large print editions - two of each, separately registered.

Yet those 5 have clocked up almost 8,000 readers among them. That’s good to know: because that’s a minimum readership figure, based on a sample of libraries, not all of them, in UK.

These titles are all westerns (because Robert Hale has a high representation of books in public libraries):

Death at Bethesda Falls (2007) – 1,300+

Last Chance Saloon (2008) – 1,500+

The $300 Man (2009) – 1,600+

Blind Justice at Wedlock (2011) – 1,600+

Old Guns (2012) – 1,700+

My latest western The Magnificent Mendozas (2014) was published and registered after the cut-off date of June 2014, so won’t appear on a statement until January 2016.

This proves that there is a readership for westerns out there, no matter what the naysayers might pontificate.

 
The British Library has taken on the administration of PLR. They collect loans data from a changing sample of UK public library authorities. This year’s payments are based on loans data collected from 44 library authorities across the UK during the year July 2013 – June 2014.
 
The maximum earnings for any author amount to £6,600; 190 registered authors were paid this for 2013/2014. Interestingly, there were 22,053 authors who received PLR payment and 16,996 who were paid nil or their loans were below the minimum threshold (i.e. loans didn’t amount to £1 or more).
 
Compared to last year’s figures, there are about 300 less recipients of PLR this year; and about 1,200 more authors who fell into the nil bracket. It is not clear whether or not that’s due to a fall in library readership or the choice of libraries in the sample or some other factor, such as more authors are going independent so aren’t represented in local libraries.

So, the moral for authors is, register your book with PLR.

https://www.plr.uk.com/

 

 

 If you hanker after writing a western - or any genre fiction novel, come to that - you might like to have a look at Write a Western in 30 Days, which reviewers have said is useful for all genre writers, not only those who write westerns!

 

Amazon UK paperback here

Amazon UK e-book here

Amazon COM paperback here

Amazon COM e-book here

 

 

 

 

 



 

FFB – Blind Justice at Wedlock

This was my fourth western novel, published under the penname Ross Morton in 2011. I’d toyed with the idea ever since seeing Rutger Hauer’s film Blind Fury; though it had probably been gestating as a concept even earlier, since about 1970 when I read Dan Galouye’s Dark Universe (1961).  Galouye was praised for creating ‘the country of the blind’ – two underground races have been marooned in darkness for generations; one sees by using sound and echoes while the other has learned to recognise outlines through infra-red sensitivity. To write a story without visual cues is no mean feat.

I was up for that challenge. I’d create a protagonist who was blinded but didn’t allow that to deter him on his quest to rescue his wife. The hard part was writing Clint’s POV with only reference to sounds and smells.

Here’s the prologue: Brutally disrupted life.

When Clint Brennan came to, he felt Mutt’s tongue licking his temple and cheek. Maybe the dog had brought him back to consciousness. He opened his eyes and realized that the world had changed. It was forbidding and dark. In more ways than one, light had gone out of his life. He raised his left arm and stroked the animal’s matted hair where the bullet had entered Mutt’s flank; it had bled some, but the fur was now just slightly tacky. He heard the dog’s steady panting and smelled his breath, but he couldn’t see him. The brutal truth was that he couldn’t see anything. He was blind.

            His memory was hazy at best, so he attempted to take stock. The sun was up and burning the left side of his face, its position and intensity telling him it was about noon. He guessed that he’d been out of it a good two hours or so. He was lying on his belly and something was digging into him. Ignoring the pounding in his head that wouldn’t go away, he rolled over and then felt the pain in his left leg. Scattered shards of memory started to pierce his thoughts, flickering like a lantern show, but they didn’t present a coherent picture.

            The sun – or perhaps fear – made him sweat. Fear for himself, thrust into this unwelcome darkness, an unknown territory. Fear for Belle, his wife. Where was she? Why wasn’t she here to help him now, when he needed her? As much as he wanted to worry about Belle, some hidden knowledge or instinct shied his thoughts away from his wife.

He felt his forehead crease with the confusion of his mind, and he raised a hand to the dried blood around his eyes and the bridge of his nose. God Almighty, but his head pounded.

            Heaving a great sigh, Clint pushed away the dark foreboding that threatened to envelop him and eased himself up onto his knees. That hurt some. His hand touched the wound: he’d been shot in the thigh. When or how, he wasn’t quite sure. Crippled and blind, with Belle unaccountably absent from his life, an all-consuming despair soaked into his bones and made his shoulders slump.

Slowly, methodically, he scrabbled in the dirt and found what he’d been lying on – his Winchester rifle. He gripped its stock. Perhaps it would be for the best. He didn’t believe he could exist in this condition and it wouldn’t be fair to abandon his wounded dog. With a heavy heart he levered a .44 rimfire cartridge into the barrel. ‘Well, Mutt, I guess this is the end of the road for both of us.’ His voice croaked and his mouth was terribly dry. ‘You first, old boy, then I’ll join you.’

            Mutt seemed to sense his fate and shuffled closer on his forelegs, rubbing his wet nose against his master’s knees. Trusting to the end.

            An almighty surge of humility and grief overwhelmed Clint Brennan. He closed tight his unseeing eyes and swore. He couldn’t do this: it was against everything he and Belle believed. In the three years they’d been married, they’d buried two babies out back. The heartbreak and the tears were testimony enough that they cherished life, and mourned its loss. Life was precious, to be savoured, despite the aches and pains. As his father used to say, ‘If we never had any storms, we’d never appreciate the sunshine.’

Lowering the weapon, he stroked his dog. ‘Let’s have a look at that wound, eh?’ Then he laughed bitterly at his choice of words.

Gently, he ran his hands over the faithful animal’s body; Mutt yelped just the once – only the single wound, then. He experienced another flashing image from his recent past. It was all coming back now.

Painful though it was, the returning memory helped to impart some kind of sense to his present predicament. The irony was not lost on him, that in his mind’s eye he could see what happened. Terrible though it was, it seemed that it was going to be the last thing he would see in this life. If he was destined to lose his sight, and it looked that way, then it would have been more bearable if his last view of the world had been a pleasant one.

***

I chose the name Clint as a nod to my childhood idol, Clint Walker. As he remembers what happened, Clint recalls his wife being kidnapped by three desperadoes. Despite his new blindness, he resolved to track them, using his dog. Astride his donkey Beatrice, he followed their scent…

On the way, Clint encounters two men who rob him, and also an ex-soldier who befriends him.  Belle believes Clint is dead – she saw him shot as her abductors dragged her off. When she is rescued by Gamlin, a rich gent, and taken to his opulent home in Wedlock, the man’s housekeeper and others are convinced she will make a good match for Mr Gamlin. The housekeeper, Mrs Kilbride, is a creepy creation; slowly, her motivation is revealed.

Ultimately, this is a psychological suspense quest novel with a smattering of the gothic. I enjoyed writing it.

 

This hardback book can still be purchased from the book depository post-free worldwide:

http://www.bookdepository.com/Blind-Justice-at-Wedlock-Morton-Ross/9780709091424

People who viewed this bought The $300 Man, Wyoming Strong, The Son, Blood Meridian, Lonesome Dove and Treasure Mountain, so it is in good company.

 

Book Choice!

The weekly magazine TV Choice is printed here in Spain. Besides the multifarious TV channels, it features articles and puzzles, a book review and a short story.

The latest edition, #214 (23-29 August) promotes my crime novel Sudden Vengeance and also mentions two other books, Blind Justice at Wedlock and Blood of the Dragon Trees. (The choice of the western was a surprise, I’d have thought they’d have selected Spanish Eye, since that’s set in Spain as well, but I’m not complaining!)

The editor kindly printed my prize-winning story ‘Nourish a Blind Life’, too.

To read either of these images, please click on them. (If you can't read the story here, you can read it on an earlier blog - here

 

 

 

The title 'Nourish a blind life' is taken from a poem:

For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain
If, knowing God, they lift not hand of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?

- The Passing of Arthur, Tennyson

The story evolved in a day after I’d read about a man stricken blind as a child and abandoned by family and the system, yet he was saved by a kindly carer. This is my attempt to put myself in his shoes. 

"I read a lot and like to think that I’m fairly hardened to the human experience. Your story, Nourish a blind life, however, moved me enormously. With a powerful understanding you avoided any mawkish melodrama. The ending, although sad, gave satisfaction knowing the narrator was soon to be free! Thank you." – Eve Blizzard, dramatist and author
  

‘I don’t read westerns’

How many times have I heard that? Too many to count. And of course along with that statement is many a publisher’s comment, ‘Westerns don’t sell well these days.’ Thankfully, besides old faithful Robert Hale, a crop of new publishers are embracing tales of the Old West.
 
Today, I’ve viewed my Public Lending Rights statement and it suggests that there are still plenty of readers out there for the western genre.

My oldest western, Death at Bethesda Falls, published in 2007, clocked up 1,400 borrowings last year. Since its publication it has been borrowed 8,709 times, apparently. True, it’s possible that the same reader has taken it out of the library more than once; though he or she has a choice of four other titles from my penname Ross Morton…

Anyway, those figures tend to tell me that the western genre is still popular. So, thank you Robert Hale and all your readers and borrowers!

 

None of the following titles follow any formula western storyline. They're about the human condition, set in the Old West.

Death at Bethesda Falls

 

Jim Thorp had killed plenty of men. They deserved to die. Thorp was a hard man, made so by a bloody Civil War. But he didn’t relish this visit to Bethesda Falls. His old sweetheart Anna worked there as a school-teacher and he was hunting her brother, Clyde, for armed robbery and other more terrible crimes. He didn’t want to hurt Anna but it looked like he would anyway.

Clyde, the foreman of the M-bar-W ranch, is due to wed Ellen, the rancher’s daughter. He’s also poisoning the old man to hasten the inheritance. Thorp’s presence in town starts the downward slide to violence, when not only is Ellen’s life in danger, but also that of Anna and Thorp himself. It is destined to end in violence and death.

Last Chance Saloon

 

The Bethesda Falls stage is robbed and Ruth Monroe, the stage depot owner, is being coerced into selling up by local tycoon, Zachary Smith. Meanwhile, Daniel McAlister returns from gold prospecting to wed Virginia, the saloon’s wheel of fortune operator. Daniel hits a winning streak but is bushwhacked, his winnings stolen.

Virginia sees this romance with Daniel as her last chance of happiness and no matter what, she’s determined to stand by her man, ducking flying bullets if need be. Daniel and Virginia side with Ruth against Smith and his hired gunslingers. Only a deadly showdown will end it, one way or another.

The $300 Man

 

What’s a life worth? $300, maybe. Half-Mexican Corbin Molina lost a hand during the Civil War but he has adapted. Now he’s on a mission to Walkerville. On the way, he prevents a train robbery and finds an old friend. Corbin always carries $300, which is significant, since that’s what he was a paid as substitute soldier for the Union.

When Corbin starts asking questions about Walkerville’s law and administration, he discovers that the Walker family, who seem to have bought and paid for loyalty and position, dominates the townspeople. Inevitably, Corbin’s questions attract plenty of trouble. And his past emerges to confront him during a tense showdown that threatens not only him but also his newfound love.

Blind Justice at Wedlock

 

Clint Brennan interrupts two men kidnapping his wife Belle and he’s shot and left for dead. When he recovers his senses, his wife has gone and he discovers he is blind. Most men would give up there and then, but not Clint. Astride his donkey, he sets out with his faithful dog Mutt on the trail of his wife’s abductors.

Belle believes her husband is dead. She’s rescued, but not by Clint. Her saviour is protective and takes her to his grand home in Wedlock where she meets the charming housekeeper, Mrs Kilbride. Maybe here, they say, she can forget her husband and start a new life…

On the trail, Clint is waylaid by robbers but soon learns to combat enemies at night, when darkness is his ally. Distracted and delayed, he’s still determined to locate his missing wife. A tale of betrayal and lies, it will all end at Wedlock, amidst flames and bullets.

Old Guns

July, 1892. Sam Ransom, 62, learns of the death of Abner, his old partner. Abner left a warning note – the Meak twins were out to get Ransom and the rest ‘because of what happened at Bur Oak Springs’. Ransom sets out to alert his old friends, Jubal, Rory and Derby.

Bur Oak Springs happened over two decades ago. The place was a ghost town even then. Ransom’s family is put in jeopardy and they can only be saved by Ransom and his friends returning to the ghost town, to confront the Meak brothers and their gang. There’s a sense of déjà vu about this; yet, there are fresh revelations too. It’s a showdown: young guns against old guns. [Cover by Tony Masero]

The Magnificent Mendozas (due in July 2014)

Southern Colorado, 1879. The gringo town of Conejos Blancos has just hosted the Mexican circus; no sooner do they move on to their next venue when Hart and over thirty desperadoes take over the town – and the adjacent silver mine! The sheriff is slaughtered and many of the citizens are held hostage.
 
In desperation, two boys escape from the locked-down town. They recruit seven Mexican circus performers, the Magnificent Mendozas: the troupe comprises Mateo, the leader, and his wife Josefa, both expert knife-throwers; José, younger brother of Mateo, a trick rider who lusts after Josefa; Antonio Rivera, sharpshooter; Juan Suaréz, gymnast and trapeze artist with his companion Arcadia Mendoza, who is also expert with bow and arrow; and Ramon Mendoza, escapologist. In order to penetrate the cordon of sentries and free the hostages, the troupe employs their many skills.
 
Not everything runs smoothly, however. Soon, it’s a battle of wits between the Mendozas, Hart and his men and the townspeople. There’s betrayal, bravery and plenty of quick-fire action… and death on both sides. [This might make a better film than a remake of The Magnificent Seven…? I can dream.]

Write a Western in 30 Days by Nik Morton

 

Bullets for a Ballot by Nik Morton (e-book from BTAP)