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Greetings All:

We’re packing to head to Aztec, New Mexico, where we will be giving a lecture at Aztec Ruins on September 10th at 7:00 p.m.  We are looking forward to being in the Southwest.  The temperatures should have cooled down a little by the time we get there, and the Equinox shadows will be stretching across the desert like cool fingers.  Not only that, the Mexican food, influenced by Native American cuisine and flavors, is just unbelievably good.   We’ll gain weight, and it’ll be worth every ounce.  Not only that, we’ll spend a good deal of time wandering around archaeological sites, studying the ruins, considering where to set future books. 

After Aztec, we’ll be off to Phoenix for a few days, then we’re back in Cortez, Colorado from September 17-19th to teach a Writers’ Workshop at the Cortez Cultural Center.

We hope to see some of you in Aztec or Cortez!

Take care and enjoy the autumn brilliance.

Michael and Kathleen

Greetings All:

We’re packing, heading to Billings to catch a flight to Detroit, to pick up a rental and drive to Jackson, Michigan.  Our good friends and supporters at News Group have taken a large order of COMING OF THE STORM in paperback.  First thing Monday, August 23, we’re going to be signing every one and placing an autograph copy sticker on the cover.  If you live in the upper Midwest keep your eyes peeled when you head to the grocery store, airport, or drug store. 

We love warehouse signings!  Each time we do one the distributors are able to disperse thousands of copies of our books into hundreds of retail outlets.  But it’s brutal work. If you don’t believe it, try signing your name over and over five thousand times.  Worse, you’ve got to do it as quickly as you can open a book, sign, close it, sticker it, and grab the next one.

Our record on one of these mass signings is 9,881 books in 14 hours.  That was with help from Levy Home Entertainment employees doing the picking, opening, stickering, and repacking.  We ached for days afterwards.

Okay, so why do we do it?  Because in Michael’s case, he was 21 before he met a real, live author. Thank you Gaydell Collier. You were instrumental in changing his life.  But getting back to the point, Michael would have cut his right arm off to have had a signed book by an honest-to-God author.  Kathleen feels the same way, though she grew up in a writing family. With a signature, we are able to give a book a different quality–a personalized touch on that particular copy on that nameless and faceless book rack.  You see, authors are mostly faceless, just names on a cover.  A signed book gives us the opportunity to reach out to the reader.  A way of saying, “Here, we poured our hearts and souls into this in an effort to provide you with the best read we can.” 

So, if you live in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, or Pennsylvania, or are flying through O’Hare, Detroit, or Columbus, check the racks.  It’s the best way we can personally reach out and offer you a good read.

For the rest of you, be aware that COMING OF THE STORM, the first story of Black Shell and Pearl Hand, will be on a book ack near you by September 1, 2010.  We know that many of you wait for the paperback, and yeah, we’ve started to get questions as to when COMING OF THE STORM will be available.  It’s here, guys.

Black Shell asked me to forward his best wishes.  He hopes you enjoy COMING OF THE STROM, and to let you know that he, Pearl Hand, and the dogs will be back in FIRE THE SKY February 2011 in hardback.

Hello All:

We wanted to give you an update on the ebook situation. Wow, talk about a fluid market!  Currently we have floated an offer to both Tor/Forge and DAW Books in an attempt to resolve the compensation issue.  Yes, dear fans, authors have bills and kids in college and want donuts from the local convenience store, just like everyone else.  With the exception of the occasional retiree and college English professor, every writer on earth hopes that his work will be valuable enough that some publisher will pay him to write more!  We hope this works out and that you will have access to all of our books in digital format soon. 

On another front, it was 42 degrees here this morning, which is cool for this time of year in northern Wyoming.  August is usually our hottest month.  Many of our cottonwoods, aspens and willows have started to turn yellow.  Our squaw currants were bright red at dawn.  Early autumn?  Looks like we’d better start cutting wood for the woodstoves…

Best Regards,

Michael and Kathleen

Greetings All:

Red Canyon Ranch is unsettlingly quiet.  We watched the Indiana University field crew pack up yesterday and drive off into the sunset.  Well, all right, they’re headed east for Indiana.  Technically they had sunset in the rearview mirror. 

Walking down to the guest house today, the only sounds were the birds, the rattle of the cottonwood leaves, and uh, that’s it.  Nothing else.  No laughter, no chatter, no colorful pin flags on the Nostrum stage station.  The porch chairs were empty when I walked into the yard.  Inside the house, the computers were gone, the kitchen clean and lonely.  Piles of screens, containers, bedrolls, and the other minutia of life in the field were nowhere to be seen. 

Walking up to the stock pond, the magic carp was flipping around the bottom, searching here and there, wondering what had happened to the arky raft.  Somehow he’d never noticed when it became part of his world, but it’s sure as hell missing now.  On the way back to the house a rattlesnake slithered away into the grass apparently happy to have tranquility restored.  Now that the people were gone, he was hoping for good hunting given all the mice the archaeologists had lured in with dropped crumbs, cookies, and the occasional overlooked plate. 

So it is with sadness that the 2010 field season has drawn to a close at Red Canyon Ranch.  What’s the big news?  Katie’s crew, aided by Matt’s human backhoe action, located the floor of the Southwest room in the Nostrum Stage Station. It was made of sawn planks and buried under almost four feet of collapsed roof and overburden. We’ve taken samples from the planks and will have Paleoresearch Associates identify it.  In the center of the room the crew located a huge stump set in the floor–probably an anvil stand.  Given that the place was a stage station, they had to have a place to shape and fit horse shoes. 

The trash midden produced another oddity: an unfired  7.62 x 53R Russian military cartridge with a 1917 Remington head stamp.  Nearly 300,000 Winchester 1895 muskets were shipped off to the Czar just before WWI, with additional civilian sales of the rifle and cartridge in the U.S.  Most likely this was one.  It’s kind of cool to think that someone with a model 95 in 7.62 Russian used to live here.

In addition, the creekside tipi rings were fully mapped and tested.  Dr. Scheiber’s team proved that we have two stone circles down there–and best of all, they’re historic!  Not only was a broken pair of scissors recovered from inside the rings, but also a handful of spent primers pressed out during cartridge reloading inside the lodge. This dates the occupation to sometime later than the mid 1870s.

Next year they’re coming back and there will be more to report.  So, dear readers, if you’ve always dreamed of becoming an archaeologist, maybe you’d better check out the Indiana anthropology program at Bloomington.  You’re probably too late for fall semester, but if you manage to register for Spring–and cut Doc. Scheiber’s mustard–maybe we’ll see you out here for 2011 with a trowel in your hand.

Greetings All!

Amazon is back to shipping, as those of you who follow the fan club know.  According to the reports, Barnes & Noble managed to get their distribution of PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE out by the lay-down date.  Some Borders stores, we hear, are still waiting but will have copies available.  This may already be a non issue.

Speaking of the fan club.  If you haven’t explored it yet, Google the following.  Gear Fan Club: First North Americans.  We’re currently debating the ethics of cloning mammoths.  We would welcome your input. Also, if you have questions, are looking for a chat, or would like to share your thoughts on our books, it’s the place to go.

We’re working on the third PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE novel, titled BROKEN LAND.  When our editor asked how it was coming, we replied, “We’re having a lovely time with this one.”  Why?  Because we’re doing wonderful things with Iroquoisan spirituality.  Seeing it through a different lens, if you will.

At the same time, and because there are two of us, we’re half way through the final revisions for FIRE THE SKY.  As usual, Jennifer Heddle, our wonderful editor at Simon & Schuster, sent an insightful and challenging letter. Good editors are such a blessing to have.  Black Shell and Pearl Hand are getting polished for their February release date.

The University of Indiana archaeological field crew will be back tonight for another ten-day working on the Nostrum Stage station.  Dr. Scheiber’s students will be removing timbers and opening one of the collapsed rooms.  Should be fascinating digging.  Oh, and there’s swimming in the stock pond at days end. We’d tell you about the “magic carp” but that’s sort of privilaged info.

May 24, 2010

Hello to All,

May has been an exciting month for us.  Kathy had her tonsils out on May 5th and spent two weeks alternately sleeping, groaning, and complaining about bland food.  Until, that is, Mike decided on day 6 after surgery that he’d pour about one tablespoon of ancho chili powder in her scrambled eggs.  No more complaints about bland food, but A LOT more groaning.  Apparently that wasn’t such a good idea.  Who knew?

Last weekend we travelled to beautiful Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to attend the wedding of our good friends, Vince Hayes and Michelle Mahon.  They were married at the historic Cataldo Mission, built in the 1830’s.  The chapel and ceremony were gorgeous.  The best part was Michelle’s handwritten vows.  Made everybody cry.  The second best part was Vince forgetting his vows.  Made everybody laugh.  Then we attended the reception at a great wine bar called Barrel Room No. 6.  All in all, it was a wonderful time in a gorgeous location.  We drove straight through yesterday and got home late last night. 

On our way to Coeur d’Alene we stopped in Missoula, Montana, and had breakfast with authors Kat Martin and Larry J. Martin.  What a delightful morning that was!  We talked about everything from publishing (Kat just hit the New York Times bestseller list.  Congratulations, Kat!) to ebooks, and the future of reading.  Larry’s latest book, KILLING CANCER, is out and makes fascinating reading for those interested in all aspects of the subject. 

We’re back to work today on THE BROKEN LAND, book 3 of the People of the Longhouse saga.  It’s a great day to be inside writing–rainy and cool.  There are two bull elk, in velvet, grazing in the meadow in front of the house. 

Hope everyone is having a pretty May.

Best Regards,

Mike and Kathy

Greetings All:

One of the benefits of being a writer on tour with a culturally sensitive pubisher like Tor/Forge is that we get occasional perks on sell-in tours like the one for PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE.  In this case we were able to tour the Iroquois Museum at www.iroquoismuseum.org at 324 Caverns Road, Howes Cave, New York, 12092.   This is a wonderful cultural resource just east of Albany, New York, off of I-88.  Should you ever be in the area, please drop in and say hello to Steph Shultes, the curator and MikeTarbell the museum’s outstanding educator.  We shared lunch, asked questions, and Michael spent real quality time conversing with the turtles.  Not only is it a cultural icon for road-weary anthropologists, but any place that rescues turtles lies close to the heart of Creation.

The following day we were able to journey to Victor, New York, just southeast of Rochester off 1-90.  There we toured the site of Ganondagan–an historic/prehistoric Seneca town site with a reconstructed 18th century longhouse.    The site itself was occupied as early as the 1600s.  The museum was closed, but the trail around the ridgetop site is stunning. 

Meanwhile we have been meeting with booksellers throughout eastern New York, finally finding ourselves on Madison Avenue–in the city–as we write this entry.  Tomorrow we meet with our publisher at Tor/Forge to discuss plans for the release of PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE.  Hopefully we’ll be back this summer to sign copies for our fans.  To the booksellers, managers, and staff that we’ve met, we say thank you for your warm welcomes.  Hopefully our discussions have led you to a fuller appreciation of North America’s Native heritage, and the contribution of Iroquois political philosophy to the world in general.

Greetings from New England and Upstate New York! 

It’s been a very busy two weeks.  We left Wyoming expecting snowy rain, but drove to St. Louis in delightful weather.  There we toured the Cahokia Mounds, attended the Society for American Archaeology meetings, and visited with old friends.  We learned many wonderful new things and really decided we need to write another Cahokia novel.  It’s been 20 years since we researched PEOPLE OF THE RIVER.  Wow!  Have things changed.

On the way to the airport, the left front hub on the Dodge began to clatter.  Since it was Sunday, and we were getting on a plane, the truck is staying in the long term lot at Lambert field. When we get back we’ll figure out where to take it and get it fixed before rolling back home.

Meanwhile, we’ve been on Sell-in tour for PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and New York.  Sell-in consists of meeting with booksellers, talking about the up-coming novel, and building excitement for the release of the book.  The country, as always, is stunning.  We’ve been following the trail of Gannajero, Odion, Koracoo, and Gonda through the mountains and down to the Conneticut River. 

Tonight we’re in Mohawk Iroquois country, trying to tune into the spirits who still inhabit the wooded places.  

Special thanks to our sales rep, Ellen Pyle.  She took Mike and Kathy out for Lobster in Portland, Maine, and filled her whole day escorting her two wide-eyed authors from store to store.  Ellen, you’re one of the best.

If you live in New England, we left signed copies at Northshire Books, 4869 Main Street, Manchester Center, Vermont.  Signed copies are also available at Gibson’s Books, 275 Main, Concord, New Hampshire.  If you are in the Manchester, New Hampshire, you can find signed copies at the Barnes & Noble on south Willow Street.  In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, contact Riverrun Bookstore at 20 Congress Street and Tom will take good care of you.

Meanwhile, it’s late.  We’ve been at it from can see to can’t.  Time to get some shuteye and tackle the rest of the world tomorrow.

Hello All!

It’s a blustery spring day here.  We’re off on Sunday for the Society for American Archaeology meetings in St. Louis.  The SAA is always great fun and very educational.  Plus we cherish the time seeing old friends.  It’s the only place we get to connect with archaeologists we’ve known for over twenty years, and hear about their new  theories and excavations.  We’ll keep you undated on the latest fascinating finds.

Always for those who been asking questions about the writers workshop we will be teaching in September at the Cortez Cultural Center, you might want to take a look at the CCC’s web site:  http://www.cortezculturalcenter.org/writers_workshop.shtml

Until next time,

Mike and Kathy

Hello Everybody!

While searching for the email address of an old friend, a BLM archaeologist, we stumbled upon the Face Book page of Project Archaeology.  What a wonderful find!  The BLM is helping to fund the teaching of archaeology for educators through a program called, “Project Archaeology: Teachers Professional Development in Archaeology.”  If you are a teacher, or know someone who might be interested in this program, please take a look at the Face Book page.  We’re absolutely delighted by it.  Having teachers who can educate children about the past, and why studying it is important, is one of the best ways, we think, to help the future of humankind.

We’re in the midst of a grand blizzard today.   Springtime in the Rockies is always unpredictable.  That’s its charm.  We saw our first Mountain Bluebird yesterday.  We’re feeling sorry for the little guy today.  We hope he’s hiding in the cliffs somewhere and is at least finding spiders to eat.  Every other insect and bird has taken cover.

Best Regards,

Mike and Kathy