Monthly Archives: February 2010

Greetings all: In the past we promised to post on the website if we were going to be attending the 2010 Thrillerfest in New York. It’s official. We’re registered and have signed up for panels. Those of you who insisted that we alert you, please note that you are officially alerted! For the rest of you, Thrillerfest takes place in New York on July 7 through 10th at the Hyatt Grand on 42nd. Of all the writers’ conferences we attend, this is the most useful, professional, and rewarding. To register, go to the International Thriller Writers website and follow the directions. We’ll see you there. A quick note to Sherrie Conklin: Thanks for your interest in our books, and we hope that you enjoy your time with Salamander at Poverty Point in PEOPLE OF THE OWL. We’ve never written about the Nez Perce. In response to your questions, contact Candy Moulton at Candywwa@aol.com. Okay, now let’s get back to the dogs! Mike and Kathy

Good afternoon All, Our good friend, Dr. Nancy Belk, veterinarian extraordinaire, asked us a question last week about dogs in prehistory, and we thought we’d some of our comments with you. Dogs have an illustrious place in the religious lives of people all over the world. They are often portrayed in artwork as escorting the dead to the afterlife. For example, a carved peccary bone from a Mayan site (A.D. 700) at Tikal shows a dog and his master, now in the guise of Corn God, travelling in a dugout canoe on the surface of the watery underworld. Ceramic vessels dated to this period depect what appear to be Mexican Hairless dogs. Similarly, from about 300 B.C. to A.D. 300, around 80% of Preclassic tomb shafts contain ceramic dog vessels. Some show grossly overweight, seemingly hairless dogs, with barrel chests and short legs, while others depict emaciated animals with patterns that look like wrinkles. Entire dogs or dog skulls are often found next to human burials, particularly in the San Juan basin of the American Southwest. They appear as guardians both of human souls, and of entrances to sacred structures, where we find them buried. They also play important roles in Puebloan rituals. The Dog Dance, Tse’share, at Taos, San Juan, Santa Clara, and Nambe pueblos, prominently features dogs. The male dancers (dogs) have a cord attached to their belts by which they lead woman through the Dance. Dogs are also central to stories. The San Juan tale about the “The Envious Corn Girls” tells of a dog who chased Sweet Corn Girl after she’d been transformed into a fox through envy and was patiently trotting after her husband. The storyline is reversed in “Little Dog Turns around,” where Little Girl Dog assumes the guise of a human woman and is selected by Rising Star as his mate. When she bears him two children–puppies, naturally–Rising Star’s family is shamed. This is a good lesson–choose your mate carefully! Dogs are important, too, in curing rituals. For example, Kwe’lele, the patron katchina of the Big Firebrand Society at Zuni, provides his sick patient with four cakes during a cure. Three are eaten by the sick person, one is thrown to a dog who absorbs the sickness, and thereby cures the patient. Dogs can also have an “evil” context. A Taos pueblo tale says that witches can take the form of a black dog, and this has interesting implications for archaeological sites. At the Homol’ovi’ I site in Arizona (an 1,100 room pueblo that dates from A.D. 1290-1400), for example, before two ceremonial kivas were abandoned young dogs were sacrificed. In one particular example, the puppy, probably 2-3 months old, was placed on a large potsherd, then a stone was placed over the dog’s body. One of the fascinating things about these types of burials is that we know human witches were buried with a stone over their bodies to keep the soul in the earth. Did the people who buried the dogs believe they were really witches who had shape-shifted? Or perhaps they just wanted the soul of the dog to remain as guardian forever? And the dogs came in all varieties. At White Dog Cave in Arizona, a Basketmaker II site dating to around 400 B.C., there were two dog burials. The larger dog was a white, long-haired, animal that died at age two and was about the size of a small collie. It had a long bushy tail and erect ears. The other dog was smaller. About eight months old at death, the dog was black-and-white and about the size of a terrier. He had short hair, erect ears, and a long full tail. One of our favorite Mimbres bowls (from the Pruitt Site in New Mexico) shows a black-and-white dog standly proudly with his head and tail high. Another (from the Ron Beckwith collection) shows a hunter holding his bow over his head to protect it while two large dogs leap up to affectionately lick him. All in all, dogs were at least as important, and perhaps more so, in prehistoric societies as they are to us today. For everyone out there who has a dog, please give him or her a pet for us. Regards, Mike and Kathy

Greetings All: TANSTAAFL. How many of you know the word? Robert Heinlein popularized it in his finest novel (Our opinion, but we’re right) entitled THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS. Tanstaafl stands for “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” We really wish there was a way to reintroduce Heinlein’s novels to young people these days. Along with endorsing the notion of hard work, they resonated with optimism; but most importantly, Heinlein enticed the reader to dream and aspire to the creation of a better future. What goaded us to bring up Tanstaafl? Amazon, of all places. Authors–including yours truly–put heart and soul into their work. When a novel we are particularly proud of hits the shelves, and readers open the covers, we spend a lot of time hoping they like it. Do they get it? Do they think the story is as important as we do? Just after COMING OF THE STORM was released we checked Amazon to find “one star” reviews from people like Debra F. Gilbert, D. Konkle, and A. Queen “allionlife.” Not because we did a crummy job of writing, researching, or plotting. They’re ratings had nothing to do with the book. They hadn’t even read it. They didn’t like the Kindle price. Here’s the background: Amazon is in a knock-down, drag-out battle with the Sony Reader, B&N’s Nook, and a plethora of other e-book readers. As part of their strategy, they offered highly discounted ebooks in an effort to gain market share. Assuming Amazon’s Kindle could dominate the market, they could later raise the prices and recover their initial losses. The tactic is as old as business. We all understand the concept of a “loss leader” and accept it. Who doesn’t like a bargain? We also realize that when we go into Don’s IGA in Thermopolis because Greg and Ilya are offering $1.00 paper towels, that they expect to make it back on other items we pick up while we’re there. And yes, next week paper towels will be back up to six bucks. What saddens us–and brings us back to Tanstaafl–is the reaction of Gilbert, Konkle, Queen, and their ilk to the release of COMING OF THE STORM. The “loss leader” had run its course. Time to go back to market value. The aforementioned folks loudly claim they really want to buy the book–just not at Amazon’s price. So, dear Gilbert, Konkle, and Queen, be as miffed as you’d like at Amazon. They are doing what smart businesses do. You stated, however, that you would really like to read COMING OF THE STORM. Assuming you actually mean that, we suggest that you trot down to your favorite local bookstore. We hope it’s an independent, or perhaps a Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Hastings, or even a Kroger’s grocery book rack. Many of these booksellers are discounting the hardback, so you can still feel like you’re getting a break on the price. You can make your point, support the industry, author, and local economy, and still enjoy the read. If you do that, we’re with you, and offer our deep appreciation for your purchase. We hope that Black Shell, Pearl Hand, and the dogs make their ways into your hearts with as much warmth as they did ours. But let’s hypothetically say that you don’t. That you refuse to purchase the novel in any form, from any vendor, because you’d have to pay market value. In other words, what you’re saying to us as authors is that our research, dedication, hard work, and talent aren’t worth the going rate. We’re curious, guys; in this hypothetical situation, just how much is our skill and ability as storytellers actually worth to you? Drop us a comment here on the blog. We’ll be happy to share it with our other readers. Tanstaafl. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Someone pays for everything. Online these days, aspiring authors are offering downloads of their books for free–desperate for someone, anyone, to read them. The hope is that by building a readership eventually they will be able to sell to a real publisher and make a living. Those authors are running their own “loss leaders” just like Amazon. The same with music, videos, you name it. We don’t know where the digital revolution is taking the book industry, but it’s to a different world. The laws of economics remain eternal. Wherever we end up, we’ll have to pay fair market value for quality storytelling. Obviously we can’t write novels that scratch every reader’s itch. We’ve had “one star” reviews from people who really didn’t like what we wrote, or how we wrote it. Because we’re proud of our craft and abilities, we’re always slightly stung, but those folks were being honest. Michael doesn’t like toffee and Kathleen won’t touch sweet drinks. But that’s just us. Gilbert, Konkle, and Queen can send their own message by picking up a copy of COMING OF THE STORM from their local bookseller. Will they? We hope so. And we hope that in the future they will use the review space on Amazon to actually review books. That’s what it’s there for.

Greetings all: We landed in Billings in a snowstorm, crashed in a hotel, and headed south for Thermopolis first thing the next morning. After so long on the road we were anxious to pet and hug our two shelties. During our tour Shannon spent most of her time punishing grandma. It seems that young Jake has figured out that if he’s in grandma’s lap, he gets the lion’s share of attention. Now, you’ve got to understand that Shannon has always loved grandma, perhaps even more than Mike and Kathy. The two of them have a special bond–which has been fractured by Jake driving his long nose between them. To get back, Shannon spent the two and half weeks snubbing grandma, ignoring her commands, and generally doing everything she could to get “alone” time with grandma. And people think that animals aren’t just little people? Dogs, like so many conscious creatures, are just people. Having them around to share our lives adds incredible wealth and value to quality existence. How? Interaction with animals, especially mammals and birds, adds perspective to the soul. In many ways they remind us of what’s real. Wow, did raising buffalo, being a part of their community, and learning their rules ever change our opinions of what is really meaningful in life. Similarly, our shelties have taught us that long term bonds between species adds breadth to our understanding of the world. For the most part humans living in the modern technological urban bubble have lost this, and most don’t even knew it evaporated from their lives. One night during our recent visit to New York, our foreign rights agent, Teri Tobias engaged us in conversation about the ranch. She’s been here and understands what we have at Red Canyon Ranch. Her question revolved around where we were happiest. And why. Now, here’s the thing: We do very well in any sort of an environment. We can walk through Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue without gaping like hicks. At the Society for American Archaeology we mingle and mix among peers. We have old and dear friends in the book selling community that includes wholesalers, editors, publishers, bookstore owners, and reps. But in all of these environments, we are never really able to relax and be ourselves. What the sociologist, Goffman, called “presentation of self” is always at play. So when Teri asked, “Where do you really fit?” Mike’s answer was “When we’re hanging out with buffalo people.” At her surprise, Kathy replied, “That’s because they live in the real world.” Which, of course, leads us back to the animals. Ranchers who raise any livestock, but bison in particular, are constantly reminded of life’s realities. Buffalo insist on being recognized as “persons” who follow their own rules and deserve to have their cultures respected, and will treat you the same way if you demonstrate that you deserve it. We find that we are constantly striving to live up to their expectations. Shelties, fortunately, don’t take life to such extremes, but having learned our lessons from the buffalo, we cherish our dogs even more. Plus, there’s an added advantage: Buffalo don’t sleep on the foot of the bed at night. And, believe us, we’ve had sick calves sleeping on the foot of the bed, you don’t even want to consider it except in the most dire of circumstances. End of story? We’re home, playing with the dogs, and back at work on Iroquois and de Soto books. Until next time, Mike and Kathy

Greetings all: It’s Friday! That’s big news for most of you. For us it’s the day before we fly back to Billings, and two days before we retrieve Shannon and Jake from grandma’s house, go home, and fall on our noses. Book Tour for us–and most authors–is a love-hate sort of thing. Two weeks of hotels, rental cars, taxis, different cities, restaurants, and, oh yes, the airplane travel. Terrorists, irascible security personnel, technology, and the economy have pooled their resources to make the experience dreadful. We fly in economy just like real people–which, we’re pretty sure, is almost everybody else. These days we look forward to air travel with the same anticipation that we do a colonoscopy. Neither is fun, both are necessary evils, and the level of invasive indignity is about on par. But the airplanes are for tomorrow. Since our last post we’ve enjoyed good meetings with our Simon and Schuster publisher, editor, and publicist. We rehashed the tour and were informed that COMING OF THE STORM will be released in mass market (paperback) in September with the sequel to STORM coming in February. Book two is in, the working title is FIRES OF MABILA. We don’t know if S&S will stick to it. We’re still too early to know how the book is selling. Hopefully, if you’re reading this entry, you’re already a Black Shell fan and have enjoyed his adventures so far. Meanwhile, the good folks at Tor/Forge are planning an April sell-in tour for PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE which will have us driving around New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and New Hampshire, visiting independent bookstores and various Barnes & Noble and Borders stores to shake hands with staff and give presentations on the Iroquois and how they changed world civilization. LONGHOUSE will be released in July, so mark your calendars. The meetings were energetic and productive, which in the current world of publishing, comes as a relief. Everyone in the industry is trying to figure out what to do about ebooks. So are we. Talking to different people in publishing, estimates are that within the next ten years ebooks may make up around 15 to 20% of the book market. At the same time, no one believes that paper books are going away. Nationwide, however, the numbers of readers are decreasing, fewer copies are printed, and bookshelf space–actual book racks–at retail stores gets smaller and smaller to sell fewer and fewer copies with an ever diminished selection of titles and authors. What happens when people stop reading? Where does a nation or society go? How does it change? Movies and television are great, and have expanded and enriched our imaginative horizons. But what sort of society will we have if the number of people who read drops to a couple of percent of the whole? We solicit your thoughts. Best Regards