We can’t believe it’s Groundhog Day already. We hope Pete walks out into brilliant sunshine, because we’re really tired of the cold and snow. The weather-guessers say we’re supposed to have sub-zero temperatures for most of the week. Boy, we are yearning for spring. Big time. I actually got out my seed packets (tomatoes, jalapenos, squash) yesterday just to look at them and imagine what it’s going to be like when I get to plant the garden…in May. Maybe. If I’m really lucky and it doesn’t snow for the entire month. On the other hand, if it snows the entire month the buffalo will be ecstatic, because spring snows mean lush summer grass. Here’s to dreams of spring wildflowers! Happy Groundhog Day. Kathy

We have just received the cover for COPPER FALCON a novella, or short novel, that will give readers an introduction, or prequel, to PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR. In the story, the exiled Flint Knife Mankiller and his father Red Mask–distant Copper Falcon town’s high chief–have returned to Cahokia in search of warriors to help them repel raiding barbarians. To Flint Knife’s dismay, the great city is fraught with political intrigue and betrayal. When Red Mask is arrested, Flint Knife must trust his fate and future to a foot-loose thief. In the end, he must gamble the COPPER FALCON, a priceless family heirloom, against his father’s life. COPPER FALCON is available for pre-order now, and will be released in March through Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Sony and all the usual ereaders. We hope you enjoy this introduction to Cahokia and get a different view of some of the characters you will meet in PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR when it’s released in May. Read in health!

Hi All, Tomorrow morning we will be headed to the National Bison Association meeting in Denver. It’s always a great time of seeing old friends, laughing a lot, and discussing the current climate for buffalo in America. This is an especially critical year because of the “wild bison” issues in Montana. We will keep you updated about the happenings! Hope the world is treating you well. Mike and Kathy

Hi All, At the risk of being assaulted on the streets of Riverton the next time we’re there, we would like to comment on an issue that is sure to stir tempers over the next few years: the correct boundaries of the Wind River Indian Reservation in the state of Wyoming. The EPA recently ruled that a 1905 ACT passed by Congress which allowed settlers to claim lands within the boundaries of the Reservation did not nullify the Reservation boundaries, which means that the current town of Riverton, Wyoming, sits on the Wind River Reservation. For those of us obsessed with history, this is not news. Honestly, we think the State of Wyoming is wrong in its attempt to have the EPA decision overturned. When you look at the 1905 Act, and then the legal history that follows, it is clear that the State of Wyoming considered Riverton to be part of the Reservation all the way up until at least the 1970s, when the State seems to have “forgotten.” For example, in 1907 the State of Wyoming published its annual “Book of Reliable Information Published by Authority of the Ninth Legislature” where it described Riverton as “within the Reservation.” In 1913, and again in 1932, DOI described the Reservation as encompassing 2,238,644 acres” which included the town of Riverton. Then, in 1972, Senator Teno Roncalio (WY) introduced a bill in the US Congress to authorize federal funds for the construction of an Indian Arts and Cultural Center in Riverton. The bill stated that Riverton is “located within the Wind River Indian Reservation.” Since the 1970s there have been a number of contested legal cases involving the reservation boundaries where decisions have gone back and forth. However, in the end, we think our beloved Wyoming will spend a lot of money waging legal battles it cannot win. For those who think the EPA decision relates only to issues of the Clean Air Act, think again. If Riverton is within the reservation boundaries, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes have jurisdiction over police, fire, water, and may be entitled to all State, county, or city property, within the disputed area, which totals over one million acres. We wish both sides would just sit down and talk this out. The ramifications are far-reaching and potentially explosive if logical minds do not prevail.   Hope everyone is having a great 2014 thus far. Mike and Kathy

Io Saturnalia, Merry Christmas, Schmiha Chanukah, Solstice Greetings, Happy Kwanza, Tidings of the Season, and Happy New Year to all. We’ve been deluged with tasks over the past month, all beginning with the Western Bison Association show and sale in Ogden the first week in December. We had a great time, and some of the finest bison in North America went for bargain prices in the sale. Anyone starting a herd could have picked up magnificent animals for a song. Kathy picked up a bad cold in Ogden, and was kind enough to share it with Michael, so we were both knocked off our feet for the following weeks as we tackled end-of-year tasks, made an emergency run to Billings, and tried to prepare for the holidays. Brother Mike and Mama came out for Christmas dinner with all the fixings, a feast orchestrated and prepared in the midst of vaccinating and tagging the buffalo calves, preg-testing the cows and yearling heifers, weaning, and penning. Most of the calves and yearlings were sold to Boyd Meyer at Cold Creek Buffalo just south of Cheyenne. Boyd is an old and dear friend, and we offered to deliver. Which meant we had snow each night before we were scheduled to make a trip. Despite plowing the road, we had to chain up to get the trailer out of the canyon. And then came the icy trip across Wyoming. The silver lining was a lot of road time where we were finally allowed to listen to the Graphic Audio performances of PEOPLE OF THE EARTH and PEOPLE OF THE RIVER. Wow! We were alternately amused, scared, stunned, and totally charmed and delighted. The actors’ interpretations of the characters was so remarkable, the quality of the production so ingenious, we wondered why the entire nation wasn’t beating Graphic Audio’s doors down for more. We could have done it in two trips, but a packrat had chewed the wiring on the big trailer, and the tires are nearly ten years old–we don’t take changes on crummy tires. Which meant three trips towing the smaller Titan. We take hauling animals very seriously. For us the sensation is of ten glowing souls back there in the trailer, all precious, and depending on us to get them where they’re going in health and safety. When we’re doing it on ice, with a bumper-pull trailer, we pray a great deal…and to just about every deity in the book! Thankfully, they listened. As this is written, everyone is where they are supposed to be. But wow, has it been a busy time. On the book front, we’re still dickering with Tor/Forge over the MORNING STAR series that we wanted to write about Cahokia. We’ve been waiting more than a month now for a marketing plan. Our new editor may not be enthusiastic about the project, which is a let down after the enthusiasm shown by the sales and marketing bosses at Macmillian this last summer. Hopefully by the time we come to some sort of agreement, the momentum will not have been squandered. As it is, negotiations have now been on-going for nine months. For us, 2013 has been a year of disappointments and set-backs; we’re looking forward to 2014. After a slow start we’ve seen several new projects make their first tentative steps into the publishing world, and hopefully, after an initial discouragement, they will find homes and flower. Starting over is always a trial, but then, tribulation is where a person is forced to measure character. Why, oh why, do we have to have so much character? Oh, yes, we’re delighted to see 2013 disappear in the past and hopefully become nothing more than faded memory. Coming in the new year, we’re anxiously awaiting the release of PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR in May. Hopefully the free-roaming buffalo movement–the people who put the “con” in conservation–will fade into the woodwork and go create trouble for some different species. (Maybe they could take up the call to preserve “wild” malaria or dengue, and plague the microbiologists for a while?) Kathy will be on a panel addressing the subject at the National Bison Association meetings in January. And we’re looking forward to escaping to the Texas Hill Country for the Society of American Archaeologists’ meetings in April. And, as always, ThrillerFest is coming up in July. Michael is already scheduled to teach at CraftFest again. And who knows? A miracle might happen? Our new editor at Tor/Forge might even manage to come up with a marketing plan? For everyone reading this, we wish you health and happiness, prosperity and fulfillment.

We wish everyone a most joyous and wonderful Thanksgiving filled with fine food, superb drink, and the heartiest of fellowship. For us, we just wanted all of you to know that we are supremely thankful for our readers. All of you who have purchased our books over the years have allowed us to do what we enjoy doing best: writing novels about peoples and places, exploring new ideas, and sharing some of our wonder about the world around us. To each and every one of you who has helped to allow us this magical pursuit, thank you and bless you.

Hi All, We just put the ranch up for sale: http://www.farmandranch.com/property/plenty-of-privacy-plenty-of-water-red-canyon-ranch. No, we’re not getting out of the buffalo business, just looking for a little smaller place that’s easier to take care with our other careers. The buffalo will go with us wherever we end up. We’d never trust anyone else to give Pia her dose of meloxicam when her arthritis is really acting up, like it is on this gorgeous, snowy, Wyoming day. We have several older buffalo who have special needs. One of our cows is 23 years old, and another is 20. We’ll take care of them until their natural end. Happy upcoming Thanksgiving! Mike and Kathy

Hi All, At Thrillerfest last July, Kathy participated in an interview with Zachary Petit of Writer’s Digest. The article, “The Power of Pairs: A Roundtable,” is in the January, 2014, issue of Writer’s Digest. Special thanks to Zachary Petit. It’s not easy sifting through the ramblings of four writers who are all talking to him as well as amongst themselves! Great job, Zach. Anyone interested in how to co-author a book, please read this article. We think you’ll enjoy it! Mike and Kathy

We’re finishing up the page proofs for the new trade edition of THE MORNING RIVER, which Tor/Forge Books will be releasing in May. It will be followed by COYOTE SUMMER, also coming in trade format. It’s been fifteen years since we’ve read THE MORNING RIVER, and it’s a curious delight to go back and spend time with Richard, Travis, and Willow again. What a charming story. We’re reminded about why Tor/Forge submitted THE MORNING RIVER for both the Pulitzer and National Book Award competitions. There’s never been anything quite like it in American letters. From the perspective of a decade and a half, Travis Hartman remains one of our most beloved characters for his wit, wisdom, and soul-deep grit. Richard continues to be a long-shot for survival, and Heals Like A Willow–the Dukurika Shoshoni woman taken slave by the Pawnee called Packrat–takes a superlative revenge on her captor. Over time we’ve forgotten many of the twists and turns. We catch ourselves laughing aloud at Richard’s pratfalls and Hartman’s acerbic comments. What a delightful way to become reacquainted. If you haven’t read THE MORNING RIVER in awhile, pull it off your shelf, settle back, and rediscover the delight!

In the run up to PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR we’ve just finished and delivered a 15,000 word novella entitled “Copper Falcon” to our publisher at Tor/Forge Books. The novella is set just months before the opening of PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR. Set in AD 1050, the story is about a young war chief and his father, leaders of Copper Falcon town, a Cahokian settlement on the Tennessee River. For Flint Knife, the arrival at Cahokia is mind-boggling. Raised as he was in the hinterlands, the sheer size and scope of Cahokia is beyond comprehension. His father, Red Mask, however, knows Cahokia all too well. His interest in another lord’s wife led to his divorce and banishment from the city over thirty years earlier–and returning in violation of an exile ordered by the Morning Star is a death offense. The plan is simple: Get in, plead for a squadron of warriors to be dispatched by Red Mask’s relatives in Horned Serpent House, and get out before anyone is the wiser. But in the seething stew of Cahokian politics, Horned Serpent House is vulnerable, and the Keeper of the Four Winds Clan sees not only an opportunity to put Horned Serpent House in its place, but a chance to pay back an old betrayal. Before Flint Knife can catch his breath, he and Red Mask are cast into a political maelstrom from which they will be lucky to escape with their lives, let alone with a precious sculpted copper falcon that would be worth a chief ransom in trade… Copper Falcon is coming soon in e-format for most electronic readers.