Greetings All!
Yes, we know this is supposed to be a monthly newsletter, but dang! Our lives over the past couple of months can be likened to living inside an F1 tornado.
A tremendous number of events, commitments, and well, that life stuff, too, have kept us hopping!
We’re just back from ThrillerFest XIX in New York. Wow!
We enjoyed one of our most interesting conferences ever. Michael served on a panel dedicated to research and how it helps or hinders a thriller. Got to spend time with the immortal Tom Doherty, our great publisher at Tor Books, and then had supper with long-time friend and Forge Books publisher, Linda Quinton. Catching up on the publishing industry was fascinating. The world of books has changed dramatically in the last decade. Great small publishers, like Wolfpack Publishing, can do things these days that New York houses can’t do, mostly because they understand the digital market better. The task has always been to connect readers with books they will love. Doing that is not as simple these days as it used to be. Smaller publishers just seem to be better at it.
Oh, and we’re in talks about another contemporary novel based on the buffalo industry, Yellowstone bison, and the conflict over conservationists and private landowners.
Bison, money, and murder—who could ask for more? Tentatively titled Buffalo Justice, we’ll let you know when it’s scheduled for release.
And now! Congratulations to Michael!! His short story “Bad Choices” in the Wolfpack RIDIN’ WITH THE PACK anthology is the 2024 Western Writers of America Spur Award winner for best short fiction of the year.
He will receive the award next week in Tulsa at the Western Writers of America conference. ALSO! He was informed that “Bad Choices” along with After the Eagle Has Fallen are finalists for the Will Rogers Medallion Awards to be presented in Fort Worth on October 19th. After the Eagle Has Fallen, like “Bad Choices,” is set in the Wyoming Chronicles universe of “Apocalyptic Western” fiction. The series starts with the critically acclaimed Dissolution, followed by Fourth Quadrant, which won the 2023 International Book Award for best thriller of the year. As you will discover, reading an award-winning apocalyptic Western is both fun and scary!
Winning accolades for Michael’s short story is pretty cool considering that Kathleen won the same “best short fiction of the year” award last year for her short story “No Quarter” about the Alamo. It was published in Wolfpack’s Rebel Hearts anthology. Michael says that keeping up with Kathleen is always a challenge!
So, what’s with the short stories? Well, they are just plain fun to write.
As a result, we’re currently finishing a short story anthology that will contain our Spur Award-winning stories “No Quarter” and “Bad Choices,” as well as six original stories that range from the fur trade to the 1920s in the west. The title, appropriately, will be SWITCHING GEARS. Here’s the other fun project: We will be narrating the audio edition of the anthology! Michael will read his stories, and Kathleen hers. How cool is that?
Expect SWITCHING GEARS sometime in September. We’ll post the title, cover, and pub date as soon as we have them.
On the novel front:
The re-issue of Children of the Dawnland, part one, has been No. 1 on the Amazon Prehistoric Fiction for Children list for almost two months. Both part one and part two are available for download or in print if you have young readers that you’d like to introduce to our work. See Amazon for either the digital or print versions, or order the paperbacks from your local bookstore or Amazon.
What else is new? Our Peacemaker’s saga about the origins of the League of the Iroquois, set around the year AD 1400, continues to be released. Part 3, The Dawn Country, just came out a few days ago, and follows People of the Longhouse and Shadowed Forest. The next installment, The Dusk Country will be released July 2nd. Note: These are re-releases of the original “People of the Longhouse” quartet published by Forge Books. If you have those original books, you do not need to reorder. If you haven’t read the series, pick up part one and join the journey!
In fact, part 1, PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE, will be on sale on Amazon starting next Wednesday, June 12th, for just .99 cents!
Just to add another wrinkle to our busy schedules, though we can’t disclose any details now, we’re hoping that we’ll be able to make an announcement about the film rights for one of our books.
Keep in mind, we’ve been here before, done this a lot, and have a closet full of “almost sold film rights” T-shirts. But if all of you send positive vibes our way? Who knows, there might be a movie in the future.
Oh, and that life stuff? We just discovered that we have to go take apart the pump for the irrigation system and fix it. Who said the author’s life wasn’t full of heart-pounding excitement and thrills?
Hope this finds you all happy and enjoying the summer. Until next time, read in health!
Michael and Kathleen