Out in the wild, wild West, the men were strong, the women were hard, the horses were fast, and the talk was rough – rougher than the saddle on a rustler’s steed, rougher than a barroom brawl, rougher than the face of a lonesome drifter, rougher than…well, you get the picture. I like the fact read more…

What happened in the Wild West on this day more than 137 years ago reminds me of the dangers of lying and believing lies. On August 26, 1873, outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez and six others were robbing a store in Tres Pinos, California. They promised no one in the store would get hurt and the shoppers read more…

Researching and writing about the unsettled frontier has become an obsession with me – which works out well since that’s what I do for a living. I check a variety of sources every week to see how the books I’ve written on that subject are doing. Most days I’m encouraged by the sales, but then read more…

For a long time now I’ve been considering going back to school. I want to study communications and I have enough credits from my previous college years to pursue a degree in that area. The thought of having to take courses I’m not all that interested in to acquire the degree isn’t that appealing to read more…

In my humble opinion one of the best westerns ever made is Tombstone. Written by Kevin Jarre, the dialogue is some of the most brilliant and honest I’ve heard. The dialogue the Doc Holliday character recites about Johnny Ringo resonates with me. It pains me to say it, but I can understand Ringo’s angst. Doc read more…

There were no formal plea agreements in the Old West. You got caught in a criminal act or it was discovered that false allegation were made, you were executed. That was particularly so if you were brought before Judge Isaac Parker. Parker’s record for imposing the death sentence and the conviction ratio in his court read more…

Summer vacations are winding down and families are returning home to begin preparing for the coming school year. Many people have written to tell me that they have seen several of the books I’ve penned about frontier women in the various bookstores they visited during their travels. Yellowstone, Santa Fe, Tombstone…it’s good to know the read more…

The bulk of this past week I’ve been consumed with rewrites on the Elizabeth Custer book. I’ve rechecked facts, corrected timelines, reviewed endnotes, etc.. It’s a long, involved process and you never know if you’ve caught every misspelling or grammatical problems. This is my least favorite part of the writing process and I come away read more…

I met many wonderful people when I was in Dodge City last year promoting Thunder Over the Prairie – one of them was Brent Harris. Brent is the face of Dodge City. His picture has been in all of the western magazines. Dressed in cowboy gear, complete with a Stetson and kerchief, Brent’s image in read more…