Journal Notes

I traveled to Marysville Saturday to speak with authors at Amicus Books about marketing. Authors don’t generally consider marketing a part of the writing process. I know I didn’t when I first started out, but I’ve come to learn that you have to be proactive with your title and promote the materail yourself. A publisher will only do so much. They talk was enouraging and meeting other authors was invigorating. Amicus Books is a unique bookstore that celebrates authors and works with them to get their books published. Whether you’re an author or a customer, Kara and James, who own the business, will make you feel like the most special person on earth. They are wonderful people! I’m working on the Buffalo Bill now as well as the fascinating biography about a German born spy. I hope I do the tale justice. I receive hundreds of emails a day from men and women falsely accused of sexual misconduct by their own teenagers. I hope the book I’ve written on the subject will generate still more letters. There are so many people who have suffered needlessly. The following is part of one of the letters sent to me. Not only are people suffering, but they are rightfully scared for their lives now.
“I feel just like you do about warning people to be careful. On the way to the library today we saw our neighbors across the street and a lot of young kids were out in the yard. My husband and I both don’t even look their way. Times sure have changed from when I was growing up and Gramps, next door, would take us little ones to the park. My Dad was a coal miner and the neighborhood kids would line up to kiss him good-bye. Imagine doing that now?
Sorry how life has changed and not all for the good either.”

This day has been spent organizing all the photos and art work for the posse book. I don’t know if I have a photograph to go with each chapter. The publisher may run them all together in center of the book. The photos are spectacular, especially the one of Wyatt Earp. There is so much going on behind his eyes. It’s a rage I think many people identify with. I sent the various copies of Thunder Over the Prairie out to my editor, agent, and all the people that are going to be offering a quote for the back jacket of the book. I sent the manuscript out praying that it gets good reviews. It’s one of the hardest parts of the job. Wednesday night Bible study was fun. There weren’t many kids there though. They were out with end of school year events. When I left the building I saw one of the male teachers helping his neighbor’s 8 year-old girl into his truck. The girl’s mother had asked him to give her a ride to church. I was instantly scared for the man. I told him that he should never be alone with any little girl. He was stunned because he never even thought about the consequences. Never thought she might make an ugle accusation. I think about that kind of thing all the time now and feel strongly about warning people. All it takes is one evil, horror of a human being who wants attention to ruin your life. The devil has many disguises. I’ve got the description of a couple of those disguises tatooed on my brain now. Looking at Wyatt Earp’s photo, I’d say he does too.

Yesterday was Memorial Day and I couldn’t help but think about my nephew, Corey. Corey is a sailor on his way to Iraq and I’m extremely proud of him. I’m equally proud of my grandfather, father, and brother for their service to the country. My grandfather served in World War II, my father was in Vietnam, and my brother, Rick served in Desert Storm. I’m grateful to the men and women who fought for the American way. One of my many prayers is that Corey comes home safely, along with the other soldiers in dangerous locations. The posse book will go out to the editor this week. I’m pleased with the way it turned out and am anxious to see it in print. Thunder Over the Prairie will be released in October 2009 – 131 years after the posse set off to catch Dora Hand’s killer. The book about my brother should be coming out not long after that.

Finished chapter 10 of the posse book today! I was given a word count of 40,000 and am currently at 36,000 and I have yet to write the introduction and bibliography. The mayor of Dodge City is writing the forward and hopefully I’ll have some great quotes to use from other western authors. In the book I used one of Wyatt Earps’ quotes about the way he dealt with the true criminals in this world. It reminded me all over again that many of the real offenders are not behind bars, but walking among us masquerading as wives, students, and health care workers. “I’m not ashamed of anything I ever did,” Wyatt said in 1927. “Were it to be done over again, I would do exactly as I did at the time. If the outlaws and their friends and allies imagined that they could intimidate or exterminate the Earps by a process of assassination, and then hide behind alibis and the technicalities of the law, they simply missed their guess.” I’d liked the way Wyatt handled the people who came after his family.

Review of Chris Ensss Hearts West: True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier, paperback, The Globe Pequot Press, 2005, 114 pages, ISBN: 076272756X

Cite as: Nick J. Sciullo, Review of Chris Ensss Hearts West: True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier, Spring Board Journal, Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2005.

A provocative look at an overlooked area of history. This work is enticing because it functions not only as a historical investigation, but as a jump off point for gender studies criticism. Enss provides an intimate description, much like an oral historian might provide, of the trials and tribulations of womyn in the West. The book reads well and is a product of not only an excellent researcher, but an excellent story teller.

There are pictures of mail order brides and ads used to purchase them. Each chapter discusses a couple and reveals romance, hope, and fear. The book reads like a diary. Each chapter is a personal account, vivid and intimate. With writing this clear and genuine its a wonder more people are not jumping on the historical bandwagon.

It is this type of history that brings the people back to the events, epochs, and criticism. History often needs a personal touch and perhaps this is why social history is on the rise. When folks talk about history they need to talk with the people that made the history. Hearts West comes as close to a first-person narrative as humynly possible. Works like this bring the world to life and reinvigorate historical inquiry and interest.

Perfect for students of the West and those interested in feminist theory and historyHearts West is a welcome addition to the bookshelf.

Nick J. Sciullo

(University of Richmond, 2003; West Virginia University College of Law, 2006)

It was a productive weekend. The signing for the new 2 disc DVD for The Big Trail went well. I enjoy working with the people at Barnes & Noble. They know their business and treat visiting authors well. The patrons who stopped by to pick up a copy of The Big Trail were generous and kind. I met one man who was a Vietnam vet who couldn’t say enough good things about John Wayne and his movies. I wish I could report that the Roy Rogers/Dale Evans film was moving in the right direction, but I can’t. It looks like the cast that had been selected for the roles will have to be replaced with actors who are a bit more enthusiastic to play the parts. It’s unfortunate. I’ve been working on this project for years and it seems every step forward has been met with five steps back. I guess it will all come together one day. Roy and Dale were such wonderful people and it’s a shame that studio heads won’t green light the film so real offers can be made. In addition to working on the last chapter of the posse book and chapter four of the Buffalo Bill book, I’ve been meeting with politicians to talk about the tragic situation that cost my brother his life. I spoke with Senators Aanestad and McClintock about Rick and the prevalence of false accusations of abuse leveled by disgruntled teenagers. I’m going to raise the level of awareness about the events in my brother’s life and those of other such people if it kills me. I won’t let him or others who have suffered through the same nightmare be forgotten.

I’ve had a rough couple of days, but things turned around a bit after I received an email from one of the readers of How The West Was Worn. Thank you Mr. Warshaw, for your much appreciated comments. It lifted my spirits more than you know. Here’s what he had to say. “I finished How the West was Worn yesterday. You’ve done it again! That book is totally fascinating. Reading about what the people wore back then, from hats to footwear to perfume, gave such a better insight into what life was like back in the Old West. One really never gives much thought to that until you described how people dressed by necessity rather than by style, and how it created a style of its own. I had always wondered whether cowboys’ pants were supposed to be tucked into the boots or worn over the boots, because in the movies and on TV you see both. Your book explained that it depended on where the cowboy lived or was from. I also never considered how much of a woman’s time was spent making or mending clothes. Between that and cooking and child care, a woman back then really had no spare time at all as if living in the frontier didn’t make life difficult enough!” All it takes is a kind word. Now of days they are few and far between.

Thought I’d post this review from New Mexico Magazine about The Lady Was A Gambler. It was my pleasure to write about these unique ladies.

THE LADY WAS A GAMBLER: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West
by Chris Enss
TwoDot/Globe Pequot Press, www.GlobePequot.com, 160 pages, paper, $12.95

The Lady Was a Gambler document women who engaged in professions outside the box for their time. The Lady Was a Gambler takes as its subjects 13 women gamblers, including Belle Star; Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane; and Eleanora Dumont, a stunningly beautiful and demure young woman whose meteoric rise included owning a highly successful blackjack parlor in Nevada City, California. A wealthy woman, Dumont unwisely married a scamp,lost everything, and returned to dealing blackjack in mining camps before her demise in Bodie, California. Another character was Mary Hamlin, a lucky poker player and bunko artist who pulled off several big scores: In 1869, the sale of shipping rights to the Mississippi River to a group of French investors, a scam akin to selling the Brooklyn Bridge, netted her more than a quarter-million dollars; and in a diamond hoax a few years later, frequently referred to as the West”s Greatest hoax, she and accomplices salted a claim with bogus diamonds, sapphires, and opals, and secured $1 million for it from a wealthy San Francisco banker before leaving town. Hamlin seems to have been one of the few women who lived on the edge and spent most of her life in luxury.
Also included in The Lady Was a Gambler is the legendary Gertrudes Barcelo (circa 18001852), aka Dona Tules, a well-known monte dealer and operator of gambling saloons and entertainment houses in Santa Fe, of which there were many, beginning about 1833. Enss’s efforts whet the appetite for more information about these compelling women, whose lives were hardly the norm for women of the West.

Fox Films will rerelease John Wayne’s first film, The Big Trail on a special DVD set this week. I got a few advanced copies and was impressed with the work Cloverland Productions did on the special features disc. I was happy to be a part of the production. It turned out well. I have a couple of copies to give away and will send them out to readers if they write and let me know who they are. I received an email from a cowboy poet named T. Michael McClure. He kindly sent me a poem he’d written about Abraham Lincoln and it’s very good. Keep an eye out for his work and thank you, Mr. McClure for letting me read your poem. I’ll be at Barnes and Noble in Citrus Heights this Saturday signing copies of the John Wayne DVD and the book The Young Duke. I look forward to meeting many of you there.

My plans to travel to Cody and work on researching the Buffalo Bill book I’m writing had to be set aside this week. My dad had to have triple by-pass surgery. I’m grateful that he did so well and am happy to report that he is home recovering. I did get a chance to work on researching the book about the number of parents who have been falsely accused of sexually abusing their teenagers. It breaks my heart to meet so many people who have suffered from this and to know that Child Protective Services does such a poor job. My dad received visits from many people in the small Missouri town where he lives. Each one of them praised my brother who was falsely accused and shared stories of his kindness towards them and their famililes during various crisis. It’s good to know he made a difference and that many people cannot and will not believe my brother was guilty of anything. They know the other parties involved and shared that many consider them to be “evil human beings who the community at large view try to avoid at all cost.” That information will enhance the volume I’m writing and spur me on toward the ultimate goal. My brother had value and I miss him still.