New Books

True West Magazine for April 2016 has some reviews of new westerns by Stuart Rosebrook. They are:

     1. A House of the Rising Sun by James Lee Burke. Fifth in a series of the Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland novels.
     2. The Grant Conspiracy: The Wake of the Civil War by Lee Martin. A mystery novel around a supposed conspiracy to assassinate President Grant.
     3.Entertaining Women - Actresses, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West by Chris Enss. Non-fiction review of some of the entertainers of the old West.


And there is an advertisement for three books "On sale now." They are:

    1. Pray for the Dead by Dusty Richards.
    2 .The Searchers by Alan LeMay
    3. Ten Guns from Texas by William W. Johnstone.

Sounds like powerful good reading there and True West Magazine is always full of good reading..





 

Not Again?

Yes, I tried it again. I rolled out my two-wheeler and pulled into position in the hallway near the closet and wrestled my box of books out of the closet and onto the two-wheeler. What a struggle that was at my old age. I don't have enough common sense to split up the books into two boxes, and I stuff the box with more books than I'll ever sell in a morning. Always the optimist, I rolled the contraption back out to the garage and parked it next to the trunk area of my car. I had already loaded two chairs into the trunk and all I had to do was put in the books and the cart.

I only dropped the box once and the books came tumbling out onto the cement floor. I coulda cussed a blue streak, but I was calm, cool, and somewhat collected and only said a few words about the design the books made there. I promptly threw the books back into the box and managed to pick it up and push it onto the chairs where it said thank you for not dropping me again. My wife and I piled in and drove the one-half mile to the church parking lot that was full, except for the one spot I saw in the next to last row.

"Good, we have only 300 yards to the spot where our table is," I said to the better half, and started unloading the trunk. The box of books seemed to gain ten pounds pulling it out and setting it on the ground where the cart was already placed. Moving it onto the cart, I unloaded the chairs and placed them on the box. Off we went, pushing the cart in front of me for the distance. I set up a chair and sat down, regaining my breath before we unloaded most of it. "Next time, we're not going to bring so damn many books," I said.

For the next three hours, we sat and ate hot dogs and donuts that we purchased at the stand and drank cold water. We were hungry, not having any breakfast. We sold enough books to pay for the trouble and a little extra, so we packed up and headed home. We then went to the Olive Garden and had lunch, spending our profit. Oh, well, a penny earned is a penny spent.

Now I'll keep a record of the income and try to figure out how much tax we'll have to pay on it. Tomorrow I'll be all stiff and sore from the heavy lifting, and the next time, I will be sure to repack the books into smaller boxes or I'll have to hire somebody to do the heavy lifting.

Best Western Shows

Among the 12 Best Western Shows per an article on Yahoo was number one Gunsmoke. I sure don't disagree with that choice. I still watch some of the series in spare moments. Number 2 was The Wild Wild West and I never cared too much for it and only watched maybe a half-dozen episodes.

Other favorites on the list were Bonanza (No. 3), Have Gun - Will Travel (No. 4), Maverick (No. 6), and The Lone Ranger (No. 9).

Others were Cheyenne (No. 7), Zorro (No. 8), and The Virginian (No. 12), that I watched a few episodes of each, Cheyenne being the one I liked best of these.

The Guns of Will Sonnett and Kung Fu (Nos. 10 & 11), I never saw much of and don't know if they were good or bad. The Kung Fu shows I saw were all right.

And then there was Rawhide (No. 5). Didn't see too many of these, but were okay in my book.

Do you agree, disagree with my selections? 

Miscellaneous items

Lately I've been studying how to write fiction stories in the hopes that I could then produce better stories. I can't say that I do now write better than before, since I'm still trying to learn how to do it. I am looking forward to some of it sinking in or rubbing off on me, but only time will tell.

I have been also studying up on marketing and selling for self-publishers or indie writers. I knew exactly zero on this subject when I began writing and over the years have picked up on a few tips, but they don't seem to be helping me much. I'm sure my reading will help me on this subject, but I'm not certain about the doing of it yet.

And, I've also been checking up on some events that maybe I could afford to attend this year. The Tucson Festival of Books is out and I don't want to travel around the country carting a trunk full of books, so maybe I will just sit this year out. I have been contacted by someone looking for writers who would enter their books in some events like the Chicago Festival of books, but I think he was just trying to make some money by selling spots that are not very cheap for a three-day event. He called me again to see if I wanted to enter my book, Blood and Blazes in Upamona, at a special price, but I can't afford what he said. I tried selling a few times as I've said once or twice before and here is proof:

You can see Blood and Blazes in Upamona is to my right in the pic. But that day was a waste of time,
since nothing was sold. I may try an event here in Arizona if I'm feeling well enough, we'll see. I'll probably sell some at the church a couple blocks away later this month.

Enjoy the Spring weather and sell lotsa books!