Today is the climax of the relentless crescendo of hyperbole
surrounding the release of my first Western, Dead Shot: The Memoir of Walte
Ferguson, Soldier, Marshal, Bootlegger. Some may consider my use of “hyperbole”
to itself be hyperbolic. Based on my standards of marketing, I do not.
Dead Shot was as much fun as I’ve had writing a book.
The research was fun. Finding a voice I liked was fun. Even the first draft,
which I usually consider to be the literary equivalent of searching excrement
for intestinal parasites, was fun. Reading it to The Beloved Spouse™ was a lot
of fun, especially when I saw her reaction, which was as encouraging as any I
have received from her on a book, and she’s endured listened to them
all.
In short, I enjoyed the entire process.
[Editor’s Note: It is generally accepted to be bad practice
to use a loved one as a sounding board when judging the merit of a work in
progress. This is not the case with TBS. She is not bashful about pointing out
weaknesses or things that don’t make sense to her. While I don’t always take
her suggestions, I always consider them, often discuss them, sometimes at
length. Even if I don’t incorporate a suggestion, I have come to trust her
opinion enough to know that, if she pointed something out, I need to make a
change, even if it’s not the one she’d like.]
I shared a draft with J.D. Rhoades, author of the Jack
Keller series (among others) as well as a highly acclaimed Western of his own, The
Killing Look. Here’s what he had to say about Dead Shot:
"A fascinating, picaresque journey through a tumultuous
post-Civil-War American West. Walter tells his tale with scrupulous honesty and
wry wit as he encounters legends and makes a few of his own. Fans of Thomas
Berger's Little Big Man are going to love this one. Highly recommended.
"
I’m as happy with how Dead Shot turned out as I’ve
been with anything I’ve written. What’s on the page captures when I had in my
head as well or better as any previous work, whether novel, short story, or
flash fiction. It’s even made me reconsider bringing out the Western I
abandoned a few years ago, though that won’t be anytime soon, as I have ideas I
want to work on stacked up like jets over LaGuardia Airport in bad weather.
One last excerpt before I leave you to your holiday
preparations.
Knowing
about marshals’ ability to collect rewards, you may wonder what I found
attractive about bounty hunting. It was simple. As a bounty hunter I was not
constrained by having to serve routine warrants, transport prisoners, or stand
guard over a jail or courtroom. I was also not required to pay to bury anyone I
might have to kill. So long as I turned in the wanted party, I was paid, often
on the spot.
Bounty
hunting was lonely work. You rarely took partners unless going after a gang,
and then you kept one eye on your pards for fear one of them might decide to
increase the size of his share by cutting down the number of shares. I
typically stayed away from the big money bounties, or those marked “Dead or
Alive.” I made a decent living picking up some of the lesser outlaws, as they
were not as likely to shoot it out, especially with a man who had my reputation
with a gun.
Dead Shot is available for free download through my website in MOBI, EPUB, and PDF formats by visiting https://danakingauthor.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment