Midnight. Euless, Texas. John McCord holds forth in Denny’s Restaurant with a tale about the day he and Jack Ballas did a book signing somewhere in...
Rough-hewn Character
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Western Books
Man Afraid of His Wife
Cherokee novelist Robert J. Conley is perhaps best known for busting stereotypes in traditional Western fiction. What may be surprising, however, is...
Arguing with His Characters
John Duncklee is one of a kind, a renaissance Westerner from hat to boots. Whether he’s working as a teacher, author, horse breeder or cattle...
A Pineapple-Coconut Pie Kind of Guy
Since third grade, Johnny Boggs has been making up stories. Of course for True West, he sticks to the facts. And as regular readers already know, he...
Western Treasure Hunter
Research is the reason I find historical novels a joy to write,” says Michelle Black. “I have loved research since my law school days. It’s like a...
No Substitute for a Romping Good Story
With his deep voice and lean hawklike look, Western novelist Matt Braun could be one of the Old West lawmen or cowboys that populate his novels....
Writing with Cold Feet
Writers of nonfiction spend countless hours researching, but few are as dedicated about it as historical novelist James Alexander Thom. Not only...
Black Humor
The real Baxter Black is as witty off stage as when performing. One phone conversation can prove it. But being a Western humorist isn’t only what he...
The Quiet Montanan
Anyone who can write about mining towns and mountain men with the same passion he puts into tales of the California gold rush or early Oregon must...
A Writer Who Speaks for the Dead
You have to relish a writer who describes Benjamin Franklin as an 18th-century Groucho Marx. Lucia St. Clair Robson is not only one of America’s...
Mike Blakely
Roping, riding and writing—that’s a typical day for Mike Blakely, one of the fastest rising stars in Western fiction. Lately the fourth “R,”...
Joseph Rosa
Joseph G. Rosa has spent over 40 years researching the truths, myths and legends of Wild Bill Hickok. He has produced five books on the subject,...