It occurs to me that with everything that's been going on this year, it's been a while since I posted any Longarm covers. Here are a couple of recent books in the series that I can highly recommend. The outline for LONGARM AND THE HANGTREE VENGEANCE was written in longhand on hotel stationery at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin a couple of years ago. The title for LONGARM AND THE PINE BOX PAYOFF was given to me by my daughter Shayna, and since the plot grew directly from that, she deserves some of the credit (or blame, as the case may be). Anyway, I think they're both pretty darn good books.
2 comments:
I liked Longarm and the Hangtree Vengeance a lot and I didn't know The Pine Box Payoff was one of yours. I will have to look for it the next time I go by the bookstore.
Danny
"The Pine Box Payoff". . .what a superb title!
In the June-August update at blackhorsewesterns.com, in a debate on Plotting, veteran Australian author Keith Hetherington comments that a genre western must have a "damned good opening . . . You're in the business of getting the reader to keep turning the pages, so grab his interest right from the 'go'."
He might have added, "And a damned good title." The writers of these books are possibly in a trap. They have to use some keywords that define their story as a western, but they also have to avoid the clichés, or you end up with countless "Vengeance Valleys" and variations thereof. They need to pigeonhole their book but to make its title arresting at the same time.
"The Pine Box Payoff" succeeds on both counts.
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