Wesley Quaid Rides to Wolf Creek

I am pleased to announce that Book 4 of the Wolf Creek series THE TAYLOR COUNTY WAR published by Western Fictioneers has been released. 

It's a collaborative effort by six different writers, including myself, Douglas Hirt, Clay More, James Reasoner, Chuck Tyrell, and Troy D. Smith. 

It's an honor to be included among a group of such extraordinary writers.


Here is the official book blurb:

Welcome to Wolf Creek. 

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen. Each author writes from the perspective of his or her own unique character, blended together into a single novel.

An innocent field trip goes horribly awry when Wolf Creek’s headmaster, Marcus Sublette, and his pupils find themselves in the crossfire of a range war. Ambitious rancher Andrew Rogers will stop at nothing to eliminate his rivals and initiate his broader, nefarious plans –and he has a small army of hired guns to prove it. Can the cowboys of the T-Bar-B, and the lawmen of Wolf Creek, stand in his way, or will the prairie be soaked in blood?


Wesley Quaid in Wolf Creek

Contributing a chapter to Wolf Creek with Wesley Quaid as my character was a lot of fun because it allowed me to explore more of Wesley's past.  This story is set about five years or so before the current Quaid stories and it reveals what he did for a living in the time after the War and before he became an outlaw.  

It is available as an ebook and in paperback.  If you haven't read any of the other Wolf Creek books, be sure to check them out as well.  They all make for great reads.  

           

Six Sentence Sunday - THE WANTED MAN

By Matthew Pizzolato

Book Description: 
The Wanted Man is a collection of eight short stories set in the American West and touches on themes of vengeance, abuse and honor. Texas Ranger Jud Nelson appears in the title story and receives some aid from an unlikely source in chasing down a killer. Outlaw Wesley Quaid discovers that not only is the law on his trail in the form of Ranger Jud Nelson but a hired assassin has been paid to kill him. Is Texas big enough for the three of them?


The Setup:
These six sentences are from the Wesley Quaid story, "A Stagecoach for Sally." Wesley makes a contribution from one of his forcible banking withdrawals to a saloon girl named Sally and takes offense when the saloon owner refuses to let her leave town.

     "That's none of your damn business."
     "I'm making it my business."  I stepped toward him and stopped three paces away. My right hand dangled near the butt of my Colt.
     Jack noticed and swallowed hard.  Beads of sweat sprouted on his forehead.

Is the outlaw Wesley Quaid capable of being a knight is shining armor?  Find out in THE WANTED MAN short story collection.

OUTLAW - Western Roundup

Outlaw will FREE for the Amazon Kindle from Tuesday, December 25 through Thursday, December 27th. Click HERE to download it now! 

Find other free books as part of the Bargain Books - Western Roundup event currently happening on Facebook. 

Book Description:  
The outlaw Wesley Quaid wants to put the past behind him and start his life anew in another place where no one has ever heard of him. When a mysterious woman he once knew resurfaces, Wesley discovers that a man can't run from his past anymore than he can run from the kind of man he has become.

4.4 out of 5 Star Rating

"I would never have thought of reading a western genre book before but since this was quite short I gave it a try and I'm really glad I did. Outlaw is an entertaining action packed read."

 "Outlaw is a very enjoyable read. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I haven't read a lot of books in this genre, but I was immediately drawn to the character Wesley Quaid, the protagonist/anti-hero so expertly crafted by the author Matthew Pizzolato. This is a riveting, page-turning story which provides an excellent combination of action, romance, heart-break and humor."

 "There's the fast pace and action you expect in the genre, enough romance to satisfy any female readers, well drawn and interesting characters and a realistic setting."

"The action is relentless (including dalliances with some lovely and willing females), the characters colorful (in addition to the aforementioned females), and the passages of introspection on Quaid's part give the reader a welcome dose of insight into the man. A real (electronic) page-turner. Recommended."

The Evolution of the Cowboy Narrative

Guest Post by Philip J. Reed, Writing on behalf of Stetson.

Arguably no figure is more iconic in American culture than the cowboy. With his unmistakable cowboy hat, boots, stirrups and trusty steed, the cowboy rides in from the wilderness at a moment of conflict and intervenes against the forces of corruption and greed. The typical cowboy is a self-reliant, often aloof figure, treating others with dignity and respect but maintaining his independence at all costs. Though those staples of the archetype have been around for more than a century, the cowboy has changed greatly through decades' worth of depictions in literature and film.

Cattle herders of one sort or another have existed for as long as humans have kept livestock, but the heyday of the Western cowboy period lasted about 15 years, from just after the Civil War into the 1880s. Cowboys, many of them veterans of the Civil War, likely herded between three and four million cattle from southern Texas to ranches in Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming during this period. The time of the historical cowboys was relatively short, yet their image has lived on in popular culture ever since.

Starting in the late 1800s, the cowboy appeared as a recurring figure in short stories and pulp dime novels throughout the United States. The first true Western novel was Owen Wister's The Virginian, whose eponymous hero was a cowboy living on a ranch in Wyoming. Though the Old West was not yet terribly old at that time, cowboys were already becoming romanticized in American popular culture. The success of Wister's novel paved the way for even more popular works by later Western writers.

The emergence of the cowboy in popular culture came at the same time as the emergence of film as a popular medium. Very early shots even featured the original Western icon, Buffalo Bill, and members of his Wild West show. Perhaps the first seminal Western film was The Great Train Robbery. Directed by Edwin S. Porter, this 1903 silent film was one of the first examples of true narrative storytelling on screen, and its closing shot of actor Justus D. Barnes firing point-blank at the audience remains one of the most iconic images in film history. Thanks in large part to the power of the cowboy image, The Great Train Robbery succeeded in involving the audience in the story to an unprecedented degree.

The 1920s saw popular culture take center stage in everyday life, and the cowboy was front and center on stage and in literature. Thousands of silent Western films were produced in the early and middle portion of the decade; however, when movies added sound in the late 1920s, Hollywood producers more or less abandoned the genre. Smaller studios kept the cowboy alive in film until the late 1930s, when a series of big-budget Westerns sparked renewed interest in the genre. Most notably, John Ford's Stagecoach hit theaters in 1939 to rave reviews and established John Wayne as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood history. Wayne's portrayal of rugged, independent characters that treated others with the utmost respect and required the same from everyone they met solidified the image of the cowboy in popular culture.

Meanwhile, the 20th century saw the cowboy take center stage in the world of popular literature. Perhaps the first great Western author was Zane Grey, who published dozens of cowboy novels in the early 1900s and became one of the world's first millionaire authors. Grey's influence on the cowboy archetype has been felt for decades after his death, with more than 100 films produced based on his writings. Following in Grey's footsteps was Louis L'Amour, who wrote dozens of novels and short stories over a career that spanned more than four decades. L'Amour's cowboys were often impossibly strong, larger-than life figures; though often a reluctant hero, once forced to act this cowboy was unstoppable in the pursuit of his goals.

As with any archetypal figure, the cowboy has inspired his share of parodies. Perhaps the most iconic such film is Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, which pokes fun at the racism obscured in Hollywood depictions of the cowboy by installing a black sheriff in an all-white town. Blazing Saddles also features numerous anachronisms; perhaps in reference to the cowboy image's itself being an adaptation of the medieval idea of chivalry.

More recent films have challenged the long-standing image of the rugged, independent good-guy cowboy. Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven focuses on the darker side of the Wild West, dealing with intense violence and the less than pure nature of its protagonist's motives. Conversely, Russell Crowe's portrayal of Ben Wade in the 2007 remake of 3:10 to Yuma shows a more sympathetic side to the cowboy's antagonist, the Western outlaw. The controversial 2005 film Brokeback Mountain uses the cowboy image to present the complex relationship between two men in the American West, an acknowledgment of changing societal attitudes towards romance.

Outside the realm of popular culture, the cowboy has come to be associated with the United States as a whole, for good or ill. Former President George W. Bush was often called a 'cowboy diplomat' because of his independent-minded and sometimes reckless approach to foreign policy. Throughout the past century, the cowboy has become synonymous with a spirit of adventure, independence and respect, one that is deeply ingrained in American culture.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

BLOG HOP — The Next Big Thing

I've never participated in a blog hop before but I was tagged by Steven Hammond, author of the upcoming novel Rise of the Penguins.  His entry in the blog hop can be found on his blog, Rise of Penguins and Other Musings. Many thanks to Steve for tagging me, this was a lot of fun to do.

The rules for the Blog Hop are as follows:

1.   Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you

2. Post the rules for the blog hop

3. Answer these 10 questions about your current WIP (work in progress) on your blog
4. Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them

  

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?

My next book will be a short story collection that I've tentatively titled Two of a Kind.  It is a sequel of sorts to my recently published novella, Outlaw, and will be a series of short stories with the same characters.  The events of some of the stories will transpire after the ending of Outlaw, while others will take place before, but each story stands on its own.  I'm planning on publishing it during the first part of next year.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I've had the idea for several more Wesley Quaid stories bouncing around in my head the entire time that I was writing Outlaw. 

What genre does your book fall under?

The stories in Two of a Kind will be Westerns.  While some of them will contain aspects of the traditional Western, most of the stories will feature my antihero Wesley Quaid and his assassin girlfriend Sabrina and will be of a darker nature. 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Christian Bale, 3:10 to Yuma

Kate Beckinsale, Underworld

I think that Christian Bale would make a good Wesley Quaid.  He did excellent work in the remake of 3:10 to Yuma and he played the dark, conflicted antihero role in the Dark Knight trilogy very well. 

As for Sabrina, I would pick Kate Beckinsale. 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Texas Ranger Jud Nelson and the outlaw Wesley Quaid meet again, but this time Quaid has the assassin, Sabrina, watching his back; is time running out for Ranger Jud Nelson?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be self-published because I like having creative and quality control over the entire project.  I've seen many e-books from major publishing companies that contain horrendous formatting and proofreading errors.  I want to be able to have one hundred percent control over the final product.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I have six of the stories already written and I'm planning to write at least four more for the collection.  It is a cumulative project that I've worked on over the past couple of years. 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It will be similar in feel to my first short story collection, The Wanted Man.  If you enjoyed the Clint Eastwood movie Unforgiven or the character of Cullen Bohannon in Hell on Wheels, you should like Wesley Quaid. 

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Wesley Quaid inspired this collection because he's become my favorite character to write.  He is an antihero and I enjoy that aspect about writing him because he allows me to explore the gray areas of morality in my work.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

The stories in Two of a Kind will feature my antihero Wesley Quaid, so they will be of a darker nature than a traditional Western.  A couple of the stories will feature my assassin, Sabrina, and will reveal a few hints at her back story, something in which a few of my readers have expressed an interest. 

In addition to stories that transpire after the events in Outlaw, Two of a Kind will also contain a couple of previously published stories including the very first Wesley Quaid story that was printed in Issue 1 of Pulp Modern and has never appeared anywhere else. 

Writers that I'm tagging in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop are:

Jacquie Rogers - http://jacquierogers.blogspot.com/ 

Beth Trissel - https://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/ 

Troy Smith - http://tnwordsmith.blogspot.com/

Shotgun Bo Rivers – http://shotgunborivers.com/ 

Anna Kathryn Lanier - http://annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/ 

The Origins of Wesley Quaid

Looking back on it, I think Wesley Quaid was created in my subconscious the first time I watched the Clint Eastwood movie, Unforgiven.  The ending gave me chills and goose bumps. 

Until that time, the majority of my experience both in reading and in my writing had always been of the hero, who wore the white hat and the villain, who wore the black hat.  There was no middle ground. 

I'd tried to get that particular antihero character onto paper ever since, but for whatever reason, I could never make it work.  He's had different names over the years, but I never felt right about him, so none of those early stories were ever published.  I couldn't make him work until I started writing OUTLAW.

I began writing that particular story about two years ago and got stuck.  I was inspired partly by a personal event and wanted to put that into a story, but about halfway through it became evident that wouldn't work, not with Wesley Quaid.  He had his own story to tell.   

Because I agree with Robert B. Parker that writer's block is just another word for lazy, I figured that since I was stuck on this story, I could write a series of short stories with the characters from OUTLAW as a way to get to know them better.  Thus Wesley Quaid came to life.

The first short story he appeared in was "Pack of Wolves" that was published in Issue 1 of Pulp Modern.  I've had a total of seven Wesley Quaid stories published and they have served several purposes. 

First, they are all back story to the novella and that allowed me to write OUTLAW without working in flashback to explain who the characters were since they were already established. 

Secondly, I was able to get to know Wes a lot better and once I'd accomplished that, I was able to go back and finish OUTLAW, even though it was no longer my story that I was telling, it was Wesley's.  However, I think that personal event aspect of it is what finally allowed me to create Wesley Quaid.  I had to put part of myself into the character. 

So I hope you like ole Wes.  I've got a lot more planned for him now that OUTLAW has been released, or perhaps I should say that he's got a lot more planned for me.  OUTLAW is available for the Kindle for $0.99, but if you have Amazon Prime, you can borrow it for free.  

Book Description:
The outlaw Wesley Quaid wants to put the past behind him and start his life anew in another place where no one has ever heard of him. When a mysterious woman he once knew resurfaces, Wesley discovers that a man can't run from his past anymore than he can run from the kind of man he has become.

[Cover Reveal] OUTLAW - A Wesley Quaid Novella

My next book, OUTLAW, a Western novella that features Wesley Quaid will be released on October 1st.

Book Description:
The outlaw Wesley Quaid wants to put the past behind him and start his life anew in another place where no one has ever heard of him.  When a mysterious woman he once knew resurfaces, Wesley discovers that a man can't run from his past anymore than he can run from the kind of man he has become. 

Cover Art Copyright 2012 by Michael T. Pizzolato. 

The cover for OUTLAW was designed by my uncle, Michael Pizzolato.  He also designed the covers for my short story collection, THE WANTED MAN.  To see more of his artwork, visit his art blog.

OUTLAW will be released on October 1, 2012.  Join the OUTLAW - Book Release event on Facebook! Consider this an open invitation. Everyone is invited!