"The Least" -- A New Story in a New Magazine

If you or someone you know is on the hunt for clean fiction that is appropriate for teen reads, then you definitely need to check out Sparkler, a brand-new online magazine!  Sparkler is devoted to connecting readers in search of clean YA fiction with authors who write exactly that.

Authors like me :-)

In fact, I have a flash-fiction story in their debut issue, which dropped today!  It's all about a young man striking out on his own who has taken what he was told is a shortcut, and he finds something unexpected along his chosen trail... something that forces him to make a difficult decision.  It's called "The Least," and you can read it right here.  It's historical fiction, a cozy Christian western just like you'd expect from me :-)

Don't Miss the Black Friday Book Sale!

Are you ready for the most wonderful time of the year?  It's nearly time for the Black Friday Book Sale!  The time when a couple hundred indie authors (including me) put some or all of their Kindle books on sale for $.99 or FREE!  From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, you can stuff your Kindle full of amazing indie books at ridiculously low prices.

I'm marking all six of my Once Upon a Western books down to 99 cents.  Same goes for A Noble Companion.  And all the authors of Follow the Lonesome Trail agreed to lower its price to 99 cents for the weekend as well!  

This price drop is part of the massive indie book sale showcased at blackfridaybooksale.com, a site run by the wonderfully organized Perry Elizabeth Kirkpatrick.  My books are mainly in the Historical Fiction section, except for A Noble Companion, which is in the fantasy section.  A lot of other books in the Cornerstone Series (which ANC is part of) are part of this sale too.

All of the books included on that sale site are clean, which means they do not contain smut, the violence is non-gory, and any cussing is kept to a below-PG-13 level.  There are a couple hundred authors involved in this, which means hundreds and hundreds of ebooks available at their lowest price possible!

It looks like the price for my books has already dropped even though it isn't Black Friday, so if you want to go shopping a little early, go right ahead ;-)

I am on a Podcast!

Aren't I cool and trendy and all that jazz?  I am the guest on a podcast!  It's a podcast that Northwestern Publishing House started back in 2024 that revolves around conversations with some of the authors whose books they either publish or carry.  The intention is to have those authors share insights, discuss faith-related topics, and generally chat about common questions we all have during our lives.  I am the first fiction author they've featured, which I am taking as a pretty big compliment (whether they meant it as one or not -- I might be the guinea pig, lol).

You can listen to my episode right here any time you want!  I talk about how fiction stories can be more than mere entertainment, but can help us grow in our faith, apply lessons and truths to our own lives, and help adults and young people connect with fun and meaningful conversations.

If you give it a listen, I'd love it if you pop back over here and drop me a comment with your thoughts on the podcast discussion!

Alan Ladd and My Writing

It's Alan Ladd's birthday today :-D 

This year, to celebrate, I'm going to share about the ways that Alan Ladd has shaped my writing and my books.

When I write fiction, I see and hear the story in my head like a movie.  I can replay scenes, move the camera angles, rewrite lines, and so on -- I see and hear it all in my imagination, and I write it down from there.  Because I love movies, I tend to use actors and actresses as a kind of jumpstart for my imagination, and often "cast" specific stars in different roles.  Eventually, the characters step a bit away from who I have cast as them and come to life in their own ways, but it's a good way to get a book started, for me.

(If you're ever curious about exactly whom I have cast as different characters in my books, I have Pinterest boards for all my books with character choices, pictures of setting and clothing and objects that I have saved as I research, and so on.)

I fell for Alan Ladd hard back in February of 2016.  At that time, I was working on rewrites for my Sleeping Beauty retelling, The Man on the Buckskin Horse, which had won a contest and was to be published in the anthology Five Magic Spindles.  I didn't actually recast any of the characters as him, since they were all very much themselves by that point, but he did help me out with one scene.

One of the changes the editors had me make after I won the contest was to give my "handsome prince" character, the gunfighter Luke Palmer, a backstory.  And I needed to write a scene where Palmer explains his past to Miss Emma, my "fairy godmother" character.  I banged my head against that scene for the longest time because Palmer Did Not Want To Share His Trauma.  At all.  Not a bit.  And I finally threw my hands up in disgust, booted my usual actor for him out the door, and tried running the scene in my head with Alan Ladd in the character instead.

And the character sat down, got a little quiet, and then reeled off this heartfelt speech about how his experiences as a Civil War surgeon had led to his present job as a gunfighter for hire.  One writing session.  Bam.  Whole scene, perfect and complete.  And, when I reread that book (because, yes, I do reread my books -- I write them because I want to read them!), I see and hear Palmer as his tall, dark self... except for that scene, where he flips into quiet and fair Alan Ladd.

Well, I had such a good time working with an imaginary Alan Ladd in my head while rewriting The Man on the Buckskin Horse, I knew I wanted to write him again.  So, when I was casting my Little Red Riding Hood retelling, Cloaked, I put him in as the woodcutter character, Hauer.  And Hauer absolutely stole my heart.  This is Alan Ladd in his 50s, which he never quite reached in real life, and I loved getting to imagine him a bit older and with a lot of life ahead yet, even if only as a fictional character.  (Hauer would obviously be a bit older than in the photo above, but it captures the Hauerness of Hauer too well to use something else.)

I even dedicated Cloaked to Alan's memory, and a tradition of dedicating my Once Upon a Western books to a Classic Hollywood actor or actress was born.

It's pretty easy to know which character I cast Alan Ladd as in my Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, Dancing and Doughnuts, if you know his full name is Alan Walbridge Ladd.  I gave Sheriff Gideon Walbridge that last name as a placeholder because I didn't have a name for him initially, and it stuck.  Sheriff Walbridge is Alan in his 40s, wise and starting to mellow, but still sharp and ready for trouble if it comes his way.

I was so giddy when I realized that Hauer could show up again in One Bad Apple, my Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs retelling.  It takes place a decade before Cloaked, and I spent a long time scrutinizing the personal history I have for Hauer to make sure he could be there in Missouri in 1873.  I tried not to tell too many people ahead of time that he was going to show up again in it so he would be a fun surprise for initial readers, and the reactions I got to his return were everything I hoped for.  

Because I love Hauer dearly, I am especially pleased that he got to be the first character to show up in more than one Once Upon a Western book.  The little ties and crossovers will keep coming as the series lengthens, I promise!

Dan McLeod in my Beauty and the Beast retelling My Rock and My Refuge is the kind of friend we all should have.  He's had so many sad things happen in his life, but he never lets them get in the way of being a good friend to those around him.  I love his quiet dignity, his determination to do anything rather than lose another son, and the fact that he is both soft and resilient.  I want to write more characters like that.  

I have loved the last name McLeod since I was a kid and first saw the movie El Dorado (1966), in which John Wayne's character has a frenemy named McLeod.  I only heard it pronounced, I didn't see it spelled, and thought it must be spelled McCloud, which seemed to me like the absolute coolest name ever.  I even gave it to a character in a story I was writing at the time.  I was super disappointed to later learn how it is actually spelled... but I still love the way the name sounds, so I used it here for a character with lofty ideals and a high moral character, who lives high in the mountains.  Like a cloud.

If you look at the Pinterest board for A Noble Companion, my Ugly Duckling retelling, you'll see lots of photos of a young Ewan McGregor, and not one of Alan Ladd.  That's because Alan was my original casting for Javier Moncada, the love interest.  I wrote the first couple of drafts with him in mind, but then switched Javier to Ewan McGregor because he was a better physical fit for what the character as I was writing him.  But I still hear all of Javier's dialog in Alan's voice when I reread the book.  I loved finally getting to write him as a younger character!  

And then I went right back to writing him older in my short story "Safekeeping," which is in the anthology Follow the Lonesome Trail.  He just has a bit part, and barely any lines, as the weary Dr. Masterson who drinks too much.  In a way, that's me kind of addressing Alan Ladd's own struggles with alcohol, which is also something a lot of people I know have dealt with.  It's not a big focus of the story, but it's there, and my own headcanon involves Dr. Masterson eventually moving away from town and getting (and staying) sober with the help of his daughter-in-law.  

Those last two books are not part of my Once Upon a Western series, but the book I'm about to start writing is!  It's a retelling of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, it involves a Civil War veteran amputee, and Alan Ladd is once again playing a supporting character in it.  I think his character is in his late twenties, a bit older than the main character, and again something of a mentor, because I just really love writing him that way, I guess!

Beyond that?  Who knows!  Will I one day write a book without Alan Ladd in it?  I mean, yeah, it could happen.  It probably will, one day.  But for now, you can expect to keep seeing characters show up in my books who look, sound, and behave like characters he often played.  Because my imagination isn't tired of him yet :-)

It's Release Day for "Follow the Lonesome Trail"

Are you ready for some brand-new western fun?

I hope so, because today is release day for the wild west anthology Follow the Lonesome Trail!  This new collection boasts stories by Allison Tebo, Hannah Kaye, A. Hartley, Emily Hayse, Elisabeth Grace Foley, and Rachel Kovaciny (aka me).  My short story in this book is called "Safekeeping." 

When Allison Tebo first reached out a year or so ago and asked if I had any unpublished short western stories lying around looking for a home, I told her I didn't... but I had one in my head I would love to write.  The resulting story, "Safekeeping," is a story of second chances and hope.  A loner learns that he's inherited a poke of gold, but it's in the clutches of a greedy bartender, and he has to come up with a creative solution to get what's rightfully his.  Along the way, he helps out a whole lot of other people and just might find himself a place to belong.

Here's what one reader had to say about it:

You can buy Follow the Lonesome Trail as a paperback and ebook today!  It's also available for Kindle Unlimited readers.  And you can check out more reviews (and review it yourself once you've read it) right here on Goodreads.

If you're on Instagram, I invite you to join me there at 1pm (CST) for a live video chat where I will read the first scene from "Safekeeping" aloud to you -- and I might have time to answer a few questions, too.

If you want to know more about the other books I've written, you can check out this page on this blog or my author website.

(And if you're curious if we planned for Legends of Western Cinema Week to coincide with this book's release, the answer is no!  This book was originally slated to release in September, but it was ready early and we authors collectively agreed to release it early instead of making people wait for it.  So it's a coincidence, but I like it!)

New Book Release Coming August 31!

Friends, I'm so sorry I haven't talked much about this until now.  My year has been extra-busy, and sharing things about my writing and books has gotten shoved to a back burner all too often.  But I'm grabbing some time to share this now!

On August 31, a brand-new anthology of short western stories is getting released!  Edited by Allison Tebo, it includes short stories by her, Hannah Kaye, A. Hartley, Emily Hayse, Elisabeth Grace Foley... and me!

My short story is called "Safekeeping," and it's not a fairy tale retelling :-o  Try not to faint.  It's about a fur trapper who inherits a poke of gold dust, but the gold was left in the keeping of a greedy bartender with no intention of handing it over.  

If you would like to join the launch team for Follow the Lonesome Trail, please fill out this form.

You can pre-order the e-book here on Amazon already!  And you can mark it as want-to-read on Goodreads right here.  We've even got some advance reviews on Goodreads already, such as this:

I'm really excited to be appearing in a collection along with these other talented writers!

Two Summer Book Events That You Don't Want to Miss!

First of all, I'm participating in the Clean Fairytale Summer event again this year!  During all of June and July, the Clean Fairytales Group on Facebook is celebrating no-spice fairy tale retellings.  There are door prizes for anyone who joins right away and reads the introductory posts on June 1 and 2.  There will be giveaways, reading challenges, games and prizes, free downloads, and lots of chances to hang out with fairy tale retelling authors like me.

In fact, I'll be taking over the group on June 10 from 7 to 9 pm (EST) to chat about my books.  I'm working on some fun games for people to play, and there will be prizes!  If you don't want to miss all that fun, and you aren't a member yet of the Clean Fairytale Group, follow this link for more details.

But that's not the only bookish event I'm participating in this summer.  A group of my fellow Christian authors have gotten together to host a massive giveaway (I'm talking more than 90 books for the prizes).  

To enter the giveaway, you first need to check out this list of books written by participating authors.  You then request one or more of them from your local library.  Then, you enter the giveaway right here -- though the giveaway doesn't technically start until Monday.  But you can get a head start on reading over the list and figuring out how to request books from your local library today!  And then start entering the giveaway tomorrow.  

This promotion runs through June 29, and the person in charge of it (Brianna Lynn Campbell) will choose the winner and so on, on June 30.  The link to the list of books and the link to the giveaway both provide more info, if you have questions.

A Realm Awards Finalist? Me?!?

I can barely believe I get to say this:  my book A Noble Companion is a finalist for this year's Realm Awards!!!  

::cue all the squees::

This little Ugly Duckling retelling was such a challenge to write.  First of all, it's the first time I have been part of a multi-author project.  Second, I really had never written fantasy before, and I struggled with that aspect of the book a lot.  Third, every book in this series focuses on a side character of the fairy tale being retold, not the usual main character, and... there aren't really any other named characters in The Ugly Duckling.  

I'm not a fantasy writer, I'm a historical fiction writer, so I did a lot of praying that God would help my imagination and writing skills grow and change to suit this new project.  And I did find ways to make it truly a fantasy book, but one resting solidly on a foundation of historical research for the setting.  But I never really expected that it could compete against more obvious fantasy books for the Realm Awards, which are for Christian fantasy and sci-fi.  The fact that it made the long list last month felt like a really amazing honor, and I really didn't even hope that it would go farther.  But it did!  It's a finalist now!  Wow.

If you want to see who all the finalists are, you can find the official list here.  If you want to know more about A Noble Companion, check out my page about it.

Fun New Author Interview

Just a quick link to an interview with me that Donna Jo Stone shared today on her blog, Almost an Author :-D  We chatted about the unique challenges and strengths of writing fairy tale retellings and writing for a YA audience.  Hope you enjoy it!

A Wintery Sunshine Blogger Award

Yes, it's true.  I'm here with another Sunshine Blogger Award post!  This time, I was nominated by Astrya of Inkling Corner.  Thanks, Astrya!  I have such fun with these sorts of posts :-) 

Here are the Sunshine Blogger Rules:

1. Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog. 

2. Thank the person who nominated you. 

3. Provide a link to your nominator’s blog. 

4. Answer your nominator’s questions. 

5. Nominate up to 11 bloggers. 

6. Ask your nominees 11 questions. 

7. Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

And here are Astrya's questions!

1. What was the last book you read? 

Snowhawk by Deborah Koren, book two in her Dark Throne duology.  These books are high fantasy, meaning they take place in a fictional world (as opposed to low fantasy, which takes place in our world but with magical elements).  They're edge-of-your-seat, high-stakes adventures with ordinary people stepping up to save their kingdom from those within and without who are poised to destroy it.

You can read my review of Balefire here and my review of Snowhawk here.

(From my Instagram account)

2. What are you looking for in a ‘perfect’ movie adaption of a classic?  

The same thing I'm looking for in a good movie adaptation of a modern movie or play:  capturing the characters in a way that feels true to the characters in the book, and portraying the story in a way that makes sense for the medium.

It's no secret that I'm not a "purist" when it comes to movie adaptations ;-)  I even made this little button illustrating that fact years and years ago, and it remains in my blog's sidebar to remind people of this.  You cannot translate a work between two different mediums without changing things, because every medium -- be it print, radio, stage, or film -- has its own peculiar restraints, its own strengths and weaknesses.  A slavish reproduction in a new medium of a story created in a different medium will inevitably fail to work in some way or other.  And what is the point of creating an exact replica of a story in a different medium?  Bring something new to the story!  I have learned more about Hamlet from the 20+ stage and film versions I have seen than I would have from only reading the text itself (though I usually pick up a new nuance or detail when I reread it, too).

3. What’s your favourite season of the year and why? 

Winter!  I love snow.  And, yes, I know whereof I speak -- I lived in Iowa and Michigan as a kid (and in the Thumb of MI, where Lake Effect snow is magnificently mountainous), and in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Connecticut as an adult.  I've had to drive to work through snowstorms, I've had to shovel my driveway more than once in the same day, and I've had to help get my car out of a ditch.  Yet I still LOVE snow.

4. If you could go anywhere in the world for one week, where would you go? (This could also be a fictional place.) 

New Zealand so I could see all the Middle-earth filming locations and sets and so on.

5. If you could choose your own name, what would it be? 

Reid James.  I might use that as a non de plume at some point.

6. If you had to write a short story about anything, what would it be? 

I've written more than a hundred short stories over the past 30 years.  And I'll be writing another beginning in January.  If I want to write a short story about something, I do it, or I plan it out to write in the future.  

My next one will be about a fur trapper who's left a poke of gold by a deceased friend, but discovers the gold is being held in the safe of a greedy saloon owner who is unwilling to let go of it (or all the other semi-legally-gotten money in his safe).  It'll be part of an anthology of western short stories being put together by Allison Tebo.

Meanwhile, I do have ten short stories out in a collection called Prairie Tales: Volume One.  You can learn more about my books here.

7. What was the worst movie you watched this year and why? 

Probably Pan (2015).  I didn't care about any of the characters, a lot of the special effects were kind of kludgy, and even though I love Hugh Jackman very much indeed, he actually managed to annoy me in that movie.

8. British or American spelling? 

Well, I'm an American, so I tend to stick to American spellings, except for the word 'grey.'  I much prefer the British spelling, 'grey,' to the American spelling, 'gray.'  It simply looks more grey.

9. Desert or Forest? 

Forest.  I love forests, but I hate deserts.  Well, actually, I just hate both heat and dryness, but that means deserts are a huge NO from me.

10. What is your favourite piece of music (or two, or three, because I know how hard these questions are)? 

Well, I'm always partial to "Mack the Knife" when sung by Bobby Darin, I've been jamming to Harry Connick Jr.'s "We Three Kings" rendition on repeat this week, and I never get tired of the main theme from The Magnificent Seven written by Elmer Bernstein.

11. What was the last movie you watched?

Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter One (2024), which I rewatched this week while chatting online with my best friend while she watched it too.  I loved it when I watched it twice in the theaters this summer, I loved it again this week while watching the DVD at home, and I am ridiculously impatient for them to get a move on and release Chapter Two already!!!

Also, I've realized that my favorite character in the whole thing is Sgt. Major Thomas Riordan (Michael Rooker).  I thought he was my second-favorite, but this third viewing made me realize I really love him best.  (But I still have high hopes for Junior Sykes [Jon Beaver] to get a cool redemption arc of some kind.)

Now it's supposed to be time for some nominations.  However, I just tagged a whole lot of people with The Christmas Movie Tag, and this is a really busy time of year, so... I'm actually not going to tag anyone.  However!  I WILL provide eleven questions for anyone who wants to join the fun.  If you like my questions, you can consider yourself tagged, fill out the questions, link back to this post, etc.  If you do that, please leave me a comment here with a link to your post so I can see your answers!

My Questions:

1. Movies or books?

2. Singing or dancing?

3. Walking or swimming?

4. Cotton candy or popcorn?

5. Road trips or airplane rides?

6. Snow or rain?

7. Fantasy or sci-fi?

8. Ketchup or mayonnaise?

9. Elephants or polar bears?

10. December or July?

11. Hot dogs or hamburgers?

Play if you want to!

Guest Post for the Brave Authors Blog

I've written a guest post for the Brave Authors blog that's all about how and why historical fiction authors can and should include minorities in their books.

You can read that article right here!

I know most of my posts lately have been about my writing and not about movies and so on.  I've got some fun movie posts planned, I just need to make time to finish them!  Everything is busy for everyone this time of year, so I hope you all understand :-)

I Published a Third Book This Year!

It's true!  My third new release for 2024 is here at last!  A Noble Companion retells Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling," but by focusing on side characters from the original fairy tale, not the ugly duckling himself.  

A Noble Companion is part of a multi-author project called The Cornerstone Series, sixteen fairy tale retellings from an unusual angle by sixteen different authors.  All of the books in the series are non-magical fantasy novellas, which means that, yes, I have written something other than historical fiction!  

Well, sort of ;-)  I set A Noble Companion in a fantasy world based on Spanish California of the very early 1800s, in a place I call Costa Nueva.  This book has talking animals and dragons, but it is definitely low fantasy, or historical-esque fantasy.  I am a historical fiction author at heart, so this has a lot of similarities to my Once Upon a Western series, in that I did lots of research into the time and place I was basing my fantasy world on.  But it has little fantasy elements, too.

If you buy a copy of A Noble Companion before the end of November, you can receive some book swag related to it!  All you have to do to claim your swag is fill out this form and wait for me to email you to request proof of purchase and an address to send the swag to.  The swag includes:

• 1 double-sided bookmark
• 1 piece of dragon treasure
• 3 vinyl stickers

Here's what they look like:

This swag bundle is available worldwide!  And you can buy either the paperback or the e-book.  Or, if you are a Kindle Unlimited reader, you can also get this swag if you read the entire book on KU before the end of the month.

If you want to know more, here's the official synopsis:

Raid a dragon's hoard for her dowry? It seemed like a good idea at the time... 

Madelena isn't in love with her friend Armando, but his marriage proposal offers the security she needs. She sympathizes with him—his father insists Armando must either find a bride or join the army. Armando would rather become a husband than a soldier, but his ugly face has scared away all other eligible ladies despite his family's wealth. Although she harbors only friendship for Armando, Madelena agrees to marry him on one condition: she insists on acquiring a dowry worthy of his family's noble standing in the land of Costa Nueva. But as a humble stablemaid, Madelena has no idea how to find such wealth. That's when the talking burro Terco mentions he's heard how to find a dragon’s treasure. 

Javier, Armando’s younger brother, has loved Madelena in silence for years. When he learns of their impending marriage, he offers to help her find the treasure, even though succeeding may cost him the chance to spend his future with her. Together, they face a dangerous wilderness, a charming bandit, and a dragon’s lair, forcing Javier to confront his feelings and Madelena to re-evaluate her heart.

I promise that's the last book I'm releasing this year ;-)  I'm tired and need a little break!

Double the Summer Sunshine Awards

Both Taking Up Room and Nitrate Glow have nominated me for a Sunshine Award!  Thank you, lovely movie mavens!  I'm going to answer ALL their questions in this post :-D  ::flexes fingers::

Zee usual Sunshine Award Rules:

• Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog
• Thank the person who nominated you
• Provide a link to your nominator’s blog
• Answer your nominator’s questions
• Nominate up to 11 bloggers
• Ask your nominees 11 questions
• Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts

Here are my answers to Taking Up Room's questions:

1. Which movie of 2024 has been your favorite so far? Your least favorite? 

If we're saying strictly movies released in 2024, my favorite has definitely been Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter One (2024), and my least-favorite has been The Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024), and that is entirely misleading and horrible to say, because I enjoyed Ungentlemanly Warfare enough to buy a DVD copy for my shelves -- but those are the ONLY new movies made in 2024 I have seen this year.  It has been a sucky year for movies, yo.  There have been a few others I wouldn't mind seeing at some point, but I didn't want to see them enough to get me in the theater.

Now, if you want me to pick from all the movies I have watched for the first time in 2024, that's more interesting.  Then my favorite is probably The Train (1964), which is spellbinding, and my least-favorite has absolutely been Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991), which was so abysmal I couldn't even finish it, not even for Christopher Lee's sake.

2. Do you like superhero movies or are you over them? 

I love them.  I'm so excited that my kids are getting old enough to really dig them!  But, at the same time, I am no longer watching the new MCU movies and shows because the first couple that came after Avengers: Endgame (2019) soured me deeply on where they were taking the franchise, so I am simply choosing to end the MCU there in my headcanon.

3. You have the chance to visit any movie studio or any movie production at the height of the studio era. Which studio or movie do you pick and why? 

I pick the production of The Blue Dahlia (1946) because it gives me the best shot at meeting both my favorite author, Raymond Chandler, and my dearly beloved Alan Ladd.  Plus his best friend, William Bendix

4. What do you like best about your favorite film genre? 

I love westerns because they make me happy.  I simply can't be uncheered by a cowboy!

5. Who are your favorite film critics? 

My blogging friends.  I pay basically no attention to "real" movie critics.  If they agree with me, it doesn't change anything, and if I disagree with them, I often get mad at their wrongness, and who needs more anger in their life?  Not me.

6. Are there any movies you regret reviewing? 

Ugh, yes.  I made a list nineteen years ago of my bottom 10 movies, and I really wish I could go back in time and stop myself from watching them.

7. Have you ever changed your opinion of a movie and if so, which movie was it? 

Goodness, yes!  Many times.  Especially as I gradually revisit movies I disliked when I was a teen.  3:10 to Yuma (1957), Hour of the Gun (1967), and The Proud Rebel (1958) are all movies I disliked or found boring as a teen, but dearly love now.

8. What are some of the other things you like doing besides blogging? 

I homeschool my kids, I read a lot of books, I write and publish books, I teach literature, I grow flowers and bake yummy snacks and take pretty pictures of books for Bookstagram.  I crochet.  I write a monthly newspaper column on Old West history.

9. Are there any movies that you think might make good video games? If you have any interest in video games, that is. 

I do enjoy video games now and then, particularly if they are movie-related.  I get a big kick out of the Lego Hobbit game, for instance.  It would be really fun to have a sort of film noir mash-up game where you get to choose what classic noir detective you want to be, and then you go around solving cases inspired by noir films.

10. If you could write about any celeb or other film-related topic, what or who do you write about? 

You mean, if I could write, like, a newspaper column on movies?  I could write about western movies and shows for months/years.  Or, if you mean, who or what could I write a nonfiction, film-related book about, again, westerns!  Maybe Alan Ladd's westerns, specifically.  Or Hamlet adaptations.  I keep watching more of those, and I could totally write a book reviewing a few dozen of them.  Which doesn't sound like a bad idea for a book, actually...

11. Who do you most enjoy seeing movies with?

I enjoy watching movies with people who are ready to enjoy them.  If I'm in a theater, give me a crowd that is going to laugh aloud at funny things, maybe clap at something awesome.  If I'm at home, give me companions who are NOT going to talk over the dialog all the time, but who are ready to laugh and maybe clap, maybe gasp, maybe quick share a "that's so cool!" kind of reaction.

Here are my answers to Nitrate Glow's questions:

1. What is the best theatrical experience you have ever had? 

When I was fifteen, we went to see Apollo 13 (1995) in the theater.  At the end, when the big, happy, wonderful reveal happens, the stoic Iowa farmers in that theater around us stood up and clapped.  I get tears in my eyes just remembering it.

2. Any opinions on the future of movie theaters?

I think theaters that are showing classic films alongside new ones will stay strong.  Theaters that only show new releases are going to struggle.  This is entirely based on my personal experience, in that I have gone to see two new releases this year, but by the end of this month, I'll have been to 9 re-releases of older films.

3. Is there a universally despised movie you think isn’t so bad? 

Well, The Lone Ranger (2013) is in my top five for all-time favorites...

4. Name a movie you enjoy from a genre you don’t usually like. 

I don't watch horror much at all, but I really like Dracula Untold (2014).  They put a very unique spin on his origins that I very much dig, as a writer.  Also, Luke Evans.  ::insert heart-eyes emoji here::

5. What do you think your best post to date is? 

I've been blogging for 22 years.  One best post?  Ouch.  Hmm.

Here are three I'm very proud of:

• My fake review of Murder Most Foul (1943)
• My poetic analysis of the song "Hurt" melded with Hamlet
• My post about finally figuring out why I love Hamlet so much

6. What is your favorite film from 1939? 

Destry Rides Again.  So quotable!

7. What are some classic film related books you would recommend? 

I really loved Sixguns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western by Will Wright.  Film Noir: Light and Shadow by Alain Silver and James Ursini is a delight.  I learned a lot from We'll Always Have Casablanca by Noah Isenberg.

8. What movie has the best cinematography you’ve ever seen? 

Well, this is tricky, because what does "best" mean?  Most-sweeping visuals?  Best composition?  Most striking use of color?  Gotta say, the best one I have seen in a long time is Midway (2019) -- they don't waste anything in their frames, and their shots showing what it was like to actually be in a dive bomber, diving on an enemy ship -- they're spectacular.

9. Name an underrated filmmaker/performer/creative in the industry you always champion. 

Have you heard me natter on for pages on end about Alan Ladd and how under-loved he is these days, how really good he was in serious roles even though the critics usually dismissed him as just a tough guy, how sweet and kind he was as a person?  If not, you must have not been reading my blog much for the past eight years...

10. Favorite movie soundtrack? 

I love a lot of soundtracks, so I'm just gonna go with Bruce Rowland's score for The Man from Snowy River (1982) because that's my favorite movie.  And the soundtrack is the first CD I ever bought.  And all three of my kids were born while that soundtrack was playing in the birthing room.

11. What movie are you itching to write about but haven’t yet?

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) -- but I'll be reviewing it this weekend for the Barbarians at the Gate blogathon I'm co-hosting!

And now, the nominees are...

Nobody.  I just got nominated with a third Sunshine Blogger Award a couple days ago, so I'm going to save my tagging for when I answer that one...

"Prairie Tales" on Tour + Launch Goodies!

If you buy a copy of Prairie Tales, Volume One as a paperback or an ebook anytime before the end of August, 2024, you are eligible to get a packet of book launch goodies!  Those include:

• one bookmark featuring a closeup of the cover art depicting a woman reading
• one sticker that looks like a camping mug with Once Upon a Western facts on it
• one sticker depicting symbols from the five fairy tales retold as full books in the OUAW series

Want a set of those goodies?  Enter your info into this form by August 31, and you'll get them!  They are available worldwide.

Now, about that book tour!  The Prairie Tales book launch tour begins today, and here is a full schedule of events for the week, with links to the participating blogs and accounts, as applicable:

• August 5
  + tour info on Instagram (IG) from @cozy_woodland_cottage_knits,
  
  
  
• August 6
  + written interview on IG with @faithblumauthor,
  + book review on IG from @thepurplegiraffe reads,
  + book review on IG from @jillions_of_stories,
  + book review on IG from @onemorebook2read 
  + live reading of a new story from this book on my IG, @rachelkovacinyauthor, at 10pm EST
  
  
• August 7
  + live interview with @elisabethaimeebrown on IG at 1:30pm EST,
  + written interview on IG with @bethanywillcock_author,
  + book review on the blog Ink Castles,
  + book post on Facebook from Suey Nordberg,
  + book review on IG from @aliciaandherbooks
  
  
• August 8
  + live interview with @eldmountain on IG at 7:30pm EST (part 1)(part 2)
  + book post on IG from @books_with_cordy,
  + book review on IG from @thefilmdirectorswife
  
  
• August 9
  + written interview with Elisabeth Grace Foley on her blog,
  + a guest blog post about retellings at Old-Fashioned Book Love
  + book review on IG from @jennyabeereadsandwrites,
  + book review on IG from @knitty05

I have color-coded that a bit so you can see the different sorts of tour stops a bit more easily.  Please note that the times of the live events on the 6th, 7th, and 8th are all Eastern Time.

If you want to buy a signed copy of Prairie Tales (or any of my other books), you can always do that by filling out this form.  When you do, I'll email you to discuss your payment and shipping.

Advance reviews are coming in!  Check these out: