Selfish San Francisco

Water Source for San Francisco

San Francisco supports denying water to the Central Valley so a tiny fish called the Delta Smelt has a pristine habitat. Except San Francisco gets its drinking water from the other side of the Central Valley. If the O'Shaughnessy Dam below Yosemite was demolished, the Sierra runoff would flow naturally into the Central Valley.

To further explain the source of San Francisco water, here is an excerpt from Deluge.

“The TV.” She pointed to a television mounted high on the wall. The sound had been muted, but the agitation of the newscasters was obvious. The chyron read, “O’Shaughnessy Dam collapse harms San Francisco.”  In smaller letters below, it read “Water and power at risk.

Smith grabbed the bottles and said “Come on. Let’s get back.”

When they entered the flat downstairs, Wilson and Ashley were chuckling like a couple of teenagers. Baldwin had the impression that if they hadn’t returned when they did, they might have found the flat locked, with a man’s tie hanging from the door handle.

Smith immediately went to the remote and turned on the television.

The newscaster was saying, “San Francisco receives eighty-five percent of its water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which sits behind the O’Shaughnessy Dam. A dam that no longer exists. This dam also produced over seven hundred million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year for the city. The mayor has declared an emergency, and water as of this moment is severely rationed. It appears that for the first time in a century, San Francisco will be forced to pump and filter its water. The question on the minds of nearly three million people in the Bay Area is, how long it will take to replace the water supply for the city? Our sources said months. The irony, of course, is that after over a week of nonstop rain, how can the city be out of fresh water … and potentially short of electricity?”

“Oh, crap,” Smith said. “The Restore Hetch Hetchy activists got their wish. They’ve hated that dam since John Muir fought its construction early in the last century. Now we’ll see how Sierra Club members with a 94123 zip code like rustic living.”

“Don’t fool yourself,” Wilson said. “The rich always live comfortably. It’s the peons who’ll suffer. If need be, the rich will have Perrier home-delivered in quantities large enough to shower whenever they want.”

Ashley pointed at the faucet. “This water comes from the Sierras? That’s hard to believe. Why? The Delta always has water.”

“It’s pure mountain water,” Wilson said. “We’re one of the few major cities in the world that doesn’t filter its tap water. It’s uncontaminated … and delivery is gravity fed. The city moves it from the mountains to that tap without fossil fuels.” She stroked the faucet spout. “Our pristine mountain water is a matter of civic pride.”

“As well as the pee on the sidewalks,” Smith said. “Gravity fed, pure, and one hundred percent organic.”

“Guys, quit squabbling,” Baldwin said, pointing at the television. “The Don Pedro Dam just below Hetch Hetchy also failed. Modesto and outlying areas are in the flood path. People are dying, and you’re worried about showering.”

Storms, politics, and gangs pummel California but that isn't the scary part.

New James D. Best Novel on June 4th!

In 1862, a sixty-five day downpour pummeled the western United States. California suffered the brunt of the storm. Almost a third of the state was under water, roads were impassible, telegraph lines down, rivers overflowed, hundreds of people died, and hundreds of thousands of animals drowned. Sacramento remained under water for six months, forcing the state government to move to San Francisco.

Geological evidence shows that a flood of this magnitude hits California every one to two hundred years.

What if it happens again?

I took a break from Steve and his friends to write a disaster story. This one's a corker. I didn't know I could imagine such mayhem.

For Steve Dancy fans, I have started Coronado, A Steve Dancy Tale and it should be available before the end of the year.

Back to Deluge. Greg Evarts and Patricia Baldwin are back from The Shut Mouth Society. The stories are unrelated, so Deluge is not a sequel. The novels just shares the same cast and locale. The characters have changed, of course. Greg is now chief of police in Santa Barbara. Patricia is still a history professor, but has transferred from UCLA to UCSB. When the sky falls on California, our two heroes must once again save the day. There's rain, inept and ept politicians, murading street gangs, cage fighters, spies, and collapsed dams that send mountains of rolling water toward everything we hold dear.

Deluge will be available in print and Kindle formats on June 4th. Happy reading.

Can a 150-year-old conspiracy be unraveled before it’s too late?

Back from a vacation of surfing and writing

I took a break from social media for about four months. Fatigue, I guess. I wanted to write, enjoy my family, and surf.  The writing and family went great. The surfing so, so. I still get rides, and occasionally good rides, but embarrassments are less occasional.  I’m with Hobson in the movie Arthur. On his death bed, Arthur asks, “Do you want anything?” and Hobson replies, “I want to be younger.” My birthday is coming up, but asking for youth as a birthday gift seems contradictory.

John Gielgud as Hobson in Arthur

The first draft of Deluge is complete at long last. Actually, the second draft, but who's counting? This is a disaster story and since I had never lived through a disaster, I had to do a lot of research. It was a fun book to write, and I'm confident you'll enjoy it. Unfortunately, it will be many months before it makes it through the remaining steps to publication. 

In the meantime, Crossing the Animas is now available from Center Point Publishing in a hard cover, large print edition. Libraries are the primary market for this format, but it would make a dandy gift for some of us older guys who like our print large and our stories larger.

Now in large print, library binding

The Steve Dancy Tales
Honest westerns filled with dishonest characters

I'll return sooner next time. Have a great 2018!

Examiner.Com reviews The Return

I had a pleasant surprise today when I received notice of a new book review for the Steve Dancy Tales. Diane Scearce at Examiner.com reviewed The Return.

Scearce writes, “The reader can be assured The Return is as fast-paced and entertaining as the books leading up to Dancy’s latest adventure … The Return is a lively, old-fashioned style Western—clever, entertaining, and full of period references to give it authenticity. Best paces his stories so well readers will find it difficult to put down.”

Catching Killers

January Magazine publishes a series titled “Five of a Kind," and one of the articles in the series is Bill Crider's, “Sleuths in Spurs” about Western mysteries.

He writes, “People are reading mysteries from just about any time period you can name. Except one. Nobody's reading mysteries set in America's Wild West.” Bummer. But not entirely true. My own Western mystery, Murder at Thumb Butte, has not knocked anyone off the NYT bestseller list, but sales are pleasingly steady. The audio version narrated by Jim Tedder and the large print edition have also sold well.

Crider not only summarizes “5 of a kind,” but goes on to lists many other Western mysteries. He forgot Murder at Thumb Butte, a traditional whodunit with a Western theme. To make up for his absentmindedness, here is a synopsis:

102 Amazon Reviews for 4.4 Stars
254 Goodreads Ratings for 4.1 Stars

In the spring of 1880, Steve Dancy travels to Prescott, Arizona to gain control of a remarkable invention. But on his first night in the territorial capital, his friend, Jeff Sharp is arrested for a midnight murder at Thumb Butte. Dancy launches a personal investigation to find the real murderer, only to discover the whole town wanted the victim dead. For help, he turns to another old friend and associate, Captain Joseph McAllen of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

Can Dancy discover the true killer before his friend stretches a rope on the courthouse square?

If you like mysteries, don’t forget about crime dramas on the American frontier. Crider’s article can guide you to almost 50 good detective yarns.

He concludes his article by writing, “Western mysteries are all around, and anyone who refuses to read them because they feature horses and Colt revolvers is missing some wonderful reading.”

Rolling, rolling, rolling

It is time to move on. We've sold our Arizona house and start our trek to Nebraska today. Actually, the house closed a week ago and we have been catching our breath in our condo in San Diego. I got in a couple of days of fun surfing on both ends of the Labor Day holiday weekend. (I avoid the water on holidays … it’s just tooo crowded.)

We lived in Arizona for 22 years, so this is a big change, but we have five reasons to move to Nebraska— all of them live at my daughter’s house.  Here are three of them.

By the way, I’m bringing Steve Dancy with me. I've started the research on the fifth book in the series and it will be out sometime next year. Happy reading.

Good vittels, lovin', kissin' 
Are waiting at the end of my ride 

Move 'em on, head' em up 
Head 'em up, move' em on

Move 'em on, head' em up 
Rawhide 

Steve Dancy in Love?

Steve Dancy has had a rocky romantic life in the first three novels. His mother pushed him to marry a young lady who would enhance the family’s wealth and connections, but New York City socialites and socializing bored Steve. In defiance, he sold everything and followed Horace Greeley advice to “Go west, young man.” 




Steve assumed he would observe the frontier and write a great literary classic about the Wild West. He found enough adventure to fill several books and made a few male friends along the way. In his wanderings, he also encountered many different types of women, but Steve argued with every one of them. Needless to say, this was not the best way to strike up a relationship.

Things change in The Return.  Steve remains clumsy with the opposite sex, but even a dunderhead can be successful on occasion. I’d tell you what happens, but why ruin the suspense. You’ll just have to buy a copy and read for yourself.

As for me, I'm leaving the scorching heat of Arizona for Pacific Beach. I'll get in a little surfing between playing with my grandkids, who are flying in from Nebraska. You know, I think my granddaughter is the right age to start bogie boarding. This is gonna be fun.

Top 10 Western Books

 Reading Cowboy Statue, Azle, Texas

American Cowboy magazine has listed the top 10 Western Books, plus a few also-rans from the same authors. Many of these novels were made into classic films, which shows that good storytelling can be adapted to multiple mediums.

By the way, I searched through the list twice, but never found any of the Steve Dancy Tales. I'm sure this is an oversight that will be corrected in the next list. 

Actually, I believe they compiled a fine Top 10. I've read 8 of the 10 ... an omission I'll correct shortly.

Illustration by Zachary Pullen

Pacific Beach, San Diego

My wife has flown to Omaha to do some tasks that have to do with spa colors, soothing music, and aromatherapy.  She’s helping my daughter open a pedicure spa. Since I can’t contribute anything but bad advice, I’m driving today to Pacific Beach to get in a little surfing.

You might want to visit my Surf Pinterest Board. There are some great shots and a couple videos.






Three people have asked if I will continue to work on The Return or just surf all day. Boy, does that make me feel good. In truth, two hours is all I need suit up, surf, and shower. At my age, you no longer make a day of surfing. Since six hours is a full day of writing for me, I think I can catch a few waves and still make progress on the next Steve Dancy Tale. Besides, I write better at the beach. Who wouldn’t be inspired by something like this?

Buddies in the Saddle reviews The Shopkeeper

Ron Scheer at Buddies in the Saddle has reviewed The Shopkeeper and published a companion  interview with me.

"This is an old-fashioned western in a way that goes back to the western’s roots. For the closest comparison, I’d offer Francis Lynde’s first novel, The Grafters, which was published in 1905. Both novels tell of a newcomer to the West who gets involved in a political intrigue, where influence is bought and sold, and greed rules the workings of government."

Read the review and interview.

Early Adopters Pay a High Price

The Return, A Steve Dancy Tale is an unusual Western because Dancy and his friends go to New York City to make a business call on Thomas Edison. Those who have read Murder at Thumb Butte know what Dancy wants from the Wizard of Menlo Park. 

What struck me during my research was the aggressiveness of entrepreneurs when a new technology emerges. This seems to be a constant throughout our country's history. From this distance in time, we think Edison invented the light bulb and everybody bought this miraculous device from him. Not true. Just as in the early days of personal computers or during the dot-com craze, there were an untold number of start-ups vying for customers in every city in America. It was chaos.

The reason for the overhead rat's nest in the above photograph is that each company had to string their own wires. (This photo was taken to show the effects of a snow storm, not the wiring mess. Sky-blocking wires were considered normal.) 

In each new phase of the computer revolution, thousands of company jumped into the field, but they were soon ruthlessly trimmed to a few giants. The same thing happened with electricity. In less than a decade, most of these unsightly wires were gone from New York City. A single supplier had been chosen. It eventually became known as Consolidated Edison, or Con Ed.

You might also like Dueling Entrepreneurs.

Django Unchained—Quentin Tarantino’s Does Spaghetti Western

I like Tarantino movies and Westerns, so I expected to love Django Unchained.  I only liked it. It wasn’t bad; it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

The Spaghetti Western is a subset of the Western genre, typified by antiheroes, revenge themes, extreme violence, slow scenes, scant dialogue, extreme close-ups, long running times, and heavy scores punctuated by stretches of pure silence. (My favorite is Once Upon a Time in the West.) The Spaghetti Western is a different breed from the traditional Western because all of these characteristics are done to excess.

I knew something was amiss with Django Unchained about two hours into the movie when I wondered how long it would be before the end. Not a good sign, even when three hours is typical for Spaghetti Westerns. The audience is supposed to be transported to another place and time, not squirming in their seats.

Tarantino loves bad movies, especially bad genre movies. He sees art where others see trash. His best works, like Kill Bill for example, blend clichés and corniness from multiple genres into a cornucopia of unexpected delights. Django Unchained seemed too predictable and too narrow. Perhaps Tarantino’s shtick has run its course. I hope not.

Related post: Europe's Infatuation with the American Wild West

The Future of Large Print

The popularity of eReaders has decimated the mass paperback market, and several publishers have even abandoned the format. An eReader can display font in any size, so I assumed the next casualty of eBooks would be large print. Not so. Or, at least, not yet. When I received my statement from my large print publisher, I was pleasantly surprised. How is it that large print holds its own against the ebook revolution?

I think it has to do with the market for large print books. Whether it’s libraries or direct purchase, the market is seniors. Seniors are not gadget prone and remain attached to the feel and simplicity of a real book. No buttons, no touch screens, no hot links. Books are what seniors have read their entire life and only their children prod them to change. Seniors can’t see the point. They get lost in the story and turn the page without conscious thought, just a motor reflex learned through decades of practice. 

The boomers will probably carry their eReaders into old age, but most of their parents will remain loyal to the printed book.

If you're looking for a senior gift, you might consider one of these large print books.

Honest westerns filled with dishonest characters.

All of the Steve Dancy Tales have been published in large print, library binding editions by Center Point. Some have sold out, but are still available through used book dealers.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I haven't read a Stephen King book in a couple decades. 11/22/63 reminded me why I used to read King’s books as soon as they were published ... and why I quit reading them. King is a good writer, has a great imagination, knows how to pen an engrossing story, but is exhaustingly verbose. I wanted to make a little circling motion with my finger to tell him to hurry up, but of course he wasn't in the room to see it.

Fiction writers have the unique ability to bend time. We can do what we want because it’s our world. We make it up. The premise of 11/22/63 is that our intrepid hero discovers a time portal that takes him back to 1958. After a quick touristic holiday, he decides to go back to 1958 and wait until November 22, 1963 in order to save John F. Kennedy. King proceeds to tell us everything that happens in the intervening five years. Why? It was King’s decision to have the portal go to 1958. He could have chosen 1961 or 1962. I think he just loves to write.

That aside, this is a well told story. I like time travel because they are basically fish-out-of-water tales. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur'sCourt by Mark Twain is the apex of the genre. 11/22/63 may have been overly long (880 pages in paperback), but it was still a fun read with some creative twists on time travel. I didn't agree with his speculations about altered history, but they didn't interfere with the story. If you like to be immersed in Stephen King’s world, you can have an extended stay with 11/22/63.

The Black Hills by Rod Thompson

As a writer of a western series, I don’t read a lot of Western fiction. In the past, I devoured Owen Wister, Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry, and even Max Brand. Nowadays, I find myself mostly reading western nonfiction to help me put accurate color in my books. The Black Hills by Rod Thompson is an exception. I read and enjoyed this book enormously. This is skillful fiction that should appeal to people of any age, gender, or interest. In other words, this is great storytelling that just happens to take place in the American Wild West. It’s a coming of age saga with characters you end up befriending by the end of the book. The Black Hills is the type of book that will help revive the Western genre—good storytelling with a solid plot, realistic dialogue, and characters the reader cares about.

This is a great Christmas gift or stocking stuffer for a Western enthusiast or picky reader. The Black Hills has 23 Amazon customer reviews for 5.0 stars and at the time of this writing is heavily discounted to $6 for the paperback edition. How's that for an entertainment bargain. And when you finish, you can pass the book along to someone else.

The Black Hills is touted as the first book in a trilogy. Let’s hope Thompson is feverishly working on the second in the series.

A Big Thanks -- 50,000 Copies Sold

Last Friday, I received my annual statement from my large-print publisher. When I entered the sales into my ledger, the total copies of my books sold went over 50,000. Whoa! That may not be a number that would impress a New York Times bestseller, but it's a big number for someone like me who didn't start gifted, famous, or notorious. The best part is that my sales keep improving. It seems I'm gathering a bigger audience all the time.

When I started writing fiction, I was just an ordinary business guy who had written lots of technical nonfiction. I started writing fiction to escape the tensions of the day. Ten minutes at my keyboard and I was transported to another time and place. That was a reward in and of itself, but people I don't know have joined me in my stories. That is the greatest reward of all. Writers may love to write, but they really love to be read. So, thank you. I appreciate the company.

Vintage Photograph to Western Book Cover

I have been asked by several readers if the image on the cover of The Shopkeeper is authentic. 

It is. 

L. A. Huffman was a famous frontier photographer in Miles City, Montana. The photograph below is marked, "L. A. Huffman, Miles City, MT" which stands for Montana Territory. This means that this photograph was taken prior to Montana becoming a state in November of 1889.

To add a sense of mystery, the photograph was cropped for cover of The Shopkeeper. Add professional typesetting some color adjustment, and you have a distinct cover.

The intent was to identify the book as a Western, but signal that it was a fresh take on the genre. I think the designer did an excellent job.

It's All Good!

The difference between reality and imagination is an important distinction for me. Especially since I make my living writing fiction. The great thing about storytelling is that you can make up new friends and enemies, embellish the truth, or even bend time.

I started writing fiction when I was a consultant with a lot of idle time in hotels. After a stressful day, I could come back to my room and after a few minutes of writing I was completely at ease, transported to another place and time. The imaginative had become reality.

I'm seventy years old. My brain still feels fresh and young, but the reality is my body is sore and not always willing to do what I bid it to do. A while ago, I rode the wave in the top photograph. My son, with a little Photoshop magic, turned it into the bottom picture. I'd like to be able to ride a big wave, but in truth, I'm happy as punch to get any rides at all. A couple years ago, a ruptured disc made it impossible for me to get from my bed to the bathroom without a walker. Now, every wave is a blessing and I'm thankful I can still get up and down the hill to the beach. I have as much fun at my local beach break as I used to have in more challenging surf. Beside, I can always sit at my keyboard and imagine it to be whatever I want. 

And that's the point … it's all good.

(Here's a recent surfing video made with a GoPro.)

Stonewall Grant reviews The Shopkeeper

"The Shopkeeper did not disappoint. It's well written with deep characters (that we care about) and a swift plot that keeps the pages turning.  The descriptions of the vast Nevada country are ample without the overkill. Great dialogue and a well contrived plot."

Read the Full Review

Faith Friese Nelson Reviews The Shut Mouth Society

The Shut Mouth Society by James D. Best is the kind of book I like best.

It starts with a rich collector who has discovered an early Abraham Lincoln document. The collector asks two people to authenticate the manuscript: Greg Evarts, a detective, and Patricia Baldwin, a professor. The professor, of course, is not only smart but stinking rich and beautiful. The novel has everything from intrigue and murder to romance.

The story begins in California and progresses to the historical east coast where the reader is introduced to private libraries, secret apartments, and shown how rich and powerful civil war descendants live. Conspiracies and secret societies from the Civil War era are unveiled in such a realistic manner that, when I finished the book, I actually did some research to separate fact from fiction.

Link to Faith Friese Nelson Blog