James D. Best

For the last couple of decades, enthusiasts have lamented the demise of Westerns. The rest of the world went about their business, ignoran...

No Peace starts at   del Monte Hotel in Monterey (photo circa 1880s) In a previous post I wrote that I had started the next Steve Dan...

“People don't talk like this, theytalklikethis. Syllables, words, sentences run together like a watercolor left in the rain. “ Bill Bry...

Several book reviews have criticized Steve Dancy as barely better than the bad guys. Seriously? I believe vile villains make a story wo...

There are no ugly book reviews — only good and bad reviews.  At least that would be true under the axiom that any publicity is good pu...

As of this morning, Amazon is offering The Return, A Steve Dancy Tale in print and Kindle formats. The hardcover large print edition i...

In high school, I read every Ian Fleming James Bond book. I liked them, but  wasn't  motivated to read them a second time until rec...

I’m a Jane Austen fan. That probably seems odd since I’m male and write Westerns. The Wild West and English countryside have little in co...

At the time of this writing, Inferno by Dan Brown has nearly 5,000 Amazon reviews for 3.9 stars. Since I thought this was a poor novel,...

No! Well, that's the simple answer. I have a rationale behind my answer: If the friend doesn't like the character — bye, bye...

Robert Peecher, author and journalist, has published an interview with me on his blog. Q. When you started writing did you know St...

Frank. A true black hat villain. Characterization is a crucial aspect of fiction. We know this because it's drilled into us a...

SAGE in Northridge, CA is doing a dramatic reading of Tempest at Dawn . The SAGE Society is a learning-in-retirement organizat...

Frederick Faust was one of the most prolific writers of all time, publishing nearly thirty million words in his lifetime. Faust had more...

In an article titled "Books: An Observation," The Cajun writes: "The only new title that knocked my socks off is ...

Huffington Post Books published an article titled " Bad Reviews Of Great Authors. "   When you get a bad review of your work, i...

Flavorwire has published an article about why authors write. There are many links to source material which are fun to explore. “Th...

This is a well-plotted mystery, as well as a terrific Old West story. I found the idea of a stock swindle entertaining, esp...

Mostly not. We returned to our home in Arizona late last night, and have been lazing about trying to recover from a week with all of our gra...

What fun!  It’s no wonder that Jim is as popular as he is on Amazon and that readers clamor for him to release his next installment of h...