James D. Best

Grok Self-Portrait I wasn't a strong proponent of artificial intelligence until I asked Grok about my own work. Now, I'm a fan of AI...

Books make a thoughtful present and are a great entertainment value. They provide hour upon hour of personal pleasure, and then they can be ...

The Steve Dancy Tales Honest Westerns filled with dishonest characters. New Release:  Crossing the Animas ,  Audiobook Edition ...

Jennifer Cody Epstein published, “10 Rules for Rewriting History” at Writer Unboxed .  As a historical writer, I found the article help...

I write historical fiction. I chose this genre because I enjoy the research and a historical novel can last forever. My first book was a no...

The "Mike Reads" blog has reviewed Tempest at Dawn . This is not exactly a New York Times book review, but I liked it because M...

I'm not sure if book trailers sell books, but they seem to be the rage, so here is a new trailer for The Steve Dancy Tales. Comments wel...

Still from The Great Train Robbery The Return, A Steve Dancy Tale  partly takes place in New Jersey. Oh yeah, and Thomas Edison is a ...

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

Rejections come with traditional publishing. Since you can't get a publisher without an agent, you have two opportunities to be rej...

Mark Twain in Virginia City by Andy Thomas My favorite Western writer is Mark Twain. Owen Wister is second. These are probably not name...

I don’t believe in muses. Writing is not a matter of inspiration. It's more of a compulsion. Think about all of the famous authors tha...

Once upon a time, I feared red ink … now I look forward to it. The red ink means another set of professional eyes are helping me write ...

The Washington Post has done an article on the perils (and rewards) of being a midlist novelist.  Interesting reading. Mary Doria R...

"Branding cattle" Six cowboys branding cattle in front of a house. 1891 Last week I posted "Preserving Western cult...

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 Thom...

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

Portrait of Grey at Monument Valley Zane Grey was an athlete, avid fisherman, and a lifelong philander. Grey was introverted and rem...

To start with, I occasionally write for What Would The Founders Think? and the reviewer is a friend. But ... it's a good review, so...

Zane Grey The three greatest icons of the Western novel are Zane Grey, Max Brand, and Louis L'Amour. Sure, other authors have writ...