Just completed a fun interview with the Tainted Archive. If you like this Western blog, you ought to take a look at the Cowboy Corral, as well.

Western Genre Article Trilogy

I've completed a triology of articles on the Western Genre and posted them on Ezine.

Is the Mythology of the Old West Dead?

The Future of the Western Genre

The Virginian, A Classic Western Revisited

Link to all three.

The Future of the Western Genre

I've posted an article on Ezine about the future of the Western genre.

"For the last couple of decades, enthusiasts have lamented the demise of Westerns while the rest of the world has gone about its business, ignorant that anyone might care about a genre relegated to a few obscure shelves at the local bookstore. Westerns were hugely popular for over a hundred years. Not only were they popular in the United States, but the whole world devoured them. The Western was a staple of fiction, Hollywood, television, and daydreams. What happened?"

Follow this link, to read the full article.

Finding Your Voice

Whohub asked the following question in a interview.

Do you believe you have already found "your voice" or is that something one is always searching for?

I answered:

Your voice is not something you find. It 's especially illusive if you search for it. Tell a good story, and then tell it better and better until it compels the reader to keep going. If you achieve this goal, you'll have found your voice.

If your primary or sole goal is to find your voice, then you may become a technically good writer, but few people will read what you write.

Western Writers of America 2009 Conference

I'll be attending the Western Writers of America Conference in Oklahoma City, June 16-20.

Non-members are welcome, so if you love Western film or fiction, mark the dates on your calendar. There will be exhibits, panel discussions, book signings, guided tours of local Western attractions, and your favorite Western writers will be there.

If you would like to learn more, go to the WWA site.

Whohub Interview

Whohub requested an interview. Well, actually, it's a stock set of questions from which I could pick and choose. This was great, because I never had to say, "Duh, I don't know."

Fun for me. Hopefully interesting for you.

Shut Mouth Society finalist is ABPA contest

The Shut Mouth Society is a finalist in the Arizona Book Publishers Association Glyph Award for best popular fiction. The winner will be announced at an awards dinner on May 9th.

Founded in Phoenix in April of 1992, the Arizona Book Publishing Association’s mission is to advance and promote successful book publishing in Arizona through education, community involvement, cooperative effort, peer recognition, industry advocacy, and the support of 1st Amendment rights.

With more than 150 publisher and associate members, the ABPA continues to grow each year.

Huntington News Reviews The Shut Mouth Society

"One of the bad guys -- and there are plenty -- in James D. Best's The Shut Mouth Society sneeringly calls Greg Evarts a "city policeman," making it clear that he thinks the Santa Barbara, CA police detective is an easily handled lightweight.

What a mistake! Evarts is a veteran of a top secret army unit, an expert in decoding ciphers and a good friend of multimillionaire Abraham Douglass, a descendant of black anti-slavery pioneer Frederick Douglass. Abraham Douglass is a collector of Lincoln and Civil War documents and wants Evarts and UCLA Lincoln expert Professor Patricia Baldwin to authenticate an Abraham Lincoln document in his possession.

At stake is nothing less than the balance of power in present-day North America. After the murder, Greg and Patricia travel the country, driving to New York City, Boston, Des Moines, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska where more violence reveals the impact of The Shut Mouth Society on present-day events. The plot reminds me of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," which has a similar pairing of an academic -- a male in Brown's novel -- and a female French police officer. The secret society in Brown's novel is matched by one that's even more brutal in "The Shut Mouth Society."

The Shut Mouth Society is a fast-moving, well-written novel that is of particular interest in this bicentennial year of Abe Lincoln's birth."

By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic

Read full review