ANDREW McBRIDE interviewed about THE PEACEMAKER by PARAGRAPH PLANET

Hi. I'm ANDREW McBRIDE. I’ve been fortunate enough to receive wide acclaim already for my Sundown Press novel THE PEACEMAKER, including 5 star reviews from 2 of the most successful western authors in the business. Spur award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author ROBERT VAUGHAN describes it as ‘a great book’. Meanwhile RALPH COTTON (also a Pulitzer-prize nominated novelist) writes: ‘For pure writing style, McBride’s gritty prose nails the time and place of his story with bold authority. …this relatively new author has thoroughly, and rightly so, claimed his place among the top Old West storytellers.’ I’m very grateful to both Robert & Ralph for their fantastic support.

I was recently interviewed about THE PEACEMAKER on the writing forum PARAGRAPH PLANET, run by RICHARD HEARN. You can visit PARAGRAPH PLANET here: http://www.paragraphplanet.com/

Meanwhile here’s the interview again:

Tell me about your latest novel 'THE PEACEMAKER.' 

It’s a western. To a lot of people under the age of 40 the idea of reading, writing or even watching a western is bizarre, but for people over that age, westerns were a huge part of their cultural landscape. If you grew up like me in England in the 60s into the middle 70s you were deluged with westerns – movies constantly on TV and a steady diet of TV Westerns like The Virginian, Bonanza & The High Chaparral. Any ordinary citizen in Britain c. 1970 was generally quite clued in about the history of the ‘Wild West’, most of it taken in from TV and movies, although writers like Louis L’Amour and J.T. Edson were quite popular. Then, almost overnight, the western reached saturation point and practically vanished - John Wayne’s last movie was in 1976, in 1977 Star War’s stepped in to fill the void and westerns stopped being made, apart from the occasional revival like Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven.’ Whilst I don’t think the western will ever entirely die, I can’t imagine it will ever again have the cultural dominance it had in the 40s, 50s and 60s. But I was raised on westerns, I still love them so I still write ’em!

THE PEACEMAKER is set in the Arizona desert in 1871. At its core is an interracial love affair – the young white hero finds himself in love with an Apache Indian girl whilst their 2 peoples are at war. They end up in danger from both Apaches and white men, whilst also struggling to survive the desert itself. It also brings in historical elements. The peace they’re trying to make is with the great Apache chief Cochise. It was fun trying to fit a real historical person (although much about Cochise is fairly mysterious) into a fiction narrative.    

What are your inspirations? 

I read avidly as a kid – but whereas others liked home-based/ school-based stories I liked adventure stories set in exotic locations and legends like Robin Hood and King Arthur. I particularly liked the historical novelist Rosemary Sutcliff.

Rosemary Sutcliff

I knew if I started writing it would be adventure stories – the bigger and more epic the better. Getting into adolescence I read Ian Fleming, Hemingway, Raymond Chandler. Then I discovered western writers who could somehow humanise their stories, make them realistic and avoid clichés – e.g. an Englishman, John Prebble in THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS, A.B. Guthrie Jr. in THE BIG SKY, Elmore Leonard in HOMBRE.

Elmore Leonard

In relation to westerns I’ve also been hugely influenced by movies and TV westerns, particularly movies starring John Wayne and/or directed by John Ford. That inspired me to read western history. I was particularly moved by accounts (such as ‘BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE’) of the tragic near-destruction of the American Indians in this period, aspects of which are covered in THE PEACEMAKER.  

What's your favourite part of the writing process? 

Editing. I tend to write a chapter at a time and it’s a 3 day process. Day 1 is my least favourite – it’s the grind of the first draft, which I find is the hardest part. You tell the tale of the chapter, you cover the story points, but it’s a slog and the writing may not be that good. But on Day 2 you wake up and re-draft it into shape, which in my case is almost all cutting. I may re-write or re-arrange bits but mostly all I do is cut – like pruning a hedge, or clearing the weeds out of the garden so you can see what you’re after. Day 3 is usually easy – polishing, just doing a bit of tweaking and tidying up. Then I sit back for a few days and let the next chapter simmer in my head until it’s ready to be tackled.

How important is setting in your books?

Enormously. I haven’t just written westerns, I’ve also written thrillers and historical novels, but they all seem to end up being set in big, wild landscapes. A common theme of mine seems to be a man and a woman being tested against a wilderness. The landscape itself becomes a character, shaping the behaviour of the characters. Westerns cover an extremely wide range of settings – there’s movies like ‘High Noon’ that are entirely based in a town – but my taste runs to outdoor ones, the more primitive the better. My favourite TV Western series was ‘The High Chaparral’ because it was filmed on location in the Southern Arizona desert, which is the setting of THE PEACEMAKER. Similarly John Ford’s best westerns used majestic locations like Monument Valley.

In landscapes like that you find beauty, poetry, harshness and drama, which are elements I hope feed into PEACEMAKER. It also creates authenticity and realism.

Any tips for aspiring writers? 

I’ve taught creative writing and picked up some good tips along the way. One is ‘don’t get it right, get it written.’ Don’t sit there agonising, waiting for the world’s greatest sentence to occur to you before you write. WRITE SOMETHING ANYWAY. Produce words, even if they aren’t great. You can always shape, change, expand on words written. You can’t do anything with a blank page. Novelists, particularly, need to have a time/ word count discipline. Give yourself a DEADLINE: for example you may decide you want to write an 80,000 word novel in 2 years. That works out about 110 words a day. Make sure you keep to your routine and write those words, otherwise you’ll join the ranks of would-be novelists who spend 7, 9 or 11 years writing a novel. And another tip is persist, KEEP TRYING. There’s a saying: ‘What do you call a writer who never gives up?’ Answer: ‘Published!’

What's your next project? Any clues? 

I’m lucky, I’m a story-teller, I don’t write just out of my direct experience (as Harper Lee did for example) but I’m happy to have a go at yarns set in any place or era. (Not that I’m comparing myself with Harper Lee!) I’m finishing up a novel about Robin Hood and I’ve got ideas for at least 2 more westerns, a thriller and at least half a dozen historical novels. Whether any or all of them get written is another matter!

Harper Lee

BLURB for THE PEACEMAKER:

Eighteen-year-old scout Calvin 'Choctaw' Taylor believes he can handle whatever life throws his way. He’s been on his own for several years, and he only wants to make his mark in the world. When he is asked to guide peace emissary Sean Brennan and his adopted Apache daughter, Nahlin, into a Chiricahua Apache stronghold, he agrees—but then has second thoughts. He’s heard plenty about the many ways the Apache can kill a man. But Mr. Brennan sways him, and they begin the long journey to find Cochise—and to try to forge a peace and an end to the Indian Wars that have raged for so long. During the journey, Choctaw begins to understand that there are some things about himself he doesn’t like—but he’s not sure what to do about it. Falling in love with Nahlin is something he never expected—and finds hard to live with. The death and violence, love for Nahlin and respect for both Cochise and Mr. Brennan, have a gradual effect on Choctaw that change him. But is that change for the better? Can he live with the things he’s done to survive in the name of peace?

Buy it on Amazon — or read free with Kindle Unlimited — here:

http://amzn.to/2hjxyHy

Apaches 1886 Geronimo extreme right

EXTRACT:
Choctaw blinked sweat and sunspots out of his eyes and began to lower the field glasses; then he glimpsed movement.

He used the glasses again, scanning nearer ground, the white sands. He saw nothing.

And then two black specks were there suddenly, framed against the dazzling white. They might have dropped from the sky.

They grew bigger. Two horsebackers coming this way, walking their mounts. As he watched they spurted into rapid movement, whipping their ponies into a hard run towards him.

The specks swelled to the size of horses and men. Men in faded smocks maybe once of bright colour, their long hair bound by rags at the temple. They had rifles in their hands.

Breath caught in Choctaw’s throat. Fear made him dizzy. His arms started to tremble. He knew who was coming at him so fast.

Apaches.

And you killed them or they killed you.

Visit my SUNDOWN PRESS AUTHOR PAGE: http://prairierosepublications.com/authors_2/andrew-mcbride/

Or find me on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Andrew-McBride-Author-1715798535405371

I'm also on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/andrewmcbride21

Or my Amazon author pages on:

https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-McBride/e/B01N9O1C05/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-McBride/e/B01N9O1C05/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 

Or on GOODREADS: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30623666-the-peacemaker

New Release —THE PEST HOUSE by Clay More — Giveaway!

Twisted Knee, Ohio, 1866

Nothing could ever damp down the smell of the pest house.

Especially not in the sweltering heat of summer.

It was a strange, stomach-twisting smell that wafted from the two chimneys that belched smoke most days when the place was full of patients. And even when the smoke was dispelled by the wind the odor hung like a miasma around the old two-storied timber building a couple of hundred yards from the edge of the town of Twisted Knee.

But the smell was only a prelude to the evil that took place in the old building that housed the wounded, the diseased, and the hopeless. Though Doctor Cutler had his own faults, murder was not one of them—and that was going to be the death of him...

EXCERPT

     For those who had never ventured inside to visit a relative or friend the odor conjured up near-hellish images of Sister Fowler or one of the Twisted Knee Ladies of Charity who nursed the sick, or of the orderlies who carried patients in or bodies out to the attached mortuary, feeding the fires with clothing, bandages or bed linen that had gotten stained with blood or body fluids. And sometimes it smelled even worse…and folks forced themselves to stop imagining.

No one came near it unless they were unfortunate enough to come down with one or other of the less savory medical conditions that scared the bejeebers out of folks. It had a reputation as a place where you went to die.

     That was the image of the pest house at any rate, when old Doc Silas Jackson was the only medical man in Twisted Knee. Despite his age and his apparent lack of success in keeping his patients alive, the sixty-year-old, skeletally thin doctor in the stovepipe hat and stiff-collared shirts was held in affection and esteem by the good folk of the town. After all, as he regularly regaled patients and friends, he had given the town the best years of his life and had passed up the commission as a major that he had been offered during the war, just so that he could go on tending to his friends in town.

     Then Doctor Bruce Cutler came along and set up his shingle in town and the two doctors agreed to share the onerous task of looking after the pest house. Doctor Jackson, as the senior and already established physician, retained complete charge and responsibility for the lower ward and the single cubicle rooms leading off it, while Bruce was given charge of the upstairs ward.

     But Doctor Bruce Cutler was a different sort of doctor from Doctor Silas Jackson, and it was not long before they had the first of many very public fallings out, mainly about medicine and the way the pest house was run. The result was that they hated each other with a passion. And everyone knew it.

Be sure and leave a comment for a chance to win a free ebook!

Inspiration Close at Hand

This post by Gayle M. Irwin

Last week, I learned Chicken Soup for the Soul accepted my short-story submission “Jazmine’s Journey” for the organization’s upcoming book The Dog Really Did That? The release is set for August.

This is the seventh Chicken Soup book which features one of my stories. I’m very excited to be part of this “family” of inspirational books! The story relates the tale of Jazmine, a young Akbash mix who was abandoned with her 12 puppies, all taken in by a Colorado rescue organization, nursed to health, and adopted. I had the privilege of transporting Jazmine through central Wyoming as she journeyed to her adoptive family in Calgary, Canada. This book is specifically about rescue and shelter dogs and the organizations that care for them. My story is unique as it’s from my point of view as a transporter for rescue organizations; Wyoming doesn’t have many people who respond to the call of taking a dog into rescue or to its new, forever home. It’s a volunteer job that I cherish and do as often as possible when the call comes from a group in need of a transporter in my state.

Jazmine inspired me from the moment we met, and I knew her story needed to be told. In addition to the short story in Chicken Soup, I’m also working on a children’s book about Jazmine, as told from her point of view. My goal is to educate children and their families about rescue organizations, what they do, and the volunteers that are needed. I’ll end the book with short paragraph stories of other dogs I’ve transported, such as Theo, a Boston Terrier adopted by a Montana couple, a beagle named Boone whose family worked in Yellowstone Park, and Smallz, a Great Dane who also went to live with a Canadian couple.

Inspiration for writers can, and often is, close by. For me, the dogs I transport for rescues inspire my muse. The idea for latest children’s book I created comes from my own dog; A Kind Dog Named Mary instructs children about kindness, to both people and animals, through my pet’s true-to-life story. The second installment in what may be three or four books about Mary will relate Mary’s visit to a nearby ranch and all the animals she meets, helping children understand the workings of a ranch, the livestock which reside there, and the many wild creatures that inhabit the property, showcasing the vast variety of animals which can live on a ranch.

My short story for Sundown’s Pawprints on My Heart, published last year, came from living with two wonderful dogs, Sage and Cody, one blind, the other sighted but older when adopted. I learned many lessons from these two wonderful canines, and I enjoyed putting the words together to relate those lessons, hopefully to inspire others.

Does the inspiration for your writing come from things, people, animals, experiences, that are close at hand? Perhaps we’d all do well, when we get “stuck” in our writing, to simply look around us or even embark on a short walk or drive, opening the crevices of our minds and hearts to what’s nearby. Inspiration for writing, whether a poem, a short story, or a scene in a book, could be just beyond our laptops.

Gayle M. Irwin is the author of several inspirational pet books for children and adults. She is also a contributing writer for (going on!) seven Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and contributed a short story to Sundown Press' 2016 release Memories from Maple Street U.S.A.: Pawprints on My Heart. She also freelances for magazines and newspapers and volunteers for regional pet rescues. Learn more at www.gaylemirwin.com.