My Dad was a great outdoorsman. I’m sure I got that from him. My love of the outdoors meshed perfectly with my love of the west.
Like many kids of my era, I rode my 1949 Schwinn B-6, with my pardners to the Saturday Matinee. For ten cents we could get into the local movie theater and watch all of the serials, cartoons, and finally, the features that were usually westerns.
On Saturday afternoon, we would play either cowboys and Indians or war. Nobody wanted to be the bad guys. We had toy guns that fired real caps. If your cap gun wasn’t working, you could get a hammer and fire the caps by smashing them on a hard surface, usually a driveway. We would play until dark, or when our folks called us in for dinner. Back then it was supper.
Surrounded by western good guys, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, Johnny Mack Brown, The Lone Ranger, and Lash LaRue, just to name a few on the radio, silver screen, and then television, how could a young boy not grow up to have a love of the west. The good guy always won, and in many cases got the girl. How did he manage to win? He was honest, brave, trustworthy, intelligent, and never deceitful. He respected women and men and expected the same from them. Good traits for youth to emulate.
I grew up in Texas and New Mexico, loved U.S. history and hated math, which was reflected in my grades. As I mentioned earlier, my dad loved the outdoors. We hunted and fished throughout those two western states. My mom cooked everything we brought in. I look back on the lunches and dinners we had and shudder at what they would have cost in a restaurant.
Magic is in the history of the west. There are many tales in personal journals and historic records of bravery and sacrifice in hard and difficult times. My goal is to share stories of those times that entertain you. I hope you like them.
I’ll make my books as historically accurate as possible. Hopefully, you’ll find your love of the west in these stories. What you won’t find is blatant sexual scenes, or distasteful language. There may be a damn or hell in the books, but they won’t be overused, and if that offends you I’m truly sorry.
The first of the Logan family series is Logan’s Word. Josh Logan made a promise to his best friend as his friend lay dying on the battlefield during the Civil War. The book is about his sacrifices and rewards as he strives to fulfill his promise.
In future posts, I’ll share with you some of the fascinating facts uncovered in the research for these books and short stories.
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Have a great day and a great life.