"Old Dogs" Now Available on Amazon

My latest novel, Old Dogs, is now available on Amazon Kindle. Print editions are generally available about a month later.

I am especially excited about this book. Sometimes I start to burn out on a novel when I am about three-fourths finished and then fun turns to hard work. This book kept me enthused to the final sentence. I hope this portends holding reader interest as well.

Old Dogs is a standalone Western set in West Texas, and, yes, one of the protagonists is, in fact, canine. But the other two old dogs are elderly men. Readers sometimes ask if I visualize specific persons for characters in my books. Usually not, but in this instance I did. For old Western movie fans, I saw Walter Brennan in the role of Rudy Kilgore and Ben Johnson playing Jack Wills. Sometimes, Glenn Ford stood in for Ben. Unfortunately, all are deceased and cannot be summoned for the movie roles.

The reader should find a few laughs in the story and a fair amount of action, including battles with Apaches and Comancheros, but the book is more character driven than action focused. There will be romance for one of the old dogs. Younger male and female characters vie for equal time in the book’s plot. The story might best be described as bittersweet.

Many writers say that their most recent book is always their favorite (not necessarily best). That has not always been my experience, but I must say that Old Dogs is my frontrunner for personal favorite right now.

My next project is not yet titled but will be soon, because I find I cannot write without a title. That does not preclude the possibility of title change prior to publication (but only rarely). The book will be another standalone, probably set in the Nebraska Sandhills, and then midsummer, I will likely return to one of my series books (The Blood Hounds, The Law Wranglers or The Lockes).

Once again, thanks for your interest in my projects and good reading.

Ron

Third Blood Hounds Book Now For Sale

My latest novel, Looking for Trouble, was just released on Amazon today. This is the third book of The Blood Hounds series based upon the adventures of National Detective Agency operatives. Trace and Darby Crockett, the husband-wife team, will be featured in this novel. They will be joined by Maddie Sanford and her wolfdog, Pirate, from the No Man’s Land novel. Most of the action occurs near Lockwood, Wyoming, the setting of my Night of the Coyote novel, and readers of that book will meet old friends, Ethan Ramsey and Enos Fletcher in small roles here. I hope readers will find a nice mix of suspense, action, romance and humor in this novel. Readers will discover several new characters some may want to read more of. There are certainly a few who offer more story for this writer to tell—likely soon.

My next project will be a standalone novel, which I hope to have completed for March release. Title is Old Dogs. The main protagonists will be two old men and, yes, an old dog. I am really excited about doing this book, but I do not know much about the storyline yet. As I have doubtless mentioned before, I do not write from an outline. I decide on some characters I want to write about, and they write the story. Sometimes, I can’t wait to see what the next chapter will do with the characters. This is a far cry from my years as a law wrangler when I was required to know the endgame before I put any words together.

I hope to have four or five titles released in 2021. I will resist the temptation to speculate on what they might be, because I most likely will have a different project calling before I get there.

Thanks to all who take the time and spend the money to read my books. I will try very hard to keep you entertained. Best wishes for a great 2021 to all of you.

Ron

The Long Walk Just Released

My latest novel is now on Amazon. My twentieth western/historical novel, The Long Walk, is based on the Kit Carson commanded Navajo war and eventual incarceration of the Navajos at the Bosque Redondo in New Mexico Territory in the 1860s. As my readers know, I often include non-traditional western protagonists in my books, and in this instance both the male and female main characters are physicians. I love to write historical fiction, although the research sometimes slows my progress on the story and tests my patience.

If you are not familiar with the Navajo Long Walk, this is the opportunity to read a nutshell version of what appears to be the most profound event in Navajo history. I found this book a special challenge to write, trying to stay true to the historical facts of the event while weaving in the occupations of my protagonists. Action and conflict were not problems. Much like Cut Nose, a Western Writers of America finalist for best historical western novel, truth was more bizarre than fiction. Readers will judge my success at adapting a mix of fictional and historical characters to this event in a way that makes the novel both entertaining and educational.

Some have asked if or when they will see another Blood Hounds book. I am just starting my work on the third book of this popular series and hope to have it ready for release late November of this year. Tentative title is Looking for Trouble. I usually choose a title before I write my first word of a novel. Since I do not outline a novel before I start writing, a title serves as a bit of a compass, I suppose. Sometimes, the compass sends me in a different direction, however, and the title gets changed after the book is finished. Back by popular demand will be teenager Maddie and her wolf-dog Pirate, as well as the cast of Pinkerton detectives.

Thanks to all readers for their interest and support.

Best wishes and good reading.

Ron

No Man's Land Released Today!

The second book of The Blood Hounds series, No Man’s Land, is now available to download on Amazon. Print editions should be available in a few weeks. The novels in this series do not need to be read sequentially, although the backstories of the characters in the first novel probably add some flavor to subsequent books.

Trace and Darby Crocket, as well as Audra Scott, are again featured in the sequel, but the readers will also meet an addition to the detective team. As the title implies, the Pinkerton crew will revisit No Man’s Land and an outlaw hideout in a place called Copperhead Canyon. Their mission: recover gold bullion taken during a train robbery that resulted in the murder of two fellow agents and find a girl abducted by the robbers.

Readers who enjoyed the first book of The Blood Hounds series should enjoy the second, which includes a bit more action and several interesting new characters.

My next project is a historical Western based upon the Navajo “long walk” of the 1860s. This novel has probably required more research than any I have done yet, but the reading has been totally captivating. This will be a standalone book and longer than most of my novels. It will be a challenge to take this on and produce a book that will both educate and entertain. I hope to have this completed for August release.

I also solicit your help. The Western market has experienced a huge influx of new writers, and the competition for readers is growing. Your reviews on Amazon (hopefully favorable) will help boost our sales. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Best wishes and good reading,

Ron

Spur Finalist Award

I am glad to be able to share some exciting news with readers and followers of my novels. Western Writers of America has recently announced winners and finalists for the 2020 Spur Awards sponsored by that organization, and my novel, CUT NOSE, has been declared a Spur Award Finalist for Best Western Historical Novel. I look forward to accepting formal presentation of the certificate at the WWA annual convention in Rapid City in June.

WWA is an organization of professional writers established in 1953 to promote fiction and non-fiction literature about the American West, and today boasts over 700 members. I have been a member for some years, but submissions are eligible for judging regardless of membership. If you are interested in more information about the organization or Spur Awards, you may go to the WWA website at https://westernwriters.org.

As many of you know, my latest novel, THE BLOOD HOUNDS, was released a few weeks ago in the Kindle edition on Amazon. Early sales and reviews have been positive, so we are optimistic about the book’s reception over the next several months. Trade paperback copies should be available the end of this month. I am currently working on the as yet untitled sequel to the novel, which we hope to have out the end of April.

Best wishes and good reading.

Ron

Just Released: The Blood Hounds

To start the new year, my publisher, Uplands Press (an imprint of Leafcutter Publishing Group, Inc.) has released the first novel of a new series. THE BLOOD HOUNDS is now available as an ebook on Amazon. As usual, print editions will be published a month or so later.

THE BLOOD HOUNDS features John Trace Crockett (Trace) and Darby Kathleen Maguire (Darby), detectives for Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency. The plot focuses on the search to determine the fate of a two-year-old girl kidnapped some 15 years earlier. The girl, Miranda Wheaton, disappeared after a botched money-hostage exchange. The search carries the reader from Kansas City to Manhattan, Kansas to Dodge City and finally to “No Man’s Land,” an area now comprising the Oklahoma panhandle.

Another novel in this series, presently untitled, is projected for release late April. The books will feature many of the same characters, but the storyline will be finished in each book, so a novel can easily be read out of sequence as an independent book.

I’m excited to introduce the Pinkertons to my writing menu. Women and people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds and ages were employed by the Pinkerton Agency from its beginning in 1850. Some unorthodox backgrounds were required to carry out clandestine and undercover missions. I try to write just a bit outside the traditional western stories, and the Pinkerton Agency has potentially a rich source of stories to mine. The agency was very involved in the western migration.

Also, currently on tap for 2020 is a novel I have been wanting to do for several years, THE LONG WALK, historical fiction based upon the removal of the Navajo people from their homeland during the Civil War years to the Bosque Redondo, a desolate area in southeastern New Mexico. I referenced this event in my recent ESCAPE FROM EL GATO, and I see my fictional writer friend, Tabitha Rivers, working on this book with me. There is a powerful story here, if I can capture it.

I also anticipate another book in the LAW WRANGLERS series later in the year, and I would like to squeeze in another visit to the Lockes. It may be time to introduce Thad Locke’s twin sister, Hannah, a Wyoming lawyer, who is estranged from her father, Myles. I am also constantly teased by the prospect of a sequel to Peacemaker Award winning GRIT, our bestselling standalone novel.

Thanks, once again, to all of you who buy and read my books. I always enjoy hearing from readers, and your interest has an impact in determining which books I write. Let me know at ron@ronschwabbooks.com if you have a favorite series you want to see a book from soon. I also am interested in hearing about obscure historical events (such as the 1862 Dakota War, triggering my novel CUT NOSE) that might inspire a book.

Best wishes and good reading.

Ron

Book 6 of The Law Wranglers Series Just Released!

My latest novel in the Law Wranglers series, Escape from El Gato, is now available on Amazon. This novel features Oliver Wolf (White Wolf) and Tabby Rivers and should tie up some loose ends from Adam's First Wife.

The author was probably guilty of leaving too much of a tease about the outcome of Tabby’s journey to the Navajo reservation at the conclusion of Adam's First Wife. I promise a conclusion with Escape from El Gato, although I cannot guarantee the reader will be happy with the ending. Of course, I want everyone to read the book to decide for themselves.

Those who have read earlier books in the series know that the Comanche tribe was featured in those plots. This time, the setting is moved westward to the land of the Apaches and Navajos. Fortunately, Jael Rivers (She Who Speaks) can converse with passable Apache, necessitating a role for one of my favorite characters.

I try to crank out at least four titles a year, and I have no shortage of potential projects on my list. I have started my next novel, tentatively titled The Blood Hounds, featuring male and female detectives for the famous Pinkerton Agency. Whether this becomes a series depends upon reader reception. I am just finishing the first chapter and am anxious to keep on writing to find out what happens (I don’t write from outline and let the story write itself).

Other projects for 2020 (the good Lord willing, as my father used to say) will likely include at least another Law Wranglers novel and possibly a Locke book. Sometime during the year, I hope to do a longer historical novel, The Long Walk, a tragic and fascinating story about the removal of the Navajos from their land in the 1860s. This will be a longer novel with some of the mood of Cut Nose, which was my best reviewed novel and a personal favorite.

Thanks so much for your interest in my novels.

Best wishes and good reading.

Ron

ADAM'S FIRST WIFE, BOOK 5 OF THE LAW WRANGLERS, NOW AVAILABLE!

I am pleased to announce that my latest novel, Adam’s First Wife, is now available to purchase on Amazon.com. This is Book 5 of the popular Law Wranglers series. The reader should find some suspense and action within a plot that has a few unusual twists. You will even learn about “Wulvers.” This novel features many of the Law Wranglers continuing characters with major roles for Oliver Wolf (White Wolf) and three Rivers siblings, Josh, Tabitha and Cal.

Adam’s First Wife will be followed by another Law Wranglers novel, Escape from El Gato, which I am currently working on. While Adam can be read as a standalone book, there are a few loose ends that I felt should be reconciled for loyal readers of the series before moving on to another project. As my readers know, many of my stories deal with conflict between the early settlers and Native Americans. This will be my first visit to the Apache wars. El Gato (Spanish for “The Cat”) is an Apache sub-chief, whom Tabitha Rivers will encounter on a journey to learn of her Navajo relatives.

My publisher, Leafcutter Publishing Group, Inc., anticipates release of Escape from El Gato under its Uplands Press imprint sometime during November of this year.

I try to write on a pace that will produce a minimum of four novels annually, so we should have another (title and subject undetermined) out early in 2020.

Thanks to all my readers for their interest in my novels. I try very hard not to let you down.

Best wishes and good reading.

Ron

GRIT Awarded Peacemaker Award

Last fall’s release of GRIT resulted in the highest sales since my publisher, Leafcutter Publishing Group, Inc., began publishing and selling my novels.  GRIT has since become the gift that keeps on giving.  On May 15 Western Fictioneers announced that GRIT was one of five finalists for the Peacemaker Award for Best Western Novel of 2018.  It was also gratifying that PEYOTE SPIRITS, my Law Wranglers novella, was selected as a finalist for Best Short Fiction.

On June 15 WF announced that GRIT was the Peacemaker Award winner for the best novel category.  This was exciting news for author and publisher, as well as for others involved in preparing the book for publication under the publisher’s Uplands Press imprint.

My historical western novel, CUT NOSE, was released late May and has been selling well, although not yet reaching GRIT’S benchmark figures.  This is my longest novel, and I consider it my best work, although some readers prefer more fiction and less history.  Initial reviews are very encouraging, however, and I hope I have struck a balance that will keep readers turning pages.

My next two novels will be a continuation of our popular Law Wranglers series.  The second book is still vegetating but I have a nice start on the first, tentatively titled ADAM’S FIRST WIFE.  I expect that book’s release the end of July or early August with the second to follow about two months later.

Thanks to all for your support and interest.

Best wishes and good reading.

Ron

NEW NOVEL, CUT NOSE, NOW AVAILABLE!

I’m pleased to let you know my latest novel, Cut Nose, is now available on Amazon.com. Most of my readers know that I enjoy salting my western novels with a fair amount of history. This book is nearer to a historical novel flavored with the Old West. The story is about the Dakota War of 1862, and the title character, Cut Nose, was a Sioux warrior and leader of the Soldiers Lodge that initiated an uprising that resulted in more white deaths than any Indian war in history. The end of the war found another record set that stands today-—the largest mass execution.

The violence in parts of the novel is a bit graphic, but I found myself toning it down some from the actual events. Many of the characters are historical figures, but the male and female protagonists, through whose eyes the story unfolds, grew from my imagination (aside from Cut Nose). As usual, the novel is spiced with romance and features women who refuse to be victims of their gender.

Consisting of nearly 85,000 words, Cut Nose is by far the longest novel I have written. It required more research than any, and I hope I have been able to work in the fictional characters in a way that does not distort history. I like to think readers will learn about a chapter in history that may be new to them. And, if it’s old stuff to you, perhaps, you will still enjoy the adventure. As you may have guessed, I am excited about this novel. Hopefully, the reader will be also.

I have already started my next novel, hoping for a mid-summer release. This will be a return to our commercially successful Law Wrangler series. Many of your series friends will have cameo roles here, but featured characters will be Danna Sinclair, Tabitha Rivers and Oliver Wolf (White Wolf). I take pride in writing “non-traditional” western novels and anticipate this one will fit in that category. The working title is Adam’s First Wife. Maybe that will pique your interest.

Thanks so much for your support of my work.

Best wishes and good reading,

Ron