What is the best Western ever written? For my money, that’s an easy one: Shane, by Jack Schaeffer. (I know the movie is also considered to be a great classic, but to me, Alan Ladd just doesn't match up to the hero described in the book.)
This quintessential tale of good-versus-evil is also one of the shortest. My copy has only 119 pages, making it pocket-portable, and the ideal summer read.
What's so great about it?
Friday, June 21, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
FREE EBOOK TODAY! (6/20)
Get your free Kindle ebook version of WADE BOSS: HYBRID HUNTER at Amazon – HERE! The ultimate summer read – YA literature at its best! Adventure, high-octane thrills, plots twists, genetically engineered hybrid monsters, and even romance! For guys AND gals – true FAMILY entertainment!
(Is it “shameless self-promotion” if I don’t feel shame?)
(Is it “shameless self-promotion” if I don’t feel shame?)
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
WADE BOSS PRIMER
Dangerous New World. Old-Fashioned Hero.
That’s the tag-line on the back cover of Wade Boss: Hybrid Hunter, and it’s the controlling image for the story. Wade Boss is the kind of action hero I loved reading about when I was a young man: brave and capable, but also good-hearted, with a sense of humor. He’s an animal trainer who works in Hollywood, but he comes from Texas, and he’s cut from the cloth of the American cowboy.
When the story opens, Wade gets a call from the LAPD to help capture an escaped tiger that has made its way into an old lady’s garage. Except that when Wade finally corners the animal, it turns out not to be a tiger, but a half-tiger hybrid monster. By the skin of his teeth Wade captures the creature alive, and this puts him on the radar of a covert, government hybrid-hunting agency.
Wade soon learns that this hybrid phenomenon is a growing problem, unbeknownst to the general public. Each hybrid is unique, and no one knows who is creating them – or setting them loose. Wade discovers that he has a special talent for catching the creatures, but his moonlighting as a hybrid hunter quickly throws his orderly life into disarray. He keeps trying to back out of the whole crazy business, but his highly-tuned conscience won’t let him rest as long as innocent lives are in danger.
During my days as a middle and high school English teacher, parents would express to me how difficult it was to find decent new material for their teenagers to read. And by “decent” they didn’t just mean well-written, they meant optimistic, uplifting, wholesome – not obsessed with darkness. Wade Boss: Hybrid Hunter is my answer to that lament. It’s principally an action-adventure story, but with a lot of subtlety and humor layered in – and even some (clean) romance!
That’s the tag-line on the back cover of Wade Boss: Hybrid Hunter, and it’s the controlling image for the story. Wade Boss is the kind of action hero I loved reading about when I was a young man: brave and capable, but also good-hearted, with a sense of humor. He’s an animal trainer who works in Hollywood, but he comes from Texas, and he’s cut from the cloth of the American cowboy.
When the story opens, Wade gets a call from the LAPD to help capture an escaped tiger that has made its way into an old lady’s garage. Except that when Wade finally corners the animal, it turns out not to be a tiger, but a half-tiger hybrid monster. By the skin of his teeth Wade captures the creature alive, and this puts him on the radar of a covert, government hybrid-hunting agency.
Wade soon learns that this hybrid phenomenon is a growing problem, unbeknownst to the general public. Each hybrid is unique, and no one knows who is creating them – or setting them loose. Wade discovers that he has a special talent for catching the creatures, but his moonlighting as a hybrid hunter quickly throws his orderly life into disarray. He keeps trying to back out of the whole crazy business, but his highly-tuned conscience won’t let him rest as long as innocent lives are in danger.
During my days as a middle and high school English teacher, parents would express to me how difficult it was to find decent new material for their teenagers to read. And by “decent” they didn’t just mean well-written, they meant optimistic, uplifting, wholesome – not obsessed with darkness. Wade Boss: Hybrid Hunter is my answer to that lament. It’s principally an action-adventure story, but with a lot of subtlety and humor layered in – and even some (clean) romance!
Monday, June 17, 2013
MORE THAN ‘RELATABLE’
It’s one thing to be ‘relatable’, but the job of the Storyteller is not merely to meet a reader where he’s at – especially if he happens to be stuck in a miserable place.
The Storyteller has the high calling of leading a reader by the hand to a metaphorical place where he can find HOPE – that is, insight that can be applied in practical ways. Insight that can withstand the rigors of the real world.
This is where most entertainment these days fails. It takes your hand in the darkness, wanders around with you in circles, and finally lets go of your hand – leaving you still wandering in the darkness.
The Storyteller has the high calling of leading a reader by the hand to a metaphorical place where he can find HOPE – that is, insight that can be applied in practical ways. Insight that can withstand the rigors of the real world.
This is where most entertainment these days fails. It takes your hand in the darkness, wanders around with you in circles, and finally lets go of your hand – leaving you still wandering in the darkness.
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