Holy cow, a semi-retired guy isn’t supposed to be this busy…is he? I’ll soon be evaluating a manuscript for a Buddhist monk (a novel!), and doing a re-read of a 176,000-word epic fantasy novel. I’m writing a new ending for my fourth and final Ro-lan novel (more on that in an upcoming post), and getting ready to release a never-before-published thriller (definitely more on that). And in my spare time? Well, here is this week’s post.

Earlier this year I received a gift from my cover artist and good friend in Cool, California (seriously), Karen Phillips—a used copy of a Louis L’Amour novel titled, The Haunted Mesa. Seems Karen had picked it up at a thrift shop and, as she wrote, “…everything about it reminded me of you and your stories.” She even wondered if L’Amour and I were soul brothers. Considering that the guy published well over a hundred novels and sold gazillions of copies, I take that as high praise.

As a kid I had read many of L’Amour’s westerns, but to be honest, it had been many decades since I’d read anything in that genre. Still, Louis L’Amour is a household name to anyone who reads, or writes, for that matter. I even used him as a model for one of my characters, crusty western writer Jack Redmond, in my ghost story, Fire Dance. But The Haunted Mesa, published in 1987—a year before L’Amour’s death—is not a typical western in the Roy Rogers/Lone Ranger mold, despite its setting in the Four Corners area of the Southwest. I’ve seen it categorized as Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction, Science Fiction, even Weird West. Definitely worth a look on my part, especially since the story’s main focus was on the Anasazi, the remarkable Native American culture of cliff dwellers that inexplicably disappeared many hundreds of years ago.

Quick summary: main protagonist Mike Raglan, renowned debunker of paranormal phenomena, is summoned by his friend, Erik Hokart, a wealthy eccentric who is building a house atop a creepy mesa in the Four Corners area. Something is wrong, Erik writes. When Mike arrives, he finds that Erik has disappeared. In reading Erik’s journal, Mike learns that Erik discovered a “window” between the Third and Fourth Worlds. (According to Hopi legend, the Anasazi came to this, the present-day Fourth World, from the evil Third World, but many of them returned when the window reopened.) The beautiful Indian girl, Kawasi, who delivered the journal to Mike, is from the Third World, she tells him. Her people are the peaceful cliff dwellers, but the Third World is still ruled by evil in the form of The Hand and The Voice. (Talk to The Hand? Sorry…) They also have “agents” in this world, some of whom attempt to stop Mike from his ultimate goal of entering the Third World and rescuing Erik.

Louis L’Amour

The concept is fascinating, the details interesting, and the setting can’t be beat—I love this part of the country. The last 100 pages rock as Mike enters the Third World. But, to paraphrase more than one reviewer, it takes L’Amour over 250 pages to have his character talk about and internalize what he’s going to do to save his friend, and 100 pages to SHOW him doing it. These were my sentiments exactly—before I read any of the old reviews. I always have my editor’s hat on (a curse, sometimes), and I thought there was way too much exposition. Karen Phillips, in addition to doing my covers, is also one of my writers, and in her accompanying note she said, “It’s a good read, although repetitive, and he sure could have used you as his editor!” Guess I taught her well about unnecessary exposition.

Still, The Haunted Mesa is an entertaining and interesting read, written by a master storyteller. And remember, you can always skim past the heavy exposition. (I learned that trick reading Tom Clancy.)

CONGRATULATIONS!

August McLaughlin

I always enjoy sharing success stories from my writers, and this one is especially gratifying, since that writer is also a great friend. August McLaughlin’s psychological thriller, In Her Shadow, was named a finalist in the 2013 National Indie Excellence Awards competition.

In notifying August their president and CEO wrote: “Never in the history of our contest have we had such a difficult time arriving at the choices for Winners and Finalists in each category. Not only did we receive an unprecedented number of entries, but the quality and sophistication of the books submitted were at a whole new level of excellence. You are awesome! In addition to awarding you this honor, we want to thank you for demonstrating what’s possible in the world of self-publishing.”

Way to go, GOTB!