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My thanks to True West Magazine

Posted by on Oct 25, 2014 in News | Comments Off on My thanks to True West Magazine

I just received my copy of the December 2014 issue of True West magazine, which includes — on page 58 — an author profile of yours truly and my recommendations for five books on conflict, greed, and corruption on the Western frontier. (I had not yet finished reading Larry Ball’s TOM HORN bio and would certainly have added that!)  The piece is the result of an entertaining — I know I was thoroughly entertained — and wide-ranging 90-minute interview conducted by True West’s Senior Editor Stuart Rosebrook. I was sorry that the conversation came to its inevitable end. But a hint of the result is in True West, the new issue with the unforgettably tattooed Olive Oatman on the cover.  I’d post the cover image, but not online yet.  Anyway, again I give my thanks to Stuart, Executive Editor Bob...

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Finally! Sent book proposal off to a publisher

Posted by on Oct 23, 2014 in June Robles kidnapping, News, Writing History | Comments Off on Finally! Sent book proposal off to a publisher

After five years with this project, The Mystery of the Iron Box, the story behind the 1934 ransom kidnapping of June Robles of Tucson, the book proposal is off to a university press for consideration. If all goes well, it will probably take about two years for publication, the academic hoops being what they are.  Now to turn to the next project, whatever that may be. Each presents hurdles… another 1934 kidnapping that involves copying 15,000 pages of FBI files (Yikes!)…. or a biography of New Mexico rustler king, John Kinney….. never tackled biography before, and have yet to come across much of what went on in Kinney’s mind.   Third option, trying to find a fresh take on the nemeses of Wyatt Earp, the Arizona Cow-Boys.  I’ve got an idea for that, but will it translate into a book-length...

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Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n Roll, by Allen J. Wiener

Posted by on Oct 4, 2014 in News, The Books That | Comments Off on Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n Roll, by Allen J. Wiener

Earlier this year, author Allen J. Wiener asked me to read his manuscript on Elvis Presley’s television career, and to provide a cover blurb if I liked the book.  I am neither an authority on Elvis nor on television history, but I said, “sure.” I was not only a fan of Elvis’s music, but, as a college disc jockey during the 60s and 70s, I played his music, even when his better songs of the period (e.g., the Jerry Reed penned songs U.S. Male and Guitar Man, 1967-68) missed the Top 40 and were considered particularly unfashionable in psychedelic San Francisco. I found Wiener’s book to be a very remarkable study. The blurb I submitted ran 340 words long because I could not stop gushing. Of course only a relatively few words made it to the cover blurb.  I let Allen...

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