Review of "A Lone Star Christmas"

Hello my Fellow Western Readers: Though I finished this book back in January I just got done giving a review for it. The title is "A Lone Star Christmas," by William W Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone. I tried to finish it for christmas but didn't quite make it. "A Lone Star Christmas" By, William and J.A. Johnstone What can I say about this book? Well, for one, I've been wanting to read a William W. Johnstone inspired book for quite some time and this looked like a perfect jumping on point. One of the reasons was that this book brought together several characters from a couple of ongoing series by Johnstone that would give a little intro to them; Duff McCallister and Smoke and Matt Jensen. The story begins in 1890 Texas where Rebecca Conyers is returning by train to her father's farm, Live Oaks Ranch, from a two week visit to her aunt. On the train she meets Tom Whitman, a mysterious, but friendly, traveler from Boston. He is looking for work wherever he can find it and Rebecca tells him that her father, Big Jim Conyers, might hire him as a ranch hand. As luck would have it the mysterious stranger can handle a horse so he is hired. The story moves on to the reality that Long-Horn Cattle, which are raised at Live Oaks, are dropping badly in value and it looks like Big Jim might barely make expenses for that season at around four dollars a head. His cattle broker then informs him he should turn to the newer breed of Black Angus cattle as they are going for nearly twenty dollars a head. He decides, reluctantly that it's the way to go to save his livelihood So his broker contacts (by telegraph) Duff McCallister who is raising lots of Black Angus cattle. They order 2,500 head and want them by Christmas. McCallister calls on the Jensens who provide some of the cattle themselves. See how nice and tidy all these characters from different series are brought into the story?!? Anyway, that's when the adventure begins. Rebecca runs away and works with another ranch to drive cattle to Dodge City to be with her mom after fighting with Tim as to why he won't warm up to her. Like I said, he has secrets but you'll have to read the book to find out what they are. Meanwhile, the cattle are moved by train for part of the journey to be driven from Dodge City to their new home in Texas. The trip is not that smooth as they have to deal with train robbers, cattle rustlers, increasingly inclement weather, and even Indians! There's even a Christmas miracle along the way after Big Jim's Cattlemen meet McCallister's group to help drive the large herd back to Texas. Trust me when I say there is lots of well-paced action and drama in this tale of the "Old West." I really liked this book. It was exciting, well written, and the story moved along in a logical manner. the characters were well defined and likeable. All-In-All I'd say this is a good Christmas read if you're hankerin' to take a ride down the ole' dusty trail. As usual, Have a Great Day!!! The "Creature"

"The Bone Wars"

Hello Fellow Range Riders:
Yee-Ha!!! I placed my first Comic script to an anthology of true-life comic stories. The book is to be between 48-54 pages and printed in a nice Hardback edition later this year. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I've loved comics all my life (and still do for that matter) and have always wanted to write a comic book. Well, back in September of last year I was offered the chance to submit something and it was suggested that with my love of all things Paleontological that maybe the "Bone Wars" of the 1870's-1890's might be the ticket. So I accepted the challenge.
The "Bone Wars" is pure "Wild West" action if there ever was any. It concerned the rivalry between two Paleontologists; Othniel C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, and their ongoing feud and subsequent race to find and name the most dinosaurs. These two would stop at nothing to ridicule each other, claim jump, and even resort to rustling and demolition in surely what had to be one of the greatest stories of rivalry to come out of the latter part of the nineteenth century.
While researching this project I was amazed at some of the antics these guys resorted to in order to stake their claim in the field of Paleontology. At the time the finding and naming of Dinosaurs was relatively new, the term "Dinosaur" itself only having been coined in 1942, a mere 27 years before the beginning of the feud. At the time there was only around a dozen Dinosaurs named, and most of them were only from pieces of dinos. After the twenty some-odd year feud between Marsh and Cope an additional 130 species would be named between the two men.
It was hard to come up with the best things to write about (I only had six pages to work with) but in the end I tyhink I did a respectable job of handling "The Bone Wars." Luckily, my editor thought I did to and accepted the story and said that she loved it and that it required little editing. I was happy about that seeing as how it was my first comic script.
A few days ago I was sent a scan of a couple of the pages and I thought they were great. I can't wait to see the rest. I'm not sure when it will be released this year but when it is I'll let you know. Now it's off to write my first "Western" short story, "Gun Shy."
Have a Great Day and I'll se you on the Dusty Trail!!!
John (aka, The "Critter")