Dac Crossley's Western Blog

Talkin' with a Travelin' Man

Here's a conversation I shared with Bill Stroud, fellow writer and author of the notable mystery, Cassovara County. You can find Bill at stroudallover.blogspot.com

Bill Stroud and Dac Crossley were inmates together in Harriette Austins’ class on writing murder mysteries. Bill is a citizen of the world – Dac is a stay-at-home. Both enjoy writing fiction.

Dac: We met some real characters in that class, didn’t we? The ex-weatherman, ex-highway patrolman, a bunch of ex-teachers. And some people I won’t speak to, in line in the post office.

Bill: What I really enjoyed about the class was that it taught you to be helpfully critical and nonjudgmental. I got a lot of great feedback, much of which I incorporated in writing Cassavora County. Plus, there was the peer-pressure to keep writing so you could contribute to the weekly presentations. You just couldn't allow yourself to arrive in class empty handed. Plus Harriette's rules tested your skills and ingenuity. Remember? No overt sex. No nasty words. No animals killed or injured. Jeez, I had to reinvent my whole vocabulary.

Dac: I’ve gone the route of self-publication. I have three books in the corral and one in the chute. I’m happy to be self-published. I had an agent for a few months. Westerns are hard novels to sell in New York City (“This Davy Crockett, was he a real person?”).

Bill: I was fortunate not to have to go the self-publishing route. Serendipity dealt me a happy hand. After many unwarranted rejections by hopelessly inept agents and editors, I chanced to have coffee with another author, who suggested I contact his publisher. I sent samples, they replied with many happy words and assigned an editor. The result you can find on Amazon.

Dac: I’ve offered my novels as e-books but I’m ambivalent about it.

Bill: Would love to get Cassavora County as a Kindle/Nook version. It's the future of writing and publishing. Just think, if someone wants to read your books, they can get them RIGHT NOW! In today's ground swell of instant gratification, e-books are the ticket to improved sales.

Two questions that are always thrown at a writer are: How do you get your inspiration and do you write everyday? Dac, what are your answers to those?

Dac: I take long walks. I try to picture my characters in trouble, and ask myself, “What would they do?” Then it’s back to the computer and splay it all out. Yes, I do write every day. Sometimes not much, but I think you need to touch your story every day.

Bill: I agree with you totally. You have to know your characters, as well or better than you know anyone else in your life. Anyone who has read Escape from the Alamo, or Guns Across the Rio, or Return of the Texas Ranger you know those guys! Read one of your books and you can smell the raw sweat of the horses and see the stubble on your Ranger's chin. Best of all, you follow the writer's creed: Draw the reader into the plot and make him desperate to know more about the what's going to happen.

Bill: Another question. Why did you decide on the Western genre?

Dac: As you know, Bill, our writing class concerned itself with murder mysteries. Like others, I tried writing in a campus setting (killing off a college president). When I tested the Western waters, teacher said, “I think you’ve hit your genre.”

Bill: I'm not sure exactly why I happily loped into mysteries. Maybe it's because I enjoy a good story. I always say, no matter what you write, fiction or nonfiction, always remember you're telling a story. One thing for sure, I've tried writing in the first and the third person. The third person is definitely easier. You can attack the story from so many different facets. Sometimes in the first person, you're forced into some square corners and have resort to barely believable literary tricks to work in things your character really shouldn't be able to know.

Do you write at a special time each day?

Dac: Mornings for me! The creative juices run hot before noon.

Bill: Definitely mornings. By noon I'm thinking errands and planning supper.

Dac: Okay, Bill, when are you coming home?

Bill: I like to visit the U.S. every now and again, but I really enjoy living overseas. Two reasons. I love learning languages and being isolated from the churn of mainstream America, sharpens my sense of what America is and what America is like.

Dac: I’ll keep the latch string out.

Dac Crossley
June 29, 2012"Never think you've seen the last of anything." - Eudora Welty

Talking with William Doonan

This morning I’m having a conversation with fellow author William Doonan, who writes award-wining novels. Check him out! Good morning, Bill.

Good morning Dac. Thanks for letting me visit your blog. I’m a big fan of your novel Escape from the Alamo, so I’m honored that you would have me.

Archaeology has fascinated me since my mother gave me a copy of Ceram’s Gods, Graves and Scholars. Remember that one? What inspired you to take up archaeology?

Who could forget that book? Gods, Graves and Scholars has a place on any archaeologist’s bookshelf. I got interested in archaeology in junior high school. My seventh grade social studies teacher was an archaeologist, so we did some practice excavations, which were a lot of fun.

Then Indiana Jones came along. I was in high school then. I remember thinking that if real world archaeology was anything like it was in Raiders of the Lost Ark, then I wanted to be an archaeologist. As it turns out, it’s pretty much just like it is in the movie except with fewer Nazis and way more dirt.

What’s it like doing field archaeology in Peru? Sounds challenging.

Doing archaeology in Peru is an amazing adventure. I’ve spent years working in Central America, mostly Costa Rica and Honduras. I got a Ph.D. studying the ancient Maya. But working in Peru is an altogether different kind of beast. We were working up on the north coast where a culture called the Moche built mud-brick pyramids. Today, the pyramids are in ruins on a coastal desert. But because it’s a desert, we get great preservation - garments, food scraps, mummies. We could work another few decades there and still not begin to understand what was going on.

But it’s that project that gave me the idea for my archaeological mystery, American Caliphate. I figured there has to be more to history that most historians are aware of, and I wanted to explore that.

I see from your bio that you’re not only a college professor but an accomplished cruise ship lecturer as well. Is that how you got your character, Henry Grave, onto a cruise ship?

I started lecturing on cruise ships about twelve years ago. It’s been a blast. My wife and I pack up the boys and set off. We usually start in Venice or Athens and then go wherever the ships take us. I give talks about the history and archaeology of the places we sail to.

And you meet some fascinating people on board. One time I was sitting on deck eating french fries with my boys, and an old German fellow sat down next to us and started talking about being a soldier in World War II. I think I ate half the fries before it truly hit me that I was talking with a German World War II soldier. It was eye-opening.

So yes, I think spending a lot of time on cruise ships gave me an understanding of cruise ship culture, which gave me the idea for Henry Grave. People don’t pay a lot of attention to law enforcement on cruise ships, but it’s there. It’s in the background. Crimes do occur at sea, and jurisdiction can be dicey. So I wanted a special kind of protagonist to solve crimes at sea. Henry Grave is eighty-five. He fits right in. My first Henry Grave novel, Grave Passage, was published in 2009. Mediterranean Grave came out in 2011, and this June, Henry will be back at sea in Grave Indulgence.

Has the availability of e-books enhanced your work as an archaeologist? I mean the ability to carry reference volumes with you electronically, and search them almost instantly.

I think we’re still a little way off when it comes to research books. Typically we do the research legwork before leaving home, and then once we’re out in the field, we focus on the excavations, because they’re expensive and time consuming and fragile. Much of the analysis happens when the field season is over. But I think you’re right - it won’t be long before we can have a massive amount of reference material close at hand.

Any clues for the rest of us, about how to promote e-books?

I think we’re approaching a paradigm shift when it comes to selling e-books. We need a new funding model. Selling books feels nearly impossible, but on the other hand, giving them away is very easy. If we could figure out a way to fund the e-books, then we could offer them for free. I would love to make a lot of money from my writing, but that’s not why I write. I write the books so that people will want to read them. And if I can give a book away to someone who will enjoy it, then I’m happy. If we could auction off the back cover, or do some product placements, or somehow figure out another way to generate revenue, I think we’d be moving in the right direction.

Barring that, we have to do things the old-fashioned way - telling people about the book and hoping they’ll give it a shot. So here’s a blurb about American Caliphate in hopes that your readers will give it a shot:


Archaeologists Jila Wells and Ben Juarez are not thrilled at the prospect of returning to Peru; the ambush that nearly cost Jila her life still haunts her. But the ruined pyramids at Santiago de Paz hide an important document that would shock the Islamic world. Professor Sandy Beckham is assembling a distinguished team to dig quickly through the pyramid complex, following clues found in the diary of a wealthy Muslim woman who lived in Spain five centuries ago.

In the diary are details of an illegal expedition to Spanish Peru in three well-armed ships. Convinced that Spain was forever lost to Islam, Diego Ibanez intended to bring the word of Allah to the pagan Americans. Landing on Peru’s north coast, he learned that the fires of the Inquisition burned even hotter there than they did in Spain.

As the archaeologists brace for the ravaging storms of El Niño, Jila and Ben hurry to complete their excavations. But they’re not the only ones interested in this project. Other forces are determined that the document remain hidden. Should it be discovered, a challenge could be made under Islamic testamentary law to the throne of Saudi Arabia. And the House of Saud has no interest in sharing power with an American caliphate that might now awaken from a five hundred year slumber.

If you get a chance, have a look at the book. It’s available now at some of the larger archaeology-themed bookstores near you, and on Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/American-Caliphate-William-Doonan/dp/1610090438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333558968&sr=8-1

For more reading, I also blog about undead conquistador mummies at www.themummiesofblogspace9.com

William Doonan
www.williamdoonan.com
www.williamdoonan.wordpress.com
@doonan1

Thanks for the chat, Bill.

Typewriter as Touchstone

Chatting with a friend of a certain age, about old memories and old technologies – I realized that mechanical typewriters mark a noteworthy divide between generations.

I’m not talking about those IBM electrics with power features, although they, too, have yielded the field to word-processors. I mean those old-fashioned typewriters with a manual carriage return. You had to bang on the keys. Not like that soft touch you need on computer keyboards or iPad screens.

Do you have a mechanical typewriter tucked away, one on which you pecked out reports, letters, maybe a story or two? I have a Royal Mercury portable stashed away in the attic. Mother wrote her MA thesis on it.

My favorite typewriter was an old Underwood with a square frame, now long gone. It displayed the margin and tab sets right in front of your face. The previous owner had glued rubber pads to the keys. The names of the keys didn’t show but no matter, we were all touch typists.

Changing the ribbon was a necessary chore. No cartridge as in the IBM electrics. Mechanical typewriters had an inked cloth strip that ran between two spools and advanced as you typed. When it hit the end of the spool, the ribbon reversed. So, back and forth, until the result became too dim to read. Replacing that ribbon meant ink on your fingers, and considerable frustration in trying to thread it through the various loops and holders. Even worse than replacing a toner cartridge. Remember?

Nevertheless, I banged out my PhD dissertation on the good old Underwood, typing on yellow second sheets. The type faces were worn and some were slanted. That didn’t matter. I hired a pro typist for a final draft. She produced an original and four carbon copies.

Hey, whatever happened to carbon paper???

Dac Crossley
June 14, 2012

“You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.” – Bob Hope.

We're in Good Hands Now

This past week I returned to the University of Georgia campus to listen to two students present the results of their research. Both worked in streams, one in Georgia and the other in Costa Rica. The details I heard explained, their competence, their level of intensity, all give me hope for our planet. Those two young scientists know what they are doing, and they bring some powerful tools to bear in the protection of our water resources in challenged environments.

Of course they used sophisticated statistical models to tease apart their data. And both of their presentations were superbly illustrated, by means of modern-day technology: PowerPoint. And off I sailed on the sea of nostalgia, whiffed along by memories tugging at my sails.

We old timers stored our data on punch cards. Remember those? The ones that came in the mail? “Do not fold, staple or mutilate.” The computer programs were punched into a deck of cards, too. It all went into the hopper. Wait for a day and back it all came – “ERROR 52.” Try it again.

Remember your first home computer? Was it a Radio Shack (a “trash-80”) or a Commodore (“Commode”)? What did they call those Apple II jobbies? I don’t remember. Best used for playing games, unless you took the trouble to learn some exotic programming language. Like BASIC. That’s no longer necessary; it’s all done for you.

At least one ecological technique has gone by the wayside – radioactive tracers. During the presentations I could see where radioactive P-32 or Ca-45 could have lent some insight into the interpretation of their results. What’s happened? An underlying fear of radioactivity? Lack of familiarity with tracer methods? No training on the detection equipment?

The world turns, life flows, science gets stronger. Our environments are under siege. Young scientists give me hope.

Dac Crossley
June 3, 2012

“To know something is not as good as loving it; to love something is not as good as rejoicing in it.” - Confucius