I write western novels and short stories, along with non-fiction outdoor articles. As a life-time westerner, from a pioneering ancestry, I’ve got a pretty good idea what the West is all about. I’ve been a working cowboy, horsepacker, rodeo rider, and hunting guide. My adventures have led me to several years in the Alaska bush where life today remains much the same as in the 1800’s West. I’ve worked outfits in Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. At varying times I have called Oregon, Colorado, California, and Nevada home. We finally decided to put down roots in Washington because the outdoor activities are endless.
As a western story teller I draw on my personal experience to relate to the reader the realism of how a horse moves and behaves, or how a bronc feels when he bucks. I know what the wind sounds like in the aspens or how the high desert smells and feels. What a .44 feels like when it’s fired, or the weight of it on my hip. I know what western men and women are really like, how they think and what makes them tick. For instance, western women were and are strong and capable, you won’t find weak female characters in my stories.
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| Tombstone, Arizona |
I have walked the boardwalks of Virginia City and Tombstone. Stood on the tracks running through Dodge City where the original town stood.
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| St. James Hotel, Cimarron, NM |
I’ve sat in the lobby of the St. James Hotel, in Cimarron, and examined the bullet holes put in the bar ceiling by Clay Allison.
I’ve rounded up horses at Fort Laramie where Cavalry patrols once rode, and listened to the wind on Massacre Hill at the Little Big Horn. These are just a few of the places, there have been many more. On top of this I never stop researching and studying the era. Is all this important? Absolutely, if one intends to be a believable western story teller.
I have had over 400 works published, (I kind of lost track after that). I presently have eight western novels out, plus three other western related books. 50 short stories published in a variety of publications, eight have garnered Reader’s Choice Awards. A short story collection Bronc Buster – Short Stories of the American West won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction. My short stories have been included in 15 anthologies including the first two issues of La Frontera’s “The American West” series.
My four novels of The Poudre Canyon Saga series (there will be five) beginning with Where Free Men Gather has proven to be very popular. I recently signed on with 5 Star with the first novel Jury of Six due out the first of 2014. My second novel with them is in my editor’s queue.
Now available at Amazon for $3.99 in digital edition and $14.99 in print.
Claude LeSueur hurled his final insult in the face of Jean Pelletier igniting the young trapper's white hot temper. A flash of fury and a naked blade left the son of wealthy fur merchant Maurice LeSueur gasping out his last breath on the banks of the St. Lawrence. Jean, together with his brother Andre, flee Canada and the hangman's gallows, while behind them follow two murderous river pirates, Joseph Quesnel and his silent partner known only as 'the wolverine.'
Over on the funny side of the coin are the Jack and Cleve stories set on their Winnemucca Plenty o’ Rocks ranch. This a collection of stories about the misadventures of two contemporary ranchers, and their assortment of neighbors and pals, all based on people I have worked with, known, and tried not to know in my own adventures. All this is featured in The Auction Horse published by Western Trail Blazer.
Available in ebook for 99 cents each and both volumes in one print paperback for $8.95 at Amazon and other online book retailers.
I also spent several years as a cowboy poet and humorist performing on stages throughout the west. As a result there is a collection of cowboy poetry They Still Do That along with an accompanying CD. A second CD, Snake Bit is a collection of humorous ballad poems set to sound and music.
My novels, books, and CD’s, plus a lot of other interesting things, can be found on my website www.davepfisher.com
Leave a comment for a chance to win a free ebook of The Auction Horse and be introduced to Jack and Cleve ~ as well as Dave's western sense of humor ~
Dave,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to meet you. I've been to Virginia City and Tombstone. Interesting towns to explore. I also enjoyed visiting the mining town Bodie, California.
Looks like you've been busy writing! You have quite few published works. I wish you the best of luck and congratulations on your upcoming book for 2014. :)
Thanks Karen. We used to live in Reno and Virginia City was just up the hill from us. I used to spend a lot of time up there learning the inside out of the history. So much history took place in this country between 1800 and 1900 that a person would be hard pressed to see it all, but I'd sure like to.
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You are an interesting man, Dave Fisher, and love the "Plenty o' Rocks" idea. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'm so interesting, but my life has had some pretty interesting events in it. Anyone who has ever tried to sink a post hole in Nevada knows there are plenty of rocks. It just seemed appropriate.
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Dave--well, I hardly know where to begin. First, I'm very pleased to meet you. I read Westerns for a couple of years when I took early retirement in 1991..why, I don't know. My grandfahter on my mother's side read one Western after the other, or so I thought, until I was almost grown and realized he was drunk most of the time and held the paperback book upside down most of the time. Still, I knew he loved Westerns...this was in the 50s--but as he grew older and sicker, he really wasn't reading. He just held on to that Western paperback as though it were a lifeline..or that's how I perceive it now.
ReplyDeleteAfter Westerns, I read science fiction for a year or more, and grew tired of those. Then I discovered Western romance, and my life and reading habits changed. I learned to write Western historical romance, and I'm still doing it.
I adore good western movies, but there just aren't many anymore. Open Range was wonderful.
I am dutifully impressed with the number of stories you have written, and all the places you've been. Thanks for the entertaining post, and you are welcome anytime.
Thanks Celia. There are westerns and then there are westerns. Many western writers follow a Hollywood format, I read those and shake my head. They are so inaccurate as to the real west. I strive to write apart from formulas, yes there are so many plots you can use in any genre, but a good writer can still make them different, historical, and entertaining.
DeleteGood western movies are hard to come by. There are a lot out there, but unrealistic. Yes, Open Range is the best to come along in a good while. I have the DVD and have it about worn out. I'm a Robert Duval fan anyway. The remake of True Grit is excellent, Bridges and Damon really nailed the roles. I like John Wayne, but I didn't like the original True Grit. Lonesome Dove is good, as is the remake of The Virginia with Bill Pullman. My favorite "old" movie is still High Noon.
Good luck on your writing. Dave
Dave--we have one thing in common, and that's our opinion of the re-make of True Grit. I didn't like the original, because....gulp....I'm not a John Wayne fan. After watching this new version, I wrote a review on my blog about why it was so good, and mentioned just what I said to you now. I opened a can of worms! There were three categories of comments: those who thought I commited a crime by not loving John Wayne and the origial TG; those who loved the new version and agreed with me; and those who loved the first version and JW, but because of my review--complete with photos--several said they would now see the movie.
DeleteRobert Duval--for a long while, I had a 5x7 photograph of him in costume for Lonesome Dove propped on my desk. Here in San Marcos, the Alkek university library has a permanent display of Lonesome Dove--that's where I got the photo. I've always been a little in love with Robert Duval.
It always amazes me how people get carried away with their opinions, like the ones who attack you because you said something different from what they think. All of us have different likes and dislikes and that's how it should be or we'd be a bunch of clones with one person telling us what to think.
DeleteI also like the "Sacketts" with Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck. Dave
As a thank you for their very special comments, Dave and I will be presenting Karen, Celia, and Miss Mae with a digital copy of The Auction Horse.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for participating.