Checking the books for 2015.

It’s the beginning of a new year, which is a good time for an accounting. All things considered, 2015 was a pretty good year for books with my name on the cover.

Rawhide Robinson Rides the Range won the Spur Award from Western Writers of America, which was quite an honor.

 In May, TwoDot/Globe Pequot/Rowman & Littlefield released The Lost Frontier: Momentous Moments in the Old West You May Have Missed. It’s a nonfiction book, a collection of events and people in Western history that are not well known.

 In November, Pen-L Publishing released The Death of Delgado and Other Stories. This one is fiction, a collection of short stories. Some are seeing print for the first time in the collection, most have appeared over the years in Western anthologies.

My publishing year ended December 16 with the release by Five Star of Rawhide Robinson Rides the Tabby Trail: The True Tale of a Wild West CATastrophe. This hardcover novel is the account of a trail drive—of a herd of cats—to Tombstone, Arizona, with a bunch of campfire tall tales woven into the story. Adults and young adults alike should get a grin out of it.

These books—and others I have written—can be ordered at your local bookstore or are available through online booksellers. ( Try amazon.com/author/rodmiller ) You’ll get the best deal on The Death of Delgado by ordering directly from Pen-L Publishing.  

Happy New Year, and may you spend it reading.

“Death” comes to life.

The Death of Delgado and Other Stories has come to life from Pen-L Publishing and is now available for your reading and browsing pleasure. This collection of short stories includes several published in a variety of anthologies over the years as well as some seeing print for the first time.

The title story won the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Western Short Fiction in 2012 and “A Border Affair” was a Finalist for that award in 2006. The stories range from traditional-type Westerns to those with a more historical bent to humor to mystery to flash fiction and some that don’t fit any category. All are set in the olden days of the American West save one modern-day story set at a rodeo and another that is a contemporary parody—or maybe satire.

Your best deal on the book will come directly from the publisher ( www.pen-l.com ) and it is available from online booksellers and by order from any bookstore.

Short stories are fun to write and enjoyable to read. In one sitting, you get a heaping helping of action, adventure, humor, or other tasty treat. I think you’ll like The Death of Delgado and Other Stories.

If not, let me know. If you do, tell everybody.

They’ve got me covered.

Pen-L Publishing has designed what I think is a damn good looking cover for my forthcoming collection of short stories. The title of the book is (as you can plainly see) The Death of Delgado and Other Stories.

“The Death of Delgado” won a Spur Award for Best Western Short Story in 2012. The “Other Stories” in the book include “A Border Affair,” which was a Finalist for the same award back in 2006. Most of the stories in the collection have appeared in various anthologies over the years; some are seeing print for the first time in this collection.

As was the case with my collection of poetry, Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems, (winner of the Westerners International Award for Best Poetry Book, by the way) the folks at Pen-L Publishing have been a pleasure to work with.

The Death of Delgado and Other Stories will be released in the not-too-distant future. We’ll keep you informed.

Meanwhile, that handsome cover should keep your anticipation simmering—at least it will for me. Don’t forget that Christmas is coming, and that books make the best gifts.

Goodnight Goes Riding off with an award.

Westerners International recently announced the winners of their annual awards honoring the best writing about the West by the nearly 5,000 members of the organization, from some 64 groups in the USA and 16 or so in other countries.

My collection of poetry from Pen-L Publishing, Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems, won the Fred Olds Western Poetry Award.

I am, as you might imagine, thrilled with the recognition and look forward to hanging the handsome plaque, featuring the Westerners’ “Old Joe” buffalo skull, on the wall.

You can own your very own copy of this award-winning book (one of its poems was also a Finalist for a Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Western Poem) by visiting www.pen-l.com, the usual online booksellers, or you can order it through your local bookstore.

The holiday gift-giving season is rapidly approaching (Christmas stuff is already showing up in stores!) so you might want to keep that in mind. Someone you love would love this book.