I am privileged
to be the newest member of a group on Face Book named appropriately, GREAT
INDIE AUTHORS. They were planning the
sales strategy for an upcoming summer sale when I joined the group. They have invited me to participate. The event begins July 11th and
runs through the 15th.
Books by Charity Parkerson, Calinda B, Scott Mallory,
Faith Helen Mortimer, Regina Puckett, Dave Leadbeater, Natalie G. Owens, Robert
Hatting, Zoe Saadia, Scott Moon - many of these authors are Best Selling
Authors! All of these authors are Great Indie Authors.
UNTAMED, my contemporary western action adventure novel
has been discounted to 99 cents for inclusion in this event.
The year -- 1973 -- The Vietnam War rages
on, Nixon is still in office and two modern cowboys approach life the ‘old
fashioned way’. One partner is hiding out – wanted by the government, and the
other cowboy works for an unscrupulous rancher. All manners of peril brace
these two ‘head on’ characters. They discover that riding, roping, and shooting
their way through life doesn’t always work in the modern world. Their women
aren’t impressed, either.
A full length Action adventure novel. 80,000 short words and one long one…wheelbarrow!
A full length Action adventure novel. 80,000 short words and one long one…wheelbarrow!
UNTAMED --
BACK STORY
Curtis
Dawson and RC Bellars were created in my novel, PARTNERS back in 1981. They remained true-to-form in the second
writing of PARTNERS (partners 2.0) and also into the screenplay, PARTNERS. The script was optioned but the movie was
never made so the script rights were returned.
Several years later a producer of some merit wanted me to write five (5)
screenplays for a mini-series on HBO; all on Spec, of course… Negotiations
lasted almost a year. In that time frame
I began sketching shorts of some of the experiences, Rick and I had either been
directly involved in or had witnessed firsthand. The stories seemed to grow in my mind and I
was almost finished with the first screenplay before the negotiations were
complete.
I finally condescended
when the producer sent me a check for ten grand; once he approved one, he would
send me ten thousand for each following script; for a total of $50,000.
I wrote two
prequels to the Partners screenplay. NO
WAY & UP NORTH. I then spent some
time rewriting PARTNERS so the three scripts would fit together smoothly. Then I wrote TRUST ME. All of these screenplays were stand-alone
movies; two hours in length. I sent this
guy the two prequels and he was supposed to send me another ten grand. That didn’t happen but I kept writing
anyway.
At no time
in all of this non-communication had I signed over any rights. The end of the
story? NOTHING! Never a peep or a centavo mas. So, I had four
screenplays with no buyer. I turned the
internet and the mail service black with submissions to producers and
directors. After a couple of years of
this lame nonsense, I discovered e-books. I posted the screenplays on line and
sold a few…the format is entirely wrong for the Kindle and Nook. I
decided to write the screenplays into novels.
That was the case with NO WAY and UP NORTH. Combined they became the outline for UNTAMED.
All the incidents in the screenplays were based on experiences my riding
partner, Rick, and I had back in our earlier years. The 1970’s and early 1980’s seem a long way
back in history for some of the younger generation. For Rick and me this was
the last of the truly ‘OLD WEST’ experiences.
The RIDE, ROPE & SHOOT, was leaving the west; we were the ones
waving goodbye. That mentality and value set may be depicted in novels or movies
but in real life; it’s gone. It was a
fun time in our lives and I really enjoyed writing the scripts and later the
novel. I’ve yet to turn TRUST ME into a
novel. Perhaps I’ll start that conversion soon.
UNTAMED has
received 5 star reviews from those who have discovered the novel.
http://greatindieauthorbooks.com/ Check it out and get involved.
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