The story, in flashback form, has ÒBooger RedÓ telling his wife and daughter, Annabelle, of the holes in his past, as they read the journal he has kept secret for many years.

Starting with his earliest memories, of losing his parents and being out on his own at fourteen, Red finds work as a cowboy. Drifting through good luck and bad, from hard times to windfalls, he finally reaches the peak of happiness at his marriage to his true love; only to lose everything within a year. Consumed with hatred, he goes to war, searching for the man who caused his grief.

He returns home wearing another manÕs name, and in trouble with the law. He tries to start a new life, but again and again, his past calls him away; until he and his adversary finally meet.

Unknown to Red, the outcome of this ÔmeetingÕ is witnessed by Annabelle. When Red realizes what has happened, he tells her that he will do whatever she decides after reading the journal; whether to call the police and have him arrested; whether he should leave home forever, or if she can accept what he has done so they can go on with their lives.

This book is pure fiction. Is was to be nothing more than a method the author used to take up his time while recuperating from a heart attack. As time went on, however, the author found he enjoyed the writing of the book, and, not wanting to trash it, decided to have it published. It incorporates his experience as a Merchant Marine Captain on Lake Superior, his joy in playing poker in Vegas and an adventurous lifestyle. Growing up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was a unique experience, and having been the only person alive born in Seney, Michigan (pop. 125 or thereabouts!), allowed him to speak with experience about the area. The book covers 60 years, ending with a suggestion of how to get rid of all the terrorists in the world. Fiction? Yes! Possible? You be the judge!

How could a jury believe that Jack Marion would have murdered his best friend? Jack had spent practically his whole life looking after John Cameron, despite the fact he was about three years older than John. They were born neighbors on farms in southern Iowa, and their families moved to the same area in northeast Kansas at the same time, just prior to the Civil War. They grew up together, played together and shared their families hardships and heartaches together. They were like brothers.

They received little schooling and Jack, though quite intelligent, was illiterate. He could write his name but that was about all. Could this jury wrongfully convict Jack on circumstantial evidence and sentence him to hang, because he was poor and illiterate, just to satisfy a town's lust for blood and vengeance?

Half A Man is a true story about 12 year-old Lindley's struggles to be accepted as a real man. It deals with the Federal Government's Foreclosure on unpaid loans made to New Mexico cattle ranchers to increase their meat production for soldiers in World War I. When the war ended, prices dropped and ranchers in the remote north western part of new Mexico who had no market for their beef, defaulted on their loans. David Stiles, Lindley's father, was persuaded to undertake the task of gathering steers to pay the government debts and drive them to the nearest railhead, Grants, New Mexico. Dave Stiles, veteran of many cattle drives in his youth, stipulated one request if he was to undertake the unpleasant job of foreclosing on his neighbor's cattle, namely, that his 12 year old son would be hired on for the effort.

Buford Threlkedld, the Washington agent in charge reluctantly agreed that the boy could be put on the payroll, but shown as half a man, at half pay.

Called, "kid" and "the boss's baby" and other belittlling names by Firpo, one of the cowboys on the crew, and assigned by his father, the boss, to such kid jobs" as tending the fire for the branding, helping the cook, getting up early to drive in the remuda of mounts for the crew, and driving the tail-ender drags of the herd, the boy sought ways to prove he was a real hand. His success was like a roller-coaster-like a boy one day; like a man on another. Down day came with his going to sleep and losing steers who hid in the brush and getting fired by the by the boss, being assigned to watch the horses while others drove the steers across the Chaco, doing a "girl's work" when helping the cook; openly crying when Tex's beautiful horse, Copper was lost to the quicksands, and getting tripped with his food plate by his enemy, Firpo, as well as his failure to eat rattlesnake meat, considered a test for being a cowboy. Highlights of his success were: being the boss of two other grown cowboys sent to gather the Macklin steers and exposing an attempt to hide animals to keep them from being taken, doing well on the old bay mare while crossing the Bisti, being asked by the boss to introduce the beautiful Frances to all the other hands, and finally being able to rescue Firpo when his hose fell with him during the stampede.

Readers of Western Books will find action on every page. The descriptions of the round-up, and cattle drive will be applauded by the experts and enlightening to all who are unfamiliar with the details of organizing and executing a drive of 1500 steers to market. The description of how a small town, Grants, welcomed the coming of the cattle as a time to celebrate. "Half A Man is a jewel that should not be missed, I simply couldn't put it down", wrote the popular critic, Marc Simmons of the first printing.

The Black Diamondback, is an offbeat western about a Black cowboy, Sammy, a runaway slave who heads for the freedom of the open west to begin a new life for himself... He discovers that he is not accepted by the whites and because he is mistreated he becomes embittered and finally turns to crime... He makes a name for himself as a fast draw with a gun... There is a grim irony to this tale, for Sam - renamed Diamondback - meets up with the son of his former master and challenges him to a draw... Sammy loses, and this ends a sordid, painful career of a man who could never find a place for himself in the white world... It is a fast-paced tale with believable characterization and a solid plot...

John Cameron was going home for the first time in nineteen years, but his homecoming would be far from what he was anticipating. He couldn't wait to tell his best friend, Jack Marion, about his trip to Alaska, and what he found there. His exuberance turned to shock, when he learned that Jack had been hung, for murdering him. How could somebody get Jack convicted for murdering his best friend.

They were born, neighbors, on farms, in southern Iowa, and their families moved to the same area in northeast Kansas at the same time, just prior to the Civil War. They grew up together, played together and shared their families hardships and heartaches together. They were like brothers.

John was determined to find out who was behind this deceitful act. In his quest to expose and execute those responsible, he found himself in danger.

With gold in his saddlebags from a prospecting trip into Mexico, and chased by a posse including the mestizo Panchito, Dan Greenwood was planning to rebuild his ranch, the Crazy Q, but he was facing two kinds of trouble: romance on the ranch from a flirtatious visitor and violence brought to the desert by the mestizo, who had a score to settle with Dan. This is a colourful tale of Old Arizona set in 1889,with romance, violence, and a climax that is literally explosive. American newspapers in 1955 gave this novel glowing reviews; one compared it to the "best of Eugene Manlove Rhodes", an early Western novelist.

The descriptions of the desert are real and mesmerizing, while the characterization is vivid, memorable, and authentic to the era. The author knew the desert first hand, and his rich experience shows through in his remarkable description.

North Texas in 1880 can be brutal, as Callie Mae Starden, a 16-year old farm girl, quickly found out. Her family killed by a land-greedy rancher and she left for dead, Callie is found by a horsetrader. Later, she discovers that he is really the famous gunfighter, Josh McClain, and she begs him to teach her the trade, so she can avenge her family. Josh reluctantly agrees, then sends her through a rigorous training ritual including months of living with a Comanche Indian scout to learn to fight, to hunt and track.

With her new friends, she embarks on a trail of vengeance that takes her to Laredo, to Mexico, on to Tombstone and finally back to the town of Cache Creek, for her reckoning with Price Morgan. Her adventure includes gunfights, Indian attacks, lively entertaining characters, action galore and a tension filled climax. Follow her story, as she becomes a gunfighter, and find out if she gets her revenge on the rancher Price Morgan and his murderous cowhands.

Calico Starr: Wild Justice By Paul Harmon

"Calico Starr: Wild Justice is the title of an exciting new Western novel by author Paul Harmon. This thrilling and action-filled story is set in the Texas Panhandle range country during the turbulent years following the Civil War. It is a story of greed that led to violence and the near annihilation of an entire pioneer family. Follow the adventures of beautiful young Callie Mae Starden, saved from a near-death experience by an aging gunfighter who becomes her mentor, and helps prepare her for the final showdown and wild justice that will not be denied! This rousing story of romance, adventure and ultimate revenge will keep you completely captivated.

Harmon is a talented storyteller-author in the tradition of Louis L'Amour. He has a knack for getting the details right and keeping the reader interested in learning the rest of the story. If you like westerns, I guarantee you will like this one!"

I expect that most of you folks have never heard of an old time cowboy name of Buck Hooey. That's 'cause none of them dime novelists ever chose to write him up. If'n you ask me, Buck was ignored by such fellers just because his last name failed to inspire confidence. The original dime novelists had what you might call a predilection for names like Wild Bill Hickock and Bat Masterson-names with a ring to 'em. Too bad in a way because your real, true cattlemen told hundreds of Buck Hooey stories 'round the campfires of the Old West. I have to worn you, though, that most of the tales Buck figures in ain't zackly fit for tellin' in polite company. Fortunately I've rounded up a few that ain't too scandalous. If any ladies present will just close their ears to some of Buck's language (especially in Chapter 3) we should get along just fine. So then...if you are a-wantin' a true portrait of an authentic western hero, read on.

By the time Albert and Saskatchewan achieved provincial status in 1905, settlers by the hundreds of thousands flocked to the free homesteads of the western prairie. In the Palliser Triangle, on a veneer of topsoil, they faces choking drought, incessant winds, unrelenting winters, and plagues of pests. Only a fraction survived the hardships of the unforgiving prairie. Tom Reardon and his bride Hannorah settled a marginal quarter north of the fictional town of Henley Junction.

The story follows their lives, loves and tragedies through three generations as they interact, inter-marry and feud with neighbors and towsfolk. Their lives become entangled in intrigue, including rape, murder, political blackmail and eco terror. Fundamental to their existence is an endless campaign to stabilze the region with a small share of Red Deer River water. In the end, love conquers all except the futile quest for a secure supply of water.

From ages 17 to 33, Cody Carpenter tries to make a place for his Christian upbringing in the cowboy culture of Texas and New Mexico. With his father's advice to never carry a gun and to read his Bible for help, and his memories of his stern mother's having washed out his mouth with lye soap every time he used a "bad" word such as "heck", he was totally unprepared for the cowboy culture of cussing, gambling, gun fighting, and sex purchasing that existed in Texas and New Mexico at the turn of the 20^th Century. The Carpenter Credo, "Work for yourself, never for another: to hire out is but one step above slavery, and the discovery that women were not interested in marrying cowboys, goaded him to try to find ways of becoming a cattle rancher, his own boss with his own herd of registered Hereford cattle. To do so, he had to have help. It came from the C. W. Post, of Post Toasties ad Post City fame. But he had to refuse Post's offer to support his study to be anything he wanted to be: doctor, lawyer, or manager as long as he would find his life's work in the Post Enterprises.

Cody's skill in gentling horses contrasted with the cowboy traditions of "breaking" them, setting him apart from the cowboy crew that followed trail drives from Texas to St. Louis and Kansas City. Only the chance to train to be a ramrod saved him from the unbearable ridicule of his trail mates. How he survived to follow his dream is the basis for action, excitement, sadness and laughter that readers will find in this work by a noted poet, author, educator and public speaker who has been named as a Living Legend by the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England.

The largest land grab in American history was the opening of the Cherokee strip in 1893. This book narrates the triumphs and struggles of those days as experienced in the life of Pioneer James Secord's daughter, Mildred, her sibliings, and her own family.

The powerful influence of frontier preachers is told as well as the influences of the country school teacher who taught eight grades in one room. The results with the discipline of life in Cherokee Strip produced in the Secord family: college professors, ministers, missionaries, farmers and school teachers.

Mildred became a school teacher at Fairview school. She married the Farmer boy who promised to get her away from it all. Starting with Horse and Buggy he went to Model T's, Farms, much Machinery, lots of Livestock, and a large family on Credit. They went through three of the greatest social and economic changes of the 20^th Century. Depression, Dust bowl days, WWII.

The book is the opposite of Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH. We were in debt too far to sell out. Father taught us to work, Mother taught us to Pray. The Hope of "next year we will get a bigger crop and a better price" happened in WWII. Mildred prayed five boys through the War. When all the boys came home the large family became College professors, Farmers, Ministers and School Teachers just like the pioneer Secord family did a generation earlier.

These are the exciting times in California history, chock full of the great adventure. However, they have been fictionalized because we can not separate fact from fiction, but they remain wonderful stories. We began our adventure in modern times but quickly regress to the good old days. In the days of old, in the days of gold, in the gold old days of '49.

In the Mother Lode region of California, during and following the Gold Rush Days of 1848, through the early 1900s, there grew up a class of entertainers such as the world is not apt to see again. They were:

Herein our storyteller relates the history of the gold diggins, along the width and breadth of the Southern Mother Lode. The Diggins, both north and south were, at times, easy pickins as they were bizarrely rich É even rich beyond belief.

Also, they were fraught with failures, failures that were ripe with death, starvation, disease and crime, all of which came with those few incredibly rich Bonanzas, where a miner only a few feet away dug no pay dirt and went hungry. These are the stories of those Bonanza Kings, who frolicked in the wilderness, drank moonshine whiskey while betting fortunes in raw gold on the turn of a single card. And those Bummers, next door, who literally starved to death because of their pride. They held "louse races" and ate simple fare, like fried black cat and heavenly sourdough bread.

We are told by our "Old Time Tour-Guide," much that is wonderful, laughable and tragic about life in the gold diggins of the southern mines. He relates some stories that may have been, as "Mark Twain" so amply put it "over fertilized" and hard to believe. But that was real life during the California Gold Rush, where not much could be overstated. These are their stories. Stories of the "would-be" incredibly rich gold miners, who came rushing in from around the globe and stayed on to found California's' golden dream. Obeying only their own laws, they deliriously rushed from shout to shout, draw to the gold like a pack of wild dogs gathering to honor a bitch in heat. In the end, this swarm of adventurers settled down and founded their own brand of "Law & Order," naming it "Miners Law," which was dispensed with a liberal amount of hemp, and they called this occasional marshaling of forces "Diggins Justice."

Since there were few jails, "Justice" had to be quick, therefore stretching hemp was not always reserved for capitol cases. In fact, it was the most common sentence handed down in the wide open diggins. Their reasoning was, there were never any repeats after a hanging. Among other punishments were flogging, nose splitting, ear trimming, cheek branding and banishment. Because this polyglot of wanna-be's came from every quarter of the globe, and every ethnic background, they had to learn the language of the diggins and learn anew about life, -a life so different in a gold rush.

The diggins was a place where whiskey ran like water and was the main source of early day entertainment. In the absence of "Ladies" the miners held "Stag dances" and enjoyed them until the prostitutes arrived and gave a whole new meaning to "Fandango." There was tragic love... thwarted by the hangman's noose. Twisted love for diamonds and gold. A battle for lost souls in a sea of iniquity, where the preachers, preached for their share of the gold, condemning those to hell, who refused to give. It was a love of life coupled with a burning desire for yellow gold and in the end -they all went "Rushing" over the horizon, answering the next shout of: GOLD! GOLD!! GOLD!!!

Comments on The DIGGINS

Well Hemingway of the Sierras, I've been reading your book and am having a lot of fun with it. I want you to know that I'm not looking for punctuation, or sentence structure, or style, I'm simply enjoying it for the content.

Graphics-wise, it's really a very striking presentation. The pages virtually jump out at the reader. I though it was distracting at first, and indeed it was, but soon discovered that was primarily because I've never seen another like it. As far as appearance is concerned, it's definitely in it's own category and an appealing one at that.

As far as the content is concerned, well let's say that it's an interesting, often humorous, sometimes tragic example of true American literature. Tall tales and facts mingle tantalizingly in an atmosphere of dusty streets, rushing rivers, fervent hopes and unmitigated disasters. There's gold and greed and grubb, all tempered with a little whiskey now and then, I'm sure.

After seeing the layout and design, I know now why it was driving you nuts. It's an amazing enterprise and after a few fits and starts, you pulled it off! I admire your tenacity.

One other thing: It was kind of neat to see the finished product after seeing some of the graphics and layout in the rough drafts you gave me. You know, if you're not careful, you're going to inspire me to get off my ass and do MY thing!

Good work, Sourdough. Keep doing it and don't let a churlish old curmudgeon like me keep you from putting your commas and quotation marks wherever the hell you want.

Thank for sharing this work with me.
Terry