Wrong Town (Roamer Book 1)
I’m pleased and proud, chuffed and puffed to announce the release of my new e-book, WRONG TOWN (Roamer Book 1), a revised version of my 2008 novel, WRONG TOWN. This time around, I’ve set it up as the first in a series featuring the protagonist, Roamer, a hulking, misunderstood loner who wants nothing more than to lose himself in the West. But as we all know, life rarely gives us just what we want….
Another note of potential interest is that the story and character crosses over with my ongoing series of short stories featuring mountain man, Maple Jack, mentor to Roamer (and the man who gave him his name). They first meet in the short story, “Maple Jack and the Christmas Kid,” in the recent anthology, Christmas Campfire Companion, by Port Yonder Press.
WRONG TOWN (Roamer Book 1) began its life way back as a story, but I liked it so much I kept expanding it until it reached the length that Robert Hale Publishing (London, UK) required for its Black Horse Western line. That first print run sold out less than two weeks of its release. The next year it came out as a large-print softcover through the Linford Western Library (FA Thorpe/Ulverscroft), also in the UK. I received tons of mail (okay, dozens of letters–but they were heavy with emotion….) from readers who really liked Roamer, his first-person narration, and the fact that the book, and Roamer’s day, begins with a grizzly mauling and grows more grim from there….
Never before officially released in the US, this revised edition comes newly typeset, offers a sample chapter from the next Gritty Press book, WINTERS’ WAR, and sports dandy new cover art that reflects that it’s the first in an intended series. My wife, photographer Jennifer Smith-Mayo, did a terrific job on the cover. (The new Gritty Press softcover, available in the next couple of weeks, has a great back cover as well.)
The new rerelease of WRONG TOWN (Roamer Book 1) also marks the launch of our new imprint, GRITTY PRESS. In the coming weeks and months Gritty Press plans to release revised and new work including novels, short stories, non-fiction, and more. Next up: WINTERS’ WAR and HOT LEAD, COLD HEART….
Keep it Gritty!