THIS JUST IN . . .

Click cover to read review

Steve M. over at the excellent blog, Western Fiction Review (a vital daily e-stop for me), has just reviewed my new novel, Dead Man’s Ranch, and I am pleased to say he liked it.

An excerpt from the review: “Matthew P. Mayo tells his story at a fast pace, his plot threads drawing all the main characters together for a savage and brutal confrontation that not all will survive.”

Steve’s thorough reviews have informed a number of my own Western novel purchases and his interviews with Western authors and illustrators have provided many hours of informative reading for me. Needless to say (though here I am, saying it), I’m flattered that he liked the book.

Here’s a link to the full review: http://westernfictionreview.blogspot.com/2012/03/dead-mans-ranch.html

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!

It’s official, my new novel, Dead Man’s Ranch, is up for grabs all over the west, east, north, and south–and online!

Dead Man's Ranch

DEAD MAN’S RANCH (A Ralph Compton Western)

Mass market paperback, Signet, March 6, 2012
304 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Powell’s

Brian Middleton was sent back East as a child, raised in a life of privilege. But now he’s returned to claim the land his late father left him—and learns the hard way that if you want to keep something in the wild West, you have to fight for it. With scheming local lowlifes and a drifting, murderous con-man after the Dancing M ranch, Middleton has no choice but to make a stand, though it may well cost him everything.

Dead Man's Ranch: Pre-order yours from Amazon.com today!

Dead Man’s Ranch, my latest novel, is officially released March 6. It’s my first for the Ralph Compton Westerns line for Signet and I’m already up to my elbows in my next one.

The book’s up for pre-order at all the usual spots, and can be found at most bookstores with a  Westerns section–including Walmarts nationwide. Yee haw! I hope folks have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. (And check out that tasty cover art!)

Click on the front and back covers for more Wild West goodness….

A few months ago I was invited to contribute a brief memory about my discovery of Ed McBain’s writing, in particular his excellent 87th Precinct novels, and their influence on my own work. It is a page put together by Amazon to coincide with their rerelease, in ebook format, of the McBain series.

I’m honored to be in the company of so many writers whose writing I’ve long admired, among them Stephen King, Lawrence Block, Harry Shannon, Bill Crider, Max Allan Collins, and many more.

I hope you check it out, and even more importantly, if you’re not familiar with McBain’s work, there’s no finer place to begin than with the 87th Precinct novels, the granddaddies of police procedurals and damn fine reads.

Howard Hopkins

It is with sadness that I write about the unexpected death of my friend and fellow Maine writer, Howard Hopkins, gone too young at 50. He was a prolific author of more than 60 books, including horror, Westerns (under his own name and the pen-name Lance Howard), YA, and so much more. He was also a highly respected editor of a number of anthologies, a couple of which he kindly invited me to contribute to. I was excited to be able to reciprocate–his story in the forthcoming Beat to a Pulp: Round 2 will be a high-point of the book.

If you’re curious about Howard’s work–you can’t go wrong with any of his books–I recommend the upcoming The Lone Ranger: Vendetta. I was fortunate enough to read an early draft and it is one of the best-written, action-packed novels I’ve ever read. He was justifiably proud of it and excited about its upcoming release.

I only wish I was able to know Howard for years to come. He was a kind man, encouraging, humorous, and freely giving of his time. He will be missed–but thankfully his words will be around for a long time for us all to enjoy.

While we’re busy whipping up a batch of cocoa and cookies for Santa, and looking forward to a fine new year, I take a moment to thank readers and other friends for their support this year. It’s been a full one, and next year promises to be even busier.

And if anyone is still looking for a last-minute gift, why not consider an e-version of the nifty new Christmas Campfire Companion (available immediately for download….).

See you in 2012!

(Click on cover for larger image)

Christmas Campfire Companion! Yes, sireebob, this is the jolliest jingle-iest collection of Western-themed short stories to gallop down the trail since (well, since this summer’s blockbuster doorstop anthology from Western Fictioneers, The Traditional West, which, at the special Holiday blowout price of $3.99 for the ebook, is a-holymoly-mazing! Don’t wait!)….

Where was I? Ah yes, this collection, Christmas Campfire Companion, published by Port Yonder Press, is available in paperback, ebook, and hardcover formats. It’s a Christmas-themed anthology of 14 heartwarming stories by some of the biggest names in the Western fiction world, including L.J. Washburn, Troy D. Smith, Frank Roderus, Tim Champlin, Larry D. Sweazy, Robert Vaughan, Douglas Hirt, Dusty Richards, Kerry Newcomb, Robert Randisi, Rod Miller, James Reasoner, Terry Burns, and … me!

I’m honored to have my writing included in the book with so many fine writers whose work I’ve long admired. My story, featuring my old friend, the crusty-but-kindly mountain man, Maple Jack, unspools his first meeting in what becomes a longtime association with a young man he names “Roamer.” Roamer’s unique life story develops in its own direction. (He’s already starred in my 2008 novel, Wrong Town, soon to be rereleased in ebook and paperback formats, and will follow that up with the lead role in his own series. Stay tuned!). And if that weren’t enough, his mentor, Maple Jack, is the head honcho in his own series of stories, thus far in a variety of anthologies, but rumor has it that a Maple Jack collection is in the works. Boy howdy….

But back to Christmas Campfire Companion! Folks, this is good, honest, Christmastime heartwarming storytelling for the whole family. There’s not a selection here that wouldn’t be suitable for reading aloud to the family on a snowy Christmas eve. Ho ho ho!

in Newport, Vermont, at the fine bookstore, Twice Told Tales, in fact. So if you find yourself up north in the Green Mountain State, do stop in and support this fine independent bookstore (189 E. Main Street, Suite A, Newport, VT; 802-334-5506; twicetoldtales1@myfairpoint.net).
(Special thanks to Mom for the pic!)

Earlier in the year I had the good fortune to have a Jane Austen parody I’d written accepted for inclusion in the new anthology, Bad Austen: The Worst Stories Jane Never Wrote, by Adams Media. Well, it’s out now and my story, “The Horrors of Expectation,” is but one of many Bad Jane tales included.

Here’s what the publisher says of the book: “Imagine Mansfield Park set on the Jersey Shore. Or Mr. Darcy heading up the Starship Enterprise. Or Emma Woodhouse traveling through time to indulge her matchmaking. In the tradition of the Bad Hemingway and Bad Faulkner contests comes a new collection of hilarious efforts to write the worst excerpt from the novel Jane Austen never wrote.”

If you’re ready to unleash your inner Jane, click here to order your very own copy.