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Just an old fat man trying to make a living. Not sure if the brain cells are overloaded or just dying *sigh*. But I love the history of the American West ...
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Background
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I am an award-winning journalist, photographer, and newspaper editor, raised in the Palo Pinto Mountain country of North Central Texas, the "Cradle of the Cattle Industry."
I have written both fiction and non-fiction, and been published nationally as well as a contributing writer and photographer for the Associated Press. I've been fortunate to include interviews with such notables as actor/artist Buck Taylor, famed business woman Alice Walton and computer pioneer Bob Beemer.
I am currently the managing editor of a weekly newspaper in North Central Texas - The Lake Country Sun.
I have also published The Golden Amulet, a western novel with “a twist,” that was influenced by a number of diverse, and perhaps, contradictory elements. Everything from the Peru symbols to the death of JFK.
I am a retired 20-year Army career veteran and was a bomb disposal and munitions technician and was fortunate to work with the United States Secret Service on presidential and VIP protective service details.
I guess the influence for writing westerns has been two-fold. The richness of a time when a person lived by his wits and his sense of justice dictated his actions. The other was a love of the West from the beginning - watching the Saturday morning TV shows and using my imagination later to reenact those scenes.
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Birth Place
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Stephenville, TX USA
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Accomplishments
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30 or 40 awards from Texas Press Association, North and East Texas Press Association and West Texas Press Association for news writing, editorials, feature writing, photography and general excellence in journalism.
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Additional Information
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The Golden Amulet has received great reviews from readers. Written as a journal, it tells the story of James Kennedy, who traveled from Ireland to America and back. But next month, Unlimited Publishing will release Spirit of the Snake, a historical novel on North Central Texas which highlights the extreme danger of the country in the post-Civil War era. It was fun to write ...
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Contact Information
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Favorite Links
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Spirit of the Snake
Spirit of the Snake is a the story of Buck Landers, a veteran of the Civil War who comes to Texas after four long years of death, the loss of friends and the Tennessee home where he was raised.
He has become hard, cold and calloused, the lines of age crossing his young face from having seen and done too much. In Texas, he meets a young lady, one who offers the promise of a future. But she loses her life to men with no morals, no conscience and Landers is left to die.
He recovers and pursues the men to exact his revenge and becoming known as a gunfighter. The memory of his loss still haunts him, but an encounter with thieves, a snake bite and the curative powers of an Indian medicine man change his life forever, allowing him to break from his past.
The story is based on history, its pages filled with the characters taken from district court records and history of 1866-68 Texas, a time when there were great dangers and greater opportunities.
The Golden Amulet
Now in the twilight of his years, James Kennedy relates the story of his early years, from a modest home in Ireland to the rough and tumble life of the post Civil War Boston waterfront. Framed for murder, he must leave Boston and seek his fortune further west, but not before meeting the love of his life. A chance encounter with a highly successful Texas cattleman begins the journey of young Kennedy from the wild stretches of the Texas frontier to the majestic beauty of the Colorado mountains and the power of the Golden Amulet before returning to Boston to settle old scores.
Lake Country Sun
Our newspaper at Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas.
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