Hello all,
After receiving Kirbys latest news letter it looks like his next book will be ready soon.
And his next one or two are in progress.
I'm not sure where he finds the time or energy. But I'm sure glad he does. I enjoy reading and no matter what the subject is I like ones that have their facts and story line in order.
I realy like Kirbys books because of the extra detail he goes to in locations. I think a person could go to the area where his main story takes place and use his books as a tour guide.
Good luck Kirby and keep up the good work on your writting.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, my friend. As anyone who knows me well is very much aware, I am about as far from a perfect man as I can get and still be human. teehee. BUT--I do strive to put out accurate fiction, and in the face of what the world is handing us daily I try to make it fiction that will sing, and fiction that will "speak" to a sensitive audience. I know there is plenty of the bad out there without me putting it in my books, too. Like I said, I am a far piece from perfect, but I hope people will see that I at least tried to leave something that was entertaining while being educational and clean at the same time. I started reading John Grisham's first book, A Time to Kill, tonight, and even though he is one of my favorite authors, and even though I was immediately hooked in--man, that first chapter is harsh. I hope to be able to create the same feeling of disgust for my "bad guys" without having to go to the extent Grisham did in that chapter. I know he was really wanting to justify what the girl's father did later, but it just seems like there could have been a way to let us all use our imaginations a little more and detest these guys just as much--without the horrid feeling in our guts when we got done reading it.
A one-time friend of mine lent me a book once by the name of The Oath. It was my first venture into the realm of the "Christian suspense" writer. This author's name was Frank Peretti, and I was thoroughly impressed. He was able to keep a high level of suspense, make his bad guys seem bad, and at the same time keep out all the junk. I know I'm preaching to the choir here. But I see the bad stuff every day. It was very refreshing to read this book. I am not in touch with the person who loaned me that book anymore, but if they ever stumble onto this post I hope they know how much I appreciated that loan. It lent ammunition to my belief that you could write a page-turner and leave out the garbage.
Well, I'd better get back to Long Arrow. Clint's a-waitin'!
I really agree with this one Kirby. I love a good mystery and suspense books but like the movies I don't need every horrible detail spelled out in graphic detail. I have enough imagination, maybe too much, to paint my own picture. I also get tried of all the swearing in the movies. I good probably write scripts with better English. At least I could think up dialogue that has more than "4 letters".
Thanks for all the nice compliments. I don't know why the public display of lewdness, nudity and profanity/vulgarity bugs me as bad as it does. I don't remember being so uncomfortable about at least the swearing until I had kids. I guess a lot of things changed after I had kids. My emotions were never out on my sleeve in the old days like they have become since my kids started being born. I assume that's the way it is for any normal parent who loves their children. So you can count on me to continue putting out the same kind of stuff I have in the past. If anything it will probably get MORE mild, not harsher. I've found that in the old days if I had even a mild cuss word in a manuscript I could replace it with something else, but in the last couple of books I've realized there are many times when replacing it with "nothing" is just as fitting. I.e., "I've had enough of this "bleep" town," instead of changing it to "I've had enough of this darn town," which sounds pretty cheesey, changing it to "I've had enough of this town." That's the way I'm bending these days. I don't see some vicious sounding villain going around saying darn, dang, or poopy, but there's nothing wrong with total emission!
I'm just glad there are other folks out there who appreciate that stuff being left out. To be quite honest, I think that aspect of my writing, as much as anything, is the part that will help me survive as a writer in a day and age when Western readers are few and far between and when it's often hard to even get some of my biggest past readers to buy my books anymore.
Speaking of books, I'm on chapter 33 of Long Arrow. Gotta go see what happens!!!