Bill Crider reviews Pretty Polly

Another Texas gentleman, Bill Crider, has posted a positive review of Pretty Polly at his blog, Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine.

Bill is an accomplished author in the crime and western genres. He writes the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series. He's written some excellent westerns: Two of my favorites are Outrage at Blanco and Texas Vigilante, both about a female gun-for-hire--the story is tough and action-filled, and the prose thrums with that masculine energy that marked the best Gold Medal westerns of the 1950s and '60s.

Bill also is one member of the triumvirate of authors behind the new Rancho Diablo series of novels. The other two writers are James Reasoner and Mel Odom, and the three are penning these western tales under the shared pseudonymn of Colby Jackson. An  interview with Bill about the series is available at the Pulp Serenade blog.

Review of Pretty Polly

Texas gentleman James Reasoner has posted a positive review of Pretty Polly over at his blog, Rough Edges. I greatly appreciate it.

James is a fine writer with more than 200 books to his credit, and more to come. Everything I've read by him has been entertaining. One of my favorites is Under Outlaw Flags, which combines the western with World War I action.

He has two recent releases:

One is a western, Rancho Diablo #2: Hangrope Law, under the pseudonym Colby Jackson. Jackson is a name shared by three writers--Mel Odom, Bill Crider, and James--who are writing a western series they've created under a single nom de sixshooter. They are releasing the Rancho Diablo series as eBooks for the Kindle and the Nook.

His second new release is from Berkley, Redemption, Kansas. It's available both as a paperback and an eBook. Troy D. Smith has a nice review of Redemption, Kansas, over at the Western Fictioneers blog.

James' review of Pretty Polly suggests that the villain, Griswold Bear (aka Grizzly or Grisly, depending on whom your talking to), should make a return appearance. I have to admit I hadn't thought about that. I fully expect Sheriff Shoat to show up in another story, but maybe Griswold also deserves another fictional outing. I'll have to let that percolate in the brain pan. It's worth considering.

Coming Features: Projects in progress

Time for a few hints, but no hard facts:

Once Pretty Polly went live on Kindle, I took a look at what was in progress and began assessing next steps.

(By the way, Many Thanks to those folks who have purchased a copy so far! If you like the story, please go to the Kindle Store and add a customer review. Many potential customers become actual customers if they get the chance to read what other folks have to say about a book.)

I'm in the process of formatting a second story for Kindle release. This story has, like Pretty Polly, had a previous publication in a print anthology, but that collection of stories didn't have as wide a release as Where Legends Ride. So I hope the eBook edition will expose it to a wider audience.

I'm also investigating what sort of formatting and changes I need to make to the Pretty Polly file to prepare it for release as a Nookbook. I know some folks love their Nooks as vociferously as others adore their Kindles, so I'll be making the western available for the Nook readers as well. While Kindle requires some basic html formatting, the Nook requires ePub formatting, which is a bit different standard. So I feel a little like I'm in geometry class--a brand new learning curve awaits.

After the currently-in-formatting-mode story is available as a Kindle eBook, it will also be appropriately tweaked for the Nook.

(By the way, if you don't have a Kindle or a Nook device, you can still read Kindle and Nook ebooks on your PC or laptop--you can download the Kindle application and the Nook application to your PC or laptop [or other mobile device] for free. Just click here for the Kindle, and here for the Nook.)

So, after the second story is released, what next?

I've turned in a 30,000-word novella to a small press (printed format) publisher, who has accepted it. There's no release date as yet, while the artist is at work, but when I have news, I'll share it here.

Meanwhile, I'm currently working on four books in a vigorous manner. One of these is getting most of the attention, and will likely be the next to appear. Each is in a slightly different genre than the others, but I think any of them will appeal to some of the same readers.

I hope no one minds these ambiguous teasers. I just want to let folks know that more is on the way.

Many thanks for your patronage!

Have a great day!

Now available for Kindle: Pretty Polly, a Western Story

Now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon!


Great entertainment value!


About Pretty Polly: Griswold Bear--a.k.a. Grizzly (or Grisly, depending on who's talking) Bear--a vicious outlaw, enters the town of Wicket with the intention of terrorizing the inhabitants and filling his saddlebags with money and whiskey. However, his plans take a sharp turn into unexpected territory when he meets the Sheriff of Wicket, who offers the marauder a deal. You can get it by clicking here.

Praise for Pretty Polly in its print edition (Pretty Polly first appeared in Where Legends Ride):
"For outright horsey humor there is Hard Times For The Pecos Kid by Les Pierce and Pretty Polly by Duane Spurlock. Both could have been made into movies with James Garner, they have the same light, hilarious flare to them." -- Ron Fortier, Pulp Fiction Reviews


Many thanks to Anthony Schiavino for his critiques of my cover designs as they were in progress. Anthony is the creator and scripter for the Sgt. Zero comic. He's a professional designer--he's the brains behind Episodes from the Zero Hour, for which I provided interior illustrations for Volume 3, Mac Samson: Secrets of the Lost City--and spent some time at Tor Books designing covers. 

Oh no, another blog about . . .

Fill In The Blank.


Everytime someone launches a new blog, the writer probably pauses and thinks, Does the world need another blog?


And then goes right on with the launch.


I'll be blunt. I'm here to provide info about projects I'm working on, whether writing, publishing, or illustrating, and to take looks at projects I've worked on in the past. One, it's blatant self-promotion (I said I'd be blunt), because I figure I'm the person whose job it is to promote my skills. (See the first blog post of author and eBook-promoter J.A. Konrath at A Newbie's Guide to Publishing.)


I have some eBooks that are in the prep stage for publication. The first should be available in the next few days from Amazon.


So this blog offers me a means of sharing info quickly to several folks without repeating myself in a whole slew of e-mails and notes and whatnot. (Economies of scale is the sexy phrase.)


I'll also review other projects I come across, point you to nifty things I find, and cross-promote the work of other folks I enjoy. And I'll let you know when I update my other sites. (Right now, my only other active site is The Spur & Lock Mercantile, a blog about all things western. The current post is about The Long Haul, a graphic novel in the Western mode by Antony Johnston and Eduardo Barreto.)


I plan for this to be fun for everyone. 


Okay, here we go. I'm at large.