The latest issue of The Thrilling Detective is out with a story by yours truly. Horns is a Val Lyon short story about murder, lust, bulls, bullshit and bull semen. It features a kick-ass detective, cowboys, barrel clowns and a 1700 pound bag of aggression named Terminator.



This story came about because of a brief article in Sports Illustrated some years ago about rodeo bulls being forgotten… Continue

Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore

Elizabeth Lyon

The Penguin Group, New York, 2008

347 pages

$14.95





It was at a conference for new writers in Austin that I saw a lot of shocked faces when literary agent Jim Donovan proclaimed that they could not imagine how much revising is necessary before a manuscript is ready for publication. How much revision? Elizabeth Lyon cites Dean Koontz who did thirty-one drafts of his… Continue

On Friday, I received a notice from the delightful Sandra Ruttan
that she's accepted my short story for "Spinetingler." It should
appear in fall or winter. The story is called "Out Of
Service." Without giving too much away, it's about some kids who
play a practical joke on the wrong people. It turns out badly for
all concerned.

I'm jealous. Vicki Hendricks has this great picture of her

in a skydive. I've done skydives (not nearly as many as Vicki and

my skydiving days are over) but I don't have a picture of me in

freefall. I had a video of my first jump and it was pretty

ugly. Nothing to post on a website. So, I settled for the

next best thing--a shot of me running. It's ugly too, but how

about those Willie Nelson shorts?



Although I don't have any skydive pix, I can claim… Continue