Down on his luck once this is the scene where Joe first meets Rita, Frank Hill’s young twenty-five year old wife. Down the block was a...

Although Anna isn't a major character she plays a critical part in the novel. Her relationship and split from Joe after his marriage...

JOE OLIVER is a thirty-year old drifter who likes women and good times. His dream is to find a patch of dirt for his own so that he can...

The next series of blogs will contain various excerpts from "Patch of Dirt." This is the opening paragraph. Half a dozen men and women...

Part 3: The Writing Process Did I ever get to 70,000 words? I didn’t. After converting the 90 page screenplay into a word document and...

Part 2: Inspiration—Where My Ideas Come From I’m a pack rat when it comes to writing. I save the prior drafts of stories that didn’t...

Part 1: The Foundation Film, painting and poetry have always been at the heart of my writing. I was an art major in high school and won...

Roy, Gene, Tex and all the other singing cowboys who used to entertain us at the Saturday matinee. This is for them and all the other...

This is a true "Western Noir" in the style of Les Savage and H.A. DeRosso. This unabridged version was published late last year by...

This is story that mixes a bit of surrealism into the western genre. It was published in the Petigru Review. Ed Macklin sat heavily on...