My Baby!

My publishing company sure moves fast!  I asked for and paid extra for a printed draft copy of my book.  On Tuesday afternoon I gave preliminary approval after viewing the draft on my computer.  It arrived UPS overnight delivery from Akron, Ohio the next morning, Wednesday at 10:30 AM.  It boggles the mind.  

I told my wife I feel like I just gave birth.  "NO!  No! That's nothing like giving birth!"  Leave it to the wife to set me straight.

On the back cover I've placed this statement: "William V. Wade lived a life of adventure along the Missouri River when it was still wild country.  He knew and interacted with frontiersmen before they became the stereotyped characters we recognize in today's literature.  Wade tells stories of Custer, Sitting Bull, Gall, Liver Eatin' Johnson, and others as only one who personally knew them can tell.  After marrying and starting a family, he settled down to life as a cattle rancher on the nearby Cannonball River and wrote these accounts near the end of his life."

Some might wonder why the interest in this fellow.  This is what I wrote in part in the introduction: "Wade's stories have gathered dust on my shelves for these many years until recently when my wife and I read them through again, the upshot being her reminding me of her knowledge of the Wade family.  You see, William V. Wade established the large Anchor Ranch on the Cannonball River, and it was there on the opposite north bank of the river that my wife was born and raised on the ranch her parents owned south of Raleigh, ND."  Besides that, this is good history.  I found a good deal of supporting material to include in an Addenda.

Ordering info will appear next week; the shipment is due on Wednesday.  Then I'll be able to start on another batch of stories set in and around Ransom County.

(I don't know what happened to the picture I posted but won't take the time to figure it out)