22 April 2004 I finished THE PALO DURO TRAIL , a Ralph Compton book in the late author’s Trail Drive Series. These books are now published by NAL/Signet, not St. Martin’s Press as I announced earlier. My editor, Dan Slater, asked me to write another, and I am signing contracts for THE ELLSWORTH TRAIL today. Next week, I should finish the second novel in my new OWLHOOT TRAIL series for Pocket Books. The first one, ABILENE GUN DOWN, will be published on June 1st. The title for the second book is JOURNEY OF DEATH and continues the trials and adventures of Jed Brand, who continues to pursue the man who framed him for murder, Silas Colter. Next, I will write THE ELLSWORTH TRAIL and then go on the first novel in my new series at Berkley, THE VIGILANTE. I am looking forward t o writing this series with a new editor there replacing Kim Lionetti, who is now a literary agent with Bookends Literary Agency. I’ll see Kim again next month, when she comes to Branson, Missouri, for the Ozarks Writers League meeting as the keynote speaker. I’ll give a talk and appear on a panel with Dusty Richards, Velda Brotherton, and Suzann Ledbetter. I have been asked to speak on the topic I’ll be delivering as the keynote speaker for the Northeast Texas Writers Organization, this coming Friday, in Winnsboro, MYTHIC STRUCTURE IN FICTION. It’s a broad topic, but I will simplify the roadmap for those writers wishing to use the power of myth in plotting their stories. Charlotte and I will be attending the annual Western Writers of America convention in Mesquite, Nevada, this year. Mesquite is a small town 85 miles from the Las Vegas airport. The convention is from June 15th, through the 19th. We are flying in and will be met by my son, Frank, who lives there. My sister, Kay Bell, will fly in from Oakland and join us for our stay there. We’ll visit the Valley of Fire and the Anasazi pueblo as well as the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Plus, we’ll also see a number of long time friends, writers, agents, publishers and editors. THE BARON HONOR will be published in hardcover by Forge (Tom Doherty & Associates) in January. This continues the saga of 3 Texas ranching families in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In August, Leisure Books will publishing an interesting anthology of short stories, entitled THE FUNERAL OF TANNER MOODY. My friend Robert Randisi came up with the concept and is the editor. Each writer took a different part of Moody’s life (a fictional character, of course) and developed a story set in the White Elephant Saloon in Ft. Worth (it’s still there). My story is entitled SOULS and deals with Moody’s last days of life when he was in his 70s. And, finally, we mourn the death of our dear friend, Gene Andereck, an attorney and novelist whim I worked with for many years. He died in Springfield, Missouri at the age of 82 and we miss him, his energy, his great mind, his passion for the law. Yours truly, Jory