21 December 2005 I finished writing the first novel in a new series for one of Harper’s imprints. This was BLOOD SKY AT SUNRISE. The series is called THE SHADOW RIDER, and features a character named Zak Cody, who works undercover, as a civilian with the rank of colonel, assigned by President Grant and General Crook to roam the West and stamp out trouble when he finds it. I started writing the third book in THE VIGIILANTE series for Berkley, picking up where number two left off. The story takes Lew Wetzel Zane, a descendant of the Zane family, from Pueblo, in Colorado, to Socorro, New Mexico. Zane is a wanted man seeking justice for others, since justice was denied him when his parents were murdered back in Osage, Arkansas, deep in the heart of the Ozarks. He is tracked by a federal marshal named Horatio Blackhawk, who has mixed feelings about capturing a man who has fared so badly with the Arkansas courts. Am also working on a play, DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER, with playwright Skip Hughes. I’m going through our first draft and revising it. The play is based on a short story of mine that appeared in the anthology, THE FUNERAL OF TANNER MOODY. My story was called TANNER’S DIAMOND. We expect to hold our first reading of the play early in 2006 and hope to generate local interest in mounting the play, way, way, way off Broadway. I call attention to my friend Richard S. Wheeler’s blog on www.blogspot.com. He takes on the publishing industry, insofar as it concerns the western novel, with grace, style, and stunning insights. If you want to know why the western novel is in decline, you’ll find answers on Richard’s fine blog. My collection of Ozarks short stories, THE SADNESS OF AUTUMN, has been accepted for publication by Dan Case, at AWOC, in Denton, Texas. He published a book by Dusty Richards, and recently released an anthology put together by the Ozarks Writers League (OWL), called ECHOES OF THE OZARKS, short stories by a number of regional authors, including one of my own, A BIT OF SHADOW, A SUM OF LIGHT. I met Dan at the last OWL meeting and told him about my short story collection. He later asked me to send it to him via email attachment. Dan is also one of the features speakers at the annual Northeast Texas Writers Organization (NETWO), to be held next April in Winnsboro, Texas. For more information about the conference and my upcoming short story workshop, you can go to: www.netwo.org. As for the workshop, I’m excited about it because we’re holding it at the new Northeast Texas Community College extension in Pittsburg, Texas. There, we have the use of their computers and a large projection screen. Each participant, including me, will start and finish a short story in 4 consecutive 2-hour sessions on Saturdays, from 10:00 to Noon. I believe that the lessons learned here will help writers overcome their fears of beginning a short story and finishing one. If all else fails, I will bring my Easy button that I bought from Staples. Finally, I want to wish every a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Realizing that this year, there is a big flap over the political correctness of such sentiments, I offer the following disclaimer, which I got from author/friend Robert Vaughan. Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "America" in the western hemisphere) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/him or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Disclaimer: no trees were harmed in the sending of this message however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced. Happy New Year, all of you. Jory Sherman