ANDREW McBRIDE interviewed by JO WALPOLE

I’ve been fortunate enough to receive wide acclaim already for my Sundown Press novel THE PEACEMAKER, including 5 star reviews from 2 of the most successful western authors in the business. Spur award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author ROBERT VAUGHAN describes it as ‘a great book’. Meanwhile RALPH COTTON (also a Pulitzer-prize nominated novelist) writes: ‘For pure writing style, McBride’s gritty prose nails the time and place of his story with bold authority. …this relatively new author has thoroughly, and rightly so, claimed his place among the top Old West storytellers.’ I’m very grateful to both Robert & Ralph for their fantastic support.

I discuss THE PEACEMAKER in the interview I did with Jo Walpole (who writes westerns as TERRY JAMES) on her blog. Find the original interview (and Jo’s excellent blog) here: http://jowalpoleakaterryjames.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/author-interview-andrew-mcbride.html

Here’s the text of it again:

Saturday, 29 April 2017

Author interview: Andrew McBride

Please join me in welcoming Andrew McBride. I recently came across Andrew when his blog came to my attention. Like me, he is a Brit writing westerns and doing his best to champion the genre. Here's what he had to say when I asked him a few questions. 

How many books have you written?

A bunch of unpublished ones, in various genres! I’ve had 6 published, all westerns. 2 – THE PEACEMAKER & SHADOW MAN – are currently available. The other 4 – CANYON OF THE DEAD, DEATH WEARS A STAR, DEATH SONG (spot a theme?) and THE ARIZONA KID can still be found in libraries but haven’t been on sale for a long time. However Crowood Press are about to re-issue them as e.books, so maybe I’ll be able to talk to you about them soon.*

(*THEY’VE NOW ALL BEEN RE-ISSUED! CANYON OF THE DEAD, DEATH WEARS A STAR, DEATH SONG and THE ARIZONA KID are all out on Crowood Press as e.books.)

See my Amazon author pages, Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-McBride/e/B01N9O1C05/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

And Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-McBride/e/B01N9O1C05/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

What is your latest release called, what’s it about and what inspired it?

THE PEACEMAKER. The idea came from an episode of the 60s TV Western series ‘The High Chaparral’, although what was on screen would cover only the first part of my novel. I used that as a springboard for what I thought could be a great adventure story. The hero is an 18-year old youth in Arizona in 1871, who, for various reasons, knows a lot about Apache Indians. The Apaches are at war with the white man at this time. The hero is basically conned into taking a U.S. government representative to the stronghold of the great Apache chief Cochise, to talk peace with him. Along the way the hero falls in love with an Apache girl, and they find themselves caught up in the middle of this war, under threat from both sides.

Who is the publisher and where can we buy it?

Sundown Press. You can find it on Amazon and the other usual outlets.

What’s your latest writing project?

It’s so much a departure from what I normally write, I’m keeping it a bit of a mystery, in case talking about it hex’s it! I have just finished a novel about Robin Hood. I think I may have done something amazing there (pardon my immodesty); i.e. I think I found something new to say on the subject of Robin Hood! Let’s see if publishers agree!

(Jo - I'm interested to know more about this since Robin Hood was from my neck of the woods)

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve heard about writing westerns?

How about: ‘You must be crazy, don’t do it!’ Anyone attempting to make a living at writing fiction is taking on a massive challenge, and writing in a relatively uncommercial genre like the western doubly so. But, if you love the western and want to write them, nothing’s going to stop you.

What advice would you give to a would-be western writer?

Don’t lazily re-cycle clichés from movies and TV, do some research into the real west and see if you can find something new to freshen up familiar territory. In my experience, truth’s not only stranger than fiction, it’s better. For example, the first time I ever wrote a scene in a western saloon I could have watched a few episodes of ‘Bonanza’ or whatever and given the reader swing batwing doors, tinkling pianos etc. Instead I researched and found a saloon in frontier-era Montana that had this written on the wall: DON’T FORGET TO WRITE TO MOTHER. SHE IS THINKING OF YOU. WE FURNISH PAPER AND ENVELOPES FREE, AND HAVE THE BEST WHISKEY IN TOWN. That had to go in my novel! 

How many books do you generally read in a month and what are you reading now? 

I’ve been ultra-busy of late and I’m ashamed to say my reading has suffered accordingly, so it’s more like I manage a book every 2 months. I’ve only really been active on Social Media for the last 5 months and in that time I’ve made the Facebook acquaintance of some fine writers whose work I plan to pursue – Ralph Cotton, Robert Vaughan, Lorrie Farrelly, Patrick Dearen and others. There’s a western writer called Terry James I plan to check out. Right now I’m reading a highly entertaining thriller called ‘When Somebody Kills You’ by my FB friend Robert J. Randisi.**

(**SEE MY 4 STAR REVIEW OF ROBERT’S BOOK ON GOODREADS.)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/627206.Andrew_McBride 

Is there a book you’ve read that you wish you’d written and, if so, why?

Hmm. Tough one. As an adolescent I really enjoyed Ian Fleming’s Bond books. I’ve read some of the recent Bonds by Sebastian Faulks & William Boyd etc. and would have liked to have been given the commission to update Bond to the swinging 60s – I actually wrote, for my own amusement, part of a novel where Bond gets kidnapped by hippies and carried off to San Francisco in 1967!

Which of your books would you recommend to a first time reader? Why have you chosen it?

THE PEACEMAKER is my favourite of my books. It’s my first published one where I could write at length, get into character in depth, Native American culture etc. It’s not just dependent on pace and action, it also has what John Ford called ‘grace notes,’ quiet, reflective bits. I also liked the challenge of writing a love story inside the framework of what is still a tough western.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which book, song and film would you like to have with you?

Book: SWORD AT SUNSET, ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF’s epic re-telling of the Arthurian legend; 

Song: BROWN-EYED GIRL by VAN MORRISON (Although it’s a great song, it’s not my favourite. However, I’d want it if I was stuck on this island as it always cheers me up.)

Film: THE ALAMO – the 1960 JOHN WAYNE version. Not the best film ever made, it’s a flawed masterpiece I think, but it is my favourite. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say the film has a tragic ending, but it always leaves me feeling uplifted.

Thank you and good luck with that Robin Hood story.

BLURB for THE PEACEMAKER:

Eighteen-year-old scout Calvin 'Choctaw' Taylor believes he can handle whatever life throws his way. He’s been on his own for several years, and he only wants to make his mark in the world. When he is asked to guide peace emissary Sean Brennan and his adopted Apache daughter, Nahlin, into a Chiricahua Apache stronghold, he agrees—but then has second thoughts. He’s heard plenty about the many ways the Apache can kill a man. But Mr. Brennan sways him, and they begin the long journey to find Cochise—and to try to forge a peace and an end to the Indian Wars that have raged for so long. During the journey, Choctaw begins to understand that there are some things about himself he doesn’t like—but he’s not sure what to do about it. Falling in love with Nahlin is something he never expected—and finds hard to live with. The death and violence, love for Nahlin and respect for both Cochise and Mr. Brennan, have a gradual effect on Choctaw that change him. But is that change for the better? Can he live with the things he’s done to survive in the name of peace?

Buy it on Amazon — or read free with Kindle Unlimited — here:

https://www.amazon.com/Peacemaker-Andrew-McBride-ebook/dp/B01GZFKAPI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=prairrosepubl-20&linkId=58fce035455bfccdb5502122aa657424

EXTRACT:
Choctaw blinked sweat and sunspots out of his eyes and began to lower the field glasses; then he glimpsed movement.

He used the glasses again, scanning nearer ground, the white sands. He saw nothing.

And then two black specks were there suddenly, framed against the dazzling white. They might have dropped from the sky.

They grew bigger. Two horsebackers coming this way, walking their mounts. As he watched they spurted into rapid movement, whipping their ponies into a hard run towards him.

The specks swelled to the size of horses and men. Men in faded smocks maybe once of bright colour, their long hair bound by rags at the temple. They had rifles in their hands.

Breath caught in Choctaw’s throat. Fear made him dizzy. His arms started to tremble. He knew who was coming at him so fast.

Apaches.

And you killed them or they killed you.

**** 

Visit my SUNDOWN PRESS AUTHOR PAGE: http://prairierosepublications.com/authors_2/andrew-mcbride/

Or find me on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/andrewmcbride21

Or on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Andrew-McBride-Author-1715798535405371

Or my Amazon author pages on: https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-McBride/e/B01N9O1C05/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

or  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-McBride/e/B01N9O1C05/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Or on GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30623666-the-peacemaker