#NewRelease and GIVEAWAY: On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection Vol. II

Looking back, especially when you reach a certain age, time is more weirdly mercurial than ever. A year passes quickly, its fleeting months scattered like seed to the wind, but paradoxically the days were long and sometimes interminable.

Or it can be the other way around. Days fly by with busywork and odds and ends, but you wake up to think, My God! It’s still only February.

Sometimes it’s all slow. Or all fast.

More than a year has passed since “Waiting for a Comet,” the first Jo Harper story made its debut, and nearly twelve months now since Jo’s first four adventures were collected. Since then, four more stories have appeared from Painted Pony Press, a complete unpublished tale waits in the wings, an Early Days of Abby Drake story will appear this fall in an anthology of stories, and the audio version of “Waiting for a Comet” will be ready for the holidays.

It’s all been a dazzling roll through the calendar, and a thundering 2016 looks to be close at hand.

Time, for Jo and Frog, while filled with more adventure, passes more slowly. She turned 13 this year, and Frog turned 11. They might stay at that age for a while. Or they might not – I honestly didn’t intend for them to have birthdays. It just happened.

And for me, that’s an example of the most exciting aspect of writing Jo Harper. Nothing has been planned. For the first time in my experience writing fiction, I have a body of work that was not outlined, not pre-figured. Each of these stories found me sitting down, writing into the dark. When you read the first chapter and don’t know what’s going to happen next, rest assured that I didn’t either.

Jo Harper has put a lot of fun back into my writing. I hope this second volume of stories does the same for your reading.

Blurb:

Jo Harper rides the range again with Frog Beemer, Constable Abby Drake, McGee the dog, and a host of no good owlhoots. If you love rollicking old-fashioned adventure, grab this second volume of four novella-length stories.

In 1911, when trouble comes to Willowby, Wyoming, thirteen year-old Deputy Constable Jo Harper is usually on top of it. But trouble has a way of following Jo, and strangers aren't always what they seem.

When old friends prove to be enemies, and enemies might be friends, Jo relies on all her wits to seek justice.

And sometimes just to stay alive!

Jo Harper rides the range again with Frog Beemer, Constable Abby Drake, McGee the dog, and a host of no good owlhoots. If you love rollicking old-fashioned adventure, grab this second volume of four novella-length stories.

Richard Prosch's series about young Jo Harper and her friends, set in early 20th century Wyoming, just keeps getting better and better. — James J. Griffin, author of the Lone Star Ranger series

A part Mark Twain, part Rooster Cogburn, a dose of H.G. Wells... —Wayne D. Dundee

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Behind Redbuds and Bullets

I read Great Expectations for the first time when I was a freshman in high school. My English teacher, Nancy Brooks, who routinely channeled Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks) in fictional name and temperament did a great job bringing the characters to life for us, and the weird relationship between Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham haunts me to this day.

Jo Harper read Great Expectations in 1911, and this fact was the only thing I had to go on when I started writing her sixth adventure. I didn't know it would involve uprooting Jo for the first time, flinging her across the midwest on a tumultuous train ride, pitting her against dangerous adversaries in a gritty urban environment, and ultimately involving an old character who just wouldn’t stay out of the picture. It was exactly the kind of writing experience a writer dreams about --sitting down without a clue and letting the story tell itself.

Redbuds have always been sort of symbolic to Missouri. I had never seen the small trees before visiting Gina there in 1986. Blossoming purple in spring, they are ubiquitous and one of the few flowering trees that doesn't cause my son to immediately start sneezing. Not so for everybody. Like the bullets in the title, the little flowers look innocent enough but can pack quite a punch for some.

So after putting the Dickens novel in her hands, I knew Jo had to end up in Missouri. But what could make a headstrong girl, one tied firmly to her Wyoming roots, leave her friends?  In Jo's case, only a sense of family duty.

And with that, I was off and typing.

Redbuds and Bullets takes a few chances that previous Jo Harper adventures don't take. The story puts Jo more alone than ever before. It tests her metal away from the humorous distractions of Frog or the tough security of Abby Drake. Not only that, but the fate of strangers is directly under Jo's control. It's not a responsibility she takes lightly.

Finally, if you're familiar with Great Expectations, I'll invite you to compare and contrast it with Redbuds and Bullets. Find the similarities, the differences, and see if you can recognize a couple Dickensian Easter eggs. Some were intentional, but some surprised me even as they poured into the keyboard.

That's the kind of fun that keeps writing Jo Harper stories fresh for me. I'd like you to come along for the ride!

After growing up on a Nebraska farm, Richard Prosch worked as a professional writer, artist, and teacher in Wyoming, South Carolina, and Missouri. His western crime fiction captures the fleeting history and lonely frontier stories of his youth where characters aren’t always what they seem, and the windburned landscapes are filled with swift, deadly danger. Read more at www.RichardProsch.com