Award Winning Author

Wayne D. Dundee is on the case!

 

            Wayne Dundee lives in the once-notorious old cowtown of Ogallala, on the hinge of Nebraska’s panhandle. A widower, retired from a managerial position in the magnetics industry, Wayne now devotes full time to his writing.

            To date, Wayne Dundee has had fourteen novels, three novellas, and over thirty short stories published. Much of his work has featured his PI protagonist, Joe Hannibal (appearing most recently in Goshen Hole - 2011). He also dabbles in fantasy and straight crime, and lately has been gaining notice in the Western genre. His 2010 Western short story, This Old Star, won a Peacemaker Award from the Western Fictioneers writers’ organization. His 2011 novel Dismal River won a Peacemaker in the Best First Western Novel category.

            Titles in the Hannibal series have been translated into several languages and nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, and six Shamus Awards. Wayne Dundee is also the founder and original editor of Hardboiled Magazine.

 

Could you please start by telling us a little about yourself?

I am a 64-yr old widower currently living in west central Nebraska. I write genre fiction, primarily detective mysteries and Westerns, although I have also dabbled in straight crime and paranormal suspense … I sold my first short thirty years ago. It featured my blue collar PI Joe Hannibal and I have been writing about him ever since—seven novels, three novellas, and a couple dozen short stories so far.  Hannibal titles have been translated into several languages and have been nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, and six Shamus Awards … I have recently also had some success with Westerns—six short stories and six novels so far.  In 2010, my short story This Old Star won a Peacemaker Award from Western Fictioneers; in 2011, my novel Dismal River, also won a Peacemaker in the Best First Western category.

 

Please tell us your latest news!

I have two Western novels just released in the past few weeks—Reckoning at Rainrock and Rio Matanza … Rainrock is set in western Nebraska and eastern Colorado and features former Indian scout Lone McGantry, who first appeared in Dismal River. Matanza is set in Arizona and Mexico and features bounty hunter Bodie Kendrick, who first appeared in Hard Trail to Socorro … Later this year, to celebrate his 30^th anniversary in print, there will be a new Joe Hannibal novel, Blade of the Tiger, and also a collection of Hannibal short stories … As I guess you can tell, I like reading and writing series characters.

 

Do you write full time? What did you do before you became a writer? Or Still do?

As of June, 2009, I retired from my full time job as the GM of a small magnetics plant and since then have devoted full time to my former avocation as a writer. Pam, my beloved wife of 41-plus years, passed away in 2008 and after that all our plans for how we would spend our “golden years” together sort of went out the window. I decided to break free from the nine-to-five grind and see what I could do with my writing if I were able to concentrate more completely on it. My output and some limited success has resulted … But I’d chuck it all in a heartbeat for one more hour with Pam.

 

What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?

First off, I need a title before I can go very far in the actual writing. I may have a hook or a rough story idea in mind before then, but I can’t really get going without the title. The title, I believe, sets the whole theme and flow for the overall story and it is going to conclude. Once I have those things—title, hook, ending—then I start writing and the middle parts start to fill in. So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m mostly a seat-of-the-pantser.

 

Current Release Details:

You can find details on all of my available work (including the previously mentioned two most recent, Reckoning at Rainrock and Rio Matanza at: www.joehannibal.com

 

Who is your perfect hero? And why?

I’m a big John Wayne fan, always have been. There’s a touch of Duke in all of my protagonists, including Hannibal in a somewhat more subtle way—for sure (not surprisingly) in the Westerns featuring McGantry and Kendrick … Why? I think the enduring image of Wayne, via his films, embodies the kind of strength, determination, and compassion—seasoned by a dash of boisterousness—that defines the American hero as well as any, better than most.

 

When you have writer’s block how do you break free?

I stop and do some reading in whatever genre I am working in—not to try and copy or mimic what I am reading, but rather to remind myself why I wanted to be a writer in the first place and to re-fuel that “writing fire” inside myself again.

 

Is there a genre of book you would like to write but haven’t yet?

I’ve always wanted to try something in the science fantasy/sword & sorcery genre. I’ve long been a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan as well as Robert E. Howard’s Conan. Someday I’d like to try my hand at writing some stories patterned after each

 

What would be the best way for readers contact you? Do you have a website? Email address? MySpace site? Blog? Message Board? Group?

Readers are welcome to contact me directly via my email: wddundee@charter.net … I also have a blog at http://fromdundeesdesk.blogspot.com … I am on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Wayne.Dundee … and on Twitter at @wddundee

 

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please, tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step.

I had the distinct experience of selling the first work I ever submitted. It was a short story called The Fancy Case and featured my blue collar PI Joe Hannibal. I sold it to a now-defunct crime magazine called Spiderweb … I wrote it while recovering from kidney stone surgery (back in the pre-lithotripsy days when they darn near had to cut you in two to get at the painful little buggers). As always, Pam was there every step to encourage both my recovery and my submission of the story … It should be noted that, while I made that first sale right out of the chute, subsequent ones did not come so easy and it was almost four years before I sold anything more.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Bodie Kendrick had a reputation for being one of the most relentless bounty hunters throughout Arizona and New Mexico.

Doc Turpin, out of Texas, shared similar renown.

When the two of them partnered up to bring in the Harrup-Klegg Gang, it was the end of the trail for the bloodthirsty outlaws who had robbed the New Gleanus bank and then needlessly, mercilessly slaughtered innocents as they shot up the town riding away.

The gunsmoke from that encounter has scarcely cleared, however, before Doc is mysteriously lured away in the middle of the night by a rebelista firebrand known only as Estraleta. Troubled by his new partner's sudden and ill-explained departure, Kendrick pursues the pair in order to try and find out what is going on. His only clue is that they reportedly are bound for the notorious south-of-the-border town called Bordados.

Quicker than the rapid-fire discharge of a Gatling gun, Kendrick finds himself embroiled in a conflict between local rebels fighting to regain their town and a corrupt Rurale official backed by a wolf pack of American desperados who've found haven in Bordados and are hell bent on keeping it. Once again, Kendrick and Doc—along with the savagely beautiful Estraleta and a tormented former Confederate colonel—fight side by side against stacked odds.

But that's never stopped either one of them before …

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West central Nebraska, late 1880s: Harriet Munro, a fiery woman lawyer seeking to make a name for herself on the frontier takes the case of beautiful young Roxanne Bigbee—a desperate fugitive fleeing a trumped-up murder conviction and a hangman's noose. But before she can appear for the re-trial that Harriet has arranged, Roxanne must be rescued from the current threatening situation her flight has placed her in. For this, Harriet calls upon Lone McGantry, former Indian scout and tracker who knows the rugged corners of the West like few other men. McGantry succeeds in returning Roxanne to Rainrock, a town in the northwest corner of Nebraska near the fabled Toadstool Badlands. It is there the re-trial is to be held. Faced with this prospect, however, the town conspirators responsible for getting Roxanne convicted in the first place, mount another all-out campaign to try and make certain true justice is diverted yet again. Before it is over, trusts will be betrayed, bullets will fly, lives will be lost, and McGantry must ride to once again to Roxanne's rescue … until, within the stark, hauntingly empty reaches of the badlands, scores are settled and a bloody reckoning is finally achieved.

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