Stephen Bly's "Throw the Devil Off the Train" or "Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon"

We're happy to have Stephen Bly with us today talking about his book Throw the Devil Off the Train. To learn more about Stephen and his book, read on!

Note from Stephen: The release date of Throw The Devil Off The Train has been pushed to May 1st, 2011. We could offer a copy of Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon now, with the option of waiting for the future release later, if you’d like.

Title: Throw the Devil Off the Train
Cover Blurb: Catherine heads west to escape her past. She will do anything to get to California and her fiancé Philip. Race heads west to avenge his brother’s death. On the long, cramped train ride he longs for nothing but hours of sleep. However, the devil’s on board and someone’s got to throw him off.

1) How did this story come to you?
I don’t have a clue on this one. Sometimes plot ideas seem to fall out of the sky for me. When I recognize one that I like, I pick it up and run with it, to see where it leads. That’s what happened with Throw The Devil Off The Train.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Center Point Publishers had released a number of my paperback books as hardback large prints. Over a year ago the editor approached me about doing books for their growing base of westerns fans. . .mostly through public library outlets. . .as first edition novels. So, I wrote Creede of Old Montana for them, then Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon. While writing that last story set in the 1950s, I perceived setting a whole book on a train from Omaha to Sacramento in the 1880s. That became Throw The Devil Off The Train.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I love to golf and years ago played on the college golf team. I’ve never been to Branson, Missouri. I’m living with prostate cancer.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I just signed a contract for a story about one of my favorite characters, rancher Stuart Brannon of The Stuart Brannon Series, as an older man in 1905. He’s invited by his good friends, Lord & Lady Fletcher, to be one of the celebrities in their golf tournament on the Oregon coast. The working title: Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot.

5) Parting comments?
My life verse is Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” I consider writing to be one of the ‘added things’ in my life, for which I am very grateful.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
At our website: http://blybooks.com/  Or our “On A Western Trail” blog: http://blybooks.blogspot.com/

Stephen Bly's "Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon"

We're happy to have Stephen Bly with us today talking about his book, Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon. To learn more about Stephen and his book, read on!

1) How did this story come to you?
Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon is not my life story fictionalized. However, what makes it personal is that I was 10-years-old in 1954 and spent many afternoons playing cribbage with my grandpa, just like Little Brother in the novel. And I also heard many accounts about the “old days.” Many images from those times together in the 1950s embedded in my mind. I finally wrote about it.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
After several incidences of almost getting a contract on this story with several publishers, I contacted Center Point to see if they’d like to do another first run hardcover. They had already done a re-release of The Land Tamers and dozens of others of my westerns, plus a first run of Creede of Old Montana, but this story wasn’t a traditional western like their customers were used to from me. This one’s set in the 1950s, but with stories from the Old West incorporated. They finally agreed to give this one a try.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I used to be on a college golf team and still play a pretty good golf round.
My first published books were nonfiction Christian life, theology, and family books. . .such as, Radical Discipleship (Moody Press), God’s Angry Side (Moody Press), The Surprising Side of Grace (Discovery House), How to Be A Good Dad (Moody Press).
I’m a roving editor for Big Show Journal, a magazine for gun collectors.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m looking forward to seeing the first copies of Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon any day now. I’m also writing a story with the working title Throw Away Heart, a western centered around a romance, set on a train in the late 1800s, on its way from Omaha to Sacramento. In addition, I’ve been doing research for a novel featuring my most well-known hero, Stewart Brannon, where he’s invited to a golf tourney on the Oregon coast in the early 1900s. This old cowboy feels very awkward on the links, but he finds adventures anyway. As ardent fans know, Stewart Brannon makes some sort of cameo appearance in every Stephen Bly novel.

5) Parting comments?
Matthew 6:33 is my life verse: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” I apply this to writing too. Getting published is an ‘added thing,’ not the main pursuit of life. His kingdom, His righteousness. . .that’s what it’s all about.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
We have four sites. Check any of them out: http://www.blybooks.com/ (our main website) or http://www.blybooks.blogspot.com/ (our brand new blog) or http://www.onestepovertheborder.com/ (features our “Have your seen my Juanita campaign?”) or http://www.tapaderaswinchesters.com/ (my antique Winchester collectors hobby site)