A new short story, "The Wild-Eyed Witness," about a fictional event in the life of Wild Bill Hickok, by Saratoga, Wyo. author Lori Van Pelt appears in the book, LOST TRAILS, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Russell Davis, and recently released by Pinnacle Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing in NewYork. LOST TRAILS contains fourteen stories written by western authors including works by Louis L'Amour, Loren D. Estleman, Elmer Kelton, and others who are well-known in the western genre. Another Wyoming author, John D. Nesbitt of Torrington, also has a story "Blue Horse Mesa" in the book. Nesbitt teaches creative writing at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington and is a Wyoming Arts Council roster artist.
Van Pelt also has several poems in the new book, OPEN RANGE: POETRY OF THE REIMAGINED WEST, edited by award-winning poet Laurie Wagner Buyer and award-winning songwriter and author W.C. Jameson, also released this month by Ghost Road Press in Denver, Colorado. OPEN RANGE contains a variety of poetry focusing on the contemporary western experience.
Van Pelt won the Western Writers of America Spur Award last year for Best Short Fiction for her short story, "Pecker's Revenge," the lead tale in her book, PECKER'S REVENGE AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE FRONTIER'S EDGE (University of New Mexico Press, 2005.)
The poetry also marks an important milestone in her career. "I wrote poetry in high school," Van Pelt says. "My English teacher at Banner County High School in Harrisburg, Nebraska, Beverley Edens, liked my poetry and encouraged me to continue writing both during my school years and throughout my life." While Van Pelt's early poetry was published by the National Poetry Press, this is the first time that her poems have been included in a western-themed collection.
