Let us tell you a story, or two...
You Know Who is back. Released in mid 2017. Below is a review copied from The Big Thrill August 2017.
.ADVENTURE THRILLERS, LATEST BOOKSValley of Dry Bon’z by Terry A. Del Bene & Stoney Livingston
2 WEEKS AGO by TERRY DIDOMENICO
430By Terry DiDomenico
The writing team of Del Bene and Livingston has produced another thrilling installment in the Joyce Smith series with VALLEY OF DRY BON’Z.
This latest installment sees the return of You Know Who, a serial killer that Native American Undersheriff Joyce Smith and her investigative team thought they had killed, not once but twice before. But when a series of attacks against those who helped the team unfold right before the holidays, and a team member is kidnapped from his guarded hospital room, the team gathers to examine all avenues, including those previously explored to try to get at least one step ahead of the nefarious You Know Who and rescue their friend. Not only is the weather against them, but they also have to navigate roadblocks and assaults created by mercenaries and the federal government to a final showdown.
The authors have taken a cast of characters and melded them into a tight-knit team with strengths and weaknesses and a genuine concern for each other. This team approach is unusual in the thriller genre and works well in the series. Del Bene and Livingston manage to give each team member some moments in the spotlight while furthering the story line.
The decision to have a female lead was also deliberate. The authors wanted the books to have a different flavor to them. In creating Joyce Smith they drew upon strong Native American women they have been honored to know and call friends. “Living and working among many Native American tribes has taught us about the inner strengths of Native American women and the cultural conflicts that often swirl around them. We think Undersheriff Smith is an excellent person to showcase a kind of character that has been woefully underrepresented. Strong Native American women are the norm, not the exception.”
VALLEY OF DRY BON’Z, the third installment in the series, incorporates a number of themes and elements that can also be found in ’Dem Bon’z and ’Dem Dry Bon’z. Key in the series is the information concerning serial killers. As Del Bene said, “An undercurrent in our stories is what makes people become evil. We can’t answer that but we employ the all-too-frequent cases of real horror in history to illustrate commonalities in murders. In the early drafts we suggested fictional links between H. H. Holmes, Jack the Ripper, and the Midnight Assassin only to find in our researches speculation from crime writers and police that here may have been actual links.
“In our fictional world there is a demonic entity traveling the globe and populating it with serial killers who have similar genetic makeup, creating a giant family of murderers. It would be frightening if there was any truth to something like that. But then truth is stranger than fiction.”
The authors have amassed an entire floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of works on serial killers, cultures represented in the books, demonology, satanic cults, and criminology. “VALLEY OF DRY BON’Z required additional work on geography, navigation, and place names in the Northwest Coast and Aleutians. Terry spends a lot of time finding local stories about the places in the book and tracking down some of the lesser-known serial killings in the West. In each of the books we try to expand the story to real places and weave the geography and local color into the tale.”
According to Del Bene, the idea for the Bon’z series came while he was living in Bismarck, North Dakota. Several amputated limbs were discovered during the construction of a parking lot. The limbs appeared to be from the nineteenth century. The parcel of land was owned by a doctor during that time and it was speculated he was operating outside his legal practice. This inspired a tale about a serial killer surgeon working in America’s outback.
The authors also draw on their own experience to add detail and flavor to the stories. “We both put a lot of our personal knowledge sets into each story. Stoney is great with local geography, weapons, and all those wonderful vehicles that populate the novel. (Stoney is the car collector and Terry always had boringly efficient vehicles.) Stoney’s driven so much of America’s back roads that he can describe the most obscure localities to a tee. He also knows the job of a private investigator, such as the one another of our main characters, Jim Lowell, holds. Police procedures and bounty hunting figure prominently in our books.” Terry’s experiences in living in areas featured in the books are woven into the tales, as he has walked much of the roadless parts of the American West. Terry also brings knowledge of history, cultures, and forensics to the duo.
According to Del Bene, the writing team came together as a result of a writers’ conference where the two met. From that meeting, the pair developed a friendship, and at some point Del Bene suggested they try writing a novel together.
“I sent Stoney a very sketchy idea and recommended some characters. Stoney added to this and he agreed we could go forward. We both had experience with working with other authors and we fell into a discipline of one author having the ball for a stint and then handing it off. We were passing chapters back and forth, sometimes on a daily basis. When life got in the way of progress, we waited for the storms to pass. We always kept moving forward once the book was started.
“We each bring different backgrounds to the mix. We each defer to the other in matters of individual expertise. We are working roughly one or two thousand miles apart at any given time. That means we are in almost constant communication via Internet and telephone just about every day. We both agreed to check our egos at the door and focus on the good of the story. Yet, we constantly were dishing up little surprises in the middle of the story. Those little twists and turns give the tale some of its character, and made the writing a genuine pleasure.”
With a note of amazement, Del Bene adds that “we both edit the heck out of each other’s work. By the time the book is finished we can hardly tell, or even remember, who wrote which passages. We have worked very hard developing a variety of interesting characters who the reader can connect with. We’ve both been blessed with lives filled with such people, so it was like visiting with old acquaintances for us.”
The pair has taken a hiatus from the Bon’z series to complete a novel set in Arizona. That said, under the deft handling of this writing team, it does seem likely You Know Who will return before too long.
*****
More information about Terry A. Del Bene, Stoney Livingston, and their books can be found at their website here.
Terry DiDomenicoTerry DiDomenico has spent most of her professional career editing and writing for university publications with a little freelancing on the side. She lives with her husband and two cats on four acres in south central Pennsylvania. She is working on her first novel - a thriller of course.
.ADVENTURE THRILLERS, LATEST BOOKSValley of Dry Bon’z by Terry A. Del Bene & Stoney Livingston
2 WEEKS AGO by TERRY DIDOMENICO
430By Terry DiDomenico
The writing team of Del Bene and Livingston has produced another thrilling installment in the Joyce Smith series with VALLEY OF DRY BON’Z.
This latest installment sees the return of You Know Who, a serial killer that Native American Undersheriff Joyce Smith and her investigative team thought they had killed, not once but twice before. But when a series of attacks against those who helped the team unfold right before the holidays, and a team member is kidnapped from his guarded hospital room, the team gathers to examine all avenues, including those previously explored to try to get at least one step ahead of the nefarious You Know Who and rescue their friend. Not only is the weather against them, but they also have to navigate roadblocks and assaults created by mercenaries and the federal government to a final showdown.
The authors have taken a cast of characters and melded them into a tight-knit team with strengths and weaknesses and a genuine concern for each other. This team approach is unusual in the thriller genre and works well in the series. Del Bene and Livingston manage to give each team member some moments in the spotlight while furthering the story line.
The decision to have a female lead was also deliberate. The authors wanted the books to have a different flavor to them. In creating Joyce Smith they drew upon strong Native American women they have been honored to know and call friends. “Living and working among many Native American tribes has taught us about the inner strengths of Native American women and the cultural conflicts that often swirl around them. We think Undersheriff Smith is an excellent person to showcase a kind of character that has been woefully underrepresented. Strong Native American women are the norm, not the exception.”
VALLEY OF DRY BON’Z, the third installment in the series, incorporates a number of themes and elements that can also be found in ’Dem Bon’z and ’Dem Dry Bon’z. Key in the series is the information concerning serial killers. As Del Bene said, “An undercurrent in our stories is what makes people become evil. We can’t answer that but we employ the all-too-frequent cases of real horror in history to illustrate commonalities in murders. In the early drafts we suggested fictional links between H. H. Holmes, Jack the Ripper, and the Midnight Assassin only to find in our researches speculation from crime writers and police that here may have been actual links.
“In our fictional world there is a demonic entity traveling the globe and populating it with serial killers who have similar genetic makeup, creating a giant family of murderers. It would be frightening if there was any truth to something like that. But then truth is stranger than fiction.”
The authors have amassed an entire floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of works on serial killers, cultures represented in the books, demonology, satanic cults, and criminology. “VALLEY OF DRY BON’Z required additional work on geography, navigation, and place names in the Northwest Coast and Aleutians. Terry spends a lot of time finding local stories about the places in the book and tracking down some of the lesser-known serial killings in the West. In each of the books we try to expand the story to real places and weave the geography and local color into the tale.”
According to Del Bene, the idea for the Bon’z series came while he was living in Bismarck, North Dakota. Several amputated limbs were discovered during the construction of a parking lot. The limbs appeared to be from the nineteenth century. The parcel of land was owned by a doctor during that time and it was speculated he was operating outside his legal practice. This inspired a tale about a serial killer surgeon working in America’s outback.
The authors also draw on their own experience to add detail and flavor to the stories. “We both put a lot of our personal knowledge sets into each story. Stoney is great with local geography, weapons, and all those wonderful vehicles that populate the novel. (Stoney is the car collector and Terry always had boringly efficient vehicles.) Stoney’s driven so much of America’s back roads that he can describe the most obscure localities to a tee. He also knows the job of a private investigator, such as the one another of our main characters, Jim Lowell, holds. Police procedures and bounty hunting figure prominently in our books.” Terry’s experiences in living in areas featured in the books are woven into the tales, as he has walked much of the roadless parts of the American West. Terry also brings knowledge of history, cultures, and forensics to the duo.
According to Del Bene, the writing team came together as a result of a writers’ conference where the two met. From that meeting, the pair developed a friendship, and at some point Del Bene suggested they try writing a novel together.
“I sent Stoney a very sketchy idea and recommended some characters. Stoney added to this and he agreed we could go forward. We both had experience with working with other authors and we fell into a discipline of one author having the ball for a stint and then handing it off. We were passing chapters back and forth, sometimes on a daily basis. When life got in the way of progress, we waited for the storms to pass. We always kept moving forward once the book was started.
“We each bring different backgrounds to the mix. We each defer to the other in matters of individual expertise. We are working roughly one or two thousand miles apart at any given time. That means we are in almost constant communication via Internet and telephone just about every day. We both agreed to check our egos at the door and focus on the good of the story. Yet, we constantly were dishing up little surprises in the middle of the story. Those little twists and turns give the tale some of its character, and made the writing a genuine pleasure.”
With a note of amazement, Del Bene adds that “we both edit the heck out of each other’s work. By the time the book is finished we can hardly tell, or even remember, who wrote which passages. We have worked very hard developing a variety of interesting characters who the reader can connect with. We’ve both been blessed with lives filled with such people, so it was like visiting with old acquaintances for us.”
The pair has taken a hiatus from the Bon’z series to complete a novel set in Arizona. That said, under the deft handling of this writing team, it does seem likely You Know Who will return before too long.
*****
More information about Terry A. Del Bene, Stoney Livingston, and their books can be found at their website here.
Terry DiDomenicoTerry DiDomenico has spent most of her professional career editing and writing for university publications with a little freelancing on the side. She lives with her husband and two cats on four acres in south central Pennsylvania. She is working on her first novel - a thriller of course.
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Now available is the first phone book I ever wrote. Unlike those other phone books, this one actually has stories and characters who are more than just numbers. This book covers one hundred years in the life of a rural telephone company in America's Outback. The story follows the growth of a small melding of local exchanges and ranch lines into a modern regional telephone system that now is expanding into the global markets. The original switchboard, that used cartridges for contacts, has developed into some of the highest tech that ever found itself trying to function in the trying conditions of the Rocky Mountain West.
There's love, drama, adventure, comedy, tragedy, war, strange encounters with wildlife, outlaws, sticking it to Mr. Bell's Octopus, engineers, an ice plane, and the unique brand of doing the impossible by sheer hard work that one expects of Wyoming. Try and get that out of your local phone book. The book is available in hardcover through the Union Wireless Company. I don't know the pricing but I'm sure if you drop your current faceless large corporation cell phone carrier for a family owned business, they might just give you one of these books. I used to have Union service when I lived in Alaska, so I know they are everywhere, but that is another story. |
The Donner Party Cookbook was my first book and was published in 2004. This book is an unusual blend of history and cooking centered on the theme of the disastrous Donner-Reed Party of 1846-1847. The Donner Party is best know for getting trapped in the mountains and resorting to cannibalism to survive. Roughly half of the emigrants survived. To me it was funny that a book with no cussing and no sex became a banned book in certain venues, including one dedicated to Donner Party history. There are no recipes for human flesh in the book, but the reader will find a variety of nineteenth century recipes adapted for the modern cook. This goes along with a history of the Donner Party and a segment on how one can throw a Donner Party of their own.
The first edition of the Donner Party Cookbook was published by Horse Creek Press. A second edition is in progress for a 2015 release, this time published by Grandma's Cabin. The second edition expands all the sections of the book, adding more off-color sounding recipes such as Patty Melt to the original recipes.
I still have copies of the first edition and will autograph them for those who contact me and send me a check for $25.00 that clears the bank.
The first edition of the Donner Party Cookbook was published by Horse Creek Press. A second edition is in progress for a 2015 release, this time published by Grandma's Cabin. The second edition expands all the sections of the book, adding more off-color sounding recipes such as Patty Melt to the original recipes.
I still have copies of the first edition and will autograph them for those who contact me and send me a check for $25.00 that clears the bank.
Now available at Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon for a list price of $19.95 (still sounds like $20 to me). If anyone would like an autographed copy they can be ordered through this web site for $19.95 plus postage and handling (I have to figure out how much that is for each case). Come join us for another trip into a frozen hell, but one filled with some pretty good recipes.
We've expanded the history section, added new (really old) recipes, and brought the fun back into eating leftovers.
We've expanded the history section, added new (really old) recipes, and brought the fun back into eating leftovers.
You Know Who is back and has lost none of his terror. Undersheriff Joyce Smith and her team move to Montana on the track of another serial killer who signs his messages You Know Who. The killer leads Smith and her team through a maze of false leads and booby traps. The team struggles to determine if this You Know Who is merely a competent serial killer or a demonic entity. The book is in final editing stages and will be released in late 2016.
Does true evil ever die? The discoveries in isolated North Dakota of an amputated hand of a young woman and, dangling in a tree nearby, the battered corpse of a man are the catalyst to begin an investigation that leads to the inescapable conclusion that generations of serial killers have been active in the northern plains for over a century. These killers share a ghoulish methodology, the surgical whittling away of their live victims. Undersheriff Joyce Smith, a Hunkpapa Sioux Indian, heads a team of investigators, including police, a medical examiner, a private detective, an historic crime expert, a nurse, an archaeologist, and a newspaperwoman in their search for the killer. Dubbed Jack-the-Snipper by the press, the killer toys with and lashes out at the team of investigators. Signing his letters as “You Know Who,” the killer presents Undersheriff Smith with a challenge to find him by a certain time or his latest captives, including someone important to Undersheriff Smith, will die under his scalpel. Evidence trails lead in many directions, including an ex-CIA “Spook,” a satanic cult, and, most perplexing of all, Jack-the-Ripper himself. Join Undersheriff Smith and her team in this page-turning thriller as they take a desperate journey into the heart of evil.
This is my first novel and it was published in 2015. It is available at Amazon.com, the Create Space store, and Kindle.
My co-author Stoney Livingston is a Viet Nam veteran, a former U.S. Marine, a private investigator, bounty hunter, freelance writer, and independent truck driver. Previous works by Stoney include Apache Tears, a novel, and several historical articles. For more information click on the button below.
You can order autographed copies from me or Stoney.
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This is the first of my books in the Images of America series. For those who are unfamiliar, the series is one of the most ambitious publishing projects and is a wonderful source of information about places in the United States and their history. I lived in Green River, Wyoming for many years and found it to be a town filled with fascinating history and often a more interesting present. Few may realize it but America's first designated space port is found in Green River, though to me it sure looks just like the small craft runway one might find at thousands of rural communities. Those aliens are clever.
The book was co-authored by Ruth Lauritzen and Cydie McCullers, who are the true experts on the local history as they both work in the Sweetwater County Museum. I served with Ruth on the Green River Historical Commission.
All the royalties for this book go to keeping the Sweetwater County Museum open. It is an excellent facility and maintains an extensive collection of documents and images, a fraction of which appear in this book. So buy two! It's a good cause.
The book was co-authored by Ruth Lauritzen and Cydie McCullers, who are the true experts on the local history as they both work in the Sweetwater County Museum. I served with Ruth on the Green River Historical Commission.
All the royalties for this book go to keeping the Sweetwater County Museum open. It is an excellent facility and maintains an extensive collection of documents and images, a fraction of which appear in this book. So buy two! It's a good cause.
I had a monthly column (2015-2016) in True West Magazine called Survival Out West. Join me every month as we explore a nineteenth century survival situation. Ship wrecks, animal attacks, gunfights, starvation, train wrecks, captivity, disease, dumb choices, suicide attempts, mine disasters, wildfires, and just plain bad luck. There's a happy ending every month, of sorts.
Additionally watch for book reviews, travel hints, and periodic contributions.
Additionally watch for book reviews, travel hints, and periodic contributions.
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The Settlement of America is a two-volume encyclopedia on the subject of the westward expansion of the United States.
The primary editor is noted historian James A. Crutchfield. Candy Moulton and myself are the associate editors on the book. All three of us were contributors though we were blessed to have a battalion of some of the best writers of the history of the West provide contributions. Contributors include: Will Bagley, Ted Franklin Belue, Kent Blansett, Johnny D. Boggs, Kingsley Bray, Gene Bryan, Lenore Carroll, Robert J. Conley, Sharon Cunningham, David Dary, Sarah Badger Doyle, Jim Ersfeld, Jack E. Fletcher, Patricia K.A. Fletcher, Meg Frisbee, A. Dudley Gardner, Jerome A. Greene, William Groneman III, Sarah Grossman, Melody Groves, Tamsen Herr, Paul A. Hutton, Jerry Keenan, Carol Krismann, Stoney Livingston, John Lubetkin, Dan Manning, Bill Markley, Leon C. Metz, Gregory F. Michno, Rod Miller, Mike Moore, Elaine M. Nelson, Bill O'Neal, Eli Paul, James E. Potter, Lucia Robson, Quackgrass Sally, Larry D. Sweazy, Rod Timanus, Herman J. Viola, Dale L. Walker, and Linda Womack. It's a great source for those interested in history. |
This is the second of my books published in the Images of America series. The primary author on this work is Candy Moulton, an award-winning author. We relied heavily upon the collections of the Grand Encampment Museum of which Candy Moulton has been a long time board member. If you are ever in the area make sure to stop in and visit the museum.
The Grand Encampment story is one of booms and busts so typical of isolated communities in the American West. The town of Grand Encampment is very much a microcosm of the settlement of Wyoming. Indian inhabitants were brushed aside by the influx of ranchers using an emigrant trail (the Cherokee Trail) as its main communications artery. The discovery of mineable minerals brought in expansions in population and industrialization. The railroad and mines became dominant factors in the life of the local citizens. The hills rang with the music of axes felling trees and adzes shaping the trees into railroad ties. In the springs the rivers were choked with thousands of floating ties and their "herders." The great "tie-drives" killed many a "tie-hack," and attained a legendary status in Wyoming history. When the mines closed the majority of the population moved to the next boom town. Rail service and the local economy in general withered as the town entered a bust cycle. In short order, it returned to its ranching roots. With the downtick in ranching the community finds more of its economy coming from tourism. With wide-open spaces and National Forests the Grand Encampment area is a sportsmen's paradise.
The Grand Encampment story is one of booms and busts so typical of isolated communities in the American West. The town of Grand Encampment is very much a microcosm of the settlement of Wyoming. Indian inhabitants were brushed aside by the influx of ranchers using an emigrant trail (the Cherokee Trail) as its main communications artery. The discovery of mineable minerals brought in expansions in population and industrialization. The railroad and mines became dominant factors in the life of the local citizens. The hills rang with the music of axes felling trees and adzes shaping the trees into railroad ties. In the springs the rivers were choked with thousands of floating ties and their "herders." The great "tie-drives" killed many a "tie-hack," and attained a legendary status in Wyoming history. When the mines closed the majority of the population moved to the next boom town. Rail service and the local economy in general withered as the town entered a bust cycle. In short order, it returned to its ranching roots. With the downtick in ranching the community finds more of its economy coming from tourism. With wide-open spaces and National Forests the Grand Encampment area is a sportsmen's paradise.
Echoes from the Bluffs 2 is a publication that reprints the monthly Green River Star newspaper articles regarding local history that are written by the members of the Green River Historical Commission. As a member of that commission I authored a major share of the articles included in the book, taking on historical issues that had meaning in the current issues of the day. All royalties go to support the Sweetwater County Museum.
Works in Progress...
Coming soon will be the Time is a Well trilogy, following the adventures of a young woman and a wolf caught up in Pontiac's Rebellion.
Shovel Bum is a spoof of Tony Hillerman's classic detective mysteries set on the Navajo Reservation.
Things are Ruffer in Alaska is a comedy about my family's trials and tribulations to settle in the 49th State.
Work is in progress for the Handcart Handbook, a guide for those doing reenactments of the handcart emigrations, co-authored by Will and Pat Bagley.
Work has begun on a third book in the 'Dem Bon'z series with the action moving to the West Coast and Alaska, working title is In the Valley of Dry Bon'z.
Shovel Bum is a spoof of Tony Hillerman's classic detective mysteries set on the Navajo Reservation.
Things are Ruffer in Alaska is a comedy about my family's trials and tribulations to settle in the 49th State.
Work is in progress for the Handcart Handbook, a guide for those doing reenactments of the handcart emigrations, co-authored by Will and Pat Bagley.
Work has begun on a third book in the 'Dem Bon'z series with the action moving to the West Coast and Alaska, working title is In the Valley of Dry Bon'z.