My article “Races Within a Race: The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad” that appeared in the April 2019 issue of Roundup Magazine has been selected, by the membership of Western Writers of America, as a finalist for the Stirrup Award as one of the best articles published in the magazine in 2019.
A certificate documenting the award will be presented by Johnny D. Boggs, Editor, Roundup Magazine, during the 2020 Western Writers of America Convention in Rapid City, South Dakota, scheduled for June 17-20, 2020. Hopefully, the present problems created by the Corona virus will not disrupt this planned, annual event.
I wrote about the Roundup article in a blog posted to this website on April 10, 2019. In that blog there is a link that allows you to read the article online. Go to the sidebar of this website and select April 2019 from the drop-down list that appears under Archives.
My congratulations to Michael F. Blake, who won the Stirrup Award this year, and to David Morrell, fellow finalist.
Quite by chance, while surfing the television channels last evening, I caught the start of the movie One-Eyed Jacks. I had never seen this 1961 film starring and directed by Marlon Brando until last night, but I feel a personal connection with the film. The movie received mixed reviews even though it was nominated for an Oscar for best cinematography. When the movie was released, I was stationed with the Army in France. The Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service brought movies to Europe for the service men and women, but I do not recall this being one. Charles Neider was the author of the novel, The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones, on which the movie script, One-Eyed Jacks, was based. Neider is named in the movie’s credits as one of the screenwriters.
I met Charlie in January 1977 when he was in Antarctica on a grant from the National Science Foundation to write a book about the frozen continent. That book, Beyond Cape Horn—Travels in the Antarctic, was published by Sierra Club Books in 1980. Charlie mentions me in the book when he describes our travels together from McMurdo Station to Palmer Station on board the USCGC Burton Island. I parted company with Charles when I departed Palmer Station onboard the RV Hero for my first journey across the Drake Passage. We never met again.
The event is divided into two sessions in order to accommodate the sixty local authors who will be featured. The first session is from 10 to 11:30 AM. The second session is from 1 to 2:30 PM. I will be in the morning session. This website provides more information about which authors will participate in which session: 
On Tuesday, January 14, 2020, Tonya Todd, the Henderson Writers Group’s Education Chair, gave a special presentation to members of Anthem Authors about the benefits of attending the annual Las Vegas Writers’ Conference. As the current President of Anthem Authors, it was my pleasure to host her at a luncheon and to introduce her to our writers’ group in Sun City Anthem, Henderson, Nevada.
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