Home Stories
Vicky J. Rose, Author
“Texas writer Easy Jackson is a natural storyteller!” Stuart Rosebrook, Editor, True West magazine
"Vicky
- you do turn a colorful phrase!" - C. Courtney Joyner,
director, screenwriter, and author.
"After
making a small fortune selling longhorns in West Texas and New
Mexico, Dudford Washburn, along with his Uncle Ponder and a
motley crew of drovers, is chased all the way back to San
Antonio by resentful West Texas ranchers, greedy bandits,
marauding Comanche, and angry Apache who want to steal his
gold, horses, and guns. Dud is driven to survive by two
things—to see that his men make it home alive and to kill the
man who stole his wife. A beautiful rescued Indian captive and
three orphans unwittingly help Dud find his way amidst a
backdrop of feuding relatives, raw young cowboys, and a
landscape so harsh, death stalks at every turn."
A Facebook review of RIDERS UNDER A BLOODY MOON by rancher and politician Tom G. Glass
“Having
grown up in West Texas and having driven the places you have
your characters cross made this book especially meaningful to
me. The book had an incredible ring of authenticity.
I
can't think of a single thing in the book that seemed
unrealistic. You captured the zeitgeist of that period of
history with incredibly realistic and fascinating
characters. The characterizations were superb. The plot
was awesome. The writing crisp and engaging.
It
was a compelling action adventure accomplished by what
seemed to be real human beings with all the eccentricities
and foibles that humans have.
It
was a story about heroic, courageous, tough-when-need-be,
but kind-when-appropriate action.”
Click here
for the e-book version of RIDERS UNDER A BLOODY MOON
Click here for the hard copy version of RIDERS UNDER A BLOODY MOON
HELL
WEST OF THE PECOS By V. J. Rose
"A broke Texas rancher risks all to drive longhorns through the wilds of West Texas to sell to the government in New Mexico, but he's hindered by the feuding relatives and green cowboys he is forced to hire as drovers."
Dudford Washburn and his drovers follow the Lower Military Road from San Antonio to El Paso. Historically, this route was used by men selling cattle to the gold miners in California before the war. After the Civil War, a few drovers took it into New Mexico, but not nearly on the scale as Dud Washburn and did not suffer as many tribulations. (Although stagecoaches on this route caught hell.)
Amazon is advertising it as a "Classic Western" which basically means it reads like a John Wayne movie.
Click here for the
e-book version of HELL WEST OF THE PECOS
Click here for the hard copy version of HELL WEST OF THE PECOS
In this Six-Gun
Justice podcast, interviewer Richard Prosch has me talking about
growing up in what was once one of the wildest old west towns in
Texas, my books, and the movie I hope to one day film, Lost Pines.
BLOOD
EPIPHANY, a short story appearing in UNDER
WESTERN STARS won the silver medal for the Will Rogers
Medallion Awards. Cowtown is a fun place. The 2021 WRMA event was
great, and I had a blast at the book signings down in the
stockyards. I enjoyed meeting Red Steagall, who puts on the yearly
Cowboy Gathering at the same time.
I love Muskrat Hill, and
I'm glad somebody else liked it, too. Thank you, Western
Fictioneers!
Available Now! MUSKRAT HILL, a book dear to my heart.
Stranded in a tiny Texas hotel, Giselle Thibodeaux sees Kit Robertson, a fading country music star from her hometown. Overwhelmed with nostalgia, and hoping Kit might have answers to the secrets surrounding her parents, Giselle pretends to be a reporter seeking a story about his father, Pope Robertson, a one-time famous Texas Ranger in the 1800s. Although he doesn't recognize her, Kit is drawn to Giselle and opens up about the grisly murders that shook the small western town they grew up in.
Kit tells the
story of playing near the river when he and his best friend,
Whitey, stumble upon the body of a mutilated young woman. As
they race to town, they meet Asa Jenkins, the town's half white,
half Comanche, marshal. Asa begs Kit's father, a former ranger,
to help him solve the murder. Resentful that his father is so
old, Kit and Whitey nonetheless assist Pope and Asa as they
struggle to uncover a killer who strikes again and again. Before
the murders are solved, Kit feels a new admiration for his
father, and Whitey finds a role model to help him overcome a
dreadful home life. Together, they learn compassion, tolerance,
and courage they never dreamed of.
Kit unwittingly
reveals to Giselle the heartbreaking circumstances surrounding
her birth. And Giselle discovers the real truth she's been
looking for.
My goal of producing a
script into a feature length film has been put on hold. (Producer
dba Jingle-Bob Productions LLC)
- Instead, I found myself producing a reenactment shootout for my hometown's 150th anniversary. "Putting on a Reenactment" is the story of that experience.
At the Will Rogers Medallion Award Ceremony 2019:
MOON
After
selling longhorns in West Texas and New Mexico, Dudford
Washburn, along with his Uncle Ponder and a motley crew of
drovers, is chased all the way back to San Antonio by resentful
West Texas ranchers, greedy bandits, marauding Comanche,and
angry Apache who want to steal his gold, horses, and guns. Dud
is driven to survive by two things—to see that his men make it
home alive and to kill the man who stole his wife.
Click here for
the e-book version of RIDERS UNDER A BLOODY MOON
Click here for the hard copy version of RIDERS UNDER A BLOODY MOON
A broke Texas rancher risks all to drive longhorns through the wilds of West Texas to sell to the government in New Mexico, but he's hindered by the feuding relatives and green cowboys he is forced to hire as drovers.
Click here for the
e-book version of HELL WEST OF THE PECOS
Click here for the hard copy version of HELL WEST OF THE PECOS
A Will Rogers Medallion Award Winner
Tennessee Smith arrives in Texas as a reluctant mail-order bride.
When her husband dies on their wedding night, she's left with
three little hellion stepsons. The town's elite tell her she's
lost the ranch, and her only recourse is to become the town's
marshal. Tennie thinks they are joking - but it becomes apparent
it's either accept their offer or send the boys to an orphanage,
because no one else wants them. And no one else wants the job of
town marshal of Ring Bit, the most hell-raising town in Texas.
2018 True West Best New Western Author
"You've got a delightfully tart approach." Patsy Ziegler, lecturer in print journalism at Sam Houston State University and former reporter for the Dallas Morning News.
Rancher
Dud Washburn misses the excitement of the old cattle drives. He and
his Uncle Ponder are slipping into grouchy bachelorhood. Dud worries
that his handsome nephews might have as rotten luck with wives as he
and Ponder have had. His left and Ponder's keeps dying on him. When
Dud finds a treasure map, he uses it to as an excuse for adventure,
taking along his two hopeful nephews and dragging Ponder kicking and
complaining with them.
Toni is an 18-year-old harboring a secret
while doing everything she can to hold body and soul together for
herself and Rocky, her grandfather. They descend on an old family
friend at his West Texas ranch for the summer. Jack is retired, and
his life contains even more secrets than Toni's, and one that could
tear them apart.
A May-December romance - it's raunchier than my other novels and not for hard-headed realists with a feminist bend. Only read it if you are a born romantic - then you'll love it.
TESTIMONY
SHORT STORIES
DULCIE'S REWARD
Seventeen-year-old Dulcie inherits a ranch with
three hundred head of cattle. Desperate to get her longhorns to the
new market in Abilene, she leaves home in search of a trail boss.
Published in SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST - WESTERN STORIES
BLOO
D
EPIPHANY - Resentful he has lost everyone in his life except
an old uncle he fights with, a rancher hits bottom, where he finds a
new direction in life and a greater appreciation of what he has
left.
A WILL ROGERS MEDALLION
AWARD WINNER
BLOOD EPIPHANY
is published in Under Western Stars
A
SWEET TALKING MAN - A sassy stagecoach station owner fights off
outlaws with the help of a testy, grumpy stranger.
A WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARD WINNER
A SWEET TALKING MAN is published in THE UNTAMED WEST
A
PROMISE BROKEN, A PROMISE KEPT
A WWA SPUR FINALIST
A woman accused of murder in the Old West is defended by an unlikely stranger.
A PROMISE BROKEN, A PROMISE KEPT is available as a Wolfpack e-story
or in the 
BROKEN
PROMISES anthology.
"You have a lot of talent." - Michael L. Blackman, 33-year veteran reporter and editor in Philadelphia, Fort Worth, and New York.
To contact me and your favorite other western writers, see the
author page of the Western
Writers of America. Or use my Easy Jackson Contact page.