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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

New Release From Painted Pony Books—Waiting For a Comet by Richard Prosch

Today at Painted Pony Books we are  giving away an e-copy of Waiting For a Comet to one person who comments chosen by Random.org.

WAITING FOR A COMET—RICHARD PROSCH

During the long, hot spring of 1910 it seemed all 12-year-old Jo Harper could do was wait. Wait for her father, wait for her friends, wait for the comet that might appear in the sky and wipe out the whole town of Willowby, Wyoming once and for all. But when wild west legend Abby Drake arrives in town lugging an orphaned baby calf, an old-fashioned revolver, and a mystery shrouded with superstition, it’s up to Jo to take action. Why is Abby in town? Who is she after? And what secrets can Jo coax out of her own arch enemy, Emily Bly? 

Excerpt:

May, 1910

    Summer came late to eastern Wyoming, but it was full of vinegar. Like an ornery schoolboy it dried up the trickles of a stream here or ruined a bed of flowers there. Equally mischievous storm clouds passed overhead without bothering to send down a single drop of rain. The air in Willowby (population: 300) smelled of parched sage, while everything in the basin tasted like dust. 
    Down at the railway cattle yards, Jo Harper took Emily Bly’s rotten dare and stood in the shallow, cracked bed of a dry alkali pond, looking around for monster bones that Emily claimed were remnants of giant animals drowned in the Great Flood. Jo remembered how the cowboys tended their animals there the year before and wondered what happened to all of the water. Her cotton shirt was the same faded green as her eyes, and she wore tough beige canvas trousers. Her hair was vibrant and rich and dark like the bottom of a well, and she wore it long in a sturdy braid that hung straight down her back. Jo squirmed as splinters of baking mud crumbled up between her bare toes.
    The stupid wind made Jo’s watering eyes blink rapidly to fight off the blowing dust.
    “I double dare you to dig,” said thirteen-year-old Emily. Only one year older than Jo, she was at least twenty pounds heavier. Emily teetered on the rim of the irregular circle, her left fist planted on her hip and a brown flour sack dress pulling up on that side. She stepped over the bank, past where Jo left her lace up boots, and held an iron trowel high in her sweaty paw before dropping it down.
    “Dig for them fish like I told you to do.”
    “I won’t,” said Jo. “You can dare me to walk in quicksand, but I won’t dig.”
    “Ain’t no quicksand,” said Frog Carpenter, Jo’s ten-year old friend. Dressed in striped train engineer overalls with no shirt and no shoes, he kicked at a dirt clod and studied his thumbnail up close before jamming it between his front teeth. “Too dry.”
    The rotten little pill! The turncoat!
    If he were a real friend, he’d put his head down real low, then charge ahead like Chet Dilly’s bull calf and send old Emily topsy-turvy down into the stinky dirt. But Frog, who was an orphan in Willowby, had had just enough discipline from Jeb Climber, who ran the livery and the general store, so as not to go around plowing into girls even when the girl in question deserved it. 
    Even a piggy mean girl like Emily.
    Or maybe he was just scared.
    Or stupid. Jo couldn’t decide.
    “There’s disease in that mud,” said Emily, emphasizing the end of the word: dis-EASE. “Tapeworms, too.”
    “Are not,” said Jo.
    “They burrow through the soles of your feet.”
    A sudden itch left Jo wanting to wiggle her toes. 

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy.


30 comments:

  1. Waiting for a Comet looks like a wonderful story. I like that it takes place in Wyoming and in my favorite time period of 1910. I'm think I'm like Emily about the dirt--disease lurks there. LOL
    I wish you great success with this new release, Richard.
    All the best to your corner of the universe...

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    1. Thank you, Sarah! This was so much fun to write. We visited the area around Wheatland last summer, and everything sort of came together from there. I love that time too, just after the turn of the century when everything was new!

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  2. Love the excerpt, Richard! I've got to read this one. Your description of the setting is so vivid, I'm right there with the characters.

    Welcome to the PRP family! :-)

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    1. I hope you enjoy it, Kathleen. Thank you for everything you do! You guys are the best!

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  3. Love the cover, like the concept, and also like Richard's writing, so I'll be downloading, no need to enter me in the draw! :)

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    1. Thanks, Nik! Your kind words mean a lot to me. Painted Pony did a terrific job with that cover. I love it!

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  4. I like the sound of this. one. Want it.

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    1. Please let me know what you think, Randy! Every time I look back over it, I can hear echoes of my great aunt, Rose, who was close to Jo's age in 1910, and who told me about the comet hysteria in Bloomfield.

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  5. Great title! You guys are doing fantastic work ... Great cover as well ...

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  6. Sounds like an interesting read!

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  7. I'm always on the look-out for stories for my 9-yr-old granddaughter (and myself) who reads with voracious abandon. I'll point her (and me) and her electronic reader toward this story. Sounds like great reading fun. ;-)

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  8. Thank you Kaye! Hope you both enjoy it!

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  9. Sounds like a great read! Best of luck, Richard!

    --Kirsten

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    1. Thanks, Kirsten! Please let us know what you think of it!

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  10. I felt like I was looking at my childhood, not that anything like that ever happened to me, just the feel and conversation. Sounds like winner Doris

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    1. Doris, my own childhood really started seeping in as I wrote. Not so much any one scene, but some of the loneliness and impatience for the future. Hope you enjoy it.

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  11. Richard, I love the final outcome of this story--the way you lengthened it really made it strong, and now I can see a few other stories with Jo and Frog in the future! (I HOPE!) This is really a good one! And I just love the cover that Livia did for you.
    Cheryl

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  12. Thanks Cheryl! Jo and Frog and Abby are just beginning to discover the mystery and adventure in Willowby! The dog days of summer are coming! (Tease!) And that cover is indeed beautiful!

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  13. Looks good Richard! Congrats on your new release :-) What a beautiful Livia Original!!

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  14. Thank you Sara! Please let us know what'cha think of it.

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  15. That excerpt is wonderful.
    Congratulations, Richard.

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    1. Thanks, Melissa! Much appreciated. I hope you enjoy the book.

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  16. AND TODAY'S WINNER IS....

    RANDY JOHNSON!

    Randy if you will e-mail me at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com I will see that you get your prize!

    Thanks to everyone for participating today--Waiting for a Comet is a GREAT read!

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    1. Let somone else win the prize. Already purchased, read, and posted on my blog. Terrific story. Should have mentioned sooner. Sorry.

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  17. I've been waiting for this one! Sounds so good--I'm anxious to read it and I know my grandson would be interested, too.

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    1. Hi Jacquie! I hope your grandson likes it. believe it's just as enjoyable for boys as for girls. At that age I read anything I could, including Nancy Drew and The Black Stallion books --traditionally for girls. It shouldn't matter if the story is good!

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  18. As others have said, 1910 was a wonderful era. That was the year the dam was built in Williams, IN. Supposedly my grandpa was the first in line to be hired. The dam is still there but no power plant. The title about the comet caught my eye. The appearance of Halley's Comet in 1985 was disappointing. Your protrayal of youngsters is right on and so vivid. I hope you do well with this novel.

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    1. Larry, my great-great aunt was alive for both appearances and just shook her head that second time around, saying "Even the comet's not as good as it used to be." Thanks for your kind words. I hope you enjoy the story.

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