Welcome to Western Fictioneers
An organization of professional authors of western novels and short stories.
I love stories. I love telling stories. I developed that love as a child in an agricultural region in the Midwest near the Mississippi River. In that multi-generational community, where there were few young people, the stories I heard fascinated me.
Stories of my German ancestors coming across the Atlantic Ocean, the Mormons, and their conflicts with the other settlers in the region before the journey to Salt Lake City, became real in my imagination. On my solitary walks, I could see the mob storming the Carthage jail to end the life of Joseph Smith. I would spend many an afternoon at that same jail listening to the story over and over. I remember asking if the bloodstain on the floor had been enhanced with iodine.
The story of Mr. Fleming's father, who hated all people of color, but would hire a person of color, demanding that he sit at the table with the rest of the men. He would not tolerate the man being treated any differently from anyone else. This was a strong lesson in how people say one thing and do another.
The community stories, the books, the people have stayed with me through the years. They were the influences for characters I played on stage or the songs I performed. Some of them, along with their stories, made it into my one-person show, and in the stories, I write.
Most of all, the thing that has stayed with me is how these stories were about community. The people, as diverse and flawed as they were, came together to help each other grow and allow the community to thrive. It was by helping each other this small agricultural community shared their gifts with the rest of the world. It was helping a neighbor with the harvest, supporting businesses, it was helping those who were struggling and by helping them you helped yourself.
I appreciate the honor you’ve given me to be a part of this legacy. I will continue to tell the story of this organization and its members with your help. Moving forward from the unexpected interruptions to our lives the support this organization offers is even more important. Communication, sharing stories, and work, whether via phone, digital or face to face, we need to talk and share with each other.
This community I grew up in is no different from any other community yesterday or today. We as Western storytellers are the same as that small community. By helping and supporting each other the community can only be stronger. A community composed of diverse people with similar stories like those I grew up with. We all have something to offer, and by offering it together as a community we will continue to grow, sharing our love of the West and Western stories with the rest of the world. As Mr. Clemens, who grew up seventy miles from my home town, said of his work, “My books are water, those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.” It’s to share our ‘water’ with the world.
Doris McCraw
President Western Fictioneers 2022-2024
Submissions for the 13th Annual Peacemaker Awards are nowOpen
For Western Novels and Short Fiction Published in 2022
The crack of the whip! The pounding of hooves! The Thunder of stagecoach wheels! It’s all here in 15 tales of old west adventure edited by Richard Prosch and written by the following authors:
Terry Alexander — J.D. Arnold — Dennis Doty — J.L. Guin — J.E.S. Hays — Gail Heath — Jackson Lowry — Jeffrey J. Mariotte — Edward Massey — Terrence McCauley — Von McKee — Cheryl Pierson — James Reasoner — Charlie Steel — Benjamin Thomas — Big Jim Williams, with an introduction by Doris Gardner-McCraw President, Western Fictioneers.
Western Fictioneers (WF) was formed in 2010 by Robert J. Randisi, James Reasoner, Frank Roderus, L.J. Washburn, and other professional Western writers, to preserve, honor, and promote traditional Western writing in the 21st century. Entries were accepted in both print and electronic forms. The Peacemaker Awards are given out annually. Submissions for the Peacemaker Awards for books published in 2023 will be open in July, 2023. Submission guidelines will be posted on the WF web site at that time.
