Fiction Western Archives

Dec 12th Reckoning by Mike Torreano

Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Mike Torreano, author of The Reckoning, an historical western set in 1868.

Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled over on the counter. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets see what The Reckoning is all about. Thanks for joining us!

Mike tell us what inspired this particular story?

Well, Tena, since I’m a pantser, I really didn’t have much of an idea how The Reckoning would unfold. I took a well-known historical fact-Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas in 1863-and spun a western mystery out of it, but I didn’t necessarily have that in mind when I started the story. So, when people ask me what I write, I like to say I write mysteries!

I’d always had the idea of writing a traditional western in the back of my head ever since this Ohio schoolboy discovered Zane Grey in elementary school. I fell in love with the West then, and feel so fortunate to live in Colorado now.

Writing The Reckoning was an adventure, as it usually is for pantsers. The story just unfolded as Ike traveled from Kansas to the high mountain valley of South Park to search for his parents’ killers. I also wanted my story to have strong women alongside strong men, as that’s what it took to survive in the American West in the late nineteenth century.

And yes, one of the advantages of being a pantser is that your characters sometimes do things you never expect. In more than one scene of The Reckoning, my fingers took off and I let them twist and turn the story as they found fit. Unexpected creativity is one of the advantages of being a pantser, but there are certainly drawbacks as well. Like staring at a blank page, and saying to yourself, ‘What happens now’? 🙂

I can certainly relate as I write by the seat of my pants too! LOL I understand this odd looking contraption you’ve brought with you is a time machine and you’re going to take us back to 1868 to observe a conversation with Ike McAlister of The Reckoning. Right?

Exactly, back to June of 1868. Okay here we go.

Everything fades in a whirl of color then suddenly stopped.

The Cottonwood (Colorado) Courier interview with Ike McAlister of The Reckoning, June 1868

Courier: Thank you for taking a few minutes with me this morning. (Panting from keeping up with Ike’s long strides).

Ike: (Nods). You’re welcome, but I’m not sure why you’d want to talk with me. I’m new around here.

Courier: I’ve heard you have an interesting background. Except for the Civil War, you’ve always lived in Kansas, is that right? What brings you to Colorado?

Ike: Just felt like I wore my welcome out back there.

Courier: There’s rumors you were a vigilante in Kansas after the war.

Ike: (Stops, strikes a match and lights up). Is that what people say? That I’m a vigilante? Are they sayin’ anything about the Quantrill’s Raiders that killed my folks? And about how no one ever brought any of them to justice? Not likely anyone else is gonna track them down, either. Most men I know would do the same thing I’m doin’. (Stares down at reporter).

Courier: Are you asking me what I’d do in the same situation?

Ike: Not really.

Courier: It’s obvious I’ve touched a nerve.

Ike: Anything else?

Courier: Just a few more questions. I know your sister, Sue, recently disappeared here in Cottonwood. Do you have any clues about what happened to her?

Ike: (Takes a drag). Wish I did. Seems like she just up and vanished in thin air, but she can take care of herself. Always has.

Courier: Does that mean you’re not looking for her?

Ike: (Glares). I’m lookin’ for her. What kind of a brother would I be if I didn’t? I’ll find her.

Courier: I detect a note of anger, or is that uncertainty, in your voice?

Ike: Just stick to your questions.

Courier: What if you never…

Ike: Next question.

Courier: So I hear you’re staying at Lorraine Blanchard’s boarding house. How is that working out?

Ike: What do you mean? (Rubs his beard).

Courier: I don’t mean anything in particular, just that you’re both single and…

Ike: (Reddens). Better stop right there. (Long exhale).

Courier: All right, back to my first question. What brought you and your sister out here?

Ike: My brother, Rob, came out too. We’ve been lookin’ for a good place to make a new start. Cottonwood seems like a nice place.

Courier: The word around town is you’re looking for something all right, but it’s not just a good place to make a new start. That you’re looking for someone in particular here.

Ike: I’m lookin’ to make things right. Anything wrong with that? (Cocks his head at the reporter).

Courier: So, it’s true. You think your folks’ killers are here in Cottonwood, don’t you?

Ike: Hard to say.

Courier: Do you think your sister’s disappearance is connected to your search for them?

Ike: Might be. I’m here to find that out or die tryin’. (Walks away).

The scene fades and the whirl of color returns and stops just like before.

WHEW, what a ride. (I open one eye to make sure we are back to 2017.) Yep!

Mike, tell us a little more about The Reckoning.

Ike McAlister returns home to Kansas after the Civil War, his soul bruised and empty. Worse, his parents have been killed by Quantrills raiders who are still on the loose. No stranger to death and destruction, he vows to run the killers down. A clue leads him to the high plains of Colorado, but when his sister, Sue, disappears from there, his world quickly spins out of control. In the midst of this turmoil, a feisty landlady sparks an attraction, the only good thing in Ike’s life. Racing against time, he must make a deadly choice. If he continues to pursue the killers, Sue will likely never be found. But if he veers off to find his sister, the killers trail will go cold. Which track to follow? Will the love of family triumph in his broken heart, or will it be the passionate hate of revenge?

How about a peek between the pages of The Reckoning:

The cards were coming up aces for the scruffy cowboy across from him. The man was cheating, but Ike couldn’t see how. Ike had been losing to the surly wrangler for more than an hour and still hadn’t figured out his tricks. From what he could see, the man’s shuffle looked okay. His deal looked okay. It had to be something else. The sooner he figured it out the better. The stash of money in front of him had dwindled to next to nothing.

One of the players asked Ike where he was from. “I’m from back east a ways. Came here lookin’ for somebody.”

“Sounds like you’re looking for someone in particular. Mind my asking who?”

The man was a proper-looking sort in a black suit and bolo tie, both out of place in a rundown saloon like the Wildfire. He resembled a banker. Ike decided he might as well answer since he’d already told the sheriff why he was here. “I’m lookin’ for my sister, Sue.”

The cowboy spun a card to Ike that flew off the table. “That one got away from me.”

You can find The Reckoning at Amazon, The Wild Rose Press and other online retail outlets.

More about the author:

Mike writes historical fiction and westerns set in late 19th century America. Growing up in Ohio, he developed a love for the West during grade school when he read every Zane Gray novel he could lay his hands on. His favorite authors in this genre are Gray, Louis L’amour, and Jack London. Favorite poet associated with the North is Robert Service, several of whose poems Mike has memorized and recites.
Mike wrote a short story called The Trade, which is published in an anthology available on Amazon based on his grandfather’s time in the Yukon Gold Rush from 1898-1900. It grew from a kernel of a story his mother shared with him about a dramatic incident his grandfather experienced there.
The Reckoning is his first published novel-thank you, The Wild Rose Press! Set in Colorado during 1868, it’s a tale of murdered parents, a sister’s disappearance, the love of a feisty landlady and a son’s revenge. He’s working on the sequel now and has a trilogy in mind.
He also has a novel titled Fireflies At Dusk set during the Civil War. It is currently gathering dust on an electronic shelf and is a coming of age tale of a young man who throws off his pacifist upbringing and joins the Union Army. The war strips him of his self-respect and he must endure a gritty journey during harsh combat to reclaim it as well as his sweetheart.

You can find Mike at:

Website miketorreano.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miketorreano

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mike_torreano

It was wonderful having you with us today, Mike and Ike. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with The Reckoning.