Western Trepidation
When I got the sample of Lejube Rogue in the mail, I thought, "A western. Huh. OK. Stone Dragon's supposed to be cross-genre and all that;" but what I was really thinking was, "A western! Oh no! Westerns are trash literature."

Well, that's just plain dopey. I love western films--there's something je oui sais American about them or something. Westerns reflect the era that made them: 30's westerns are about the 30's, 40's westerns about the 40's, and so on. Each era remakes the western in its own image.

On top of that, I realised that if the book began "Oregon's Planet, 2873" instead of "Oregon 1873", I woonta thunk twice about its genre.

So, with love of westerns in my heart, I put my trash-talking prejudices on hold and read the MS. When I got to page 25, I quickly turned to…page 1! Crikey! Where was the rest of the book??

We only require authors to send 25 pages.

Humph.

I threw the MS to my chief reader. "Tell me what you think," I said and went on to other slushpile MSS. Thirty minutes later, she called into question the legal nature of my parents union at the time of my conception and demanded page 26. "Uh, sorry," I said. "We only require 25 pages."

"Well, get the rest of the book, the gods damn you! I want to know what happens!"

I did, and here it is, and I hope you find it as much a page turner as I did.

—CJS

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The Legend of Lejube Rogue is a finalist for the Eppie 2000 Award in the historical category. The Award is given for the best e-book (in a given category) published prior to Jan.1, 2000

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DEMON OR HUMAN? • BOY OR MAN? • INDIAN OR WHITE? • KILLER OR HEALER? • FACT OR LEGEND?

The name Lejube Rogue put fear in the hearts of good and evil alike, and his fame and his infamy spread before him.

Nothing would stand between him and his father's killer, his mother's ravager—nothing but the innocent heart of a little girl lost and his promise to save her.