Here's the Rest of the Western Magazine Digest Story

Al Colombo, Author

Howdy, partner!

You already know the weekly publication side of Western Magazine Digest (WMD), but as Paul Harvey use to say, "here's the rest of the story." Besides publishing feature stories weekly, we also feature news and comment via our social media channels (Facebook and Twitter). If you're not tuning in to these two social media channels, then you're only getting part of our story.

For example, yesterday we sent out several news items, two of which I thought should be of great interest to our WMD readers. The one in Argus Courier, entitled "Petaluma’s Past: Northern California’s ‘Indian War,'" discusses the one and only Indian war that occurred in the State of California.

When we send our social media notices over our channels, we use a simple formula. We usually carry one or two sentences, we add three or four hashtags (to draw the attention of other social media networks), as well as a link. Photos are either natively provided by way of migration through the respective social media channel, or we add them where it seems appropriate.

Here's an example of our California Indian social media notice, along with a screen shot (above):

Petaluma’s Past: Northern California’s ‘Indian War’ | #TpromoCom #WMD #Indian #War | It was the only actual “Indian War” in California history. And the only Native American uprising in which a U.S. Major General was killed. One-hundred-forty-six years ago, Sonoma County and Petaluma were terrified.

A second news item carried yesterday was that of a special ranch that provides help with the care of horses for local Tallahassee residents, which is carried by WTXL, channel 27, an abc affiliate:

Triple R Horse Rescue giving horses second chances at life | #TpromoCom #WMD #Horse #Rescue | Rescue and rehabilitation ranch, that's what the Rs stands for in Triple R Horse Ranch. After 10 years, the group has grown, but their mission remains the same. (see the blurb below)

According to the author, Jennifer Meyers of WTXL, "Triple R Horse Rescue doesn't just bring in abused horses to make them healthy. They truly give these animals a second chance at life, just like Choco, who has been here for two and a half years."

Headlines from other recent news postings include:

• Gunslingers bring Old West to Central Virginia
• Arizona's 'Superstitions' mountain range home to myth and legend
• Editors’ Picks 2019: Standard Manufacturing Single-Action Revolver
• Last rodeo: Cowboy calls it a career after 28 years
• A Cowboy’s Faith: Cold night healthcare rewarded

To read these and other items on our social media channels, click on the icons below:

Where the Inspiration Comes From

Currently there are two authors at work on the WMD, Gary Miller and myself.

Gary Miller (left), Al Colombo (right)

I believe I speak for both Gary and myself when I tell you that the inspiration for our stories comes from a variety of places, but the foremost spot is that of the heart.

Both Gary and myself have extensive histories in being a childhood cowboy or an Indian (you have to take turns you know). The countless hours that we, as young boys, played "cowboys and Indians" helps fuel the fire of interest in all things of the Old West.

Gary also has the benefit of caring for and riding horses on a regular basis a time or two during his lifetime. I have relatives in Martinsville, Indiana who have a horse ranch where I also got my feet wet riding a horse or two. And then there are the hundreds of hours spent watching westerns on television and in the movie houses of our youth.

Now that we're older, we draw from those wonderful memories every time we sit down to write a feature story.

Another source of inspiration for myself is that of old western magazines, like the Old West magazine shown on the right. This is the Winter 1982 issue of Old West. From it the trail has led me to two or three feature stories. For example, on page 12 is a story entitled, "Old West Gunfighters: The Men Who Fired in Anger" (see the table of contents below center). This story led to the writing of "Gunfighters of Renown," which we featured in WMD on November 23rd of last year.

A more recent story, entitled "The Historical Photography of Dr. Edward H. Latham," was inspired by another story in the same publication entitled, "A Girlhood Spend With Chief Joseph," on page 18. Through this article I began to research the photographer of that era who's work was featured in that story, Dr. Edward H. Latham. I scanned the pages of this old magazine and featured the photos so you could view it as well. What a treasure.

Last December we featured four stories that culminated from a WMD article entitled "The Story of Bloody Bill Anderson," taken from an action story in Old West magazine, Winter 1978 edition, entitled "Cord of Death." Note that there are links at the bottom of part 1, 2, and 3, as well as a fourth story that culminated from this Old West article.

The thing about these old magazines (I have a huge collection of these collectible treasures), most every story involves real historical data either researched or told to someone who lived it. If you're interested in acquiring one or two of them, contact me at 614-585-2091 or email me. You also can review the few I've managed to add to our eCommerce store.

Be sure to leave a comment or question below. If you do not see the comment box, click on the "no comments:" and you will be on the actual article page. Scroll down and you will find the comment box. Thank you for reading WMD!

--Al Colombo

Looking for Writers

I wish we could dig deeper and provide even more information by way of additional stories on these subjects, but that would not be practical for us at this stage in our publication. In fact, we're looking for additional writers, so if you're a writer, or if you would like to try your hand at writing, I'd be happy to work with you (email me, or call 614-585-2091). If you do not get a response in 48 hours, please try again.

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