Stan Paregien, Editor
Louise Shadduck
An Idaho journalist, Louise Shadduck has worked for the Coeur d/Arlene Press, and for the Spokane Spokesman-Review. Her books include Doctors With Buggies, Snowshoes, and Planes, and the book, Andy Little--Idaho Sheep King, which won awards from both Idaho Press Women and the National Federation of Press Women.
Douglas D. Sharp,
Douglas D. Sharp, a Canadian, is the editor and publisher of Western Digest, a new magazine featuring Western fiction and cowboy poetry (400 Whiteland Dr., NE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T1Y3M7).
Maggie Mae Sharp
Margaret-Maevis Claudia Sharp was born "...some considerable time ago" in a cabin on the Mississippi River in northern Illinois. Raised by her grandparents, she learned early how to stick to a horse, spent most of her early cattle years working with registered Hereford and Angus in the mid-West, & became a crack shot by the age of 8.
After some years of roaming around the country searching for a true "home", Maggie Mae Sharp became a sure-nuff, real Mail-Order Bride and married a rancher in Nevada. Maggie Mae does not recommend purchasing a husband by mail, however, as "...it's costly to return them if they annoy you."
She makes the worst coffee west of the Mississippi River, and it has been repeatedly said that ".....you don't want to feed her biscuits to yer good cowdawg".
Maggie Mae Sharp spent 30 years writing poetry about the things and the land she loves before becoming brave enough to perform in public in Elko, NV without suffering "...imminent heart failure". She now shares her original cowboy poetry with audiences all over the country as she spins her rhyming tales about cowboys, men and women, how and why they love the land they caretake, and about a way of life that is slowly dying.
And, she has made it one of her highest priorities to reeducate the public about the fact that women were also there in the settling of the American West as "cowboys", ranchers, sheriffs, bank robbers and the like, right alongside the men, every step of the way. "...we're not better cowboys", she says of women, "...we were just there, too, and a proven necessary part of the settling of the great West. Great-Grandma had to be able to do whatever Great-Grandpa would do around the homestead, six-guns and all, and with a baby on her hip, to boot. Our history books do not illuminate those facts."
She makes her audiences laugh until their sides hurt, or cry -- all the while believing that they're right there on that windswept knoll, 100 years ago. And from her side-splitting poems of ranch humor to the hauntingly beautiful tale of "The Huntress", Maggie Mae manages to hold her audiences spellbound time after time.
As the President of Ruby Ranch Cattle Company, Maggie Mae raises "...a few scraggly longhorns", and has produced 5 albums to date: "The Huntress," "Hookers Gone Outlaw," "Huntress II....Legends Only," and "A Little Piece of Maggie's Heart". On her newest album, "Take the Long Way Home," the title poem dramatically tells the story of women on the wagon trains that headed West. She also has a 3-album set, "One Woman's Voice," and a lovely pink chapbook, Tales of a Mail Order Bride.
In the Fall of 1996, Maggie Mae Sharp was presented with the Will Rogers Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Advancement of Contemporary Cowboy Skills (as National Female Cowboy Poet of 1996) from the Academy of Western Artists. She was also nominated again for the 1997 & 1998 awards (a different artist will win this award each year), with a total of 4 nominations for 1997 and 3 nominations for 1998, the most nominations to be held by one artist in a given year.
Recently, her book "The Huntress", (now in its 3rd printing), was nominated for a Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and was also nominated in 1997 & 1998 for "Book of the Year" from the Academy of Western Artists. With 48 pages beautifully illustrated in pen and ink, it tells the haunting tale of a lady bounty hunter in 1895, and also serves as the outline for her novel-in-progress of the same title.
Maggie Mae Sharp began her performance career in Elko, NV, and since then she has been a repeated featured performer in Arvada, CO; Prescott, AZ; Silver City, NM; Sierra Vista, AZ; Garden City, KS; Dodge City, KS; Valentine, NE; Colorado Springs, CO; Boston, MA; Safford, AZ; Abilene, TX; the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, OK; Beebe, AR; La Veta, CO; Longview, TX; Ruidoso, NM; Ridgway, CO; and the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, TX.
A Board Member of the Black Forest Art Guild and an active member of the Pikes Peak Arts Council, Maggie Mae Sharp is currently writing three books: The Huntress (a Historical Romance), Searching for Mr. Right, a self-help book on self-esteem, and Resign in Power, a self-help book on how to leave dysfunctional organizations.
Also a renowned Motivational Storyteller and Public Speaker, Maggie Mae guest lectures in university-level Women's Studies programs on self-esteem issues, shares her "Searching for Mr. Right Workshops" with women's groups, and regularly guest-hosts on two talk radio shows.
You can email Maggie at: huntress@iex.net
Georgeann Sheets
A cowboy poet, Georgeann Sheets' books include Sheets In the Wind!, and Ridin' the Range and Actin' Strange. Her work has been published in Nebraska Cattleman, The Western Pocket, Nebraska Farmer, North Platte Tribune, Grand County News, The Burwell Tribune, The Fence Post, Brush Strokes, and in ByLine Magazine.
Hank Sheffer & Sharyn Sheffer
Hank Sheffer and Sharyn Sheffer, husband and wife, were the Executive Directors of the Western Music Association for several years. Phone 520-743-9794. They were responsible for producing the annual "International Western Music Festival" usually held in Tucson each November.
Jory Sherman
Jory Sherman, poet and author, was born in St. Paul, Minn. on Oct. 20, 1932. He has been a full-time writer for over forty years. Jory began writing at age 8, when he was grief-stricken over the death of his puppy, Doopers. He read James Joyce's Ulysses at the age of 10 and fell in love with language.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1950-1953. He is a former advertising copywriter, computer programmer, actor, newspaper reporter and editor, and magazine editor.
He began his writing career as a poet in San Francisco. He has published widely in such journals as: Renaissance, The New York Herald Tribune, Literary, Signet and many other publications and anthologies.
Jory Sherman had four books of poetry published, all of which went through multiple printings. Warren French, A Professor of Literature at the University of Florida, noted: "Jory Sherman has a strange and powerful knowledge of language and an almost perfect ear."
Since 1965, Sherman has published more than 1000 articles, 500 short stories and over 300 books. He has won numerous awards for his poetry and prose and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his novel, Grass Kingdom.
Jory Sherman has written many Western novels under such names as Cort Martin, Walt Denver and Hank Mitchum.
Jory Sherman has also been a book producer, creating series for Zebra, Avon, Bantam, and Paperjacks, and packaging for Harlequin/Gold Eagle, Frontier Library, and others.
Sherman created the successful "Rivers West" series, published by Bantam. He wrote five novels for the series: The Arkansas River (1991, The Rio Grande (1994), The Columbia River (1996), The South Platte, and The Brazos.
Under his own name, Jory Sherman wrote some 29 books in the "Gunn" series for Zebra Books. A sampling of his books includes Ride Hard, Ride Fast (1976), Buzzard Bait (1977), Hellfire Trail (1979), Duel in Purgatory (1981), The Widow Maker (1982), Drygulched (1983), Red Tomahawk (1984), Winter of the Wolf (1987), The Dark Land (2001), Sunset Rider (Berkley, 2002), and Texas Dust (Berkley, 2004).
Jory Sherman won a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for his book, The Medicine Horn (Tor, 1991).
In 1996 he was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America.
The Missouri Writers Guild chose Sherman's book, The Dark Land (Berkley), as "Best Book" in their 2002 writers contest.
Though he is now legally blind, Jory continues a writing schedule that would tax even a young and perfectly healthy writer. He continues to sell his manuscripts of novels and short stories to a wide range of publishers.
In an essay titled, "What Is A Western Writer?," Jory states: "We are those now called Western writers and we are proud to carry the label. We still ride the West on a horse called History, singing our old songs and telling the grand stories of yesteryear."
Well said, amigo, well said.
Jory and Charlotte Sherman were married in 1968 They live on Lake Bob Sandlin, near Pittsburg, Texas.
Personal Note: I met Jory Sherman when he was a featured speaker at a writers conference in Oklahoma City in about 1984. I was there because he had published a number of Western novels and I wanted whatever tips he could offer. He invited me to attend an upcoming annual conference of the Western Writers of America that he was chairing, to be held that year in Branson, Missouri. I did go to that WWA conference and met many of the writers that I had read for years but with no dream of actually meeting. That was quite a treat.
CLICK HERE to go to Jory Sherman's own official web site.
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors.
Therefore, all Western entertainers and/or their agents
are requested to submit recommended changes by
contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address.
Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
--- Psalm 103:1-2
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.