I found the first book in the Nations quite by accident. It is an historical western novel, with humor. I cannot stress the merits of this author strong enough. The stories in The Nations series are true-to-life, the old west life. They remind me of some of my ancient ancestors that I barely had a chance to know. Ken’s books contain side-splitting humor, with lots of the same dialogue that I remember from my old family.
And if that’s not enough, Ken Farmer writes in a completely different genre. See his Black Eagle Force – Military Techo-Thrillers below The Nations series.
The Nations
by Ken Farmer and Buck Stienke
Characters So Alive You Could Speak to Them
The Nations, by Ken Farmer and Buck Stienke, is historical fiction at its finest. The fact that it’s FICTION says the authors may take poetic license and slip their story line into real history, real locales, among real people and their culture, and it doesn’t have to be true in the fullest sense of the word. If it were, it would be written for history books. This is fiction and these authors make full use of their poetic license. That’s exactly what I expected when I began to read, but I found so much more.
Not only did the story line keep my interest – I read the book in one evening – I was amazed at the dialogue, which kept me in fits of laughter. These authors didn’t have to describe their characters’ personalities, they built their characters by using dialogue. The language is as I would expect from the time period of the late 1800s, but it was so much more. The side-splitting retorts, metaphors and similes kept coming and I kept flipping pages on my Kindle. And details – what good are details if kept inside the writer’s head? Details make a story and these authors know which details to employ to enhance the settings and action and what to leave out. The historical details included in this story are amazing, not just from the locales and characters, but the guns they used, what clothes were made of, how buildings were built, the food they ate – rustlers on the run definitely aren’t eating home cooking – I could taste the possum stew. So much appropriate detail surrounds you in each scene.
This is the kind of writing I expect in historical fiction. These authors have incredible reserves of information and knowledge about the area locations and peoples of The Nations series. I accidentally happened onto #4 in the series first, but after that, came back to read the rest. Together, these two authors project a voice in their books like no other I have read. If you like historical fiction, I highly recommend this series, not only for the fast moving action, incredibly real characters, but for the language and dialogue of a by-gone era that will have you repeating phrases long after you’ve finished the book.
The above books are just a sampling of Ken Farmer’s stories. He introduces characters in each book and many continue on through future stories, like the Lady Law sin-off series. If you enjoy following an author who has numerous books available, Ken Farmer offers many.
Ken Farmer didn’t write his first full novel until he was sixty-nine years of age. He often wonders what the hell took him so long. At age seventy-six…he’s currently working on novel number twenty-one, fourteen with co-writer, Buck Stienke, and six by himself.
Ken spent thirty years raising cattle and quarter horses in Texas and forty-five years as a professional actor (after a stint in the Marine Corps). Those years gave him a background for storytelling…or as he has been known to say, “I’ve always been a bit of a bull—t artist, so writing novels kind of came naturally once it occurred to me I could put my stories down on paper.”
Ken’s writing style has been likened to a combination of Louis L’Amour and Terry C. Johnston with an occasional Hitchcockian twist…now that’s a mouthful.
In addition to his love for writing fiction, he likes to teach acting, voice-over and writing workshops. His favorite expression is: “Just tell the damn story.”
Writing has become Ken’s second life: he has been a Marine, played collegiate football, been a Texas wildcatter, cattle and horse rancher, professional film and TV actor and now…a novelist. Who knew?
Black Eagle Force – Military Techo-Thrillers
Black Eagle Force – Military Techno-Thrillers – Above Tier One Secret Special Black Ops team created for missions that are not—and cannot—be officially approved. The BEF is made up of former top SEALS, RANGERS, DELTA FORCE, RECON MARINES, Air Force, Navy, and Marine PILOTS, and CIA agents. You never saw us. This never happened. We don’t exist. We are the Black Eagle Force.
“Comparable to Tom Clancy at his best” – Dwight J. Zimmerman
“Action Packed” – Phil Ward
“Sings with authenticity and action” – Jim DeFelice “Rivoting” – Marshall Teague
Black Eagle Force: Eye of the Storm
Black Eagle Force: Sacred Mountain
Return of the Starfighter
Black Eagle Force: Blood Ivory
Black Eagle Force: Fourth Reich Aurora Invasion
Black Eagle Force:ISIS
Ken’s Websites:
In Audio book: www.tinyurl.com/KFarmerAudio
The Nations – Classic Western novel Winner – Laramie Award 2014
Haunted Falls – Historical Western novel – Winner – Laramie Award – 2013
www.TimberCreekPress.net
Book Trailer – https://vimeo.com/109625264
http://tinyurl.com/KenFarmerAmazon
Face Book:
www.facebook.com/KenFarmerAuthor
Ken’s VO Demo:https://soundcloud.com/ken-farmer-1/ken-farmer-vo-demo
Member Western Fictioneers