Author bags two awards for Western stories
Chris Smith has written 16 books,15 Westerns and one fantasy story. He is currently busy with his 17th book, also a Western which he hopes to complete in the next two weeks.
Umtentweni author Chris Smith recently received two awards for his Western short story, ‘Life’s Tough on the Mountain’ and book, ‘Death on the Mountain’ which is part of his Jim Taylor series of Mountain Man.
Smith said the short story is about a mountain man who is ambushed and left for dead by two men who want to steal his cache of furs.
“The man has to cope with his gunshot wound while stalking the two men through the woods. He goes through two vicious fights before emerging victorious,” said Smith
He said he won a Firebird Book Award, a USA-based competition and he also won an internal award at Dusty Saddle Publishing for his short story.
Smith said he is honoured as he always wanted to write books from a young age.
“I have written 16 books, 15 are Westerns and one is a fantasy story. I am currently on my 17th book, also a Western and I am hoping to complete it in the next two weeks. Initially I wrote 20 000 words of the first book which I gave to my brother and friends to read, and I received positive feedback.
It was a challenge finding a publisher, I self-published and the book got a five-star rating which was amazing,” said Smith.
In 2020 he found a publisher of Western books and two days later he was signed up.
Smith added that his style of writing from his first attempt to now has improved.
“Looking at my previous work, I could cringe. I have realised that I have learnt a lot from reading books by Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, Lee Child and Robert Ludlum. They taught me different styles which I have tried to incorporate into my Western books. The style leaves the readers wanting to know what will happen next.
“I chose to write Westerns as I have always enjoyed murder mysteries, spy novels and police procedurals. Another author who has inspired me is Louis L ‘Amour, his work captures you and takes you into the story as if you are one of the characters,” Smith explained.
His books are available as hard copies or e-books, and two audio books will be published by year-end.
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