New Novel Writer
Eric and Maggie have everything they need - in each other and, therefore, everything they need in life.
But can it be enough?
Our story is set in the late 1960's, moving quickly from the busy industrial Midlands city of Leicester to the wide open spaces of the Wyoming grasslands and Casper, close to where, a century ago, Custer made his last stand against the Lakota Sioux.
They met one fateful Saturday night as many did in those days. For some, an evening on a Nottingham dance floor would be wild enough.
Not so for Eric and Maggie.
Breaking out of their mundane - but safe - existence, they give up their jobs for ranch life in the new Wild West.
A dude ranch.
Taking life's challenges as they come, they gain acceptance from Jim Schultz, the owner of The Lazy B, Red, the Sioux ranch boss and his wife and, finally Cary - a fellow work hand with a rebel streak and a taste for fine liquor and women.
As their time unfolds, Eric, Maggie and their new friends face adversity typical of the life and times. Follow their fortunes as they come to understand the natural - wild - world of Wyoming, complete with wolves, wild mustangs, golden eagles, the enigmatic grizzly and, the ultimate prize; the white buffalo.
Eric and Maggie's roots are never far away. The ranch owner was himself from rural Leicestershire where, in a previous life, he founded his own micro-industry. Even today it remains an enduring legend in local village lore.
Our story is much more than a historical western drama, or indeed a love story, or indeed a saga of how the 'New West' was won.
We explore the culture of the indigenous Sioux, their part in preserving the rich natural heritage of the American heartland, including the mystical heritage that sustains the native American Indian to this day.
Eric and Maggie allow their wild hearts to roam free.
In this easy read, the author invites you to join them on their journey. Available on Amazon under author list.
Wild Hearts Roam Free
An American tale of the new Wild West
Eric and Maggie first featured in the short story 'UNRESOLVED?'. (Pssst...more short stories here.)
'Wild Hearts' transports you to the wilds of Wyoming grasslands as our story unfolds, taking in the culture of the Native American Indian, legends surrounding the indigenous wildlife, and the pioneer spirit that still exists where, can you really buy an acre of land for a dollar under the Homestead Act?
From the author who gave you the 4-book series 'Love should never be this hard', this easy read is for men with romance in their hearts, AND the ladies.
The mystery and legend of the white buffalo calf woman
Revisionist Westerns
The early days of the western movie featured a Hollywood-style cleaned up version of what the pioneers of the Wild West were really like; and what challenges they really faced.
It's what we perceive if we are to accept the contrasting picture portrayed in the late 1960's and thereafter.
That's when 'revisionist westerns' probably began to replace the standard Roy Rogers and Gene Autry model, popular during and soon after World War II.
'Soldier Blue' and 'The Wild Bunch' - with seemingly gratuitous violence - replaced the previous sanitized view of the American West, with Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood releasing a series of 'Spaghetti Westerns' that redefined the genre.
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid were real, historical figures and the movie was filmed to be entertaining, but from a real perspective.
Revisionist Westerns and the 'Wild Hearts' series
So where are we now?
Latterly on the small TV and big cinema screen, the above films as well as Dances With Wolves, Yellowstone, the Longmire series and Lonesome Dove have cemented a relatively new style, leaving us in no doubt what to expect by the term 'Western'.
Judging by the size of film budgets invested, this new attempt at 'realism' of story-line as well as of character and location would appear to be successful and popular with today's audience.
What does this mean for the novelist within this new genre?
Hopefully new opportunity. Doubtless, the development and application of new filming techniques and technologies only enhance these opportunities for the author when translating the written word in 'movies'. But at the earlier, writing, stage there seems to be a thirst for - and therefore a market - for societal issues to be aired. They become a matter for debate.
Chief Sitting Bull
This can only be a good thing. Many cultural and ethnic issues are just as debatable and relevant now, as they were a hundred years ago.
One only has to embark on a 'then and now' comparison of the plight of the Native American Indian to appreciate that.
The world has changed, whilst in many cases social injustices affecting descendants of those who witnessed or took part in The Battle of Greasy Grass, may not have.
That has to change.
The 'Wild Hearts' series - in both Wild Hearts Roam Free and Wild Hearts Come Home - addresses some of the cultural values of the Lakota Sioux nation, for example.
They are covered with sensitivity and without overtly violent content.
Admittedly, events and beliefs that are central to the culture in real life are fictionalized to become part of the story-line. Hopefully, the reader will see them as a celebration, whilst expressed in such a respectful way and careful not to degrade the gravitas of the subjects.
The books by J S Morey are written to entertain and also to inform in an entertaining way and again, hopefully, to encourage the reader to delve more into the background to the subject.
The 'WILD HEARTS' series offers a softer romantic approach aimed at honoring the traditions of the Native American.