When I was a kid, way back in a time before cable TV, my sister and I used to watch Little House on the Prairie every afternoon. We loved that show. I wanted to live in that time. My family life was not as idyllic as the Ingalls’ seemed. So, I would imagine a simpler existence. It wasn’t such a stretch. I grew up on a farm. But we certainly had the advantage of, you know, electricity and indoor plumbing.

Still, that era fascinated me. The seeming purity of it all. The adventure. The danger, yes, but I was a kid, so it seemed, well, exciting. And my idea of the West was Hollywoodized.

In fact, we were so committed to watching the show that even when the picture tube blew (told you it was way back…) we would sit and stare at the dark screen and listen to the show. After all, we’d already seen all the episodes. So, we let our minds’ eyes take over.

There’s a reason I’m reminiscing about that as I write this. You see, I have a very exciting release to tell you about this week. One, because it’s our first New Adult novel. Second, because it’s a Western Adventure story that transports you back to the real West—not the Hollywood West—with such detail that you’ll think you’ve traveled back in time.

The book is Headed West, the first in The Life and Times of Buffalo Jimmy series, by Dean Wesley Smith.

Some of you will have read this in serialized form in Smith’s Monthly. But now, it’s available as a standalone novel.

Here’s the synopsis: 

1866: Jimmy Gray’s parents killed by an evil man, Jimmy’s brother wounded, the family treasure in the form of a gold mine deed stolen.

Jimmy finds himself alone and facing a deadly journey west to track and find the man who killed his parents.

Can Jimmy, his first time out of the big eastern cities, learn the ways of the West fast enough to stay alive?

Maybe with a little help from some friends.

We all need our own posse of good friends to help us through the hard times. And I can’t wait to see how Jimmy’s friends help him next (hint, hint Dean).

So, please be sure to check out this new novel. It’s a wonderful diversion on a cold winter’s day.

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.