Jerrod, Texas has lost population after several years of crop failures and the closing of the railroad. Multi-generation feuds and crimes of frustration become more prominent. (waynehughes.net)
Telling rural Texas stories
I grew up in a small Texas town, a good place to spend my youth because everyone knew me and cared about me, like it or not. Those memories inspired the Jerrod Series.
Wayne Hughes
author /narrator
TheJerrod Series
"An absorbing slow-burn approach and simpatico characters make this a standout novel." Kirkus Reviews
"The author eschews the typical propulsive pace of a crime novel in favor of a more measured, almost literary speed." Kirkus Reviews
Kilborn is a classic tale of the most enduring conflicts: father v. son, age v. youth, sanity v. madness.
Drake Kilborn, a virtuoso spray plane pilot, the golden boy of his hometown, Jerrod, TX, and victim of his own encroaching madness, is center stage as his mental health worsens. He's in the sights of Texas Ranger Freddy Espinoza who works for him undercover. Here's a revealing conversation between Freddy and Drake:
“Drake, whatcha doin’?”
Drake picked up a crescent wrench and scratched the side of his jaw with it. “Fixin’ it.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
Drake giggled and looked to one side, cocked his head down as if sharing a secret. “Don’t know. I’m gonna find out. Look at all this stuff. It looks like worms in here,” he said, pointing to the engine well.
Espinoza begins with Texas Ranger Freddy Espinoza being called to the wreck scene where Drake Kilborn is being attacked by a feral hog.
"As they moved closer to the creek, the stinging, acrid smell grew stronger as a primal cacophony of squeals and grunts rose from the creek bottom.
Baker moved beside Freddy. You want me to hold your light?”
Freddy’s first shot puffed a plume of sand in front of the beast’s snout, causing it to flinch, look up,
The beast squealed as the third shot hit him. He turned and stumbled halfway up the opposite bank, paused, tumbled to the bottom on his back, kicked the air and fell still."
Hughes is an expert in telling a story through dialog between his well-developed characters. Mike Powell, Dallas
Dan Baker is loved by most in the small town of Jerrod, Texas. Everyone except Virgil Hoover. The animosity between the two families runs deep, spanning three generations, reaching its peak when Hoover loses most of his farm to bankruptcy. Dan outbids him at an auction for a piece of farm equipment, further fueling Virgil's hatred, sparking a brutal attack, leaving Dan with a severe head injury.
Dan is plunged into a traumatic new reality. With his memory faltering, he becomes lost in a confusing maze of time and place. As the lapses grow more profound, the possibility of following his father's footsteps looms large.
Time Lost is a haunting exploration of one man's journey through the depths of his own mind, with lost memories, strained friendships, and stolen time, as he fights to hold on to the moments that define his existence.
"Readers looking for a well-told story with flawed, intriguing characters should enjoy McTague." Blueink
Scotty McTague has decided it will be his last year running the family's commercial wheat-harvesting business.
“This is it. It ends this year,” Scotty McTague whispered. He massaged his left hand, rubbing the tingle away.
He wiped his hands with the ever-present red rag. From the top of the John Deere Harvester, he could see miles in any direction.
He took his baseball cap off and wiped the sweat from his bald head with the back of his hand. Three hours after sunrise, the heat was setting a mirage over the small Texas cotton-farming town of Jerrod, five miles away. He shrugged, took the ratchet wrench out of his back pocket, and lined it up with the nut on a pulley. He pushed hard. The wrench came off and banged out of sight toward the bottom of the machine.
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
President Thomas Jefferson
And so it is with the Jerrod Citizen, the 90-year-old weekly that covers weddings, funerals, garage sales, courthouse intrigues, and an occasional fatal wreck.
Jack Knowles, editor for two decades, has endeared himself to the community for his insistence that the truth be told, regardless of the consequences. His weekly I Saw front page column chronicles the comings and goings in downtown Jerrod.
The fictitious Citizen is published occasionally to tell back stories that touches on the lives and missteps of those who populate the Jerrod Series.
Click on the front page at left to visit the Jerrod Citizen page for a look at the news it has shared throughout the five books.
The monthly newsletter
The Jerrod Series monthly electronic newsletters are my ruminations about the writer's life as I see it, with a particular focus on the current work in progress.
Nameless to this point, book five of the Jerrod Series explores the relationship between a hardcore rancher and a friend who reveals himself as a time-traveling guardian of an important artifact buried on the ranch. It's science fiction with a touch of time-bending and old leather.
The newsletter includes opportunities for free print books and audio versions. Of course,It wouldn't be complete without a pithy quote on the importance of the written word and how its formed.
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Visit The Cardwell Ranch Stories, family-friendly books about life on a Texas Panhandle ranch written and illustrated by Linda Dee Hughes.
