Every generation has its bogeyman. Before 1969, maybe it was Adolf Hitler. After 2001, Osama bin Laden. But for those 30 or so years in between it was unquestionably an aspiring musician, deeply damaged outlaw, and hippie Svengali named Charles Manson. On two nights in the summer of 1969—the same summer as Woodstock—Manson rose from nobody to America’s most fearsome monster. Born in Ohio to an unwed, 15-year- old girl, Manson’s childhood … [Read more...]
OUTLAW LOS ANGELES Takes Readers To The City Where Anything Is Possible, Even The Ghastly
A sunset cruise through a place where ordinary inhumanities are entertainment... Los Angeles is where America’s dreams and nightmares got all tangled up. In this otherworldly place of seemingly everlasting life, death could have an otherworldly quality, too. In a city where anything was possible, even the ghastly could happen. Where else does a list of a city’s top five most recognized citizens include a mass murderer? Stand in the footsteps of … [Read more...]
OUTLAW LOS ANGELES Photo Gallery
OUTLAW SOUTHWEST’s Ron Franscell On The Story Behind The Famous Photo Of Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid: Ten perfectly still seconds in eternity We know almost nothing of him, except her was a gypsy photographer, drifting the dusty roads of the territories. Trooping wearily from one far-flung town to another, he’d likely stop his dark-room wagon outside of busy saloons, brothels, maybe even a hanging. He’d mount his big camera, unfurl his backdrops, and hope word spread before dark there was a man taking pictures in town. But … [Read more...]
Ron Franscell Takes Readers On A Rollicking Ride Through The Southwest’s Unruly Past In OUTLAW SOUTHWEST
"The ultimate guilty pleasure book!" - San Antonio Express News The line between history and mythology is razor thin—and the American Southwest often erases the line altogether. We might never disentangle crime-fact from fiction, but this book will transport you to Billy the Kid’s real-life stomping grounds, legendary Tombstone, the childhood home of one of the worst al Qaeda terrorists, and the scenes of dozens of crimes throughout Arizona and … [Read more...]
Ron Franscell Discusses the “Coolest Crime Sites” He Has Visited While Doing Research For His CRIME BUFF’S GUIDE™ Series
“What’s the coolest crime site you’ve ever visited?” It is crime buffs’ most common question. And after traversing thousands of miles from Pennsylvania to Southern California, and the northern Rockies to the Mexican border, I’ve visited historic crime-related spots most of us have only seen in books or movies. It’s every crime buff’s dream to stand precisely where Wyatt Earp, Bonnie & Clyde, Charles Manson, or Butch Cassidy once … [Read more...]
Crime Buff’s Guide™ Author Ron Franscell Discusses How The Series Came To Be
It’s funny what you discover on less-traveled roads. Several years ago, my wife and I were traveling across northern Louisiana. On a whim, I wanted to find a hidden but historic place: the isolated the spot where lawmen ambushed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. In the nearby village of Gibsland, we asked a fella how to get to the monument on a lonely rural road. He told us, but whether the directions were bad or we misunderstood, we couldn’t find … [Read more...]
WildBlue Press And Buck Books Team Up To Bring You ‘Great Reads By Exceptional Authors’ For 99 Cents!
THE DEADLINE is on sale for just 99 cents! WildBlue Press and Buck Books team up to bring readers an expertly crafted mystery by bestselling author Ron Franscell.You can find your favorite books and audiobooks for just a buck at Buck Books. Subscribe here and get your first five books free, plus daily deals on an endless variety of titles. To see their daily book selection go to www.buckbooks.net/dailydeals/#sale … [Read more...]
Looking for love in all the wrong places (like prison)
It was a simple plan: Help a couple killers break out of prison, persuade them to kill your husband, then run off to Vermont and live happily ever after. Maybe a cottage by the sea. Just you and two fugitive psychopaths. In New York today, prison worker Joyce Mitchell stands accused of helping two convicted murderers—Richard Matt, 48, and 35-year-old David Sweat—escape. And authorities now say the 51-year-old woman had sex with both men before … [Read more...]
The Iceberg Theory: Ron Franscell on Research and Writing
Life-long journalist and author Ron Franscell talks about the importance of research in the writing process: For me, the most fascinating element of storytelling, whether fiction or nonfiction, is research. A long time ago, we made photographs from film negatives. If you had a crappy negative, you’d probably have a crappy picture. The quality of your image depended entirely on the quality of that negative. That’s how I feel about research. The … [Read more...]
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