Winds of Wildfire

May 30, 2011

Amazon review excerpt.

Ronald Chávez writes with the pace and feel of a Michael Crichton thriller and the frankness of Walt Whitman.

The imagery of Chávez’sNew Mexicois breathtakingly distinctive.  The voyage is swift and exhilarating. “Winds of Wildfire” is a celebration of southwestern life from a refreshing and enlightened perspective. It’s a “can’t put down book” which will reel you into another realm of understanding of the “LandofEnchantment”.

Preview and purchase Winds of Wildfire and Time of Triumph on Amazon paperback and Kindle-E-books.  Winds of Wildfire is also on smashwords-E-books.  20% free read. For signed copy of Winds of Wildfire go to www.timeoftriumph.net.  PayPal available.

Winds of Wildfire Rages with Passion and Fire

 Ronald P. Chavez

Amee Brooks drifts west from Boston after a failed romantic fling and lands in Taos, New Mexico, an ancient land living the last vestiges of the old West.  After buying a cabin on an acre of land where she plants a garden at a time of a severe drought her neighbor, Araña, cuts off her water at the mother irrigation ditch.  She angrily confronts him which results in a brutal encounter flamed with bigotry.  In despair, she hikes at Wild Rivers on the Rio Grande Gorge. There she meets Donato, a poet of Spanish ancestry.   She finds Donato intriguing but strangely frightening.  

            Donato is seeking closure from the tragic loss of his wife in a road accident.  He isolates himself from the world as a volunteer caretaker at Wild Rivers.  Donato invites Amee to shoot pool at the VFW in the remote village of Cerro after she reveals her problem with Araña.  He introduces her to Vidal, an elder in the village who knows the lay of the land and local politics.

            There, Amee is ushered into a confusing Spanish culture. Vidal offers to help Amee.  She meets Polly the bartender, a Viet Nam Vet who struggles with his war demons.  Finally, Amee begins to feel she belongs.

            Meanwhile, Billy, an Indian lad from Taos Pueblo makes a life altering decision after a life of booze and drugs when he absorbs a beating over a girl.  He elects to live in the mountains above Taos.  To his astonishment, he discovers an ancient horde of gold and is beset with a mind blowing dilemma. 

Fate intervenes. Billy lands up at Cerro Bar.  Polly is wrongly accused of a crime. Thus a series of events involving conflicting forces in a land of three living cultures is set in motion.  Intrigue, unrequited love, courtroom drama, sexual tensions and soul searching unfold in sensuous, complex relationships in a backdrop of the sensuous brilliance of the Southwest’s offerings.  Go to www.timeoftriumph.net or Amazon book or Kindle e-books

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Winds of Wildfire

April 11, 2011

Winds of Wildfire rages with passion and fire.

http://www.taosdaily.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.viewarticle&article_id=4279

March 22, 2009

Ron Chavez has published TIME OF TRIUMPH, a collection of short stories that will touch your heart and poems that will stir your emotions.  This is a book you will return to time and time again.  Available on Amazon:TIME OF TRIUMPH.  Finalist at 2008 New Mexico Book Awards.  Positive review by Kirkus Discoveres NYC.  Read on my Amazon Profile:TIME OF TRIUMPH.

TIME OF TRIUMPH PAPERBACK

Ronald P. Chavez’s “Time of Triumph,” his long-awaited collection of short stories and selected poems is now available on Amazon Books to purchase for $15.99.

TIME OF TRIUMPH is about the tragedy and triumph of the human spirit; the passion and pain of love that touches and pulls at the heart. It’s about the horror of war and how injustice and adversity are overcome by ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. It’s about hope drawn from the beauty of nature and about a lust for life that sweetens the soul. All this is captured in compelling short stories blended with poetry in both Spanish and English. TIME OF TRIUMPH will capture your mind, heart and soul and it will stir your emotions.

REVIEW BY WRITINGMUSE…

As an editor, publisher and author for over 30 years, I can truly recommend this collection of inspirational stories by Ron Chavez. His defining moment stories of the common man facing life-changing circumstances offers insight into their choices. He asks us to deeply consider what makes a good man and presents opportunities to review and possibly shift our position on many personal and collective paradigms. As an obvious student of human nature and a keen observer of life, he tells a good story and captivates us with his characters and dilemmas. His emotions run the gamut, and give us a mirror for our own foibles. Although quite serious in most of his tales, “The Loneliest Road” shows a lighter side, while his poetry reveals his passionate nature. For a first book, Ron has set a high bar for future works. Can’t wait to see his novel.

Technorati Profile

Amazon Kindle Book Reader Version

Ron’s book, a collection of short  stories and selected poems, “Time of Triumph” is now ready to order on Amazon.com. Also, the digital version for Amazon’s Kindle digital book reader is available at…


Buy Time of Triumph Digital

You can also read a limited preview (excerpts) of the book on google books: http://books.google.com/ Just type Ron Chavez Time of Triumph into the google books search window.

Explore and Enjoy!

Love of Life - Poems of Passion CD  

LOVE OF LIFE – POEMS OF PASSION CD – NOW AVAILABLE!

Visit www.TaosPlazaArt.com

to purchase your copy now and get free shipping.

Ron Chavez reads 14 of his passionate love poems to classical music. What a wonderful gift of love for Christmas.
His masculine voice contrasts with the sweetness of the words and makes them all the more powerful.
Remember what it was like to fall in love? Remind someone you love how it feels.  Experience it, feel it, share it.

ron-photo2.jpg The following story is an excerpt from my soon-to-be-published “Time of Triumph” book. This is part of my history and illustrates why I became a writer and what compels me to tell my stories and express my passion through poetry…

Ten Cents a Shine on Route 66

(by Ron Chavez, Taos Poet and Route 66 Storyteller)

 

     When I was eleven years old I shined shoes, barefoot, on my knees, slaving over a wooden shoeshine box in front of the Club Café on old Route 66.  In between shining shoes, I hawked newspapers and hustled suckers into the crooked poker game behind the barber shop three doors down, for a nice tip.  And I fought like hell with a swarm of kids over territorial street rights.
        As I grew up, I got on as a busboy inside the café. Then I became the dishwasher and eventually a baker and a cook. After an eighteen year sojourn in California, I returned to own it.

        In the 1980s, two things happened.  I began to write short stories that were published in the weekly paper I used to sell on the street as a kid, and Route 66 closed down as an official highway but exploded as nostalgic American history.  The Club Café and I went for an incredible ride to fame and fun.  
        I told a thousand stories on Good Morning America, PBS, American Playhouse, Eye on L.A, National Public Radio and countless other television programs. The book Route 66, The Mother Road profiled my story along with Searching for 66 and the Route 66 Cookbook.  Major newspapers and magazines also carried my stories of Route 66.  It got a little crazy.  Then it all crashed.  The Golden Arches came into town and busted me and I landed back on the street of my youth.
        But I still had my writing.  Even though I was financially broke, the crash had not broken my spirit. I was determined to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes, so I kept on writing and publishing.
        It was a long struggle to find my way back to sanity.  I landed up in the mountains above Taos as a camp host and worked a stint at Wild Rivers at the edge of the Rio Grande Gorge as a volunteer caretaker.  I was slowly cleansed of all my emotional trouble. 
        It was then that I began to write poetry born out of the anguish of defeat and the depths of personal pain.  To my astonishment, my poems were published.  I still remember the pride I felt when I was first introduced as “The Poet” by a stranger. 

        Today I proudly wear the titles of Taos Poet and Route 66 Storyteller.  I suffered much and worked hard for them and no one can take that from me.  And, if my poems and stories are worthy, then it was worth it.  # # #