A variety eras and  locations across the Western United States keeps The Legend Of Katie Dollar quick-paced and fun.

These dozen stories of common people, set from the gritty frontier of the mid-1800s to the glittering dawn of the 21st Century feature plenty of action, some suspense, a little heart-tugging emotion and a healthy helping of the distinctive brand of humor DLC is becoming known for.

The Logger’s Inheritance, Dinner In Town, Brady Hammer Stole A Pie, Wilbur And The Dour Demon, The Deaf Man’s Demise, The Great Buney Standoff and the title story were reader favorites and, in some cases, award winners when they originally appeared, and the poignant Christmas fable Hannah’s Miracles is well on its way to becoming a classic American tale of hardship and hope.

“As always, I want it to be a good use of words,” DLC says of the collection, “but I also want it to be entertaining, with maybe a little something to think about thrown in.”

The Legend Of Katie Dollar is definitely that, and more.

The simple story about an aging, world-weary New Mexico rancher and the cafe waitress he’s known and liked so well since childhood has a new publisher and a new title. As Into That Far Off Sunlight (Or Miss Rosalie And The Primrose Fool), now from Piney Hill Publishing, the classic American literary tale of the wide-open western plains is finding a larger reading audience than ever before.

After releasing five new paperbacks since the last news update, expanding his music performance and recording schedule, finishing up several new novels and short story collections, and the joyous birth of his first grandson (welcome to the world, Oliver Bonham Chance!), DLC is ready to get his online team back on the job.

In a conversation with a friend — Marshall Tucker Band co-founder, lead singer and bandleader Doug Gray — DLC was invited onstage to play guitar during the MTB FallsFest appearance at the Wichita Falls, Texas Kay Yeager Coliseum on Saturday, September 28.  An avid fan of the band since he was a young teenager just learning to play lead guitar techniques, DLC’s own musical efforts were in many ways deeply influenced by the legendary group of fellow South Carolina-born southern rockers, and he was happy to accept the invitation.

DLC has played large shows with major artists many times before, so the coliseum setting was nothing new.  But playing lead guitar in the style of the late Toy Caldwell (original MTB guitarist and songwriter, and one of DLC’s primary guitar influences) with the Marshall Tucker Band was one of the most personally satisfying musical experiences of DLC’s career, and some of the most fun he’s ever had onstage. (Photos: DL Chance, on guitar, with the Marshall Tucker Band.)

Issue 11 of THE SPECULATIVE EDGE Magazine includes the DLC short story The Guitar Pick. One of the dozen adventures of piano-tickling Simon & Garfunkel Woodfork Baggot (or Woody, as he likes to be called) in DLC’s Lounge Lizard To The Galaxy series, The Guitar Pick is about Woody’s attempts to buy a suitable Earth-style guitar pick at a busy spaceport packed with the various colorful peoples of the Galactic Community.

THE SPECULATIVE EDGE, Vol. 11, is on sale now at all the usual online and bricks-and-mortar outlets.

http://www.amazon.com/Speculative-Edge-Issue-June-2013/dp/1490905464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374467645&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Speculative+Edge