Praise for 'And The Wind Whispered'

And The Wind Whispered, my historical fiction novel set in 1894 in Hot Springs in the southern Black Hills, was honored yesterday by the Colorado Division for the Humanities and Center for the Book as a Colorado Book Awards finalist in Historical Fiction. 

Yesterday was a full day of readings and presentations, including a visit with a book club, reading at a

Reading at The Book Bar in Denver  

bookstore and the awards ceremony in Denver (actually the suburb of Parker) last evening where the book earned the Silver (runner-up) Award. 

With my wife Susan on stage at the Awards                          

It was an honor to be in the Final Three in the Historical Fiction category and meet so many other great authors, editors and illustrators from the other various categories.

Recently there's been quite a bit of praise for the book, so since I'm making today my own Writer's Moment, here are some of those reviewers' comments.  Hope you'll look for And The Wind Whispered in a bookstore, through Amazon, or on any e-book site.  Happy Reading and thanks!

Praise for

And The Wind Whispered

2016 Colorado Book Award Finalist

From recent reviews:

“Buffalo Bill, Bat Masterson, Nellie Bly.  A minstrel show with an attitude.  Big crowds, intriguing plot twists, and powerful female personalities that do far more than swoon and simper.  There's trouble in Hot Springs - and it's about to get a lot hotter before some of the protagonists achieve resolution.  

“It's rare to find a work that is a real delight in its uniformly feisty, believable protagonists who work within a plot that holds no boundaries.  And The Wind Whispered is a remarkable achievement, no matter what genre you're partial to.” – Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

*****

“And the Wind Whispered begins as any good murder mystery should, with a body. Throw in a dark cave and three snoopy kids, and you've a good story - if you know how to write it.   Dan Jorgensen knows how.   The book mixes in historical characters and accounts … tied together in a web of intrigue.” – Kevin Woster, KELO (CBS) Television News.

******

“And the Wind Whispered by Dan Jorgensen contains several scenes that are so exciting that they become almost impossible to put down. … The mystery of who killed Alexander Previn, and why, forms the basic plot of the novel. Along the way, readers are put in contact with multiple characters from Old West lore — Bat Masterson, “Buffalo Bill” Cody, reporter Nellie Bly, Annie Oakley, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, even a young Will Rogers, among others - who get involved in helping to deal with the McCarty-Curley outlaw gang and working to solve the mystery.

Jorgensen keeps his characters in plenty of danger throughout, making it easy for readers to keep turning the pages.   Set in 1894, the novel deals with a time period too often neglected by Western novel writers, that is, the final decade of the 19th century when the Old West was disappearing and the ‘New West’ was emerging. Also, the novel is set in the Black Hills of South Dakota, an exciting area too often neglected by writers of Western novels.

“And the Wind Whispered represents refreshing new ground in Western novel writing.”  – Paul F. Murray (Reader’s Favorite)

******

“Jorgensen fills his story with humor and plot twists and manages to keep everything moving along while also working in a good deal of interesting ‘Wild West’ lore.  Western fans will feel at ease with the adventures of the novel’s three young heroes, but the story’s wider cast will make it interesting even to readers who tend to avoid historical or western novels.” – Lynette Olson, Emporia (Kan.) Gazette

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“Author Dan Jorgensen assembles an all-star cast of famous names from the American West in his historical whodunit/adventure tale And the Wind Whispered.

“Set in 1894 in and around the boom town of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Jorgensen’s novel starts with a train ride, expands to include a dead body, and eventually numbers such iconic figures as Nellie Bly, Bat Masterson, Deadwood Sheriff Seth Bullock, Will Rogers, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, and even Theodore Roosevelt among its cast of characters.

“Jorgensen stuffs his narrative with salty humor and plot twists.  The author manages to keep everything bubbling along while also unobtrusively working in a good deal of interesting local Wild West lore.   A very spirited outing.”   – Historical Novel Society Review