So I nearly drowned at an oxygen bar to bring you Star Valley.
No, really.
Only me, right?
I went to Wyoming with KiKi to see the sights and get a feel for the place. KiKi gets carsick easily and has to drive everywhere she goes. So she drove me all over the entire state of Wyoming while I hung out the window to take photos. I really do have great friends. I can text them at Midnight on a Saturday and not even phase them.
“Want to go to Wyoming and look around?”
“Sure. When do we leave?”
So KiKi really wanted to go to an oxygen bar in Boulder and even though I have no taste for granola, I agreed, because hey, she was driving for the whole trip.
It was a nice place, and the attendant was friendly. And she was appropriately concerned when the “Star Warrior” (or whatever, Boulder’s a weird place) oil that she put in my O2 canister started burning my nose. She offered to replace the canister with “Regular People” O2 and I said that’d be great. But when she tried to walk away, the heel of her boot got caught on the plastic tube and she tipped over the canister. Which promptly sent several quarts of highly pressurized Regular People water straight up through the cannula and into my nose.
Concerned I might drown and drive away her other customers, she frantically ripped at the tubes, but instead of reaching for the tube on my face, she ripped out the other end, the one attached to the canister, and proceeded to douse me with water from head to toe.
I did not feel like a Star Warrior. Or even a Regular Person, since all the other people were…you know…dry and able to breathe normally.
But anyway, here are some photos from our trip and you can see KiKi giving me the thumbs up. “You lived!” she’s saying. “Right on!”
A lot of these locations feature prominently in the actual series: Snake River, the dam at Cody, the Teton Mountains. One of them is the valley I used for inspiration for the Barlow’s ranch.
Enjoy!
Dawn says
February 12, 2016 at 5:08 amIs Rough Stock going to be available for kindle? I’m reading Stronger now and it’s the last book by you I haven’t read. Hence why I’m anxious for another.
Dahlia West says
March 2, 2016 at 8:48 amIt’s available now.
Theresa Simpson says
February 13, 2016 at 1:34 pmNot so cool
Michele H says
March 1, 2016 at 6:10 pmCan’t wait to read your new series! Love me some cowboys! Congratulations on your new release 🙂
Your visit to Wyoming and the Oxygen Bar made me laugh. But I hope you are okay.
Dahlia West says
March 2, 2016 at 8:48 amThe only thing hurt was my pride!
Stephanie L. McBurney says
March 2, 2016 at 1:56 amHi! I’m very much looking forward to Rough Stock when it comes out. I enjoy your Burnout/Preacher series tremendously and reread it about twice a year. I’m confident that your latest book will be equally as entertaining.
I drive semi truck with my husband around the country, and every time we go through South Dakota I romanticize about finding Maria’s Bar and Burnout, and think about The Badlands in light of your stories. And it just makes that part of our drive that much more enjoyable for me. I also love the wilds of Wyoming (except in winter) and know you’ll do that part of our country equal justice. Keep up your fine work! There are so many of us fans out here just waiting for the next installment.
Dahlia West says
March 2, 2016 at 8:48 amWell, it’s up and available now. Hope you like it!
Rita Lee says
April 12, 2016 at 3:14 pmI have read Preacher and all the Burnout series, all the Stark Ink, plus the first Star Valley on my kindle App. Please tell me that the second book will be available for kindle soon
Dahlia West says
April 12, 2016 at 6:49 pmIt comes out May 1st! So pretty soon.
Deana L says
May 9, 2016 at 8:45 amLoved the Burnout and Stark Ink series and was looking forward to Preacher but your books are no longer available for Nook. What happened?
Dahlia West says
May 9, 2016 at 12:37 pmBarnes and Noble is no longer interested in keeping and maintaining the Nook. They have made numerous attempts to sell it off but have been unable to come to a deal with anyone.
In the meantime, to reduce losses, they’ve already announced they will no longer be offering App content on the device and gave their customers a deadline to save their content before the features went dark.
I suspect that sometime this year they will give up entirely and scrap it altogether, books included, especially since the CEO of B&N has released a statement saying B&N is no longer going to sell very many books in their brick and mortar stores and is attempting to convert itself to a “Lifestyle” Brand, instead.
All my books are now available exclusively on Kindle and some are in paperback on Barnes and Noble through Createspace (for as long as B&N will sell paperbacks).
Dede says
July 1, 2016 at 6:37 pmJust finished third book for rough stock series. Great read and also heart wrenching. Love all characters and can’t wait for next. Loved your other series too. Just wanted to let know they’re all awesome and thank you. When you get to walkers book I really hope you make him work for it. I want smack him. . Lol.
Sue says
July 4, 2016 at 9:59 pmI really LOVED your Burnout series, and am currently enjoying the Barlow brothers very much. But I’m driven by my dissatisfaction to tell you that you really, really need the services of a competent proofreader! I am tired of being jerked out of a terrific story by a dropped word (or more) or a misused word. It really detracts from the enjoyment to have to do a double-take and go back and reread the sentence to decide what you really meant. You write fine stories, and they deserve to be presented in a more “finished” form for your readers’ enjoyment. I almost feel as though I’m reading a not-quite-ready-yet draft rather than a fit-for-publication final form. Please take this criticism in the way it’s meant, because you really are one of my favorite authors…
Dahlia West says
July 4, 2016 at 10:58 pmI’m sorry if you feel you’ve been fleeced in any way. These are just the self-published works of a hobby writer. I do offer them at a discounted price that reflects their lower quality storytelling and packaging. And all my books do go through at least one round of line editing and one round of proofreading to make them coherent before I kick them out the door. No editor or process is perfect, not even traditionally published books are as high quality as they used to be.
These are just fun little stories I bang out in the corner of my kitchen for cheap entertainment. For the price of a Redbox movie rental, you can read a story instead. They are the literary equivalent of popcorn flicks. Just have fun with them! It’s best not to take them (or me) too seriously.
Sue says
July 5, 2016 at 1:07 pmNo, no, I disagree with “lower quality storytelling”!! You write terrific stories, and your characters are engaging and (more or less) lovable. It was the presentation I took issue with. And I don’t in any way feel fleeced. The stories are well worth whatever I paid for them, and then some. It’s because they’re so very good that I become immersed in them, and that’s why it’s so jarring when I hit a whoops. And some of that is “my” problem, because I’m cursed/blessed with a mind that can’t “skim”, I read every word, and that’s just something I have to contend with. I’ll still take any of your stories, with whoopses, over those of a more polished presentation from an author who doesn’t write as well as you do! I’m still a huge fan, and will grit my teeth in silence from now on. Best wishes…
Teri Wittig says
July 11, 2016 at 9:06 pmMy husband and I absolutely loved the Burnout series. Can’t wait to start Stark Ink
Cam says
July 23, 2016 at 9:51 amI loved the burnout and stark ink series; rereading them often! Do you have any plans to revisit with any novellas? I also really enjoyed preacher; which looked like it was the first installment in a rapid city series? Will we get more??!
Dahlia West says
July 23, 2016 at 11:04 amBoth Burnout and Stark Ink are complete series, so no more stories focusing on those particular characters. I had originally planned to do a few more Rapid City Stories featuring secondary characters from Burnout and Stark Ink, however I was unable to make any story lines work and so I started writing a new series (Star Valley) instead.
I currently have no idea what I’ll be working on after Star Valley.
Uschi says
October 10, 2016 at 4:02 pmOh no! Does that mean that there likely will be no more Rapid City stories after “Preacher”? I’ve been keeping an eye out for them as “Preacher” is my favorite and would be really sad if this was it.
Dahlia West says
October 10, 2016 at 6:28 pmI really couldn’t say. I gave it a solid six weeks of effort trying to come up another story but it just wasn’t working. It’s on permanent hiatus unless or until I come up with something. I will admit to a temptation to just leaving it “as is” since Preacher turned out relatively well and I’d rather end the Rapid City world on a high note.
Gigi says
August 23, 2016 at 2:47 pmFirst, I read the Burnout series, loved it. Just finish the 3 books in Star Valley, cannot wait for the rest. Now I just started the Stark Ink. Great stores. I am a fan!!!!
Becky Billings says
August 2, 2018 at 3:28 pmWe just got back from our road trip vacation to Yellowstone from Tulsa, Ok. We went through Badlands and stayed in Rapid City because of the inspiration from the Burnout series. The Badlands by the way are pretty awesome. I have read everything you wrote but Sarah and Shooter are my favorites along with Tex and Abby. I really liked Preacher and was glad for his redemption. Stark Ink series was also pretty great. Hope you can get over our writer’s block. I don’t know how you have written all the books up to now.
Darryl Osburn says
December 30, 2019 at 10:19 pmGlad you were able to reach and enjoy your retirement. I would love to find out what happened to books #4 through #8 of the Star Valley Series . Ismunsble to find them on Kindle or IBooks. Only the first 3 are there.
Dahlia West says
December 31, 2019 at 12:32 amOnly books 1, 2, and 3 were ever written.
Marilyn Hopshever says
July 4, 2020 at 6:32 pmIt is really sad that the other characters’ stories were never told. It appears, from some sites, that the drafts of books 4, 5, 6 (at least the synopsis) was written, and that there were publication dates. I don’t understand why those weren’t completed. Perhaps remove the titles, of those unwritten books so as not to mislead readers?
Dahlia West says
July 6, 2020 at 3:56 pmI lack the administrative capacity to delete a book entry once it’s on Goodreads. I have requested they be removed several times.
Gabrielle Frizzell says
November 30, 2020 at 5:03 pmDo you ever think about finishing the Star Valley Series? Does it make your work feel unfinished? I just read all 3 book in 3 days. I finished Maverick this morning at 2AM and cried the entire way through. It was so beautifully written. It makes me so sad that I will never know what happens to Dakota and Walker, even though I imagine they end up together in a tangle of chaos and love. I still will miss the joy of reading your stories. I’ve read the other series numerous times and it seems each book gets better and better.
Dahlia West says
November 30, 2020 at 7:30 pmIt’s impossible for me to think about Star Valley without thinking about how spectacularly it flopped. Which means I try very hard not to think about it anymore. I tried to get my mojo back with Moon Lake and that flopped, too. So, to answer your second question, yes both Star Valley and Moon lake feel unfinished, but since I have no idea what I did wrong on either count, it doesn’t seem as though there’s anything I can do about it.
I’m glad you liked Star Valley, though.
Happy Holidays.
D. West
sherri frazier says
July 4, 2021 at 7:42 amI read your comments about your “flops” and I really suspect that you did nothing wrong (although I can’t find those books to prove myself right). Once Stephen King recommended a book that he said no one would ever read. I “read it” (audible), it was awesome & he was right – still no reviews on it. I suspect that having a successful book is more a matter of the stars in perfect alignment than the quality of the writing & story line. There is so much noise in the marketplace that you can’t hear the songs. Anyway, the short version is that I really really enjoyed the Burnout Series – the wit, banter and little stories within the story were just so entertaining and while listening I often wondered where someone acquires that kind of imagination. I know that you said you were officially retired from writing but I hope that one day, when you are washing dishes or pulling weeds maybe, some character with a great backstory germinates in the back of your head and takes root and forces you to write their story just to relieve the pressure – so that I can read it.
Dahlia West says
July 4, 2021 at 10:36 amSince multiple people have commented on this word, allow me to clarify:
“Flop” is an industry term that means a book or a movie that cost more money to produce than it earned in sales. Stephen King has a publisher that covers his losses on titles that flop. And he’s a bestselling author who more than makes up for those losses with other, more successful titles. If Stephen King’s other books were not so successful, his publisher would’ve dropped him by now.
I am my own publisher, so I’m the one going into debt when a book (Or 10) flops. Editing, formatting, and cover art are sunk costs that I pony up myself upfront to publish a book. I’m also nowhere near a bestselling author, so I never earn that money back after it’s released. Sales of Burnout do not cover the cost of publishing other titles.
Many traditionally published authors have had their series cancelled mid-run because the first 2-3 books were flops. If I had been a traditionally published author, I would’ve been dropped from my publisher after Stark Ink. After two more series flops, I retired, instead, essentially dropping myself.
I might write again. But it isn’t going to be for a series that already has a failed track record. I tinker around with a Space Opera from time to time, for fun, but I’m not sure I would risk publishing it.
Self-publishing is a lot like gambling. You have to set a limit at how much money you’re willing to lose. I hit my limit. Actually, I went over my limit with Star Valley and then again with Moon Lake thinking things would turn around. It didn’t. It’s easy to tell yourself, “Okay, this book didn’t work out, but the next one will, surely. Or maybe the next one. Or the one after that.” Ad infinitum.
You’ve got to know when to walk away from the table before you lose your shirt.