I first met Charles E. Rankin, Associate Editor, and Editor-in-Chief, from the University of Oklahoma Press one April at the Western Heritage Awards in Oklahoma City when W.C. Jameson and I happened to be seated at the same table with him. Though my introduction to Mr. Rankin was brief, it gave me confidence when our paths crossed again in June (2005) at a Western Writers of America Conference. During an editor/agent pitch session I approached Chuck with the idea of publishing a novel I had just finished that was set in Colorado during the late 1800s.
Chuck listened politely, but I could tell he wasn’t very interested in fiction or in my plot synopsis. We chatted about little things in our life, when, just as our short window of time was almost over, I thought to mention the fact that I had come West as a contemporary mail-order bride.
Was he interested in that story?
His eyes brightened with attention and his smile widened.
What was that? Tell him more.
So I gave him a very rushed account of a twenty-year-old college student coming West on a train to meet for the first time, and live with, a Vietnam Vet turned mountain man in a remote wilderness area on the Montana-Canadian border.
“Send me that story!” Chuck said, and I told him I would.