‘Angel Fire’ was published 25 years ago today

“Reminiscent of Charles Frazier’s ‘Cold Mountain’ … Ron Franscell’s themes involve a fresh approach to our rural roots as a font for the elusive American spirit.” — USA Today Twenty-five years ago today, my first book—a literary novel called “Angel Fire”—was published. Nobody out there was waiting for this debut fiction by an unknown scribbler […]

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DEAF ROW

NOW IN BOOKSTORES EVERYWHERE! Retired to a small Colorado mountain town, ex-Denver homicide detective Woodrow “Mountain” Bell yearns only to fade away. He’s failed in so many ways—as a father, a husband, friend, and cop—he fears he’s missed his chance for at a meaningful life. But when he stumbles across a long-forgotten, unsolved child murder, […]

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Something novel

Unable to go out into the world during Covid, I turned inward. How could I use what I’ve learned in decades of true storytelling and journalism? How can I still write a provocative book without leaving the safety of my home and imagination? The answers changed the arc of my writing.

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Pain & memory: The birth of Angel Fire

“Pain is the price we pay for memory. It’s some kind of sin to forget what hurts, as much as it is to forget what makes you smile. Suffering has its meaning, and memory has its graces.” —from ANGEL FIRE, A Novel  A lifetime ago, back in 1983, I took work as an editor at […]

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5 Book Terms That Can Make You Sound Brilliant (or Stupid)

I’ve been astonished at the number of people who have expressed some trepidation about communicating with an author out of fear they’ll misuse a word (or never send fan letters as a way to avoid misspellings). Really, folks, we don’t judge you by your spelling and grammar—unless you’re pointing out a typo in our latest […]

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Welcome to ronfranscell.com!

For more than 16 years, you’ve watched Ron’s career blossom right here, growing from just two books when we first launched in 2003 to 17 (and counting). Now, www.ronfranscell.com is blossoming, too. Welcome to our newly redesigned website! You are the driving force. We know you’re coming to us from all sorts of devices—smartphones, tablets, […]

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Angel Fire

  No. 74 among the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West San Francisco Chronicle A haunting tale of two brothers on separate odysseys of self-discovery. Twenty-four years after war correspondent Daniel McLeod is killed in a Viet Cong ambush, his only brother Cassidy is mysteriously drawn to their Wyoming hometown, where he must […]

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The Obituary

When a world-renowned forensic anthropologist journeys to Winchester, Wyoming, to examine the long-dead remains of a woman who claimed to be Etta Place — the Old West’s most mysterious and legendary female outlaw — he’s not expecting to find a man’s headless corpse in her crypt. The grisly discovery plunges him and Jefferson Morgan, the […]

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