Another Nomination for Novel Set in Victoria

VICTORIA, British Columbia - March 31, 2014 - PRLog -- This is the novel’s second nomination for a coveted award.  High Stakes was previously nominated by the Western Fictioneers for their Peacemaker Award in the category of Best First Western Novel. The Western Fictioneers is a group of professional western writers and dedicated readers based in the US.

With its evocative descriptions of Victoria, BC as it was post-gold rush in 1877, High Stakes is a compelling tale with the grit of a western and the allure of a romance.  The novel reveals aspects of Victoria’s history unknown to most people.

The protagonist, nineteen-year-old Curt Prescott, returns home to Victoria after a three-month poker circuit on the mainland.  A new “Moral Action Committee” has sprung up in his absence.  Headed by the wife of the new preacher, the committee threatens to cast out all soiled doves and gamblers from the city. He meets the new preacher, “Bud” Andrews, Bud’s shrewish wife, Sarah, and their idealistic daughter, Mary.  Bud seeks to convert Curt while Curt plans to destroy the committee.  Pressures mount for Curt as he tries to help his young constable friend keep the peace with a notorious lowlife, while at the same time trying to ease his jealous girlfriend Del’s insecurities. As Curt falls in love with Mary, the battle for his lifestyle becomes a battle of life and death, and of love lost and found.

“I love Victoria -- its history, architecture, its natural environment,” says Chad.  “I lived there for a great portion of my life.  My wife jokingly calls Victoria my mistress.”  High Stakes grew out of Chad’s love of western stories and his fascination with Victoria’s history. While the novel is entirely fictional, Chad did a lot of research to make the setting and circumstances as authentic as possible.  “Even with its strong British influences, Victoria in those days was a lot like other towns of the Old West. There were indeed saloons and gamblers, lumberjacks and prostitutes, all trying to make their way the only way they knew how.”

Chad reads and writes in multiple genres, mostly westerns and fantasies.  Two of his western short stories have appeared in Frontier Tales, and one of his fantasy short stories, also set near Victoria and published in Bards & Sages Quarterly, won that magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Story of January 2012.

To learn more about Chad and his writing, please visit his website at www.chadstrongswriting@weebly.com  High Stakes is available as an E-book from: http://www.musapublishing.com (http://musapublishing.com) , http://www.amazon.com (http://amazon.com)  , and other ebook retailers.