Friday, January 13, 2012

The Last Novel He Ever Wrote (and book winners)

I remember reading Stephen Bly's books when I was younger.

We sat and shared the Retta Bare books together as a family and they became some of my favorite YA books of all time.


After I read them, my sister did and I'm sure my brother will as well.

Photo credit
I never had the chance to meet Stephen, but his fiction legend is anything but fictitious!

When not many people write westerns anymore, Stephen knew how and connected with his audience.

I hosted him on this blog several times and one time he broke one of the records for the fastest turnout of comments on that first giveaway day.


He was a joy to work with and I loved having the chance to connect, even if only via email with one of my childhood heroes.

It's been several months now since he has passed away. But his family has not let his legacy slip away. In his final release, his wife, Janet Bly and their three sons, have finished and put out Stephen's very last novel.

And it makes me wonder, what will my legacy be? And it begs the question, what am I doing to change and/or make my legacy matter?

Friday's news:

The winner of Hailee by Penny Zeller is...

Patricia!!

And the winner of the surprise giveaway of The Captive Heart by W. Dale Cramer is...

Nancye!!

Be haunting your inbox, ladies! Happy reading. :-))

8 comments:

  1. Congrats to Patricia and Nancye, enjoy your books ladies!

    Great post, Casey, and thanks for sharing!
    How wonderful that Stephen's family put his last book together for him, what a blessing :)
    Glad you had a good experience with him on your blog and how special that your sister AND brother shared his books with you, that's a shared legacy right there!

    Have a wonderful weekend and hope you're also winning some good books for 2012 :)
    blessings,
    kara

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  2. What a nice post about an author who obviously inspired you. Thanks for the reflections!

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  3. Casey, I did not have the honor of meeting Stephen Bly either. I am sure I would have gained so much wisdom from him.
    I am sure he is sharing his stories up in heaven and I'm positive that my grandmother and family members would be listening to them. My grandmother loved Zane Grey and I've heard Mr. Bly's compared to Mr. Grey's.
    Thanks for sharing,
    Miriam

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  4. Casey, your blog is fun and energetic! I want to read the books by Stephen Bly because of your reviews. Especially the last two. Thanks for the good time. ~ Kari

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  5. I think it's wonderful that Mr. Bly's family has finished his last book. That must have been an experience to remember for them.
    I wish there were more western books like his. Lovely post.

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  6. Casey,
    Stephen and Janet were my mentors through the Christian Writers Guild. I learned so much from them, and I devoured his books. My favorites remain the Horse Dream series.

    I need to find you on Goodreads, I think we read a lot of the same things.

    Thank you for a beautiful post.

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  7. Casey: Thank you so much for this post. Very heartwarming for me! So glad that Steve's books meant so much to you.
    Blessings,
    Janet
    www.BlyBooks.com

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  8. As Steve's sister-in-law, I was always in awe at how he could write the woman's perspective so well. (Course he was married to the Belle of them all!) I always enjoy seeing a piece of Janet and Steve in all his books. I can't wait to read about Sturat Brannon's Final Shot and know it will bring tears and joy knowing that not only was Steve a aprt of it but also his beloved Janni-Rae and Russ, Mike and Aaron. This will be a treasure. Blessings, Connie Sue

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