Coyote Smart on the Publishing Assembly Line

Coyote Smart in time for Christmas

COYOTE SMART is in full swing. I have approved the cover, and the “inside” should be ready for me to consent to soon. I will get drafts of exactly how it is going to look with title pages, chapter headings, fleurons and other important pages. Next will come the manuscript in “set up,” camera ready form. [Read more...]

Unveiling Coyote Smart

Coyote Smart by Cindy Bradford

Coyote Smart

Introducing COYOTE SMART!! Well, what do you think? I love the cover, and hope you do as well. I like to think of the inside of the book—the manuscript—as the art and the cover as the frame. I think about how I want the cover to be and give the artist lots of input because after all it’s the tease for the book. [Read more...]

First Class Seating for Coyote Smart

Fall is fast upon us, which was obvious by the beautiful harvest moon shining so brilliantly not long ago. I’m not complaining because I am tired of hot weather, and I welcome some cool, crisp air. But summer is good for me in one respect—it allows me an excuse to write, write, write! For some reason, I never feel guilty staying in and devoting hours to my novel when the temperatures exceed ninety degrees. Because of those high temps, I was able to complete Coyote Smart. [Read more...]

Coyote Smart — A Long & Winding Journey

I hope you have enjoyed my first two books and are anxious to read Coyote Smart, which hopefully will be released in early December—just in time for Christmas. If you read Keeping Faith and Promises Kept, you’ll find out what Faith has been doing in the last several years since the second book ended. Plus, you’ll get to know new characters as they develop along the pages, especially the cruel and ruthless Maxwell Ridgeway III.

Like my other books, this is a work of fiction, and although it too deals with a delicate and a controversial topic like the first novel, it is meant to be a literary adaption of life at the border, not a manifesto about a political or social issue.

Clearly, illegal immigration is a multi-faceted and very complex matter to say the least, and, unfortunately, it has become a subject that divides folks across the nation. There are, however, far too many pieces in the immigration puzzle for me to try to solve it, even if I were smart enough, which I’m not. So, in this novel I don’t attempt to offer solutions to the problem except to indicate a need to secure the border and punish the human smugglers, known as coyotes in the states and polleros in Mexico.

Instead, I do try through words to portray a picture of lives touched by the complicated border dilemma. To do this I have created characters who reflect the best of the best, along with those who are truly flawed, all engaged in an intricate plot of survival.

This is a story that starts out about life and death along the U.S./Mexican border, but it is not confined to a 2,000 mile stretch of unforgiving land and broken dreams. Instead, it takes you on a long and winding journey where the weak and strong collide, good and bad meet, reason outlasts power, and love is stronger than the forces of evil.

Wiley & Maxwell

Wiley Coyote ~ Warner Bros.

My friend, the moonshiner, sent me this icon of Wiley Coyote a couple of weeks ago, and of course it was perfect since I was introducing Coyote Smart, my third book. Only trouble is, Wiley is a goofy, cartoon character, and Maxwell Collin Ridgeway III is anything but. [Read more...]