“Somewhere Outwest: Petey and Cecil” is the first of a three-part series being published by Red Dashboard.
Each chapter is a story about two bumbling, accident-prone cowboys working 4,000 head of cattle, and a herd of despised “no good rotten sheep.”
Local ranchers will appreciate Cecil and Petey’s penchant for misadventure on the job, and their use of humor to survive the doldrums of the trade, especially fence building.
“It’s some fact, some fiction and a whole bunch of lies,” Bertrand says. “I packed it full of action based on my life experiences.”
Bertrand has been cowboying his whole life, expertise that comes through in his storytelling. His love of the trade and Western lifestyle is clear, even when he’s getting bucked off horses, surviving bitter blizzards on the range, choking down bad diner food, or getting kicked by mules.
“I always ran cattle the old school way with horses,” he says with a grin. “You couldn’t get me on one of those ATV buggies.”
The stories are set in 1969-70, on a ranch similar to the one Bertrand worked for years near Salida.
Ill-advised use of dynamite will ring true for locals of a certain age, and crazy encounters with ornery horses, porcupines, and aggressive bobcats have a familiar ring to rural Colorado residents. The book’s nuances, such as flipping quarters to see who drives, opens gates or climbs the broken windmill, still goes on today.
Like a fish out of water, Bertrand headed to the bright lights of Las Vegas this month for a promotional tour of his new book organized by Variety Productions. He was featured on the radio show “Girls Gone Country,” and the Ride TV’s “Anthony Lucia Show.”
“All that show biz was a new experience,” Bertrand says. “During one event I got a little stage fright when I talked about the book in front of 300 people.”
His media blitz was part of the Las Vegas Cowboy Christmas event and featured live studio audiences, back stage scenes, book giveaways, contests and live rodeo playing on a huge screen.
“I feel like I got to experience something few get to do,” he said of the big stage. “I hope my books get the message out to young people that the freedom and fun working in the farm-and-ranch trades is a good lifestyle choice.”
The second in the trilogy of Bertrand’s Western novellas, “Somewhere Out West on a Ranch,” will be released in Dec. 2016. The third installment, “Somewhere out West in the Middle of Nowhere,” will come out in 2017.
Bertrand’s clean stories avoid violence or cursing and are appropriate for any age. They can be purchased at Notah Dineh, Cortez Silver and Pawn, and Shooters World in Cortez, and at Maria’s Book Store and Bar D Chuckwagon in Durango. His 2010 book, “Western Poetry with Cowboy Flair” was also a Will Rogers Silver Medal winner in 2013.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com