Quirky characters, snappy writing, and COWBOY POETRY (It’s a real thing)
Four Dead Horses, K.T. Sparks (Regal House 2021)
On May 1, 1982, eighteen-year-old Martin Oliphant watches a horse drown off the shore of Lake Michigan . That horse leads to Martin getting out of the small-minded town of Pierre, Michigan. Next thing you know, he’s mesmerized by the cowboy poets who gather in Elko, Nevada to perform cowboy poetry.
Along the way, Martin Oliphant, a large and unlikely leading man, nurtures a dying mother (who insists the only thing wrong with her is tennis elbow), corrals a demented father (who believes he’s Father Christmas), assists the dissolute local newspaper editor (because Martin likes to be helpful), and works as a horse rustler and then a pet mortician. These are well-drawn, wonderful characters, and the novel is unlike any I’ve ever read.
For thirty years, Martin struggles to get back West, to poetry, and to his first love, a cowgirl named Ginger. But he never manages to get much farther than the city limits of his Midwestern hometown. Then suddenly, a world-famous horse dies while touring through Pierre, Michigan, and Martin is tapped to transport its remains to the funeral at the 32nd Annual Elko Cowboy Poetry Confluence.
In case you’re intrigued by the concept of cowboy poetry, it’s a real thing, and the 38th confluence is coming up in 2023. Start practicing now!
Author KT Sparks is a writer and farmer who has several impressive degrees and whose work has appeared in way too many journals to list. She spent twenty-five years working as a policy analyst and speechwriter in the U.S. Senate and is immersed in progressive politics. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and when not reading fiction practices Zen Buddhism, binges British detective series, and loves being surrounded by a large, extended family. Four Dead Horses is her debut novel.
I got to interview the author for the New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/four-dead-horses
