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To Keep a Promise REVIEWS

To Keep A Promise

Having just finished TO KEEP A PROMISE, I now know why Terry was offered a three book deal. TO KEEP A PROMISE is an OUTSTANDING book. This is the first inspirational western I have read but it will not be the last. I WILL be reading more of Terry's books in the future and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND  Terry's books to this esteemed group. One line in PROMISE that I think is a classic. Ruben Dunn and Frank Walker arrive at a camp set up by Janie Benedick shortly after she had dispatched two indians who had killed her minister husband. Janie comments that "He would have done  a heap of good, as you put it. He was sent to do great things". And Rubin replies " Well he should have been sent with better instructions on how to get it done". TO KEEP A PROMISE is a fast and easy read...a book to enjoy.

Les Williams

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Reviewed by Michelle Buckman

Terry Burns breaks into print in a novel rich in Texan drawl and old western authenticity. To Keep A Promise opens with a determined couple leaving a wagon train to set off on their own, only to be set upon by savages. Patrick, an eager evangelizing preacher, steps out to share the Good Book with the savages and meets an untimely demise, leaving his wife, Janie, alone on a trail to nowhere with no one to help her survive.

Janie makes her way across the frontier determined to follow her husband’s calling, but she doesn’t know where to begin, or even how to take care of herself. When her travels bring her into the lives of two cowhands, an ex-prostitute, a young boy and his drunken grandfather, and towns filled with cowboys waiting to be saved, she discovers there’s more than one way to spread God’s word.

In To Keep A Promise, Terry Burns weaves a heartwarming story sure to entertain readers of all ages, and leave them ready for his next book to hit the shelves.

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Meredith Campbell- Midwest Book Reviews return home

Newly married, Janie Benedict is alone, surrounded by "No Man's Land," at the border of the plains that stretched from western Kansas through Texas. Her missionary husband butchered by two Comanches, his body lies near the Conestoga. Terrified, she hides in the wagon; but the killers see her. Coming for the pretty, young woman, they climb into the wagon. She fumbles with the shotgun and the thing goes off--right into their faces. Thus, Burns opens this post-Civil War Western. The remainder of the uplifting story deals with how an Eastern-bred, Christian woman, thrown into west Texas, keeps her vow to continue the work her husband had started

Aided by Frank and Ruben, two drifters in search of their own destinies, Janie earns start-up money by becoming a cook for a round up. From there she goes on to become a baker, becoming wealthy by turning out pies and sweets for the trail cowboys who come to town. Frank and Ruben settle down to a ranch of their own, just out of town. Their presence gives Burns the opportunity to give his views about God. Ruben, the angry cynic and agnostic, contrasts with Frank's strong beliefs and laid-back demeanor. And it is Frank who counsels Janie to "go slow" in her attempts to evangelize Ruben. The interplay between the three makes for some insights often sorely lacking in Christian fiction.

The widow's piety takes the form of love that offers succor and shelter to society's cast-offs: to twelve-year-old Preston, so hungry he'd do a man's work for a crust of bread; to his drunken grandfather, a former Shakespearean actor and rootless wanderer; to Sharon, a repentant former prostitute. How these lives are changed as each finds his or her self-worth makes for satisfying reading. Equally satisfying is the use of period instruction on how to bake in a fireplace to how to tan hides. Also, Burn's style puts the reader, on a cattle drive, in a robbery, and at a murder. One can hear the cattle, smell the grass, taste Janie's peach pie, and feel the blow meant to kill Ruben.

The story is particularly excellent for young adults. The writing is simple, easy to follow prose, the plot moves at a brisk pace and all strings are neatly tied up in the end. Furthermore, it minimizes the several romances in the story, instead, bringing out the exciting action--all the while keeping the reader aware that somehow a loving God is present in events and lives. Burns is at his best when he uses his descriptive talents to kernel the Christian message within this tale of the old West.

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The Roundup Magazine

official magazine of the Western Writers of America

Doris Meredith - book reviewer

BURNS, TERRY. To Keep a Promise. The Fiction Works, ISBN 1-58124-714-1.

Patrick and Janie Benedict were on their way to No Man’s Land to convert the heathens, otherwise known as Indians. Patrick had practiced his sermons with Janie and the four mules as his audience. He was certain he was called to save the Indians “with the power of his magnificent oratory." Unfortunately, the first two Indians he met had little use for oratory, but did find that Patrick’s hair would make a fine addition to their lances. There was nothing like a scalp to decorate a lance or a tipi, depending on what you liked. Horrified, Janie grabbed the shotgun and accidentally shot the two Indians. Then, with determination and stubbornness that Patrick might not have realized she was blessed with, she decided to carry on with the Lord’s work and minister to the natives–although she might learn their language first. If Patrick had taken care of the language barrier, she might not have had to bury him.

A pair of out-of-work cowboys offer Janie help, and she finds herself a job as a cook at the Waggoner Ranch. Then she was cooking extra food and selling it. Soon she had a reformed soiled dove named Sharon, a young boy named Preston, and an old drunk named Mr. Johnson, who worked for her in Clarendon, a town founded by a Methodist minister. It had no brothels or saloons, a situation that Mr. Johnson found abhorrent. With the help of ginger root four times a day and cayenne pepper in his food, Mr. Johnson lived through going off alcohol cold turkey.

Janie’s restaurant is a success; she marries a drifter who promptly starts building a ranch, and she points a sober Mr. Johnson in the right direction. She never does continue her husband’s ministry to the Indians, but she converts a few white heathens. A humorous inspirational book that is a delight to read.

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Amarillo Globe News Web posted Sunday, April 21, 2002
8:31 a.m. CT

Missionary spirit

Newlyweds Janie and Patrick Benedict head west to bring salvation to the Plains Indians. Oblivious to the fact that Native Americans know nothing about the white man's religion and that they see trespassing on their land as a threat, the naive missionaries are surprised by an attack from the first two Indians they meet.

Patrick dies before delivering his maiden sermon. An accidental misfire from Janie's shotgun kills her attackers. Left to bury the dead, she concludes it is up to her to spread God's word.

Two cowboys, Ruben Dunn and Frank Walker, befriend Janie and escort her to the Waggoner Ranch in rolling hills country to the southeast of the Panhandle of Texas. Janie works as cook's helper during the spring gathering, and her pies soon become popular with the ranch hands. She starts her own bakery and hires an assistant, 12-year-old Preston, who requests no cash pay, only room and board for himself and his often-intoxicated grandfather. "Well, if I get cash money, I got to give it to Grandpa, and it ain't too healthy for him to have very much money all at one time," he tells his employer.

Janie decides to travel farther west to Clarendon. Established by Methodist ministers, Clarendon is also known as Saint's Roost and boasts neither saloons nor prostitutes.

Preston's grandfather asks Janie to take Sharon, a "soiled dove," along with them to Clarendon. Seeing an opportunity to save a soul, Janie agrees.

This book, which manages to touch on many aspects of early Panhandle history, is the work of an author who describes himself as "...a fifth generation Irish storyteller and a fourth generation Texas bullshipper." Among his published works are a short story collection, "Three Naked Ladies Playing Cellos," and a small book of poetry called "Cowboys Don't Read Poetry." He is a member of Western Writers of America and president of Panhandle Professional Writers, one of the oldest writing groups in the country. "To Keep a Promise" is an EPPIE 2002 finalist.

Reviewed by Deborah Elliott-Upton

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Sally J. Walker
Editorial Director, The Fiction Works

Terry --

You are incredibly modest but that reflects well on you, sir.  The many messages of how to live a satisfying Christian life permeate your Westerns.  You do not preach.  You do not proselytize.  Your characters demonstrate how life can be lived by Christian principles.  That, sir, is a literary gift.

I have read widely in the Christian genre trying to find folks who can tell a story as you do.  I HATE the "goodie two shoes" preachy folk whose characters quote a Bible verse for any circumstance and who blatantly judge other human beliefs and life choices, totally forgetting Christ's "first stone" theory, His many comments on tolerance, and even His violent temper with the Temple money changers.

You, sir, stand head and shoulders above these folk and quietly tell a good story about characters with conscience and faith who just happen to live that story in the setting of the Old West.

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Hi Terry,

I finished your book -- here are my thoughts:

FRANK -- is my favorite character. I love his down to earth talk, the way he lets people just be who they are, how he believes what he believes, how he can confront people when he has to -- but isn't overbearing.

RUBEN -- what a funny kind of guy he is. I love the way he and Frank play off each other with their words and thoughts. Rough kind of guy, but not so hard that he doesn't care about others.

JANIE-- of all the characters, she is the one I would have liked to hear more about her feelings....she gets over her husband without much ado, except this nagging feeling that she's not fulfilling his dream. She does seem a bit overbearing, yet she has a heart of gold and a love for God that encompasses all types of people -- you can definitely see Jesus in her. Her character changes much from the beginning to the end, where you see her attitude at first (judgemental) become softer and more
caring.

PRESTON -- started out pretty good and just got better.

GRANDPA -- what a hoot! I loved the courtship thing -- the whole proposal and the bets, etc....very creative idea on your part!

I like the way you explained all those cowboy words -- some of them I'd never heard of! I really enjoyed the read -- it was easy to read, entertaining and educational all at the same time.

Reviewed by Wendy Toy

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