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  • “The Insane Train,” by Sheldon Russell, published by St. Martin’s Minotaur books, New York, is one of six finalists in the fiction category. It is Russell’s sixth novel and the second of four that will be part of the Hook Runyon series. (Provided Photo)

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March 16, 2011

Waynoka author Russell is finalist for annual Oklahoma Book Awards

By Phyllis Zorn, Staff Writer Enid News & Eagle

WAYNOKA — A Waynoka author is a finalist in the 22nd annual Oklahoma Book Awards, and  winners will be announced April 9 in Oklahoma City.

“The Insane Train,” by Sheldon Russell, published by St. Martin’s Minotaur books, New York, is one of six finalists in the fiction category. It is Russell’s sixth novel and the second of four that will be part of the Hook Runyon series.

The central character, Hook Runyon, is a one-armed railroad detective — the sort of man called a “railroad bull” in the 1940s, when the novel is set.

Runyon, a collector of rare books who drinks busthead liquor, lives in a caboose.

“He likes to fight and eat — in that order,” Russell said of Runyon.

In “The Insane Train,” Runyon is responsible for overseeing the transport of a trainload of mental patients from California to Fort Supply after the California asylum they were in burned to the ground. A good number of the mental patients are criminally insane.

Not only is Oklahoma the train’s destination in the book, but the real-life events that inspired the book happened in Oklahoma as well.

“This book was inspired by a fire in the insane asylum in Norman,” Russell said. “It killed a lot of them and they were buried in a mass grave.”

“The Insane Train” was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the 2010 best new books in fiction, and got a rave review in the New York Times, Russell said. The first printing was in November 2010 and the book is in its second printing now, Russell said.

The first book in the Hook Runyon series, “The Yard Dog,” was set in a prisoner-of-war camp in Alva during World War II. “The Yard Dog” was a finalist in the 2010 Oklahoma Book Awards.

The third book in the series was mailed this week to the publisher, Russell said. Its setting is a tunnel through basalt rock at Ash Fort, Ariz.

“It’s the only place in the U.S. that was under military guard 24/7,” Russell said.

Had something happened to the tunnel, transportation would have been shut down.

The book’s working title is, “The Tunnel.”

Russell has a contract for the fourth book in the Hook Runyon series.

His previous books include “Empire,” written for a regional publisher in 1993. “Empire” centers around the demise of the railroad and its impact on a small town.

“The Savage Trail,” is a historical novel about Nathan Boone’s travel to this part of the country.

“Requiem at Dawn,” is set at a frontier redoubt on the 90-mile trail between Fort Supply and Dodge City, Kan.

“Dreams to Dust: A Tale of the Oklahoma Land Rush,” won the 2006 Langum Prize for historical fiction and the 2007 Oklahoma Book Award for fiction.  

Russell’s website address is sheldonrussell.com.

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