Land Above the Air, Shot, & Summer Writer Workshops

December 26, 2025

Land Above the air

When I was a small boy growing up in southern Illinois I met my great-great-grandmother Don’i. She was a full-blooded Cherokee whose great grandmother had walked with her twin sister on The Trail of Tears. The year was 1837. Their story was one of upheaval, hardship, death, and resurrection. The Cherokee, one of five tribes whose property was simply taken from them, were forced to pack up what they could carry and leave their forest homes by President Andrew Jackson and his cronies. Their land was more valuable than their lives. Before leaving the elders told the girls, 14 and 16 at the time, to watch for a place the Cherokee called The Land Above the Air. This place they had seen only in their dreams and had been told by shamans that the great eagle of the Cherokee, Myoconda, would show them the way and never leave their side. It happened.

Told through the mouth of Don’i, The Land Above the Air follows the lives of five principal characters whose fates are intertwined. Captain George Montgomery Madison, who would live through the march to fight in the Civil War had one goal: survive the walk. He barely did. Lt. Avery Procise was in love, and had been for awhile, with Ah-shi-la-nuki, Dawn Flower, a young, beautiful Cherokee princess whose twin sister was afflicted with what we now call MS. Their relationship was complex. Then there was Monse’qu’la, River Walker, a young brave famous for his hunting and fishiong exploits. He loved her too. She sure as hell loved him. Monse’qu’la’s father, Jo’ika’lu, Running Deer, was a principal chief and spoke some English. He was a principal to the failed treaties that were never ending. In his earlier years he had been a warrior and had trained River Walker for a day he knew would surely come. It had.

The story told in Land Above the Air is not just about the Trail but also the lives, spirits, and society that surrounded the Cherokee and put such an occurance in motion. This winter journey that would claim more than four thousand Cherokee lives in their hike along Hell’s pathway caused a nation to shudder but failed to beak the spirit of the travelers. The sisters obeyed their elders and one night, with a hunters moon illuminating their path, saw the giant eagle screeching above the frozen terrain. They ran for their lives. One morning, hungry and half frozen, they saw the giant bird perched high upon a remote promontory now known as Craggy Bluff. All aroung him the land protruded into the sky. They had arrived. This was The Land Above the Air. This is their story.

My father, who passed on August 7, 2017, was a member of the Cherokee Nation. We are all descended from The People. Dad left me a wealth of information which he had gathered over time and I know he will be watching. I hope to do justice to this story by a proper telling. I mean for it to be a powerful portrayal of the human spirit and I predict that Dawn Flower and River Walker will be remembered for their unrelenting love for each other and their refusal to submit to overwhelming force.


Shot


During the roaring twenties and thirties, on into the forties, southern Illinois was fertile ground for criminals who saw opportunity in this time of Prohibition and nation building. It was the time of the Shelton Gang, Charley Birger, Frank Wortman, George Garner, Jake Rubin, Frank Zito, and Al Capone. Somehow surviving all of these killers was a young man named Shot Winchester.

Lester (Shot) Winchester had killed a boy shooting dice when he was fifteen. Convicted as an adult, he served his time at Menard’s Penitentiary. Upon his release, Shot, as he was known, did business with the criminal element that ruled southern Illinois but kept his distance and did not frequent their hangouts or run with their henchmen. Shot knew them all and assisted when profit called. He started the famous Club Winchester in Olmstead, Illinois which was frequented by the elite of the day, and every criminal who could afford the tab. One day in 1946, Shot Winchester was found dead in his vehicle. Shot in the head. Twice. His death was ruled a suicide. Rumour had it he knew too much. This is the story of his life, times, and the men who killed him.


Summer of 2022 Writer Workshops


This summer I will be teaching a series of Immersive Writer Workshops in Columbus, Evansville, Terre Haute, Batesville, and Downtown Indianapolis. 


Working with our Public Libraries and Independent Bookstores this series will seek to provide our self-published and unpublished writers the information they need to secure literary representation (an agent) and traditional publishing. 


  • The cost of the event is $249.00 per person
  • Registrations can be made with the bookstores or via Venmo to: @michaelstaffordpublishingllc
  • Cities and Dates are:

    Columbus…….May 21
    Evansville…….June 11
    Terre Haute…..June 18
    Indianapolis…..July 16
    Batesville……..July 30
men running track

The Distance

December 26, 2025
Close to going the distance, joining the 1% Club. Tyndale Press has ‘OR.’ They have had it for 12 weeks but are being very tight lipped about their intentions. From a distance, the world of successful writers and their books, the movies made from their books, the speaking engagements and all that goes with it seem to be achievable. I am close now but still not there yet, although I thought when I signed my Literary Agency Agreement with KoechelPeterson that my plane had landed. Maybe, maybe not. This is a rugged journey. I would not recommend it to anyone. The process requires resilience. I will be the first to announce the success of ‘Oblivion’s Reach’ if and when it happens. Stay tuned, better yet, buy a copy and see what all the fuss is about.
kings of little egypt

The Kings of Little Egypt

December 26, 2025
One hundred years ago the melting pot that is America brought three brothers from their farm in Fairfield, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri where they would begin a career in crime unmatched in Illinois history. The Shelton Brothers, Carl, Earl, and Bernie would go on to rule southern Illinois in the ’20s, ‘30s, and ’40s. Along the way, they crossed paths with Al Capone, Frank Nitti, Charlie Birger, Blackie Harris, Art Newman, Connie Ritter, Buster Wortman, and no small assortment of slightly lesser lights. They were so powerful in their control of gambling and bootlegging that Al Capone and his minions made a peace pact with the Shelton Brothers to not venture south of Peoria. It was a grudging sign of respect for the power of the Sheltons. While the five families were well established in New York State by the 1920’s the fertile hunting grounds that opened the Midwest to the Sheltons, the Outfit, and Birger were launched by Prohibition which became law in 1919. The Volstead Act gave the government the power and authority to enforce the 18th Amendment outlawing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Some took exception to this law of the land. Al Capone began his ascent in the early 1920s. His criminal empire, known as the Outfit, reached full bloom with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929 when the Northside mob, headed by Bugs Moran, was decimated. The Sheltons faced down the KKK and Charlie Birger who managed to get himself hung in 1928. Birger was the last public hanging in Illinois. From 1928 until the mid-1940’s The Shelton Brothers ruled Illinois from Peoria south. Until Carl Shelton was murdered in October 1947 it is fair to say that gambling, legal and illegal alcohol sales and some vice locations demanded the approval of The Sheltons. The man behind the murder, Black Charlie Harris, once a Shelton ally who felt he had been betrayed and undervalued by the brothers, took it upon himself with the help of St. Louis and Chicago crime families, to stamp out the Sheltons. He didn’t stop with Carl. In 1948 he shot and killed Bernie. Three unsuccessful attempts didn’t kill Earl, but he did murder Roy in 1950. From 1947 forward, properties belonging to the Sheltons were systematically destroyed. In 1951, having seen enough, Earl moved the family to Jacksonville Florida, an area he knew well from his days running illegal liquor into the US from Cuba and the Bahamas. Earl became quite wealthy and lived to the ripe old age of 96. With the Shelton’s only a memory, Buster Wortman, once a Shelton member who resided in St. Louis, took over many former Shelton locations and became the new man of the moment. Wortman had a working relationship with The Chicago Outfit and with Big Carl gone, they became the new kids on the block, controlling nearly all the illegal activities in the State of Illinois. Charlie Harris continued his rampage against those who offended him in some way. Shot Winchester managed to get himself killed. It was not suicide. Time has a way of making us all mortal but make no mistake about it, for nearly 25 years Big Carl, Big Earl, and their brother Bernie were the Kings of Little Egypt. Their lives revolved around perceived values: loyalty, betrayal, revenge, and deception. Money, power, and control were their constant companions. No one becomes a King overnight. Carl wanted respectability, Earl desired success, and Bernie just wanted nice cars and women. They are all long gone now but we are here to remember the days when America said hell no. These were the leaders of the pack.