An Ellensburg man, born and raised in Moses Lake, released his first fiction novel earlier this fall.

The back cover of Jake Shelton's "Legend of the Drunken Rancher" describes “a tale about moonshine robbers, corrupt political officials and... an elusive Mexican cartel."

“Jake Shelton'” is a pen name. The author wishes to remain anonymous, but did declare himself a member of MLHS's class of '95.

He may not be able to stay hidden much longer.

The book was released by Page Publishing through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Google Play, where it competes with several million other books and novels for clicks and sales. In this sea of millions, LDR has held its own. Shelton said his book was ranked as highly as 52,000th on the Amazon Best Sellers list, a list that includes more than 8 million titles. Put another way, LDR was near Amazon's top 5 percent of sales.

Shelton will work to climb that list and make a bigger name for himself at future book signings. He's booked for a signing at The Brick Tavern in Roslyn on Nov. 7, and said he would like to schedule dates at Hastings and The Ripple Tavern in Moses Lake.

Shelton cited Elmore Leonard's "Raylan" series of books as an influence to his writing. The main character of the series is U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Now the author of his own cops and robbers book, Shelton dedicated his first novel to "all law enforcement. They are just as human as us, and should be thanked for their service."

Shelton said the novel began as a short story and evolved from there. In all, LDR took about nine months to write, he said. Shelton said he began writing to "pass the time," and that he's begun working on his second book, "Legend of the Drunken Sheriff."

Shelton said his Moses Lake roots inspired his writing. "Even though it’s a fictional novel, I just wanted to write about the people and about how the area is."

Shelton said he'd love to sell tons of copies of his book, but enjoys his day job and doesn't expect to be quitting any time soon.