HIRED GUNS

HIRED GUNS

By Steve Hockensmith

Rough Edges Press, September 2024

When former Army officer Oswin Diehl ventures into Mexico in search of fortune, he encounters more than he bargained for-bandits and chaos. Saved by old comrades Ira Hoop and Apache scout Eskaminzim, Diehl is offered a job that leads him to Arizona Territory and a showdown against a powerful conglomerate harassing local mine owners.

As Diehl and his resilient team face off against the hired goons of Consolidated American Mining Corporation, the stakes rise. With the brutal chairman, Kingsley Le May, and an army of operatives led by an old enemy, former Texas Ranger Thomas Breck, the battle turns into a deadly game of wits and survival.

Amidst the dust and gun smoke, alliances are formed, love is kindled, and a desperate struggle for freedom unfolds. Will Diehl, Hoop, Eskaminzim, and the fiery mine owner Catrin Gruffud overcome their adversaries and prevail in the ultimate showdown? The hired guns are locked, loaded, and ready for justice.

This book features detectives working for the Double-A Western Detective Agency. An organization that fans of Steve Hockensmith’s Holmes on the Range series will already be acquainted. This series isn’t about the Amlingmeyer brothers though, but it does star a couple of operatives that have ridden alongside Big Red and Old Red. 

The Holmes on the Range books are told in the first person, Hired Guns is written in the third. This allows Hockensmith to regularly switch between various characters, often leaving them in cliff-hanger situations. Like the other books, this one contains a fair amount of humorous banter and scenes. The main difference is that this book has a lot more violent action as Diehl, Hoop, Eskaminzim and Romo find themselves faced with an enemy that has a small army to help him get what he wants.

Steve Hockensmith paces the story superbly, building to a terrific final showdown. Characterization is excellent and descriptions paint vivid pictures in the mind. The author also pays homage to scenes from a well-known spaghetti western or two. The story also contains some neat twists and turns and a touch of mystery. 

If you like traditional westerns that are packed with tough, brutal action, mixed with elements of humour and have plots that will keep you guessing until the end, then look no further than Hired Guns. Me? I’m really looking forward to the follow-up story, No Hallowed Ground, which I believe is due out this October. 

Oh yeah, who can forget Prince Pudding Paws?

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here 

THROUGH WESTERN STORMS

THROUGH WESTERN STORMS

Edited by Richard Prosch

Independently published, August 2024

Crashing thunder! Pelting sand! The whirl of confusion and the winds of madness.

Join 13 unsurpassed storytellers to journey through Western storms with tales of perseverance, grit, and courage as vast as the 19th-century American landscape.

This is an excellent collection of well-written short stories that either feature characters battling against the elements or emotions. You’ll find tales that are heart-breaking, those that find humour in desperate situations, and everything in between. There are stories that feature real people such as Nannita Daisey and Oscar Wilde. There’s one that is about a strange long-necked creature. Others tell tales about soldiers, mechanics, and detectives. Most are about ordinary people struggling through life. 

One of the things that I enjoy about anthologies is discovering new authors and nearly all of these writers are new to me. I’ve only read stories by three of them before. Of course, it’s all subjective to the reader when it comes to picking out favourites, which authors you want to read more of, or singling out stories you aren’t so keen on.

If you pushed me to pick out my favourites, I’d name in the order they appear in the collection, A Death on the Concho, Valiant-For-Truth, White City, and Noah’s Lament as being my top choices. I will quickly add that the others are very good too.

If you want to introduce yourself to the work of some current authors, perhaps discovering some new favourites in the process, then I’d suggest you grab a copy of Through Western Storms as soon as you can. 

Contents

Another Man’s Sea by Vonn McKee

The Lost Diary of Nannita Daisey by Nancy McCabe

Hurricane at Hogg’s Holler by Scott McCrea

Go On by Jim Jones

Windmiller by Jackson Lowry

A Death on the Concho by Jane Little Botkin

A Cowtown Wind by Natalie Cline Bright & Denise F. McAllister

Valiant-For-Truth by Elisabeth Grace Foley

A Newspaper Comes to Cripple Creek by Big Jim Williams

A Death in the Family by W. Michael Farmer

White City by John D. Nesbitt

Noah’s Lament by Preston Lewis

American readers can get a copy here
British readers can get a copy here