SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE

 

SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE

Book 424 of 430 + 17 Giant Editions

By Jake Logan

Cover illustration by Sergio Giovine

Jove, June 2014

Passing uneasily through the dried-up town of Espero, Texas, John Slocum learns soon enough that his apprehension is justified. After a not-so-friendly welcome at the Six Feet Under Saloon, he’s given the choice between a bullet or a bit of employment: Escort the town mortician’s strikingly pretty bride-to-be from a train station at Dexter Junction – in exchange for a hefty sum.

But with someone after the gunslinger and the mysterious beauty, Slocum reckons that the undertaker neglected to tell him the whole story. There’s treachery in store for Slocum upon returning to Espero, a place where men have been known to land in an early grave… much too early…

The author had me hooked right from the start and soon added more questions that needed answering, along with mystery upon mystery. Are any of the characters Slocum meets really who they say they are? The undertaker’s bride-to-be, Miranda Madison, is certainly hiding something… and who is the man trailing her? The mortician is definitely acting strangely. What is his game? He doesn’t act like a completely sane man either… especially when he announces his wedding gift to his wife-to-be will be a newly made coffin! 

The book contains plenty of action, and some truly horrific scenes as the undertaker’s sinister acts are slowly exposed. Slocum has to endure being buried alive, a fate many of us fear, and this part of the book will stay with me for a long time, as will the truth behind the undertaker’s plans and that of Miranda. 

I believe the author behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan for this book is Robert Vardeman and here he has come up with a very memorable plot. It was also great to see that he includes a fair bit about Slocum’s past; explaining how he became a man wanted by the law, and how he’s still willing to commit crimes so he can survive. 

Slocum Buried Alive proved to be a very entertaining read and I’m now eager to dig out more of Vardeman’s entries into the series to see if they’re just as good as this one.

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

Slocum Bibliography

Over the last few of months, I’ve been helping Anders N. Nilsson compile a bibliography on Jake Logan’s Slocum series. 

The Slocum series began in 1975 and continued into 2014. There were 430 regular sized books, many of which we reprinted a number of times, and 17 giant editions. 

The bibliography names many of the authors who wrote behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan. It also details which books were reprinted and how many times, including foreign publications. There is other data about the books too.

If anyone can supply information that will help fill in the gaps, or provide us with corrections, then please comment below.

You can find the bibliography here: The Bibliography

Images of all the covers can be found here: Book Covers

POWDER RIVER MASSACRE

SLOCUM

Book 171 of 430 + 17 Giant Editions

POWDER RIVER MASSACRE

By Jake Logan

Berkley Books, May 1993

Slocum’s working for the railroad, and the advance men are dropping like flies at the hands of marauding Sioux warriors. Slocum doesn’t much like the odds, but he has a job to do.

That job gets complicated when a cavalry troop led by a revenge-crazed officer goes after the Indians. Slocum can’t let the man kill women and children just because they’re in the way. Now he’s got both the Indians and the trooper after him – and no one’s going to rest easy until Slocum’s out of the picture…permanently!

I don’t know who the author is writing behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan for this entry in the long running series, but they created an interesting storyline and their descriptive prose in particular was a joy to read. The opening chapter really painted an excellent sense of time and place, along with some gripping tension.

It's been a while since I’ve read a Slocum book, and I can’t remember reading one that portrays the hero in the way that this author does. Slocum isn’t a very forceful character, doesn’t push his point and agrees to do things that go against his beliefs – partly to stop a full-blown war erupting between the Sioux and the calvary. Slocum also came across as shy where women are concerned. He was described as blushing when it was suggested he spent some private time with the led woman of the story (who is nothing like the lady depicted on the cover). The Slocum I remember is confident in both his abilities and with women. Putting these little niggles aside, this is a very readable western.

The Slocum books are classed as an adult series, yet this one contained very little in the way of explicit sex. Nothing erotic happens for over 100 pages and by that time I’d almost forgotten there would be some scenes of a sexual nature and when they did arrive, they were dealt with over a couple of pages, almost as if the author wanted to get back to the struggle between the soldiers and the Sioux as fast as possible.

Even though the story played out much as I expected I had no idea as to how the Sioux were going to capture the troopers without killing any of them, and wanting to discover how this would be achieved, if it could be, kept me glued to the pages. 

Powder River Massacre proved to be a good entry into the series, one that has me thinking that I should read more Slocum books sooner rather than later.

The Slocum series comes to an end

SLOCUM #430:
SLOCUM'S SILVER BURDEN

By Jake Logan

Jove, December 2014

Down on his luck in San Francisco, John Slocum takes a contract with the Central California Railroad. He’s given the difficult task of locating a stolen shipment of silver worth over ten thousand dollars, but he catches a break when he discovers that the company’s attractive secretary, Tamara, was an accomplice in the robbery. Too bad his employer would rather believe in the thief’s feminine wiles than in Slocum’s cold hard facts.

Fuming mad and out of work, Slocum starts looking to let off some steam. But when Tamara offers Slocum a new job – finding where the rest of the robbers stowed the loot – he has a hard time saying no to the seductive crook, or to a change of fortune. Still, Slocum knows he has to keep his cards close to the chest, or else he might end up six feet under…

The Slocum series first hit the shelves way back in 1975, the books being published by Playboy. It wasn’t until 1983, when the series was taken over by Berkley that a new book appeared monthly. Jake Logan, is of course a pseudonym behind which a great many different writers wrote over the years, many of whom are held in high acclaim in the western genre, which means there are more than a fistful of excellent reads to be found in the series.

Slocum’s Silver Burden is the last book in America’s longest running Western series but does it bring the series to an end in style?

I would think followers of the series will be more than pleased with this book for it does bring about a conclusion to John Slocum’s many years of riding the trail, sometimes on the side of the law and more often than not on the opposite side. Here Slocum tries to help the railroad but when he’s tossed aside he decides to help himself to whatever he can get as pay back. But this is where the real problems occur as the stolen silver is hidden in four different places and those responsible have a bad habit of dying before revealing where the silver is hidden.

There is also other complications, such as whether Tamara can be trusted. And what of the bounty hunters? Are they looking to claim the reward for returning the silver to its rightful owners or are they hoping to ride off into the sunset with the small fortune? Whichever trail they choose they aren’t going to let Slocum stand in the way, which means there’s plenty of action to be found in this story.

I’m not sure who has written this book but I will say it is well written, moves forward at pace, contains a number of surprises, and, as I’ve already mentioned, brings the series to a neat ending. 

Slocum and the High-Rails Heiress

By Jake Logan

Jove, April 2012

#398 in the series

Slocum’s at the end of his tether when a stranger offers him a hot meal, a job escorting precious cargo to Salt Lake City, and a thousand dollar advance. It may be too good to be true, but it’s also too good to turn down – especially when he gets a look at the cargo…

In his care is a mysterious chest, the key to which rests on another chest – that of Augusta Barr, a stunning heiress with more than a little mystery of her own. Pursued by a deadly pair of redheaded roughnecks, Slocum finds himself caught in a deadly mix of beauty, bounty, and bullets.

This book is the first by a new author to the Slocum stable, but it’s not his first western, his other books have gained him wide acclaim and saw one of his short stories nominated for a Western Writers of America Spur Award. The man writing as Jake Logan this time around is Matthew P. Mayo.

The characters that this story revolves around are all superbly crafted, such as the redheaded brothers, Augusta Barr and her oriental cook, but the best, for me, is the veiled woman; just who is she and what is she after? Her true identity coming as an excellent surprise that I didn’t guess was coming.

Most of the story takes place on a train. Dialogue and descriptive scenes are handled extremely well. Action comes thick and fast and often painted very visual images within my mind. There’s plenty of mystery that grabbed my attention and refused to let me go until the answers had been found, such as the already mentioned identity of the veiled woman, along with the air of suspicion placed around Augusta Barr and the truth as to the content of the chest.

Slocum and the High-Rails Heiress is a well-paced book that provided a thoroughly enjoyable read, leaving me looking forward to Matthew P. Mayo’s next entry into the series.

Slocum and the Fool's Errand

By Jake Logan

Jove, December 2011

#394 in the series

After collecting the reward for capturing Oklahoma Bill and his gang, Slocum’s ready to hightail out of Rocas Rojas, New Mexico. But before he can pack his saddlebags, Jack Halsey comes tearing into town – minus some fingers, the result of a run-in with a pack of wolves.

Jack wants Slocum’s help tracking down the wolves because they ate something more valuable than his fingers. But Jack’s tales keep changing, and Slocum doesn’t know what to believe. And when Apache warriors and Oklahoma Bill’s former associates join the chase, Slocum must uncover whatever it is Jack is really hiding – and whatever Jack believes is in the belly of the beasts…

One of the first things I noticed about this book is that the author very rarely shares his characters thoughts with his readers, this makes some of their actions come as a surprise and gives them a hard edge and also helps add a sense of mystery to Halsey’s mission. For most of the story we follow Slocum but the author does occasionally move away from him to explain what those hunting for Halsey are doing.

Jack Halsey is a great character, his constant griping, changing story, and urgency to find the wolves make him very memorable. I must also admit to not guessing what it actual was that the wolves ate along with Halsey’s fingers.

Slocum and Halsey join forces with a band of Apache warriors and this leads to a well-written and exciting battle with the wolf pack, this bloody fight being the highlight of the book for me.

Everything is neatly resolved in a low-key ending that finished the story more or less as I expected. Getting to this ending was an entertaining and fun read.

Also available as an eBook

Slocum #107

SIXGUNS AT SILVERADO
as by Jake Logan
Berkley, November 1987

Guns and fear ruled Silverado. The miners that couldn’t be scared into handing over their claims died quick. ‘Cause one man, drunk with greed, would keep on killing until he owned it all. But Slocum aims to see justice done, even if it means looking down the gun barrels of a hired army. And in a mining town set to explode, Slocum’s just the man to light the fuse…

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Slocum book and I picked this one out due to having a note that Jake Logan, in this case, is Jory Sherman. There are certainly many poetic descriptions throughout the fast moving story that would indicate that he did indeed write the book.

In fact it was these portrayals of landscape and weather that provided the most memorable strengths of the story. The opening scenes of Slocum struggling for survival in a blizzard painted some vivid imagery in my mind and had me shivering along with him.

Even though the bad guys are known from the beginning, the author keeps the reader guessing as to how Slocum would finally win the day. Many of the gunfights take place out in the snow and this adds its own dangers to that of flying bullets. There’s also an excellent method of escape, when Slocum is trying to reach Silverado after leaving a cave, that stands out as I can’t remember reading anything like it in any other western.

I’ve read quite a few Slocum books and they’ve fallen into the good, the bad and the downright ugly categories with ease. Sixguns at Silverado is filled with exciting confrontations, tough characters and situations, there’s not as much sex as I expected from an adult western published in the 1980’s, so this entry into the series definitely makes it into the top category.

Slocum #8

NORTH TO DAKOTA

as by Jake Logan

Playboy, 1976

Godley came out of Chicago with a bankroll, twenty hired killers and a plan. He would find and bring back the greatest Wild West spectacle of all time - the bones of Crazy Horse. For pleasure he brought his beautiful blonde mistress. For insurance he hired Joe Kidd, a sadist with a sheriff’s star.

Jim Beckett came from Denver. Half black, half white, an adopted Indian Chief and famous mountain man, he was a hero rapidly slipping into insanity.

Slocum was the man in the middle, hired by Godley as a tracker, and no matter what the cost, he was determined to have the blonde and the bankroll – even if it meant being the only man left alive.

And interesting plot, written by Martin Smith as Jake Logan, that’s filled with double-cross and crazy characters. Smith comes up with many gruesome ways to kill off the men making up Godley’s party as Beckett attempts to stop them finding Crazy Horse’s grave.

For a series of books that are sold as adult westerns there is very little sex in the story, that which it does contain is over in a couple of paragraphs.

There are a couple of plot-lines that made me raise an eyebrow such as the timeline in regard to Slocum’s age and also the fact that they supposedly find Crazy Horse’s grave as I thought this has never happened, but remembering this is fiction rather than fact makes this easy to overlook and the story be enjoyed for what it is.

One of the better Slocum books I’ve read.

Big Iron

as by Jake Lancer

Pocket Star books, March 2004

This book is billed as being the first in the GOLDEN SPIKE TRILOGY. Unfortunately there weren't anymore as Pocket Star stopped publishing westerns.

The Union Pacific Railroad is finding itself the target of a gang of outlaws. The time is shortly after the Civil War and rumour has it the gang is lead by Harvey Kidd, a ruthless man long thought dead, killed during the close of the war.

The Railroad is heading for the town of Black Creek and the outlaws gather. Into this explosive mix rides mysterious stranger Dane Bowman, a man with a lightning fast gun. Bowman, ex-Union, finds himself siding an ex-Rebel, Grimes, who people want killed. Why? All Grimes has is a totally worthless plot of land.

Whose side is Bowman really on? He takes on outlaws and lawman alike.

Jake Lancer, who the book says has written as Jake Logan (Slocum series), is author David Jacobs. Here he provides us with a book that contains mystery elements with the who are they and why are they questions used to great effect. The book builds slowly to a violent conclusion that throws in a few surprises to go along with the answers to those questions.

For me, though, I felt the book would have been better shorter. David Jacobs spends a lot of time, especially at the beginning, with detailed descriptions of locations and actions, which occasionally seemed like padding. The book only picking up pace once Bowman and Grimes reach Black Creek about a third of the way into this 279-page story. Along with picking up pace the book moves rapidly from one revelation to another and gunfights come frequently making me pleased I hadn't given up on it during that first third which at one point I was tempted to do. In fact the latter two thirds made me want to dig out one of those Slocum books and see what they’re like.

Slocum #247

DEAD MAN’S SPURS 
as by Jake Logan

Jove, October 1999

When Slocum and his partner, Billy Quince, end the life of a notorious cattle rustler, it’s the young man’s first kill. But Billy’s first kill is far from his last as the infamous rustler leaves him with a mysterious – and murderous – legacy. Now Billy’s got the taste for the limelight and begins a savage killing spree. As the death toll grows, Slocum takes on the task of breaking the deadly spell – if he can stay alive long enough…

Robert Vardeman has been writing as Jake Logan since 1984 – and I think still is today – and this must be his strangest storyline I've read so far. Dead Man’s Spurs has a strong supernatural element to the plot and this makes it one of the more unusual westerns I’ve read, and comes as a surprise, as it’s part of the Slocum series, where one wouldn’t expect such as story.

Slocum has always been a tough, hard man but even he is repulsed by the changes in Billy. Changes that horrify Billy’s sister as Billy continues on his quest to kill everyone he meets whilst searching for his intended target, that of John Wesley Hardin.

What makes this a gripping read is the need to know whether the spurs are really the cause of the changes in Billy, history seems to say so.

The book really picks up in pace as a sceptical Slocum attempts to stop Billy and destroy the myth of the spurs.

If you fancy a more unusual storyline in a western then this one is well worth tracking down.