WESTERN NOVELS and Short Stories

 

WESTERN NOVELS and Short Stories
British Edition, Vol. 1, No. 5
L. Miller & Son Ltd. London

According to the FictionMags Index, 105 issues of this pulp were published in America. Only a handful came out in the UK – eight published by L. Miller & Son, and another three were published by Thorpe & Porter. I only own two, both from L. Miller & Son, neither of which contain a date to indicate the year it came out. The stories in the UK editions seem to have been sourced from a variety of American pulps.

Vol. 1, No. 5 has 64 pages and the opening novella takes up 35 of those pages. The Revenge by Joseph Chadwick is the second story I’ve read by him. Dan Kirby was now in a position to pay back those who sent him down some dark trails. Kirby had amassed a small fortune and was now able to buy the ranch that had got rid of him. He’s now a hard man and begins kicking the small squatter ranchers off his land. He also marries the girl he loved back then, even though she doesn’t appear happy by this and they live in separate buildings on his ranch. Some of the squatters won’t go without a fight. Then there’s the man who Kirby’s new wife was in a relationship with before Kirby returned. Does Nan still have feelings for him? Chadwick pulled me into the story easily, and I soon wanted to find out what would become of Kirby. Would he find happiness? Would his ranch succeed? His hard nature and his determination to have his revenge against those who’d wronged him soon had me doubting he’d achieve happiness. There’s plenty of tough talk and action before everything is resolved. Chadwick even explaining what happens in future years to the survivors. 

Next, we have the short story Apache Smoke by Clifton Adams. This is the grittiest tale in this pulp and tells the story of Matt Reppy’s attempt to get out of Apache country with his gold samples. Making Reppy’s task even more difficult is the fact he is on foot, with little food or water and can only risk travelling at night. The situation gets worse when he meets another man who has trouble walking due to an arrow wound in his leg. When this stranger, Talbert, discovers Reppy’s gold, he decides he wants it for himself and he gets the drop of Reppy. Finding out whether one of them, or both escape the Apaches provided some tense reading making this the best story in this issue of Western Novels and Short Stories.

Backfire Loot by Lawrence A. Keating is another short story. This one tells of when Sheriff Bill Dowd conducted a funeral for a cat that almost led to another funeral – his own. This is a bank robbery tale with the added plotline of a dead cat that distracts Dowd from his duty. Saying anymore will ruin it for anyone who reads this so all I’ll add is that I found it a fun read even though the twist ending was easy to predict. 

The fourth story, The Cast-Iron Alibi by Gunnison Steele (real name B. W. Gardner) seemed out of place in a western pulp to me. Nick Ryan could prove he wasn’t the murderer being sought for – prove it with the finality of the grave. This short story is a crime thriller in the noir style set in modern times. It was certainly a good read and had an excellent sting-in-the-tale. 

The final tale was another short story and this was Education of a Cowman by Stephen Payne. John Webb had a lot of qualities, but patience with men less strong than himself wasn’t one of those qualities and this is demonstrated time and again as he sets up a new ranch. Succeeding in this venture is all that matters, whatever the cost. Webb is on the path of becoming a lonely bitter man. It’s down to a life-long friend to make him see sense and become more human again. And that’s the plot of this one – or what little plot there is. Most of the action takes place off stage as the story progresses rapidly in years. It’s not gripping in any way and I really didn’t care what happened to Webb. I also found Stephen Payne’s writing style difficult to follow as it just didn’t hold my attention. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Payne before and on the strength of this I won’t be rushing out to find more of his work.

This is not the best pulp I’ve read but I’m glad I did as I really enjoyed Clifton Adams tale. Joseph Chadwick and Lawrence A. Keating also provided entertaining reads. Gunnison Steele’s story was a surprise as to it not being a western but I did enjoy it. 

As I said at the beginning, the UK editions of Western Novels and Short Stories took their yarns from a number of different American pulps, so here’s a list of where they originally came from:

The Revenge by Joseph Chadwick – Western Novels and Short Stories, December 1952

Apache Smoke by Clifton Adams – Western Novels and Short Stories, December 1952

Backfire Loot by Lawrence A. Keating – All Western Magazine, November 1937

The Cast-Iron Alibi by Gunnison Steele – I’ve not been able to discover where this first appeared.

Education of a Cowman by Stephen Payne – Western Novels and Short Stories, December 1952

HODGE

 

HODGE

By Matt Chisholm

Panther Books, 1958

The stranger rode into the dusty cowtown . . . and there was Cass, who should have been dead! But he wasn’t, he was the sheriff, and the feud which had simmered in years gone by, blazed out with renewed violence. Cass was now backed by the law and in no time at all he had planned a ‘legal’ killing . . . and the noose hung ready.

This was Matt Chisholm’s second book, and his first to feature characters he would write about again. Matt Chisholm is a pseudonym for author Peter Watts, who also wrote westerns as Cy James and Luke Jones. Altogether, he had about 100 books published and was one of the UK’s best selling western authors.

The opening chapters are extremely suspenseful as Hodge comes across a cabin outside of town where a young girl lives. Inside are two hurt men and it appears they are waiting for her father to return home. Hodge is soon held at gunpoint and it is obvious there’s something very wrong here. Hodge turns the tables and it isn’t long before he rides into town and gets the shock of his life when he discovers a man he thought he’d killed still lives. He’s also taken aback when he finds a woman, Rose, living in town too that he was once sweet on. Seems she’s promised to Cass’s brother, Geoff. From then on Hodge’s life only goes downhill and deadly confrontations came one after another with barely a chance to take a breath between them.

Like most of Chisholm’s characters, Hodge isn’t infallible and his mistakes put him in very dangerous situations. Chisholm often ends his chapters, or scenes, with cliff-hangers, making it very difficult to put the book down as you’ll need to know what happens next. Once Cass works out how to get rid of Hodge legally, the author really builds the tension as a beaten Hodge is taken to jail and is soon standing in a wagon bed awaiting the fixed outcome of the townsfolk trying him which will surely result in his hanging. This is truly a great how-is-he-going-to-get-out-of-that moment. 

Even at this early stage in Peter Watts’s writing career the author’s strengths are very clear. Superb characterization, excellent plotting, and none-stop action that all combine to provide edge-of-the-seat reading. 

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

HAWKE 1

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

By Robert Vaughan

HarperTorch, November 2004

Mason Hawke had success, fame, respect. Then war made him a murderer – and left him scarred in the worst possible way. Haunted by a past as black as the depths of Perdition, Hawke’s looking for a place to start over, to disappear. And Salcedo is just a stop along the trail. A small piece of Hell in Texas, it’s a town once run by outlaws and now ruthlessly bullied by a mob that’s twice as bad, though they call themselves “lawmen.” And the top dog’s a man who was once Hawke’s childhood friend.

Mason Hawke wants no part of small frontier-town civil war. One’s brewing here, and there’ll be no way to stay neutral – especially when conscience and a killer force his hand. But doing the right thing could expose the past Hawke’s so desperate to hide – and even dying might be a preferable fate . . . 

Robert Vaughan came up with an interesting hero for this five-book series. Mason Hawke is an accomplished pianist. He’s toured Europe and is internationally recognized as one of the best. But he put all that fame and fortune on hold as he felt the need to return to America to fight in the Civil War. A conflict that taught him another skill, one he became extremely good at – killing. After that war he became a drifter, going from town to town earning his way playing piano in various saloons, which is why he ended up in Salcedo.

The story contains flashbacks to the war, to Hawke’s childhood. It’s not only Hawke who has to deal with a violent past. Flaire Delaney, who might be a romantic interest for Hawke, has her own demons to deal with. It’s also her brother that Hawke finds hanging from a tree and whose body he brings into town against the wishes of those who hanged him, which is the start of the troubles Hawke will have to deal with.

Vaughan also includes a real person in part of the book that strengthens how well-known Hawke is in the music world. Hawke takes Flaire to see a concert given by the American composer, pianist and virtuoso performer, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Hawke and Flaire are taken backstage to Gottschalk’s dressing room where Flaire discovers the two men know each other very well. But it’s what is happening in Salcedo at the same time that will have violent repercussions for all involved. 

The story is told at a fast pace and includes some fairly horrific scenes. Vaughan switches between characters regularly as the tale unfolds in ever increasing tension before everything erupts in an explosive and gripping climax that could see Hawke’s childhood friend, Culpepper, and his band of Regulators get their comeuppance. 

I own, and have read, a lot of books written by Robert Vaughan, either under his own name or pseudonyms, and have yet to find one that I haven’t enjoyed. Ride with the Devil is right up there with the best of his work and has left me wanting to read the next book in the series as soon as I can.

American readers can get a copy here.

British readers can get a copy here.

HELL BOUND FOR SPINDRIFF

HELL BOUND FOR SPINDRIFF

By Dale Graham

The Crowood Press, 2017

When outlaw Denny Blake betrayed the Arizona Raiders during a bank robbery in the town of Spindriff, he little realized the storm he would unleash. Sentenced to twenty years in Arizona’s notorious Yuma prison, gang leader Smokin’ Joe McCabe has vowed to kill Blake and burn the town to the ground, renaming it Hellfire.

Escaping after only two years, McCabe amasses a new gang and heads for Spindriff. On the trail he encounters another prodigal who has run foul of the town’s spineless officials. Red Spot Rick Norton has his own reasons for seeking vengeance and refuses to join up with McCabe. A clash between right and wrong is inevitable. But who will emerge victorious? Harsh accusations and hot lead will fly thick and fast before the final showdown.

It's been a while since I read a book by Dale Graham, who also wrote Black Horse Westerns as Ethan Flagg, so I thought it was time to give him another try. 

Hell Bound for Spindriff is a fast-moving story that combines a couple of different plots that soon had me wondering how everything would be resolved. I’m going to be a bit vague with the reasons for Norton’s return to Spindriff, but will reveal that one of them is a woman, a young lady he intended to marry but finds she is now engaged to someone else and she has nothing but hate for him. 

Dale Graham creates an impending sense of doom over the town and its citizens. These townsfolk won’t be any match for McCabe and his gang. Will Norton help them? Why should he though as nearly everyone wants him out of town. It seems Norton’s only friend is the retired lawman, Cody Saggart and he’s beginning to doubt Norton. 

The author includes plenty of action and a couple of twists before the story comes to a satisfying conclusion. 

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

GUNSMOKE

GUNSMOKE

By Gary McCarthy

Cover art by Bill Dodge

Berkley Boulevard, December 1998

Amidst the peril and confusion of a frontier town, Marshal Matt Dillon is a man who stands up. For justice. For honor. And for the safety of Dodge City’s law-abiding citizens. No gunman is too fast, no stage robber too cunning, no crisis too large for this fearless lawman of the West…

When Doc suffers a mild heart attack, Matt Dillon must find a young frontier doctor to help the aging man with his workload. Dr. Jerome Gentry seems to fit the bill. He quickly becomes popular with the townspeople after mending a few patients – and a little too popular with the ladies, single or otherwise. Matt suspects the newcomer may be a lying charlatan. But the handsome doctor’s healing skills are soon put to the test when a gang of cattle thieves starts shooting their way into Dodge City.

This is the first of three books Gary McCarthy wrote based on the long-running television show Gunsmoke. I have never watched Gunsmoke so I have no idea how accurate McCarthy’s characterization of the people is, or whether he tells his story the way the TV show did. 

Reading the blurb above, you’d expect Dillon to play a large part in this story, but that’s not so. Yes, he does feature but other characters take centre stage, namely Gentry, Doc Adams, and Festus. Doc starts to evaluate his life and career after suffering a heart attack and after making a couple of mistakes, that could have been fatal if not for Dr. Gentry’s intervention, decides the time has come to retire. This makes him even more cranky than usual and leads to some bitter conversations that are often quite humorous. Of course, the townsfolk don’t want Adams to retire and do their best to persuade him to change his mind.

Although the main storyline is about whether Adams will step down from being the town’s doctor and if Gentry will replace him, the book does contain some lively action scenes too. Gentry’s womanizing leads to a killing that might just see Gentry change his ways. Then there’s the wounded rider who comes into Dodge with a tale of cattle rustlers. The lawmen of Dodge City then have to sort this out which results in some exciting gunplay. 

For the main characters every thing turns out pretty much as you’d expect, but Gentry’s future is always up in the air and kept me guessing until the end. 

I’ve read quite a few books by Gary McCarthy and enjoyed them all and Gunsmoke turned out to be another entertaining read. I’ll definitely be reading the other two books sometime soon and I might see if I can catch an episode of the TV series too.   

GUN VALLEY

 

THE TRAILSMAN 117

GUN VALLEY

By Jon Sharpe

Signet, September 1991

It didn’t start out well for Skye Fargo. First the Trailsman caught an arrow from Apaches who thought he was the one who butchered their old men and raped their women. Then he stopped a slug when he came too close to the real killers. He came to in an Arizona hell with his guns gone, his life bleeding away, and one idea blazing through his brain. He had nowhere to go this side of the grave but up – and nothing he wanted to do more than to kill….

Glenn Bavousett wrote twelve Trailsman books as Jon Sharpe. Gun Valley was his last. I have read a couple of his other entries into this series, but that was a long, long time ago and I don’t remember much about them. All the authors who wrote for the series have their own take on the man known as The Trailsman, and Bavousett’s portrayal of Skye Fargo doesn’t paint him as tough, or as quick-witted as the main authors did. Fargo also takes some punishment in the form of an arrow and a couple of bullets. It was surprising to see that Fargo actually followed the doctors’ instructions to lay up for a week or so whilst recovering, although he did exercise which the doc frowned upon.

As quite a lengthy portion of the story dealt with Fargo’s recovery meant that there wasn’t as much action as I’d usually expect from a Trailsman book. This isn’t a criticism as it did fit the plotline perfectly. There is action of course especially at the end as Fargo and an old friend take on superior odds in an exciting final showdown as two separate gangs converge on The Trailsman and all three sides meet at the same time. I was a little disappointed that one character who’d been featured quite a bit throughout the book seemed to disappear somewhere in this concluding gunfight.

Being an adult western series there is some explicit sex, although this is mostly dealt with quickly and can easily be skipped without missing anything essential to the plot if you so choose. 

There are many better entries in the Trailsman series, but this is by no means bad and it did keep me entertained throughout.