Dry Gulch Revenge

By Clay More

Hale, August 2014

Fate hands Hank Hawkins the opportunity of achieving his ambition of buying a ranch, and all he has to do to make it happen is to make it easy for a gang to rob the stage in Devil’s Bones Canyon.

Hank soon realizes, however, that the robbers never had an intention of leaving anyone alive and had planned a dry gulching.

He survives but regains consciousness back in Hastings Fork, and vows to track down the murderers who betrayed him and have his revenge. But, when he sets off, he finds he has a companion – Helen Curtis, the fiancée of the messenger whose death lies on his conscience.

Hank has many things to figure out, such as why there was one body missing and things are about to get even more complicated with the threat of death for both of them never far away.

This is a very fast moving story that begins with the savage slaughter of the stagecoach passengers and crew, and then the questions come thick and fast ensuring you won’t want to put the book down until you’ve reached the end.

Hank Hawkins’ relationship with Helen Curtis also asks questions, such as can he keep it a secret that he was involved in the death of her fiancée? What will happen if she finds out?

Clay More also includes a tense ‘how are they going to get out of that alive?’ problem that leads to some startling discoveries regarding certain people including an unforeseen double-cross.

Clay More is a pseudonym used by Keith Souter and in Dry Gulch Revenge he has written an easy to read, gripping, and extremely entertaining tale that has me looking forward to his next book and hunting for his back catalogue.

Dry Gulch Revenge at Amazon.com

Wolf Creek #1: Bloody Trail

By Ford Fargo

Western Fictioneers, September 2012

The town of Wolf Creek is assaulted by a small army of former Confederate guerrillas, who rob the bank and leave dead innocents in their wake. Sheriff G.W. Satterlee and his posse must overtake the outlaws before they reach Indian Territory but the chase is complicated by the secret pasts of several posse members.

As most will know Western Fictioneers is an organisation made up of published western writers and this series is a group effort. Each author writes from the perspective of his or her own unique character, blended together into a single novel. 

Appearing as Ford Fargo in this volume: Clay More, James J. Griffin, Troy D. Smith, James Reasoner, L. J. Martin, & Cheryl Pierson.

Before beginning this book I did wonder whether it would flow together or seem like a number of short stories told by different authors about the same place and characters. Yes, the different writers styles are evident but the plot has been carefully thought out and each authors’ work joins together seamlessly.

Authors have two chapters in which to tell their part of the tale. A couple use one of them to flesh out the background of their characters, and Clay More, who opens the book, also explains the history of Wolf Creek. Clay More’s second chapter then moves up a gear in the action stakes as the town is attacked and you have to wonder if there will be anyone left alive by the end of chapter two.

The story then becomes a chase tale but this is complicated by the secrets of the posse members and animosities due to some having ridden for opposite sides during the Civil War. Some of the authors resolve these problems and reveal the secrets, others hint at them and leave things hanging for further novels.

And talking of the next books, I’ve been informed that book 2 is almost ready to be published, and books 3 and 4 are in development. On the strength of Bloody Trail I for one am eagerly looking forward to discovering the fates of the people of Wolf Creek.

If you’d like to find out more about the authors, their characters, and the town of Wolf Creek then you can do so here.

Available as paperback and ebook.