KLAW

KLAW
By W.L. Fieldhouse
Tower Books, 1980

When John Klawson returned from the War to Great Ford, he found his parents dead, victims of a phony “Indian raid,” and their property confiscated by banker Warren T. Jennings. And the rest of the town was under the control of Jennings and his hired guns. Klawson vowed revenge, but Jennings struck first, sending his hardcases after the ex-soldier. In a violent battle Klawson lost his right hand and was left for dead. But he survived and was hidden by friends until his arm healed. A blacksmith fitted him with a gleaming steel claw for a hand, and Klaw, as he became known, learned all over how to use a revolver and a rifle. Soon he was ready to exact vengeance on Jennings and his crew. One by one they would die – painfully – if Klaw had his way!

Whilst America tried to inject new life into the western with the introduction of explicit adult content, the British produced books that were filled with graphic violence and brought the anti-hero more into the limelight. Some of these series such as Edge and Apache became massive successes in America too, so much so that American publishers jumped on the bandwagon and launched their own series with similar content such as Kilburn, Cutter, Hawk (not to be confused with the British series with the same name), and The Loner. I believe the three Klaw books was another of these, as was the equally violent Six-Gun Samurai series that Fieldhouse wrote alongside two other authors as Patrick Lee. 

This book has a slow start as the author fills the reader in on the Klawson’s backstory – events that lead to him facing Jennings in Great Ford. The momentum picks up after Klawson loses his hand and the blacksmith creates the claw for him. This claw is detachable and Klawson can fit other attachments in place of it, such as a modified handgun. This is where the pace of the story begins to move forward at a gallop. Revenge is all that Klawson lives for. As the death toll mounts Klawson becomes know as Klaw. Yet, unlike those anti-heroes of the British westerns, Klaw keeps some of his compassion which, at times, makes him seem like a bit of a contradiction. One minute dishing out death in a completely cold-blooded way, then showing his tender side, such as when he meets Elena and when he helps those back in Great Ford. This makes him a somewhat complex character, a man who clings onto some of his humanity. 

The action scenes are well described in all their graphic brutality. There are some excellent set pieces such as the ambush in a fort that sees both Gatling guns and cannon used effectively. The author often switches between the various groups of characters so he can include more vicious violence as we follow the men Klaw is hunting for. As you’d expect, everything comes together for a savage conclusion.

Throughout the story there is mention of an organization, one that Jennings worked for. Who they are, and what their ultimate aims are is kept vague. On finishing Klaw I was left to wonder if they will be part of the plot of the second Klaw book. I guess I’ll have to read it to find out which is something I aim to do very soon.

I started this review with my thoughts on how some American western series seemed to have been created to cash in on the success of some of the British series. I’ve always wondered if one of the British authors read the Klaw books and used them as an inspiration for his series Claw? He even seems to give a nod of acknowledgement by naming the leader of the outlaws, who are responsible for the loss of the hero’s hand, Jennings. If he didn’t, that’s one hell of a coincidence. 

DEATH'S BOUNTY

HAWK

Number 3 of 15

By William S. Brady

Cover art by Robert Adams

Fontana, 1979

Jared Hawk rode into Santa Maria on the trail of a Mexican outlaw with a $1,000 bounty on his head.

He didn’t know he was riding into a revenge war between the Mexicans and the Apache Nation – until the people of Santa Maria offered him one thousand dollars American to get them out to safety. Down a trail that was lined with blood-hungry Indians.

Hawk took the money and gave his word – and he wasn’t the kind of man who went back on a promise. Even when it meant losing a woman to the harsh code that demanded blood for blood . . . and a life for a life.

William S. Brady is a shared pseudonym. The two authors writing behind that name are Angus Wells and John B. Harvey. To start with, they alternated books, but later the majority were written by Harvey. This was due to a second series being launched under the William S. Brady name with the same two authors writing the books, although it was Wells who wrote the most of them. 

Death’s Bounty was written by Wells and it has all his trademarks. Tough, brutal characters fighting to stay alive in a hostile environment. Here’s it’s the cold and snow. The story takes place over Christmas. Hawk is a heartless anti-hero, a man who looks out only for himself, but here he seems to mellow a little when around a certain young lady. Could he be falling in love? He even considers ending his career as a hired gun and settling down with her. His infatuation with Manuela Ortiz leads to more trouble though, for she has a protective brother who soon swears he will kill Hawk. Juan Ortiz and Hawk put their differences aside, promising to face each other once the people of Santa Maria have been led to safety. Trouble is there’s a hell of a lot of Apache’s out to stop them.

Wells describes the many violent deaths in as much gory detail as he can. As followers of this series know, Hawk carries a sawn-down Meteor single barrelled shotgun in a special belt holster. This weapon gets used numerous times and Wells relishes describing what happens when its charge tears through the human body. This story has a massive death toll and it isn’t long before you’ll be wondering just who will be alive by the end.

Hawk doesn’t know about the massacre that starts this tale or why this was done. Even when he does know, he doesn’t really care. All he wants is to stay alive and collect his pay, perhaps start a new life with Manuela. 

Wells also includes memories that explain why Hawk is the man he is, why he wears a black glove on his left hand and why he carries that Meteor shotgun. 

Like many of the books that come from this group of authors, these days known as the Piccadilly Cowboys, this story contains plenty of gallows humour and also mentions characters from other series, for instance a man who carries a razor in a pouch behind his neck gets a name-check.

For me, this has always been one of my favourite books in the Hawk series and I really enjoyed re-reading it after all this time. It must be some 30 years or more since I last read it. The Hawk books can still be found in used book stores but they can take some searching out. If you don’t want to take time hunting for them at sensible prices, you’ll be pleased to know that Piccadilly Publishing are currently putting the series out as ebooks. For me, it’s a shame they haven’t managed to secure the rights to use the original artwork as I always thought Robert Adams captured the likeness of Hawk perfectly.

Hawk

By Bret Sanders

Award Books, 1973

A man of steel, a brutal man who knew how to kill without pity. He came out of prison, escaping the hangman’s noose in return for helping the law get a renegade killer. Hate welded him into a savage hunter who always got his prey.

This hunt led him on the trail of a man he’d sworn to kill for years – the sadist who’d once branded him with a hot iron, then tortured and killed the woman he loved.

No lawman’s badge could keep him from the revenge he sought – or the bloody carnage that followed in his wake!

This is the first in a series that lasted for four books. The author behind the pseudonym of Bret Sanders being Dudley Dean McGaughy I believe.

Web Steele aka Hawk is freed from jail to find and free a young newly-wed bride from kidnapper Keegan who is demanding $500,000 for her return. It just so happens that a man Hawk wants to kill, Colonel Spate has teamed up with Keegan in this ransom plot, so Hawk has two reasons to track the outlaws.

The book is fast moving and contains a lot of graphic violence, including rape and torture. Hawk himself takes some punishment, a whipping at the beginning for instance which doesn’t slow him down at all, even though the author describes chunks of Hawk’s flesh being ripped away and splattered across his cell. Not sure I believe Hawk could just shrug this off and carry on as normal but there have been many heroes before and after Hawk that keep going as if nothing has happened to them after being brutally wounded so why should he too?

Hawk and Colonel Spate’s back-story is told in a series of flashbacks, explaining why both have sworn to kill each other on sight and just what Spate branded on Hawk.

The author comes up with some vicious ways to kill man and woman and there’s a neat twist for Hawk to overcome when he finally battles his way through to the kidnapped girl, Amalie, and the passages dealing with her trauma at witnessing so much savage death are very well written.

Like many series the author leaves a storyline hanging to ensure you’ll read the next book and I for one will be doing so soon even though there were a couple of scenes that stretched my belief a little but not enough to stop me enjoying what is essentially a non-stop action tale containing a lot of blood-letting. Takes me back to when I first started reading westerns, those violent UK series from the group of writers known as the Piccadilly Cowboys in particular. 

Peacemaker #5

BLOOD RUN

as by William S. Brady

Fontana, 1982

The stageline was a lifeline. It linked Garrison with the other Texas border towns. It brought new blood and new money. And raiders! Their trade was death, paid in blood and bullets.

McLain was the lawman. It was his duty to see the stage got through…no matter who stood in the way.

The Peacemaker books came from the group of British western authors know today collectively as The Piccadilly Cowboys. This series lasted for nine books with six of them being written by Angus Wells and the other three by John Harvey. These two authors also wrote another series together as by William S. Brady: Hawk.

In fact the two series are linked more than just by the author pseudonym. The Hawk series came first and there’s often mention of John T. McLain as being the man who helped Jared Hawk learn to handle weapons, in fact he gave Hawk the swan-down Meteor shotgun he wears in a special belt holster. There were always rumours of the two starring in a book together, sadly this never happened as the English publishers ceased publishing westerns before it could happen.

The Peacemaker series differed from the majority of the Piccadilly Cowboy’s western series in that it didn’t feature a drifting hero. After the end of the Civil War, McLain rides into the small town of Garrison and stays. The books follow the growth of this town and also feature a cast of regular characters. This allowed the authors to spend time developing these people as well as the town. Each book begins with prologue filling new readers on the main details of what had happened in the previous books.

As the blurb indicates this story revolves around attempts to link Garrison with other towns by stage. Of course it’s not just Comanche that cause problems, there’s bandits too, being helped by a greedy solider who sees the payroll the stage is carrying as an easy way to riches.

This entry in the series comes from Angus Wells so the violence is extremely detailed and gory. Having said that there is not as much as in some of Wells’ books. Much of this story tells what the various characters are doing, how they are planning to steal the payroll and double-cross each other. All this leads to an exciting final bloody confrontation between all sides.

One thing that always made me smile about this series is that McLain rode with Bloody Bill Anderson, Butcher Harvey and Josey Wales throughout much of the Civil War, and that it was Wales that suggests McLain heads for Texas at the end of the war.

Blood Run reads like a fast moving traditional western except it contains a bit more blood and guts than those who’ve never read a western from this group of writers might expect. In my mind the Peacemaker series is definitely worth exploring…if you can find them.

Hawk #9

THE WIDOWMAKER

as by William S. Brady

Fontana, 1981

The Willard brothers didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for when they took Ben King’s wife off the train. She was beautiful and her husband was rich… Rich enough to hire Jared Hawk to bring his wife back and kill the men who took her.

Hawk didn’t like King’s methods, but the big man’s money spoke loud enough to persuade him, so he took the job. It didn’t look too difficult… Not until he got tangled up in a spider’s web of lethal intrigue.

But Hawk had a way of solving problems – with a .45 calibre lead slug!

The Hawk series first appeared in 1979 and ran for fifteen books, the last one coming out in 1983. William S. Brady being a pseudonym shared by Angus Wells and John Harvey, this entry being written by Wells.

Like most anti-heroes created by the group of authors known as The Piccadilly Cowboys, Jared Hawk is a cold, heartless, character who can be every bit as cruel as those he is hunting, and the book has its fair share of savage violence told in all its gory detail.

Wells includes a number of short flashback sequences to explain some of Hawk’s past, in particular why he wears a black glove on his left hand and of his time working with John T. McLain (the lead character from another William S. Brady series; Peacemaker).

Like many PC heroes Hawk carries an unusual weapon, a cut-down Meteor single barrel shotgun, carried in a specially designed belt holster, and this gun is used to devastating effect.

The story itself gets off to a good start but then seems to plod on as much of the rest of the book is taken up with Hawk tracking the kidnappers, with nothing much happening, although Wells’ descriptions of landscapes and conditions are very well told.

Once Hawk finds the truth behind the kidnapping he decides to take matters into his own hands and the book comes to a blood drenched conclusion.

Perhaps not the best work to come from Angus Wells but still worth a look if your preferred choice in western reading is for the more brutal books.