BLOOD DEBT

BREED

Book 8 0f 22

BLOOD DEBT

By James A. Muir

Cover art by Colin Backhouse

Sphere Books, 1979

The Kiowas slaughtered Amos and Eliza Marker without pity. But they took young Jeb, raised him and taught him to be a warrior. To live like a Kiowa. Think like a Kiowa. Kill like a Kiowa.

When Matthew Gunn, known and feared as Breed, was called by rich businessman Ty Horn, he didn’t know that Horn was Eliza Marker’s brother. Or that Horn had some crazy sentimental idea about saving Jeb from the Indians after all this time. Even when he knew, he didn’t care. The rich white man was offering a whole heap of money for the ‘rescue’. And soon Breed had a debt of honour to be settled with the Kiowas – a debt to be paid strictly in torture, destruction and death . . .

I remember really liking this book when it was first published. I’ve read it a couple of times between then and now. Rereading it again, I found my enjoyment hadn’t diminished in any way. I particularly like how Horn is stubborn, or just doesn’t listen when Gunn explains how Jeb won’t want to return to the life of a white man, won’t even remember his uncle. This can only finish with an unhappy ending for some of the characters, can’t it?

Once the man known as Breed gives his word, he’ll put his life on the line to fulfil his promise. There’s plenty of times this will happen as he tracks down Jeb, now known as Mahka. The action scenes are described in gory detail, adding to the brutal harshness of the story.

James A. Muir is a pseudonym for British author Angus Wells and, like with the other novelists now known as the Piccadilly Cowboys, his books contain lots of references to people in the trade at that time and to western book and/or movie characters. Blood Debt is dedicated to Nick Tryhorn, so it’s obvious where the businessman’s name came from. Breed teams up with a man called John Havee – another of the Piccadilly Cowboys is author John Harvey. We also find characters called Hedges with thinly disguised references to another western hero who was born with that name, although he is mostly known as Edge. Breed also briefly meets a man called Ethan and his companion who seem to be searching for something or someone. Another of John Wayne’s movie characters also gets a mention, Nathan Brittles from the film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Whenever I read a Piccadilly Cowboy western, I look forward to seeing who will get mentioned during the story, real or fictional, as it always makes me grin.

I must also comment on the excellent cover art done by Colin Backhouse. He, and others who fronted the U.K.’s westerns at this time, must have worked closely with the authors as the paintings more often than not illustrate a scene from the story, as is the case here.

If you’re a fan of the Breed series, Angus Wells, the Piccadilly Cowboys, or just tough savage westerns, then this is a book you won’t want to miss. These old paperback series are not the easiest to find these days, and if you do, they are often priced ridiculously high, so you might be pleased to discover that Piccadilly Publishing are putting them out as ebooks at very good prices. Breed 8: Blood Debt was published in ebook form this month.

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

Thrilling Western May 1958

British edition, Vol. 9, No. 12

Contents:

Featured Novelette

Holdup at Stony Flat

By Clair Huffaker

Taw was being framed, Christine warned . . . but how could he believe a woman who had already betrayed her own husband?

Short Stories

To the Last Man

By Ben Frank

A man should be ready to shoot, if need be, to uphold his family’s honor . . . but Johnny had to have a better reason before he could kill.

Track the Man Down

By Robert J. Hogan

Grace was all the things Vermilion Smith wanted in a woman . . . and the sister of the man he had to shoot on sight.

Fair Warning

By Larry Powell

To Dave Morris, there was a right and a wrong way to act . . . even if doing the right thing meant he would have to kill a man.

As far as I understand it, Thrilling Western continued in the UK after its original American run came to an end. This is one of those later issues. Were the stories written for the UK publication? Nope, they are taken from other American pulps, namely Ranch Romances. The first three stories all coming from the April 1957 issue of Ranch Romances and the final tale from the November 1956 issue. 

I’ve included the cover of the April 1957 issue of Ranch Romances as it shows how the cover art has also been re-used too, or at least a new version of it painted – if you look at them closely, you’ll see there are a number of differences between the two. 

But what of the stories themselves? I’ve read work by three of these authors before, the odd one out being Larry Powell. Ben Frank (r.n. Frank Bennett) I’ve only read in a similar pulp, whilst the other two I’ve read in full length books and greatly enjoyed, so I was really looking forward to trying some of their earlier work.

I found all four tales to be entertaining reads, but did enjoy those by Huffaker and Hogan more than the other two. I do wonder if this is because Frank and Powell’s tales are much shorter so their storylines weren’t as complex. Hogan’s tale had the most memorable ending for me due to its hard-hitting nature. To say all these tales came from a publication with romance in the title I did wonder whether they would be more of a love story than an action packed western but this wasn’t the case. Yes, all the tales have some element of romance but they are traditional westerns filled with twisting plots and plenty of gunplay. On the strength of these four stories, I’ll certainly be on the lookout for more work by all the authors.

I have quite a few western pulps and my enjoyment of this one has me eager to read some more as they certainly contain some first-class western entertainment. 

It would be remiss for me not to add some further comments about the Huffaker novelette, Holdup at Stony Flat. This would later become a full-length novel under the title of Badman which was published in 1958, the year after it first appeared in its original shorter form. Later, in 1962, Huffaker wrote a screenplay based on Badman and in 1967 the film The War Wagon was released, directed by Burt Kennedy, it starred John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Later publications of the book saw it have a name change to The War Wagon. 

Although I have the full-length book version, I’ve never read it, so what has been added to lengthen the tale I couldn’t say. It’s also been many years since I saw the film and I don’t remember much about it, but from what I can gather it differs quite significantly after the opening scene which closely portrays the start of the original short-story.

Borrachón

By Kevin Cullen

Ulysses Media, November 2016

Borrachón is a prequel to the Rio Bravo story, a 1959 film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne as Sherriff John T. Chance, Dean Martin as Dude (Borrachón) and Walter Brennan as Stumpy.

Kevin Cullen first novel fills in the background to the main characters of Rio Bravo in a very entertaining story. John T. Chance doesn’t have a very large role to play in this fast moving tale that revolves around a cattle drive to provide Stumpy with much needed funds to pay his ranch off. Of course someone doesn’t want that to happen and there’s a lot of violent action as hired guns attempt to stop the drive.

The other main thread of the book follows Dude’s fall from grace as a first class deputy and his new dependence on alcohol which leads to his new name of Borrachón.

Cullen also injects some humorous scenes to lighten the darker elements of his story.

If you’re a fan of the film Rio Bravo or just well told western tales then this is certainly a book you should consider reading, and if you do, I think you’ll be joining me in wanting to watch the movie again to remind yourself of what happens next.

The Legend of Caleb York

By Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

Pinnacle, May 2016

Trinidad, New Mexico, is an oasis of civilization in an untamed desert ruled by outlaws, bank robbers and horse thieves. Sheriff Harry Gauge rules his town with an iron fist, a fast gun, and an unbridled thirst for power.

George Cullen sweated blood to carve a ranch from the wilderness. He’d rather take a bullet to the gut than give in to the greedy sheriff’s land grab. But a cattle empire isn’t all Gauge wants – he also has his eye on Cullen’s beautiful daughter Willa.

Cullen gets word out that he’s hiring the fastest gunslinger money can buy to take on the sheriff. When a stranger rides in, townsfolk wonder if this is the rancher’s hired gun. Wherever he came from, wherever he’s going, two things are clear – the stranger won’t be pushed…and his aim is deadly.

Originally published in 2015 as a hardcover this story is based on a screenplay, The Saga of Caleb York, written by Mickey Spillane for his friend John Wayne around 1959. It never made it to film due to Wayne’s production company struggling due to the losses his film The Alamo made. You can read much more about this, and how Max Allan Collins came to turn the screenplay into a novel at the beginning of the book. Collins is perhaps best known for his graphic novel Road to Perdition which inspired the Oscar winning film starring Paul Newman and Tom Hanks, 

Collins has written a book that is extremely readable. Due to when the screenplay was written you can easily imagine it as a film from the 1960’s or perhaps the 1970’s. Having said that Collins has adapted it so it doesn’t appear dated. Occasionally it has the feel of one of those hard-hitting detective films full of tough men and equally as hard women that Spillane wrote about in his Mike Hammer novels. All this, and some fairly graphic violence, mix perfectly to result in a top class western read that should please all fans of the genre.

There’s a couple of neat twists, and some great mystery surrounding the Stranger’s identity, surely he is Banion, the man who killed Caleb York? Sheriff Gauge, a lightning fast gun himself doesn’t care who the Stranger is, just knows he’s a man to be got rid of in any way possible. The Stranger also has two women to deal with but can the fact that he is a killer be overcome by one of them so her true feeling can emerge?

For the seasoned western reader the plot falls under the banner of traditional but there’s nothing wrong with that, especially as I’ve already said the book is so well written by Max Allan Collins that it is a pleasure to read. So much so that I am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Big Showdown, that is already available as a hardcover and is due out in paperback next March.

Interview: Chet Cunningham

My latest interview is with Chet Cunningham who has had over 300 books published in a variety of different genres. Around half of these have been westerns put out under his own name and a number of pseudonyms. 

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

In high school we had a test essay type. I didn’t really know the answer, so I wrote all the way around it. Got an A. So I said this writing is a great thing to do.

Did anyone encourage you to be a writer, and if so whom?

No one urged me to be a writer. Just the opposite. When I started college I flunked the English exam and was put in the remedial English class. The HEA of the journalism department said since I was in remedial English I couldn’t be a journalism major. I eventually got in by selling four short articles to the Portland newspapers.

What was the first novel you had published and if this wasn’t a western what was your first western? 

Bushwhackers on the Circle K..l968

What appeals to you about the western genre?

I like the historical element in westerns and the research needed.

What is the biggest challenge in writing a western?

Getting the history right and making it work. Then finding new plot ideas that haven’t been done to death.

How much importance do you place on research and how important is historical accuracy in westerns?

If they find mistakes in your history, the reader won’t believe the story.

You wrote the first three books in the Agent Brad Spear series, why didn’t you write anymore of them?

Total disappointment. The editor there thought he was the greatest western writer alive. He completely rewrote all three of the books throwing in western trite parses and characters. It was a three book contract. I didn’t ask to do more.

You’ve written books in a number of series under pseudonyms, such as Arrow & Saber, Canyon O’Grady and Lone Star, are there any of these series you’d have liked to have written more for and why?

At one time I was writing for five different western series at the same time. I did it to earn a living. Yes, I would have liked to have written dozens more for each one. Most folded or cut back and I was not needed.

I believe you wrote a book for the Faraday series called The Owlhoot Express, but Lynx folded before it could be published. Did this story ever appear elsewhere?

The OWL HOOT EXPRESS resides unpublished but writer paid for on boot hill.

When the Spur series first came out three books were published and then the series was launched from number one again, why did this happen?

The publisher never did tell me why they did three and then restarted them over again from number one. It may have been wanting a new logo and a PR sendoff. Just not sure. I did 55 books in that series.

I’ve noticed some of your Pony Soldiers novels have been issued as ebooks, are we likely to see more of these, and/or any of your other books appearing in this form and what do you think about ebooks in general?

Ebook Westerns….just don’t seem to sell. I had the 5 Pony Soldiers on Ebooks for seven years and I think they sold about twenty copies for all five books.  Now they are Nook with Barnes and Nobel. We’ll see how they do.

Ebooks general: I have three new ones out from my own publishing outfit. With Kindle. All three are action adventure. Ebooks take a lot of promotion. The big sellers of ebooks are writers who are already famous and have a known name. Mid level writers will not sell many ebooks. I am a mid list writer.

You’ve recently had a Black Horse Western published, and a couple of others before this, can we expect to see more?

A fourth is now in works and they are looking at a fifth western from me. I expect them to buy it.

Do you prefer writing series books or stand-alones and why?

I much prefer writing series books. You make one sale to the editor for a series and then do 3, 6, 10, 18, or 64 books about the same characters. Easier, faster, and they sell more than a stand alone.

Which of your westerns would you recommend to someone who hasn’t read any of your work yet and why?

I’d go with the Pony Soldiers. Now out of print but available used on Amazon.com for two or three dollars each. Some of my best writing, and my best plots. Also the Seal Team Seven series. l8 books, some are now being re-released. Others used on Amazon.

What do you think of the western genre today and what do you think the future holds for the western?

The TV series of westerns sparked huge numbers of paperback Western Series. Must have been thirty or forty of them. Now there is almost no market for the western. A few publishers bring out a few Westerns. But the market is really low and slow. There will always be western novels. But in the future they will be longer, more complicated plots and they will delve into more historical areas.

As well as westerns you write in the action adventure genre, which books should readers be looking out for here?

Afore mentioned SEAL TEAM SEVEN books.. Also three Ebooks from Kindle Amazon…NORTH KOREAN BLOWUP, RADIATION WIPEOUT, and DIRTY BOMB TERROR. on line for only $4.99.

You’ve also written a number of non-fiction books, can you please tell us something about them.

Fifteen books. Most of them are in the medical field: SCIATICA, IRRiTAL BOWEL SYNDROME, MACULAR DEGENERATION. Like that. All are aimed at the ordinary person, not a medal person. Two non fiction books about motorcycles and cars. Two military books: HELL WOULDN’T STOP, (Wake Island battle and prisoners) and FROGMEN OF WORLD WAR II.

You created the Read-4-Fun program and founded the San Diego Book Awards Association. Could you please tell us something about them.

We got book donations for kids in the fifth grade level. If the kid in class read 200 pages of a chapter type book, he could select a free book from the 4-Fun shelf. For some it was the first book they had ever owned.

What is your favourite western movie and why?

TRUE GRIT….Why? The story line, the setting and the fact of Big John Wayne. This is the first one made, not the second one.

Finally what do you read for pleasure?

Very little. I have macular degeneration and when writing fiction I do it in 22 point bold type on the screen. This I am in 18 point but still need a magnifying glass to be sure I get the words right. Even large print books are in 16 point, so I need an 8 to 10 power magnifier to read a few words at a time. Slow, grinding work and no fun.  I’d rather check out the Cowboy channel from Encore. They have westerns on 24 hours a day, every day.

Western Fiction News

EDGE first appeared in 1972 and continued until 1989. The EDGE series ran for 61 books and the half-breed teamed up with one of George G. Gilman’s other anti-heroes, Adam Steele, in 3 more books. The series sold in excess of eighteen million copies.

Today these westerns are much sort after, particularly the latter books in both series – the final EDGE book often commanding a three-figure sum on auction sites.

Now EDGE is available to buy once more as ebooks. The covers carry new artwork from the artist, Tony Masero, who painted the UK covers all those years ago.

The first book in the series, The Loner, is available now for just £2.01 ($3.11). Get it direct from the publisher Solstice or sites such as Smashwords. The books will also be available from other major Internet booksellers soon.

The latest issue of Black Horse Extra is now available, and as usual features a wonderful mix of articles and comments. Chap O’Keefe introduces readers to one of his series characters, Joshua Dillard. Matthew Mayo talks about how his hopes to see his books published by Dorchester have taken a blow with the publisher’s announcements to switch to ebooks, and Greg Mitchell continues his examination of the artwork of Frederick Remington. Along with these there is the usual selection of news items that cover a broad variety western topics.

Sky Movies magazine has done a four page feature to tie in with their Westerns Week at the end of September. Picking some of their favourite stars from the western genre they’ve named them thus:

The Anti-Hero – Clint Eastwood

The Deputy – Dean Martin

The Loner – Gary Cooper

The Icon – John Wayne

The Cowgirl – Jane Russell

The Villain – Lee Van Cleef

The Gent – James Stewart

Along with this they’ve picked five must see western moments and these are:

The Duel –The final showdown with the winding down musical pocket watch in For A Few Dollars More.

The Exit – Wayne’s Ethan walks away from the home at the end of The Searchers.

The Gunfight – The final bloody shootout that ends The Wild Bunch.

The Punch-Up – The fistfight in Blazing Saddles that spills from the western set into other sets and buildings.
The Song – As the heroes await death in Rio Bravo.

Western Fiction News

The latest issue of Black Horse Extra is now available. There's some great articles including David Whitehead discussing how to increase interest in the western and another article that looks at back cover blurbs. There's also the second part of Greg Mitchell's look at the artwork of Frederic Remington. Hoofprints, as usual, offers some fascinating observations.

Whilst on the subject of Black Horse Westerns, Hale will be releasing books by a couple of well known American western writers latter this year, namely in September 2010 comes Wade's War by Chet Cunningham, and Twin Rivers by John Nesbitt (a new publication of an old story) in October or November 2010. August 2010 sees Bonito Deputy as by Jack Slade - I wonder who is behind this name?

Finally, for those who enjoy western films, it looks like another John Wayne western is to be remade. It seems Warner Brothers are planning to remake The Cowboys. The original hit the screens in 1972 and came from the book by William Dale Jennings.

Western Movie News

Following on from my guest review of spaghetti western, A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe over at The Tainted Archive - which can be found here - does anyone know anything about Terence Hill's 2009 western Doc West and it's mentioned sequel? Here's the trailer on YouTube Hill doesn't look bad when you consider he must be around 70 years old now.

Quite a few other western films being made for 2009/2010 releases include a new version of True Grit, the remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a new Lone Ranger film, a Jonah Hex movie, Shadowheart (which should be out anytime, although I'm not sure if this will be in the cinema or straight to DVD), a new version of Angel and the Badman, and The Legend of Hell Gate.

It seems that the producer of TV's Deadwood is also planning a new series about two youngsters who try to get into movies in the early days and meet many western stars including John Wayne and John Ford.

Shame so many of the above are remakes, there are so many great western books that could be made into films, but even so we must be glad that people are still willing to make westerns of any kind, thus keeping the genre alive.