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

Where Guns Talk

THE LONER #1

By Sheldon B. Cole

Piccadilly Publishing, October 2019

Originally published by Cleveland, 1967

Ahead was a cold-blooded killer and an innocent woman who wanted to believe he was no such thing. Behind was a God-fearing tyrant by the name of Isaac Madie and Madie’s three sons, all of them with vengeance in mind.

And Blake Durant was caught smack in the middle.

He wanted to rescue the woman and return a fortune in gold bullion to its rightful owners. But Madie had other ideas. And if it came to that, so did Ringo Nyall, the killer who’d set his mind on the gold … and the girl!

My western book collection contains a handful of Cleveland publications but I’d never got around to reading any of them. My first edition copy of Where Guns Talk was put out under their Bobcat Western line and numbered 405. Although I have read work by some of the authors who wrote for Cleveland, I haven’t read any of Sheldon B. Cole’s stories and as Piccadilly has begun to publish The Loner series in ebook form (along with other Cleveland series) I decided to hunt out my dog-eared copy and give it a go.

Cleveland westerns aren’t very long, this one having 92 pages of fast-paced prose. Each of the ten chapters are titled. 

Blake Durant’s past is hinted at in this opening tale and this adds a hint of mystery to the reasons he gets involved in other people’s troubles, and by rescuing a young woman from three attackers he soon finds himself facing a number of deadly situations where some folk keep their real identity hidden and conceal some or all of the truth about their motivations.

The author presents the reader with some wonderful characters, particularly Isaac Madie, a man who is hard to like but you will feel his pain when things go wrong in the worst way possible. The girl, Angela Grant, is a memorable character too. Watching her slowly realize the man she is fixing to marry may not be all he says he is provides some fascinating reading, and she will also add an unforeseen twist to the end of the story.

Sheldon B. Cole’s descriptions are excellent, and they produced some very visual imagery within my minds eye, especially when reading the hard-hitting action scenes. Everything comes to a neat end and the final act left me with a grin on my face and the desire to read another Loner story soon. 

Sheldon B. Cole is a pseudonym for Australian author Desmond Robert Dunn (1929 – 2003) who wrote over 400 westerns for Cleveland under a variety of pen-names, these being Adam Brady, Sheldon B. Cole, Matt Cregan, Morgan Culp, Shad Denver, Gunn Halliday, Brett Iverson and Walt Renwick. 

Head West issue 1

Summer 2018 issue

Piccadilly Publishing

Way back in 1980 the first issue of a magazine appeared on the shelves of UK shops simply called Western Magazine. Sadly, it only lasted for four issues. The consultants for this being David Whitehead and Mike Stotter, the two men who today run Piccadilly Publishing and have now launched a new magazine.

Like the much-lamented Western Magazine Head West features a mix of articles, interviews and original fiction. Head West has a full glossy cover with everything inside being reproduced in black and white.

For me, the interviews make for superb reading as they feature two of my favourite all-time western authors, namely Keith Hetherington - who writes under a variety of pseudonyms including Kirk Hamilton and Brett Waring - and Peter Watts whose most well-known pen-name is Matt Chisholm.

Original stories come from D.M. McGowen, Jake Henry and new-comer M. James Earl. Henry’s story features his character known as The Drifter and Earl’s being the first published tale about his heroine Barbary Dove. All three of these tales proved to be very entertaining reads.

With an article by Tony Masero on creating cover art, another looking at the making of the film Vermijo along with Linda Pendleton remembering her fathers love for the western, this is a magazine that deserves to be successful.

You can get your copy from https://www.lulu.com/ 

Death School

HERNE THE HUNTER #14

By John J. McLagen

Piccadilly Publishing, January 2016

Originally published by Corgi, 1980

Herne had been reluctant to ride along with Sheriff Abernathy in a fool-hardy search for Senator Jackson’s daughter, who’d been captured by a ruthless Mescalero raiding party. The $5000 reward helped to change his mind. But he hadn’t reckoned on meeting those five savage white children, fresh out of Death School, or that ghost from the past hell-bent on revenge…

Death School is one of my favourite entries in the Herne the Hunter series and it is a book everyone who is following the series should not miss as we find out more about Herne’s past, his father in particular, and then there’s one of those killer kids who just may be….nope, I can’t reveal that here as I don’t want to spoil that storyline for those yet to read the book.

The author hiding behind the John J. McLagen pseudonym this time around is Laurence James and as would be expected you’ll find many references to western films and people in the book industry at the time it was written, for instance two artists who painted many of the covers for the westerns from the group of writers to become known as The Piccadilly Cowboys, the artists being Chris Collingwood and Colin Backhouse. There’s also mention of two other western series heroes, Crow and Cuchillo Oro.

Death School is a brutal book. Filled with hard characters, graphic violence and strong language. The five children will certainly remain in your mind for a long, long time after the shocking truth about them has been revealed as they led Herne into a deadly trap.

The story has a very powerful and memorable dark ending, the type of conclusion that keeps me coming back to this series time and again.

‘Boys nowadays. No pride, no self-respect. Plenty of gall but no sand.’ 

Western Fiction News

A few years ago I interviewed artist Ken Laager – which is my most viewed post of all time and can be found here – and I thought readers might be interested to know he’s produced the excellent cover art for Joe R. Lansdale’s western novella Black Hat Jack. Ken has also provided a number of superb illustrations that can be found inside the book. Check out Ken’s blog to see more.

Another artist I interviewed, Tony Masero, is busy producing the covers for many of Piccadilly Publishing’s releases, including the ebook versions of J. R. Roberts’ Giant Gunsmith books. The first one, Trouble in Tombstone, was published last month and features some very eye-catching artwork.

Ex-gunfighter Dallas Stoudenmire is now heir to a Texas border town that draws the dregs of the west like flies. In El Paso, being honest is a sure way to get yourself killed. And Dallas is smart enough to know that he needs help. 

But riding shotgun for his friend is just the beginning for Clint Adams … The Gunsmith leaves El Paso behind and teams up with the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday in a showdown against the Wild West’s most notorious killers—in a trouble spot called the O. K. Corral … 

I read this when it first came out and would highly recommended it to all Gunsmith fans and those who enjoy westerns featuring real people and events.

Sticking with Piccadilly Publishing, they seem to be going from strength to strength, putting out around eight ebooks per month, of which the majority are westerns. Their prices are extremely competitive and they specialize in bringing back series from the past as well as stand-alone titles such as Tony Masero’s The Rifleman, a review of which can be found here.

They also publish new material. Here’s a small selection of some of their recent releases:

Click on the above image to see a much larger version.

Cover Gallery: Bodie the Stalker

BODIE THE STALKER

By Neil Hunter

Bodie was a bounty hunter, a legalised killer, a man alone.

Bodie was a survivor in a tough world where a gunman’s life depended on his ruthlessness and his speed on the draw. But Bodie didn’t kid himself about the glory of being a gunslinger. Killing was a trade and Bodie was for hire to anyone with enough money and desperation. Yet there was one man who tried to take Bodie for a two-bit greenhorn. And Bodie wasn’t about to be taken…

In San Felipe a priest had been brutalised, a young girl raped and a statue stolen. Bodie aimed to kill the men responsible. He had once been a lawman, but now he tracked outlaws for bounty, and for his own satisfaction. He would blast a murderer’s head off without flinching – it was all in a day’s work. Only this time it was different. Bodie had a personal stake in wanting these men dead. For a killer, a private quarrel can be fatal…

Angela Crown came to Bodie with a proposition – she wanted to hire his gun. It wasn’t Bodie’s usual line of work, but something about Miss Crown convinced The Stalker that the job would be worthwhile. 

That’s how Bodie got mixed up in bushwhacking, rape, corruption and murder. He was set against a powerful, ruthless landowner who wanted Angela Crown’s mine, and wasn’t going to let one gunman stop him getting it. This sonofabitch had enough money to hire every two-bit gunslinger in town – all to kill Bodie. 

But that wasn’t all the bounty hunter’s problems. There was also a beautiful, wealthy and cold-blooded whore called Beth Arling and she, too, had good reason to want Bodie dead…

They called the man Coyote. A half-breed, a ruthless killer. It needed an equally ruthless man to run him to ground. There was only one gunman that could measure up. Bodie.

When Bodie set out to find Coyote with twelve Winchesters and a thousand rounds of ammunition, he couldn’t know that his carefully devised plans were to be completely wiped out.

The first complication came in the voluptuous form of Eden Chantry, a girl Bodie knew from way back. The second big problem loomed in the shape of Silva, a hitman from the East. Bodie’s reputation had spread even as far as New York, and somebody in that city had decided that The Stalker was too dangerous to live…

Jody Butler was a mean, vicious kid. For a long time he’d had the run of the territory where his rich, powerful father was the law. But the day Jody blew a man’s head away with a shotgun, the townspeople of Pine Ridge decided they’d had enough. They hired a killer. He was called Bodie.

For the first time in his life it looked like The Stalker had bitten off more than he could chew. Major Butler wasn’t the type to sit back and see his boy taken in by a bounty hunter. He hit Bodie with everything he had.

Bodie was kicked, beaten, damn near killed. But he soaked it all up, and came back for more…

The day a Kiowa Indian saved Bodie’s life was one that neither of them would forget. In Long Walker, Bodie found the nearest thing to a partner he’d ever need.

They were both hunters, outcasts, loners. And they were both on the trail of the same man – a bible-spouting killer called Parson Kane. It was obvious that neither Bodie nor the Indian could take Kane and his Comancheros alone. But in Pueblo Diablo, they discovered that even as a team they may have bitten off more than they could chew.

Neil Hunter is a pseudonym used by British writer Mike Linaker and this series was published in the UK by Star Books. The first five came out in 1979, the sixth, and last followed in 1980.

1980 also saw the publication of the second issue of the UK’s Western Magazine in which a further, short, story about Bodie appeared: Death Comes to Jubilation.

It is still possible to find the books, Linford also published them in large print editions, but the magazine is much harder to find. Piccadilly Publishing has recently been putting the series out in ebook form and the first two are available now. 

Click on the above images to see larger versions.

Cover Gallery: Crow

CROW 

by James W. Marvin

“Know what Crow used to say about livin’ by your guns? Said it made him like a kind of alchemist. Said he was the first man in history to turn lead into gold. Yeah. Meanest son of a bitch ever. Crow.”

No other name. Just Crow. Dressed in black from head to toe. The meanest man in the bullet-scarred annals of the West. Nobody ever turned their back on him. A cold voice in the shadows, a vengeful angel of death…

Time was when Crow was a Lieutenant in the Cavalry. A time when he rode against Crazy Horse and the Sioux. Commanded by Captain Silas Menges, a bloated, drunken obscenity of an individual. Even Menges’ beautiful, sensual wife, Angelina, couldn’t make up for the insults Crow took from him. No one crossed Crow and lived. No one…

You can read my review of this book here.

Time was when Crow was a loner, with just his weapons and his horse for company. A time when the snows covered Dakota Territory. When Many Knives led the Shoshone in battle against the white man. Against Captain Hetherington and a wagon train of helpless women. A time when Crow joined in the fight on an isolated plateau above the raging Moorcock river and defeat meant something worse than death…

Time was when Crow found himself holed up in Dead Hawk, Arizona. A time when the man in black wound up in jail. Killed a punk kid in self defence. Then set loose to bring back Mayor Abe Verity and his wildcat wife, Martha. Kidnapped by a band of Apaches. Or were they? Whoever it was better watch out. Best not to tangle with Crow if you wanted to live…

Time was when Crow picked up some business in Crossworld Springs, Arizona. A time he met the biggest, blackest man he’d ever seen. Name of Mavulamanzi. Spoke like an English milord. Seems he was hunting animals and needed Crow for protection, ‘specially for his woman, a real English lady. Strangest hunting party Crow’d ever been on. Kinda enjoyed it…until the Apaches showed up. Had to admit there was no one meaner or crueller than one of them savages. Except Crow…

Time was when Crow hankered to see San Francisco again. He’d no cause to get involved in that shoot-out at Death Valley but when Richard Okie started trying to buy his way out of trouble, Crow decided he could use some of that money himself – all six hundred dollars. So he hired himself out as a bodyguard to the Okie family – husband, wife and two teenage sons – to help ‘em find their lost gold mine. But the job turned out to be big trouble from the start – for he hadn’t reckoned on them being so city-soft…or the ruthless greed of Okie’s wife, Amy. But she’d met her match in Crow…

Time was when Crow found himself in the small town of Howell’s Leap, pursued by a lynch mob angry for his blood. A time when shots rang out from the church tower, and the panic-stricken townspeople sent in the shootist… But the story doesn’t end when Crow discovers crazy Alice and is forced to blow her head off, for she has two sisters – Olga and Marianna. Beautiful and innocent in appearance, the sisters will torture and mutilate for their pleasure. Now they have a motive – to avenge Alice – they’re deadly…

Time was when Crow found himself in Rosa Cruz, Arizona. Down on his luck – sick and stony broke. A time when the most menial of tasks would be welcome if it enabled him to eat. So when Ben Ford and the Spangel family ask Crow to guide them out West, he gladly agrees. He soon regrets his rashness, for the Reverend Spangel is a fiery, bible-thumping puritan, while his wife is half-witted. And almost all Crow’s charges are blind…

Time was when Crow was visiting Fort Garrett. Took a dislike to a young cavalryman called Jonas…and nearly broke every bone in his body… But while they were making their minds up what to do with Crow, a boy disappeared from the Fort, name of Cyrus Quaid…a sadistic sixteen year old, hated by the Apaches. So they send Crow out to find him…

Published by Corgi in the UK, the first book came out in 1979 and the last in 1982. James W. Marvin is a pseudonym used by Laurence James, and his anti-hero, Crow, is probably the most vicious lead character to ever appear in a western series.

Now Piccadilly Publishing is bringing the series back as ebooks, and the first is already available.

Trackdown

BODIE THE STALKER #1:

By Neil Hunter

ebook, Piccadilly Publishing, May 2012

Bodie was a bounty hunter, a legalized killer, a man alone. He was a survivor in a tough world where a gunman’s life depended on his ruthlessness and speed on the draw.

But Bodie didn’t kid himself about the glory of being a gunslinger. Killing was a trade and Bodie was for hire to anyone with enough money and desperation.

Yet there was one man who tried to take Bodie for a two-bit greenhorn. And Bodie wasn’t about to be taken …

Originally published in 1979 the Bodie books fitted in perfectly with the other extremely violent western series being written by UK authors. Unlike many of those series this one doesn’t begin with a first book that explains why their anti-heroes took up the gun. In Trackdown Bodie is already a bounty hunter, a man to be feared by those he hunts. His background is shrouded in mystery, although Neil Hunter hints at his past, his turning point having something to do with once being a lawman.

After Bodie dispatches three outlaws he’s hired to track down and kill another group of men and most of the book tells of his hunt and killing of them. The deaths are graphically described in all their gory detail, being told over lengthy paragraphs explaining just what each bullet or knife thrust does to the victim. Bodie kills without remorse and won’t let anything stop him in his quest.

Even though the story is essentially a bounty hunter tracking and killing his quarry the author adds a bit of mystery to the plot, as in why Trask has hired Bodie to kill Reefer and his gang, and why a seemingly innocent girl was killed and by whom. All this makes for a very fast moving story that is difficult to put down.

A comment about the cover series title, Bodie: this single word was all that appeared on the front of the original books, but the spine and title pages called the series Bodie the Stalker. The Stalker is a nickname Bodie is referred to a number of times during the story, which is why I’ve called the series Bodie the Stalker above.

Neil Hunter is a pseudonym used by Mike Linaker and an interview I did with him sometime ago can be found here, where you'll also find the covers of the original six books.

Piccadilly Publishing will be making the rest of the series available as ebooks soon and on June 1st launch Mike’s other western series, Brand, as ebooks too.

Piccadilly Publishing ebooks are priced very competitively, $1.99 or £1.27, so how can you not buy a copy today.

Piccadilly Publishing

Longtime Western fans and Amazon Kindle best-selling Western writers Mike Stotter and Ben Bridges have finally realized a long-held dream to bring back into 'e-print' some of the most popular and best-loved Western and action-adventure series fiction of the last forty years.

Series fiction, the most popular genre was always the Western, but it also encompassed war stories, tales of pillaging Vikings, life in the Roman arena and action-adventure set in the far-flung future, was at its most popular throughout the 1970s and 80s and is still fondly remembered and avidly collected by die-hard fans. Some books are now so hard to come by that it's not unusual for them to change hands for astronomical amounts.

"We got to know a number of the authors when we were teenagers," remembers Mike. "Although they mostly wrote Westerns, they often joked that they had never been further west than Piccadilly, in London's West End."

"It seemed such an obvious idea, to bring these books back in a new format for a predominantly new audience," says Ben Bridges, a.k.a. David Whitehead. "For years I had been scouring second-hand bookshops to rebuild my original collection, and everywhere I went I got the same response. 'If I could get my hands on Westerns, I could sell them. But you just can't get them anymore.'"

"It seemed like a ridiculous situation," adds Mike. "I have constantly heard that the Western genre is dead. Yet, through sales, I know we have a large Western readership out there and no-one is catering for them. So I suggested to Dave that maybe he and I ought to do something about it--and now here we are."

Thus Piccadilly Publishing was born. One of its aims is to bring back titles for new and old readers alike. Great care is taken over the production of each title, and each one has a specially-commissioned cover from Westworld Designs that recreates the feel of the originals, at the same time giving them a fresh and more modern look.

The first Piccadilly Publishing eBook--Trackdown, by Neil Hunter--is now available for download from Amazon's platforms in the UK, US, Spain, France, Germany and Italy, and more titles are set to follow over the next several months. There are plans to expand their availability on other electronic platforms. 

  

"We're adding authors and series to our catalogue almost every day," reports Whitehead. "Over the next year or so I think we'll surprise and delight our fellow fans with what we have to offer."

For further enquires email the editors at piccadillyp@yahoo.com

Keep upto date with their news at their blog.