The Scarlet Gun

THE GUNSMITH #44

By J.R. Roberts

Charter Books, September 1985

Lots of boys dream about being gunfighters, but when the kid brother of a pretty Irish woman picks up his six-shooter in earnest, Clint Adams is forced to get involved.

The Gunsmith is asked to find the boy and convince him to give himself up. But before he can that, Clint meets an incredibly beautiful young woman named Scarlet who is gunning for a rancher the kid has been hired to protect. Now, the Gunsmith’s good deed has drawn him into a dangerous crossfire – one from which he’ll be lucky to get out alive!

Like all Gunsmith books, this is an extremely fast read. It is dialogue driven and contains a twisting plot that moves forward at a rapid pace. The characters mentioned above are joined by a few others too, all with their own ambitions, and more than one dreaming of being the person who takes out the Gunsmith and thus enhancing their own reputations. As all the plot lines converge so does the readers anticipation for the final showdown that will see many of the leading characters facing off against each other.

The Gunsmith books are classed as an adult reading, which means they contain explicit sex scenes. This being one of the earlier books the reader will find a lot more of this type of action than in the later novels. The story starts with such an act, then the author lays out the plot, introduces the many characters and moves the tale towards the exciting final confrontation, all this takes up a good portion of the book. But, before guns are drawn in anger, the author inserts many more sexual encounters one after the other, not just for Adams but for one of the other main characters too. I’ll be honest and say I did find this a bit boring and speed-read these sections as I wanted to find out who would be left alive at the end, and whether Adams managed to keep the kid alive.

For followers of The Gunsmith series, this is a must read as one of the storylines seems to set itself up for a future book. Whether this happens I don’t know, but I certainly hope so and guess I will find out eventually as I aim to continue reading this series as time allows.

Long since out of print, Speaking Volumes has now re-issued The Scarlet Gun in book paper and ebook form.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF JAMES BUTLER HICKOK

GUNSMITH GIANT EDITION #16

by J.R. Roberts

Jove, April 2013

Clint Adams does not do interviews. So, when a writer from New York tracks Clint down in Denver for a story, he refuses to talk. That is, until he learns that the writer is looking to report on Clint’s old friend, Wild Bill Hickok – and to paint Bill as a coward.

The writer is claiming that most men Wild Bill killed were shot in the back, making Bill sound like some no-good snake. Clint won’t stand for Bill’s reputation to be dragged through the mud. He’d rather break his own rule and sit down with the writer to tell the true story, for once and for all. But to preserve the legacy of one James Butler Hickok, Clint might have to open some old wounds and share some tales he never thought he’d tell…

For all fans of the Gunsmith series, particularly those who’ve read the early books, this giant edition is a must read as it tells the tale of how Clint Adams first met Wild Bill Hickok.

J.R. Roberts switches neatly from the present to various times in the Gunsmith’s past to relate incidents in Wild Bill’s past that Clint Adams also found himself involved in, such as Hickok’s first time on Buffalo Bill’s stage. 

Of course the present day story has its own troubles as it seems there are people interested in the writer and the book he is working on, but why?

The story is told in the fast paced style we’ve come to expect from J.R. Roberts (author Robert J. Randisi), being dialogue driven, with bursts of quick-fire action. Chapters are short, two or three pages long on average, and switch regularly from character to character.

Overall, I’d say this is a book that should be enjoyed by all western fans who like their stories to contain real people and don’t mind a bit of graphic sex in their reading material. Me? I’m looking forward to the next giant and in the meantime will be digging out some of the regular sized books I’ve yet to read. 

Western Fiction News

One of Western Fiction Review's favourite authors, David Whitehead, has been busy making some of his books available for Kindle. The following four are out now:

The Doug Thorne books are written with one of Germany's top western authors, Alfred Wallon.

Hang 'Em All is the first in the Judge and Jury series.

Sometime during the next week or so the following three books will be available:

The Silver Trail is the first in the Carter O'Brien series. The Wilde Boys is the first in the Wilde Boys series. Apacheria is the first in the Sam Lockwood series.

Soon after David will make available:

Rattler Creek is the first in the Jim Allison series. It is hoped that the following two titles will become available at this time too: Gunsmoke Legend, the first Ash Colter book, and Heller, the first in the Heller series.

If you like to read other genres too, then you should consider these two books that are both out now:

The latest issue of Black Horse Extra is out and, as usual, contains a great mix of western reading. 

New Black Horse author Lee Clinton looks at the book True Grit in depth and discusses just why it works so well.

Jack Martin offers thoughts on writing hardboiled westerns.

And there's plenty of other articles to enjoy too.

And just in case you missed them here are some links to some other great western posts on other blogs:

Troy D. Smith has written a great article at Western Fictioneers that looks at Western Comics.

Jory Sherman has appeared in two interviews recently and these can be found here and here.

An interview with Robert Randisi can be found here.

An interview with Peter Brandvold can be found here.

And if you enjoy watching some of the more obscure and unknown western films, David Robbins, has been posting about some here. These include Johnny Depp in Dead Man, Brad Hunt in The Journeyman, and Sam Shepard in Purgatory.