Tim McGuire Texas Cowboys

Here's Tim McGuire talking about his August 2009 book Texas Cowboys.

Western Fiction News: A Competition

Caroline Fyffe's western romance Where the Wind Blows (published by Dorchester) has been getting rave reviews and might be of interest to some of you who follow this blog. The book has also been optioned to be made into a movie.

Caroline is offering one lucky person the chance to win a stay at a California dude ranch, all you have to do is watch a short book preview video and write your version of the last line to the story. Closing date is December 1st. Follow this link for more details.

Reading Habits

Gary over at Tainted Archive memed me with these reading habit questions so here’s my answers…

Do you snack while you read? If so, favourite reading snack?
Very rarely.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Horrifies me. I like them to look as new after I’ve read them.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?
Bookmarks. Used to rely on memory but as I’ve got older….

Laying the book flat open?
Never.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Around about 99% fiction.

Hard copy or audiobooks?
Have never listened to an audio book. Doesn’t appeal to me.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I can put it down at any point but do try to do this at chapter end if possible…but then again some authors make it impossible to leave a book at chapter end.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
I can usually work its meaning out. If there’s a dictionary nearby I’ll look it up there and then, if not I’ll remember it and look it up when I can.

What are you currently reading?
Harlan by Frank Roderus and The Guns of Sapinero by Frank Leslie – which I guess kinda answers a question to come.

What is the last book you bought?
The Rattlesnake Season by Larry D. Sweazy.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
Sometimes, although it’s rare. I read a few on the computer but as I don’t want to spend too much time before a computer screen – and as the computer stays in one room – I’ll read a book at the same time.

Do you have a favourite time of day and/or place to read?
Anytime, anyplace. Quite often I try to read for an hour or so after getting in from work, giving my body time to relax.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
I collect series so therefore read more series books, but I enjoy stand alone titles just as much.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Not really. It would depend whom I’m recommending an author to.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
As most of my collection is made up of series books then that’s how they get stored, in number/publication order. The size of the bookcase dictates which series is on which shelf and I try to keep all books from one series on the same shelf. Stand alone titles are dotted around to fill gaps, although I do try to keep the same authors’ work together. Due to space many of the books I read end up in storage.

Joanne Walpole, consider yourself memed.

Diablo

by David Robbins

Leisure, May 1997

The wide open boomtown of Diablo was a tinderbox in the blistering Arizona sun, just waiting for a spark to set it off. It looked like every prospector, gunman and hard-luck case west of the Mississippi had hit town, desperate to get what he could, and to hell with everyone else. Trouble was, that made Diablo one mean town: The homesteaders hated the prospectors and the miners, and both sides hated the cowboys and the ranchers.

Lee Scurlock was the spark Diablo was dreading. He was riding to escape his past in the dirty Lincoln County War, and trying to mind his own business at the stage relay station when three cowboys took it into their heads to make trouble. When the shooting stopped, one of the cowboys was dead, and Scurlock had found himself some serious trouble – trouble that would follow him when he rode with the stage into the blazing man-made hell of Diablo.

This book is filled with strong characters, both men and women. There’s the rancher, Kemp, who has a number of fast guns on his payroll, a man everyone believes is behind the ‘troubles’. Diablo is in desperate need of a lawman and a fast gun is in town to take the job. Lee Scurlock, a man with the law on his tail and a fast gun on his hip, finds himself drawn into this tangled web of confusion and mistrust. Throughout the story the reader – and Scurlock - is never quite sure as to just who is on whose side and who can be trusted.

Not only does David Robbins provide the reader with a fast moving action packed tale, he also manages to weave in some love interest which helps make the characters involved even more believable and real.

A book I didn’t want to put down until finished. A book that, maybe, will have the reader surprised that it doesn’t turn out how you’d expect, as in who lives, dies and comes out on top.

Barjack and the Unwelcome Ghost

by Robert J. Conley
Leisure, September 2009

Marshal Barjack likes to keep peace and quiet in the tiny town of Asininity. It’s better for business at the Hooch House, the saloon that Barjack owns. But peace and quiet got mighty hard to come by once Harm Cody came to town. Cody’s made a lot of enemies over the years and some of them are hot on his trail, aiming to kill him—including a Cherokee named Miller and a pretty little sharpshooter named Polly Pistol. And when the Asininity bank gets robbed, well, now Cody has a whole new bunch of enemies…including Barjack.

Although I’ve read other books by Robert J. Conley, this was the first time I’d read one of his Barjack books. Barjack is a great character who seems to spend more time with his woman and drinking whiskey than working in his marshalling office. The book is written in the first person and Barjack has some great outlooks on life, and has a pretty sharp tongue, dishing out some superb sarcasm throughout the story.

Harm Cody makes for an excellent bad guy who gives Barjack and his friends a real problem as they chase him down only to have him disappear time and again. This all makes for some very entertaining reading. Cody’s ability to vanish from under Barjack’s nose soon has him thinking he’s chasing a ghost.

As well as plenty of action, Robert J. Conley includes some very funny moments, such as the laugh-out-loud scene involving a bathtub.

The only problem I had with the book was the writing style in that it took a bit of getting used to. Conley writes the book as his characters speak, so there is plenty of slang and wrongly spelt words – for instance seed instead of saw, tuck instead of took, skeered instead of scared, drawed instead of drew, and Churkee instead of Cherokee. Once I’d read a page or two and got used to this way of writing I found myself enjoying it and found it gave the book a charm all of its own.

This story has definitely got me wanting to check out more of Robert J. Conley’s Barjack books, seems I’ve been missing out on a great series.

Beyond the Crimson Skies

as by Owen G. Irons
A Black Horse Western from Hale, September 2009

Kendo was looking for salvation as well as retribution. Of these two retribution was the simpler to exact. Losing Frank Pierce’s horse herd to raiding gunmen had not been his fault, but it was bound to ruin Kendo’s reputation which had already been severely darken by past failure.

Left alone and afoot on the open plains by treacherous companions, he needed to track down the outlaws and recapture the horses, the sale of which Pierce was banking on to save his small ranch. That alone was a vast challenge and Kendo couldn’t know how much worse it could get before he encountered the beautiful woman who was intent on building an outlaw empire in the far country.

Having really enjoyed the previous books I’ve read written by Paul Lederer under the pseudonyms of Owen G. Irons and Logan Winters I was really looking forward to reading this one.

Like his other books Beyond The Crimson Skies takes off like a shot and doesn’t let up in pace, sweeping the reader along on a roller coaster ride of a fast moving plot and even faster guns. After only a few pages you’ll be wondering, like the hero Kendo, as to who is behind the theft of the horses and can Kendo retrieve them?

The book is filled with an excellent selection of characters, of both sexes. Kendo also finds himself facing past demons. Descriptions are superbly written, be they of landscape or action, and the dialogue is handled equally as well. Although the story doesn’t have any real twists or surprises to the outcome, the book is as good a read as I hoped and I’m looking forward to Paul Lederer’s next.

Beyond the Crimson Skies was officially released on September 30th, and due to how fast BHW seem to sell-out these days, I’d suggest getting your order in soonest so as not to be disappointed.

Western Fiction News

For those who enjoy westerns with strong mystery storylines then keep an eye-out for these two books coming from Leisure. Killstraight by Johnny D. Boggs will be released in December 2009 and Crucifixion River by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini will be published in February 2010.




If my review of Gunsmoke has you eager for more of T.T. Flynn’s work, then I’ve been informed that Leisure will be publishing Last Waltz at Wild Horse in May 2010.




For those who follow the adventures of Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long, Clint Adams and John Slocum, you’ll be pleased to know the next giant editions in all three series will be hitting the shelves during the next three months.

Longarm Giant Edition #27: Longarm and the Lone Star Trackdown has a publishing date of October 2009.

The Gunsmith Giant Edition #14: Lincoln’s Revenge has a November 2009 release date.

Slocum Giant Edition #15: Slocum’s Great Race has a release date of December 2009.

All books in these series, including the Giants, usually appear towards the end of the previous month than during the actual published date month, and the Longarm book has been out for a while now, in fact it will be reviewed here in a few days time.