AUTHOR FAVOURITES: TRACKDOWN by NEIL HUNTER

Mike Linaker is, like me, a Brit who writes westerns. He’s written under various names, producing traditional Westerns under the name RICHARD WYLER, creating and writing a pair of successful Western series, Bodie the Stalker and Brand, under the name NEIL HUNTER, and continuing the Frank Angel series as FREDERICK H. CHRISTIAN. In addition, he's written a number of Mack Bolan novels, as well as contributing entries to some of the Bolan spin-off series, and authoring the science fiction/police procedural series Cade.

Mike, writing as NEIL HUNTER, began his series featuring bounty hunter Bodie ‘The Stalker’ with TRACKDOWN. Bodie is hired by tycoon and aspiring politician Lyle Trask to hunt down the notorious Reefer gang, who terrorise the lawless U.S./ Mexico border country.

Historical evidence for old west bounty-hunters (at least those not after Native American scalps) seems to be sketchy. I have blogged about some of these men – from Charles Siringo to scalp-hunters like James Kirker – before.

Scalp-hunter James Kirker

The most famous was probably Tom Horn, (1860 – 1903) but even he never called himself a bounty hunter. He referred to himself as a ‘cattle detective’ or a ‘range detective.’ Horn started off as an army scout pursuing Apaches in Arizona, and was present at Geronimo’s final surrender in 1886.

A young Tom Horn with Apache scouts

He later served as a deputy sheriff in Colorado, went on to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and hired out to various Wyoming cattle outfits. A rancher said of him: ‘He classed cattle thieves with wolves and coyotes, and looked upon himself as a benefactor of society in destroying them.’ He was reported to have said: ‘Killing men is my speciality. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have a corner on the market.’  His controversial life ended after he was accused of shooting a 14-year old boy from ambush. Found guilty of murder, he climbed the Cheyenne, Wyoming gallows on November 20^th 1903.

Tom Horn in gaol awaiting execution

Whatever the reality, bounty hunters are certainly popular with western writers. As well as featuring often in western novels, they were common on screen during the heyday of the TV Western. Steve McQueen made an appearance as bounty hunter Josh Randall in the 50s TV western series also called ‘Trackdown.’ This made such an impact it got him his own spin off TV series ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’

Steve McQueen and Robert Culp in ‘Trackdown’

In the movies bounty hunters have been played by everyone from Henry Fonda to Randolph Scott. After ‘Rawhide’ Clint Eastwood re-launched his career spectacularly playing ‘the man with no name’ in the so-called ‘Dollar Trilogy’ of ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’

Reviews of TRACKDOWN:

‘This is an action-packed story and I didn't put it down until I finished it.’

‘This book starts with a bang and just rockets along, propelled by Hunters lean prose.’

‘Top notch western.’

https://www.amazon.com/Trackdown-Bodie-Stalker-Western-Book-ebook/dp/B008218EXE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485851824&sr=1-1&keywords=neil+hunter

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: GUN FOR HIRE by NEIL HUNTER

Mike Linaker is, like me, a Brit who writes westerns. He’s written under various names, producing traditional Westerns as RICHARD WYLER, creating and writing a pair of successful Western series, Bodie the Stalker and Brand, under the name NEIL HUNTER, and continuing the Frank Angel series as FREDERICK H. CHRISTIAN. In addition, he's written a number of Mack Bolan novels, as well as contributing entries to some of the Bolan spin-off series, and authoring the science fiction/police procedural series Cade.

Mike, writing as NEIL HUNTER, began his series featuring Jason Brand, former army scout and deputy U.S. marshal, with GUN FOR HIRE. Brand has lost his deputy marshal’s badge due to perceived brutality and is now a bounty hunter. A wealthy rancher in New Mexico hires Brand to rescue his daughter from kidnappers. The pursuit leads Brand into Mexico and ultimately into a Rurales prison – ‘El Casa Muerte’ - the House of Death.

Rurales is Spanish for ‘rurals.’ This mounted rural police force was founded by BENITO JUAREZ in 1861. Four corps, each with 20 officers and 255 other ranks, were established. They were too few and poorly organised to effectively control the banditry widespread in Mexico during the 1860s and 1870s. Following his accession to power in 1877, President PORFIRIO DÍAZ expanded the Rurales to nearly 2,000 by 1889. Initially some captured bandits were forcibly inducted into the Rurales. Officers were usually seconded from the Federal Army.

Rurales officer

The Rurales were heavily armed; carrying cavalry sabres, Remington carbines, lassos and pistols. They wore a distinctive grey uniform braided in silver, which was modelled on the national charro dress and included wide felt sombreros, bolero jackets, tight fitting trousers with silver buttons down the seams, and red or black neckties. They were variously described as ‘the world's most picturesque policemen’ and ‘mostly bandits.’ 

Under Diaz, the Rurales became increasingly politicised, as much an arm of repressive government as a law-enforcement force. They acquired an image as a ruthless organization which – under the notorious ‘ley fuga’ - ‘law of flight’ – seldom took prisoners, shot captives without trial or arranged to have them killed ‘trying to escape.’ However, research by Professor Paul J. Vanderwood during the 1970s indicated that the Rurales were neither as effective nor as brutal as regime publicists had suggested.

Rurales execute prisoners

In the later years of the regime they were increasingly used to control industrial unrest, in addition to the traditional task of patrolling country areas.

The remains of the Guardia Rural were finally disarmed and disbanded during July–August 1914, during the Mexican Revolution.

Historical evidence for bounty hunters in the Old West is scant but they’re certainly popular in western fiction. They’ve been portrayed by everyone from Randolph Scott in ‘Ride Lonesome’

to Clint Eastwood as the mysterious ‘Man with No Name’ in the so-called ‘Dollar Trilogy.’

Steve McQueen came to fame as the bounty hunter hero of the TV series ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’

A mission to rescue a woman held captive in Mexico made me think of the 1966 movie ‘The Professionals.’

Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Lee Marvin in 'The Professionals'

Reviews of GUN FOR HIRE:

‘Linaker spins a fine yarn here. Brand is a good, well-developed character, not wholly sympathetic but enough so that the reader has no trouble rooting for him… The prose is suitably gritty, dusty, and hardboiled, and the action scenes, of which there are plenty, are excellent… It's a fast, very entertaining Western novel.’

‘Very exciting situations… a good sense of humour.’

‘This is a fast action western with twist and turns. Well written… with a great ending. I loved it.’

‘Great shoot-em-up reading!’

https://www.amazon.com/Hire-Jason-Brand-Western-Book-ebook/dp/B008823IP6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=14

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: A PLACE FOR MEI LIN by HARLAN HAGUE

Harlan Hague had already won wide acclaim for his non-fiction (‘One of our great western historians’) before he turned his hand to western novels. One of Harlan’s strengths is tackling stories and settings largely over-looked in western fiction: A PLACE FOR MEI LIN (winner of the GOLD WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARD) is set in the gold-mining camps of the Sawtooth Mountains region of Idaho.

Mining camp Atlanta, Idaho late 19th Century

Aimless drifter Caleb Willis rescues a young Chinese girl, Mei Lin, from prostitution and begins to find himself again. At the same time they face threats from both locals and federal government trying to remove the Chinese from Idaho, by violence if need be.

In 1848 there were only an estimated 323 Chinese immigrants in the U.S.A. By 1852 there were 25,000 – 2,000 arriving in one day. The reason, of course, was the California gold rush. Over the next decades Chinese immigrants arrived to work as labourers, particularly on transcontinental railroads such as the Central Pacific Railroad, and in the mines.

Chinese workers in the 19th Century West:

While industrial employers were eager to get this cheap labour, basic racial prejudice among the ordinary white public led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, extended by the Geary Act in 1892. These laws not only prevented new immigration from China but also brought additional suffering as they prevented the reunion of the families of thousands of Chinese men already living in the United States (that is, men who had left China without their wives and children); anti-miscegenation laws in many states prohibited Chinese men from marrying white women.

They had to pay special taxes and couldn’t acquire American citizenship. They were sometimes subject to acts of violence, such as the massacre in Hells Canyon, Oregon in 1887, where as many as 34 Chinese miners were murdered.

Only in 1943 was Chinese immigration to the United States once again permitted, by way of the Magnuson Act, and the Chinese in America gradually achieved their full rights.

The issue of prostitution on the frontier deserves at least another blog all to itself!

A PLACE FOR MEI LIN’s setting of a Northwestern mining camp made me think of McCABE AND MRS. MILLER (which also has a turn-of-the-century dating)

WARREN BEATTY in 'McCabe and Mrs. Miller'

PALE RIDER (set in California but partly filmed in the Sawtooth Mountains)

CLINT EASTWOOD (and the Sawtooth Mountains) in 'Pale Rider'

and RIVER OF NO RETURN (which is Idaho’s Salmon River.)

MARILYN MONROE & ROBERT MITCHUM in 'River of No Return'

The Chinese element naturally brought to mind the TV series ‘Kung Fu.’

DAVID CARRADINE in 'Kung Fu'

The Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho

Reviewers of A PLACE FOR MEI LIN:

‘A marvellously researched and detailed work, recommended for historical and romance novel fans alike.’

‘A wonderful, enjoyable read.’

‘A splendidly written tale of danger and prejudice, of redemption and unexpected love… sure to become a Western classic.’

‘A PLACE FOR MEI LIN is an exceptionally satisfying story that warms the heart .... Written by a master story teller, A PLACE FOR MEI LIN will find a welcome place on any bookshelf.’

https://www.amazon.com/Place-Mei-Lin-Harlan-Hague-ebook/dp/B01N06KNJA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1516000813&sr=1-1

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: WHILE ANGELS DANCE by RALPH COTTON

RALPH COTTON is not only one of the most prolific western writers, he’s also one of the most successful.

Ralph has written over seventy novels, including THE RANGER SERIES featuring Ranger SAM BURRACK and its spin off THE GUNMAN’S REPUTATION series, also the WEBB’S POSSE series and spin-offs. He’s also continued the DANNY DUGGIN series (about a woman gunfighter disguised as a man), writing as RALPH COMPTON. As well as westerns he’s written contemporary thrillers. And he still finds time to paint, sail, write songs and play guitar! 

Like many authors, Ralph tells me he’s particularly fond of his debut WHILE ANGELS DANCE. The book follows the career of probably the most famous American outlaw band – the JAMES/ YOUNGER gang. The books fictional hero, Jeston Nash, is Jesse James’ cousin and practically his twin, and sides Jesse during the Civil War. But when Jesse turns outlaw post-war, so does Jeston. The novel follows the James Gang through their long and violent career, including their disastrous Northfield, Minnesota raid.

JESSE WOODSON JAMES (1847-1882) is so well-known and his life so full of incident (he once dined with BILLY THE KID!) I’ll only briefly summarise his career. A farm boy born in Clay County, Missouri, he was the son of a former Baptist Preacher. In 1863, whilst the Civil War raged, Union troops tortured Jesse’s step-father almost to death and may have lashed 16 year old Jesse. Next spring Jesse was part of ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson’s Confederate guerrilla band, alongside his brother FRANK (1843-1915.) He was an adolescent plunged into the savage cauldron of war and forever changed by it.

A young JESSE JAMES

After the war, he couldn’t settle down to law-abiding pursuits, but probably took part in the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States during peacetime, in Liberty, Missouri in 1866. Over the next 16 years Jesse and Frank robbed trains and banks, killing and stealing, and fought a running war with the Pinkerton’s Detective agency. They often allied with some other Missouri farm boys turned outlaw - the YOUNGER BROTHERS, COLE, JOHN, JIM and BOB.

By 1882 most of the gang had been killed or captured. In that year Jesse himself was slain – shot in the back of the head whilst hanging a picture in his St. Joseph, Missouri home. The murderer was ROBERT FORD, (1862-1892) almost the last of his gang, who betrayed Jesse for the $5,000 bounty on his head.

Robert Ford

One of the notable things about Jesse is that, for a ‘western’ outlaw, he rarely ventured west of Missouri, and sometimes operated as east as Alabama and West Virginia. He was really more a disaffected Confederate raiding in settled country than the product of a lawless frontier.

Jesse has been depicted innumerable times in movies and TV. His son Jesse James Jr. portrayed him in two silent movies in 1921. Since then he’s been portrayed by everyone from pop singer Rick Nelson (in  a 1967 episode of the TV Series ‘Hondo’) to Brad Pitt in ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.’ Other Jesse’s include Roy Rogers, Clayton Moore, Audie Murphy, Robert Wagner, Lee Van Cleef and James Coburn. CHRISTOPHER JONES depicted him in a 1965 TV series.

Christopher Jones as Jesse

Two of the best movies about him are, IMHO, ‘Jesse James’ (1939) where Jesse was portrayed by TYRONE POWER and Frank was played by HENRY FONDA,

Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda 

and ‘The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid’ (1972.) The latter broke the mould in having an actor – ROBERT DUVALL – playing Jesse who actually looked like him!

Robert Duvall (on right) as Jesse

Ralph Cotton hit the ground running with WHILE ANGELS DANCE, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The last time I looked 84% of the reviews were 5 star: I also gave it a 5 star review myself on Amazon.co.uk and Goodreads, something I very rarely do. My review:

Authentic, blackly-humorous, wire-taut

Jeston Nash is a teenager from Kentucky who finds himself plunged into the American Civil War at its most hellish – the savage clashes of rival guerrilla bands on the Missouri borderlands. Jeston is almost a twin for his cousin Jesse James – and becomes a member of Jesse’s gang in the turbulent years after the war, including the infamous raid on Northfield, Minnesota and the gang’s decline afterwards. Along the way he meets legendary figures like Cole Younger, Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp. Cotton is confident enough to sideline some of the more familiar incidents and make this oft-told story his own. He describes farm boys turned into hardened, traumatised killers with absolute unsentimental authority. For these reckless, desperate young men are as much victims of the war as those they slay. Men who march to the beat of the ‘funeral drum’ in their heads and live one jump ahead of a posse, a bullet, or a ‘hemp-waltz.’ The prose is wire-taut, Hemingway-like. When humour intrudes – usually very black and stemming from Jeston’s wildly unpredictable associate ‘Quiet’ Jack - one laughs with relief. So authentic it’s like opening a journal from these momentous times. And fully deserving its nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

Other reviewers:

‘ANGELS DANCE may well be the most spiritual in-depth western novel ever written.’

‘It is easy to laugh, cry, and at times almost bleed right along with his fictional outlaws.’

‘Best account of The James Gang ever written.’

https://www.amazon.com/While-Angels-Dance-Times-Jeston/dp/1456536133