Wednesday 4 September 2019

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: CAIN JUST CAIN by LOU BRADSHAW


Lou Bradshaw tells me he has two favourites of his own novels. One is his western, CAIN JUST CAIN, second in the Cain series.

Here his hero, Shadrac Cain, develops from ‘rock-hard outdated mountain man’ into ‘a soft-hearted defender of the weak and abused.’

The Dooly Gang are raiding out of Texas. When these outlaws kidnap a 3-year-old boy and a woman, Shadrac Cain pursues them into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Paraphrasing Wikipedia: The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish for ‘Blood of Christ’) are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains, located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. They run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of thirteen and fourteen thousand foot peaks. Blanca Peak in Colorado is the highest, at 14,351 feet (or 4,374 metres.)


Although the particular origin of the name Sangre de Cristo is unclear, it’s been used since the early 19th century. It may refer to the occasional reddish hues observed during sunrise and sunset, especially when the mountains are covered with snow.
According to one tradition, 'sangre de Cristo' were the last words of a priest who was killed by Native Americans.
Glorieta Pass was the site of the decisive battle of the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War, fought near the pass between March 26th and 28th 1862. The victory by the Union Army (primarily in the form of the Colorado Militia) was low scale with similar casualties on both sides: about 50 men killed and 80 wounded. But it was significant in that it prevented the breakout of the Confederate Army forces onto the High Plains east of the Sangre de Cristo, halting the intended Confederate advance northward into Colorado.


An officer on the Union side in this conflict was MAJOR JOHN M. CHIVINGTON. He later gained infamy when he led the Colorado Volunteers who massacred peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek.


Quests for kidnapped children – usually carried off by Native Americans – feature in many westerns, from films like ‘The Searchers’ and ‘The Missing’ to TV series like ‘The Quest.’


JOHN WAYNE and NATALIE WOOD in ‘The Searchers

The High Chaparral’ episode ‘Ride the Savage Land,’ about an attempt to rescue a girl kidnapped by Apaches, (as played by Claire Wilcox, pictured below) is my contender for best ever TV Western episode.


Lou’s lone hero, Shadrac Cain, with a dog companion, naturally brought to mind the movie ‘Hondo,’ with John Wayne in the title role.


Another lone hero with ‘man’s best friend’ as his companion was played by Brian Keith in the highly-regarded but short-lived TV Western series ‘The Westerner.’


As ever, CAIN JUST CAIN is characterised by Lou Bradshaw’s warm, humorous, colloquial and very easy to read writing style.

REVIEWS:

‘You read what Cain thinks as well as what he does, all of which he describes in a delightfully self-effacing and humorous manner. The story is action-packed from the get-go…’ 

‘No one seems to capture the feel of the west better than Lou does with his word and dialogue craft. The character developments are stone solid and sharp as a skinning knife. This is a great story told by a developing master of his trade, as a reader who could ask for more.’

‘I know that readers of great, gutsy western stories will be as enamoured as I was.’

‘A moving read.’



2 comments:

  1. Ben Blue started it all but Shad Cain is the glue to make everything stick together as a story line. The heart and soul of Shadrac Cain is legendary to his friends and the Bane of his enemies.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the post.

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