ANDREW McBRIDE’s REVIEW of BLOOD AND GOLD by JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE

 Here’s my four star review of BLOOD AND GOLD by JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE. You can find the review on Goodreads and Amazon.co.uk.

MY REVIEW:

'Interesting character study, pacey, entertaining tale

JOAQUIN MURRIETA has long fascinated me, so I was waiting for a novel tying his story together. JEFFREY MARIOTTE has provided one and makes a fine job of it. Murrieta was a Mexican bandit whose gangs raided in California in the gold rush era of the early 1850s. Mariotte makes no claims to tell ‘the whole truth’ about him. Doing so is clearly impossible as Murrieta’s life (and death) is shrouded in controversy and legend, but Mariotte probably gets as close as anyone can. He writes (with the help of Murrieta’s descendant PETER who provides background information) a pacey, entertaining tale full of action and colour. For me, though, the best part is the characterisation, particularly of Murrieta. He’s a complex, conflicted young man, sometimes aspiring to be a latter-day ‘Robin Hood’ or the liberator of all oppressed Mexicans in California. But at other times he’s simply a ruthless killer. Mariotte has won acclaim and awards writing across genres and in varying formats. He’s relatively new at the western, but has definitely hit the ground running!'

JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE is the bestselling, multiple-award-winning author of more than fifty novels ranging across genres, including ‘dark thrillers,’ supernatural thrillers, horror and latterly westerns. He has also produced comic books, short stories, graphic novels, nonfiction and video games. As well as his own original work, he has written novels and comics based on licensed properties such as CSI, Star Trek, Spider-Man, Superman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Conan the Barbarian and more.

Jeff is a three-time winner of the Scribe Award for best novel, presented by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, a co-winner of the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and a recipient of the Inkpot Award for his contributions to the fields of science fiction and fantasy from the San Diego Comic-Con. He's been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, the International Horror Guild Award, the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, the Peacemaker Award from the Western Fictioneers, and, in the comics’ field, the Harvey and Glyph Awards.

Jeff’s THE FOX AND THE SNAKE was, for me, one of the highlights of SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST WESTERN STORIES, an anthology of western short stories edited by Richard Prosch, introduced by Paul Bishop. In my blog about SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST WESTERN STORIES I write: ‘Mariotte wastes not a word in this taut, superbly-written tale. Once more, the cinematic qualities of the writing brought movies to mind, perhaps a Sam Peckinpah-directed end-of-the-west elegy with a script by Elmore Leonard. (Full review here: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2021/11/andrew-mcbrides-review-of-six-gun.html )

I’ve also done a couple of AUTHOR FAVOURITE BLOGS about some of Jeff’s previous novels. Here’s one for O’MEARA’S GOLD: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2022/03/author-favourites-omearas-gold-by.html

REVIEWS of O'MEARA'S GOLD:

‘Great action, some very emotional areas, great characters, and a beautifully written storyline.’

‘Rip-roaring western yarn.’

Here’s one for EMPTY ROOMS: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2022/03/author-favourites-empty-rooms-by.html

EMPTY ROOMS earned praise from two acclaimed police procedural authors.

MICHAEL CONNELLY: ‘Empty Rooms is a searing, no-holds barred journey into darkness. Jeffrey J. Mariotte knows the key is character, character, character and has delivered a story about men who relentlessly work the case at the same time the case works them.”

T. JEFFERSON PARKER: ‘Empty Rooms is as good and moving as a thriller can be. Keenly observed and deftly written, it’s something you’ll want on your shelf as long as you have one.’

OTHER REVIEWERS:

‘I have become a big fan of this author. He is just simply a great storyteller!’

 ‘Masterpiece.’

 And one for RIVER RUNS RED: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2022/02/author-favourites-river-runs-red-by.html

REVIEWS of RIVER RUNS RED:

DAVID MORRELL, (creator/ author of RAMBO): ‘RIVER RUNS RED is a fascinating blend of espionage and the occult with several jaw-dropping plot twists and one of the best action sequences I've read in a long time.’

OTHER REVIEWERS:

‘…Blends unforgettable characters with horror on a truly epic scale.’

 ‘A pretty wild X-Files-esque supernatural thriller… a very entertaining beginning to Jeff Mariotte’s Border Trilogy.’

JOAQUIN MURRIETA IN FACT AND FICTION

Getting back to Joaquin Murrieta: I’m not going to look at the life of the ‘real’ man as almost all details about his life are, as I said, shrouded in mystery and controversy, and, anyway, they would spoil your enjoyment of Jeff’s novel. As historian Susan Lee Johnson says: ‘So many tales have grown up around Murrieta that it is hard to disentangle the fabulous from the factual.’

The basic facts are that he was a bandit, born in either Mexico or California who raided in California in the gold rush days in the early 1850s. How significant he was, whether he ever acted as ‘the Robin Hood of El Dorado’ or attempted to liberate all Mexicans in California from American rule are yet more areas of dispute. It is a fact that in May 1853 the California state legislature listed ‘Five Joaquins’, suspected criminals whose last names are Muriati (obviously a misspelling of Murrieta) Ocomorenia, Valenzuela, Botellier and Carillo. On May 11, 1853, the California governor signed an act creating the "California State Rangers," to be led by Captain HARRY LOVE, to operate for 3 months, specifically tasked with hunting down these Joaquins. 

An early artist’s impression of MURRIETA

Murrieta’s death is particularly controversial so I’ll say no more about it. Read Jeff’s book! Nor am I going to speculate on the authenticity of the severed head, supposedly of Murrieta, that was carried around California and displayed to the public in a jar of alcohol!

Murrieta is believed to have inspired the fictional character of ZORRO, the lead character in the five-part serial story, ‘The Curse of Capistrano’ published in a pulp magazine in 1919, and featured many times since in popular culture.

Joaquin Murrieta has appeared frequently on radio, in films and in TV series from ‘Death Valley Days’ to ‘The Big Valley.’ RICARDO MONTALBAN played him twice, on radio and then in a 1969 TV movie called ‘Desperate Mission,’ which looks like the pilot for a TV series that never happened.

On film Murrieta turns up in 1998’s ‘The Mask of Zorro,’ a movie featuring both Murrieta AND Zorro. He features – unhistorically – in the late 1850s in the 1953 RANDOLH SCOTT vehicle ‘The Man behind the Gun.’ In 1965 blue-eyed Anglo actor JEFFREY HUNTER was unlikely casting as Murrieta in a not-bad movie of the same name.  

As for Zorro (Spanish for fox,) he’s been played by a variety of actors on film and TV, from DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS Snr. to ANTHONY HOPKINS. GUY WILLIAMS played him in a long-running 1950s TV series. He was finally portrayed by a Hispanic actor - HENRY DARROW – on TV in 1983. In 1990 Darrow re-appeared as Zorro’s father in another TV series.

My favourite Zorro is TYRONE POWER Jr. in the classic 1940 swashbuckler ‘The Mark of Zorro,’ where Power fights an epic sword duel with arch-villain BASIL RATHBONE.

For some political activists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Murrieta has symbolized Mexican resistance against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in California. In the late 20th century a Los Angeles Chicano community centre was named Centro Joaquin Murrieta de Aztla.

Other reviews of BLOOD AND GOLD:

‘Brilliantly written and nonstop action… highly recommended for anyone who loves some historical fiction mixed with legend.’

 ‘An important tale… with a surprise ending.’

‘Will satisfy both aficionados of gory shoot 'em ups, and scholars of ethnic studies and California history…Amazing.’

‘Great story.’

Find BLOOD AND GOLD here: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Gold-Legend-Joaquin-Murrieta-ebook/dp/B09HL81YT9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Gold-Legend-Joaquin-Murrieta-ebook/dp/B09HL81YT9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NRW6546S5PQ&keywords=blood+and+gold+jeffrey+mariotte&qid=1663065492&s=digital-text&sprefix=blood+and+gold+jeffrey+mariotte%2Cdigital-text%2C63&sr=1-1

ANDREW McBRIDE’S REVIEW of BLOOD WEST by THOMAS D. CLAGETT

 Here’s my four star review of BLOOD WEST by THOMAS D. CLAGETT (published by Five Star Publishing.) You can find the review on Goodreads and Amazon.co.uk.

MY REVIEW:

Intriguing western-horror hybrid

Acclaimed, award-winning novelist THOMAS CLAGETT follows up his fine novel of the Alamo, ‘Line of Glory,’ with something completely different. ‘Blood West’ mixes the western with horror and the supernatural. It’s mostly set in a New Mexico town in 1885, where the changing West is represented by the appearance of telephones, electric lights and elevators. A female Pinkerton Detective works undercover, investigating a series of grisly killings. She soon suspects something neither wholly human nor animal is stalking the town as darkness falls. Could it even be a nightmare from the Old World visiting the New – a vampire? Clagett ratchets up the tension as the body count mounts and the writing is expert: ‘‘The same stars were ugly pockmarks in the blackness of a long, terrible night." Recommended.

Here’s my blog about Tom’s excellent Alamo novel LINE OF GLORY, which includes a review: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2019/03/author-favourites-line-of-glory-by.html

Here’s the BLURB for BLOOD WEST:

Summer, 1885. Something inexplicable has come to the railroad town of Las Vegas in the Territory of New Mexico. Asked to investigate, the Pinkerton Detective Agency sends their best detective. Her name is Hattie Lawton. But no one can know her true identity or why she has been sent, because, as Hattie knows well, no one can keep a secret. She poses as a nurse, hired to tend the consumptive patients staying at the Montezuma, the newest and grandest hotel in the famous Harvey House chain. Finding information proves difficult for Hattie. Deputy Sheriff Antonio Valdes resents her attempts. Father John Lanigan fears her, but something else frightens the priest even more: a creature that some people swear can change its shape—a creature that is afraid of nothing.

VAMPIRES

I plundered this information on vampires from Wikipedia. The subject matter encompasses everything from a South American bat, a 15^th Century warlord, a gothic novel from the 1890s to a teenage Californian girl from the 1990s! This blog offers only the briefest look. It’s not intended to be remotely exhaustive, otherwise it would take 6 months to read!

IN FOLKLORE 

In folklore the vampire is an undead person rising from the grave after death, subsisting by feeding on the vital essence (generally the blood) of the living.

Tales of vampiric creatures have existed for millennia, in Mesopotamian, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Roman and other cultures. Superstitious fears of the dead returning are evident, for example, in a 9^th Century grave in Denmark, bearing ‘a grave binding inscription’ used to keep the deceased in its grave. The vampire's head, body, or clothes could be spiked and pinned to the earth to prevent rising. Below is a 13^th century skeleton found in Bulgaria stabbed through the chest with an iron rod.

Romani people drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. In Bulgaria over 100 skeletons with metal objects, such as plough bits, embedded in the torso have been discovered. Other means of keeping the dead in their graves included burying a corpse upside-down, or placing earthly objects, such as scythes or sickles, near the grave to satisfy any demons entering the body or to appease the corpse and keep it in its coffin.

Almost every culture has mention of blood-drinking demons. Creatures attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on shards of pottery excavated from ancient Persia. 

The term vampire was popularized in the early 18^th Century when the local superstitions about these creatures in the Balkans and Eastern Europe were first widely reported in Western Europe. The belief in vampires spread dramatically across the continent, resulting in outbreaks of mass hysteria, corpses being staked or beheaded, people being accused of vampirism and even public executions. This hysteria, commonly referred to as the "18th-Century Vampire Controversy", raged for a generation. The word vampire (as vampyre) first appeared in English in 1732, in news reports about the vampire "epidemics" in Eastern Europe. The term was derived from the German Vampir.

During the late 18th and 19th centuries the belief in vampires spread across the world. In 1892 a 19-year old girl who died in Rhode Island was suspected of vampirism. Her father, assisted by the family physician, removed her from her tomb two months after her death, cut out her heart and burned it to ashes. It’s even survived into modern times: allegations of vampire attacks swept through Malawi during late 2002 and early 2003, with mobs stoning one person to death. And then in 2017 fear and violence recurred, when 6 people accused of being vampires were killed.

In the earlier traditions, before the 19^th Century, vampires were usually described as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour; these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. They often wore shrouds. They were corpses who rose from their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into ill health, while the feeding corpses grew fat, rosy-cheeked, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. Evidence that a vampire was active in the area included the death of cattle and sheep as well as humans.

The origins of these traditions is sometimes ascribed to the ignorance of people in pre-industrial societies about how decomposition effects the body after death and their attempts to rationalize this. Rates of decomposition vary depending on temperature and soil composition. Corpses swell as gases from decomposition accumulate in the torso and the increased pressure forces blood to ooze from the nose and mouth. This causes the body to look plump, well-fed and "ruddy" - changes that are all the more striking if the person was pale or thin in life. Darkening of the skin is also caused by decomposition. So, it’s not surprising the pre-industrial man, seeing corpses dug up and looking healthier than they had been in life, suspected some demonic force was at work.

THE VAMPIRE TRANSFORMED BY LITERATURE

The image of the vampire was transformed in 1819 with the publication of the first prose fiction piece concerned with vampires: ‘The Vampyre.’ Initially credited to the poet LORD GEORGE BYRON, it was in reality authored by Byron's personal physician, JOHN POLIDORI. It was highly popular and influential. The vampire theme continued in ‘penny dreadful’ serial publications such as ‘Varney the Vampire’ (1847,) JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU’s 1872 novel ‘Carmilla’ and the quintessential vampire novel, ‘Dracula’ by the Irish writer BRAM STOKER, published in 1897.

BRAM STOKER (1847-1912)

In the course of these 19^th Century works of fiction the vampire morphed from a creature that had been plump and rosy-cheeked (or even purplish) to something usually tall, deathly-pale and gaunt, definitely not reflected in mirrors. Unlike the vampires of folklore they were vulnerable to, and hid from, sunlight. They sprouted fangs, while the trademark long black cloak didn’t appear until stage productions of the 1920s. Perhaps most notably, Bram Stoker gave his lead vampire a name – COUNT DRACULA – the persona (at least on the surface) of a charismatic, gentlemanly and sophisticated aristocrat, and the ability to turn into a bat.

VAMPIRE BATS

Vampire bats were integrated into vampire folklore after they were discovered on the South American mainland in the 16th century. A purely New World species, they had nothing to do with the vampires of folklore, who had existed long before the bats were discovered. The bats were named after the folkloric vampire rather than vice versa.

The vampire bat's bite is usually not harmful to a person, but the bat has been known to actively feed on humans and large prey such as cattle and often leaves the trademark, two-prong bite mark on its victim's skin. But vampires only transformed into bats for the first time in 1897, in Bram Stoker’s novel.

WHAT’S IN A NAME – COUNT DRACULA

VLAD THE IMPALER

The original COUNT DRACULA appears to be VLAD the THIRD (born c.1428), a ruler of Wallachia, the southern region of Romania. He is often considered one of the most important leaders in Wallachian history and is a national hero of Romania. Diplomatic reports in the 15th century referred to him as Dracula, Dracuglia, or Drakula.  Late in his life he signed two letters as "Dragulya" or "Drakulya". Dracula means "[the son] of Dracul (or the Dragon)". In modern Romanian, dracul means "the devil."

Vlad appears to have been a flesh-and-blood man who was more terrifying than any fictional vampire. Even by the standards of the brutal times in which he lived, he was noted for his cruelty. His propensity for impaling enemy prisoners earned him a nick-name that still chills down the centuries: ‘Vlad the Impaler.’ He died in mysterious, violent circumstances in 1476 or 1477.

Vlad seems to be guilty of many evils, but there’s no record vampirism was one of them. Apart from residing in the same country (Romania) he seems to have nothing in common with a late 19^th Century sophisticated aristocrat who is also a vampire. So why did Bram Stoker choose to name his chief vampire after a ruthless 15^th Century warlord?

Bram Stoker had researched vampire superstitions of Transylvania in Romania (even though Vlad was ruler of Wallachia, an adjoining province.) Stoker authorities say the author "apparently did not know much about" Vlad the Impaler, "certainly not enough for us to say that Vlad was the inspiration for" Count Dracula, and that any connection to Vlad is “tenuous.” Stoker's working papers for his book contain no references to Vlad. The name of the Dracula character in all drafts but the later ones is 'Count Wampyr'.

So why Count Dracula? We’ll never know. Viewing his decision as a fellow novelist, I think it’s quite likely Stoker just thought it was a great name and decided to use it, without knowing much about who the real Dracula was!

Since the success of this book the vampire has become a dominant figure in the horror genre, still popular in the 21st century, spawning books, films, TV shows, and video games.

There’s only time for the very briefest of looks at these depictions, they deserve a separate blog. Vampires in prose fiction include ANNE RICE's highly popular and influential ‘Vampire Chronicles’ books (1976-2003.) 

Film and television

Dracula is a major character in more films than anyone but SHERLOCK HOLMES. Many early films were either based on the novel Dracula or closely derived from it. These included the 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film ‘Nosferatu’ featuring the first film portrayal of Dracula.

‘Dracula’ (1931), starring BELA LUGOSI as the Count was the first talking film to portray Dracula.

Hammer Horror reincarnated Dracula in ‘Dracula’ in 1958, with CHRISTOPHER LEE as the Count and PETER CUSHING as his nemesis, vampire-hunter DR. VAN HELSING.

CHRISTOPHER LEE

PETER CUSHING

This hit movie spawned seven sequels, with Lee reprising the role in all but two of them. By the 1970s, vampires in films had diversified with works such as ‘Count Yorga, Vampire’ and an African Count in 1972's ‘Blacula.’ 

 

On TV 1972’s ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’ revolved around reporter Carl Kolchak hunting a vampire in Las Vegas. This led to a brief spin-off TV series.

DARREN McGAVIN as ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’

The film ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ spawned a hit TV series of the same name, running 1997-2003. Buffy (portrayed by SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR) was a 16-year-old high school girl in California who had to interrupt her studies to dispose of the numerous vampires and demons infesting the area. Her adventures mixed excitement and comedy, managing to send up most of the clichés inherent in the genre along the way. 

Buffy and her vampire slayers

Out west vampires turn up out west as early as 1959 in CURSE OF THE UNDEAD.

And the Gorch Brothers of ‘Wild Bunch’ fame re-surface as cowboy vampires in the ‘Buffy’ episode ‘Bad Eggs.’

Other reviews of BLOOD WEST:

“A legendary, murderous monster on the loose, a town in fear for their lives, a posse of lawmen, and a lady Pinkerton agent are brought together in author Thomas Clagett’s riveting thriller, Blood West. Clagett’s remarkable ability to build tension and suspense had me on the edge of my seat until the last page.”

Find BLOOD WEST here: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-West-Thomas-D-Clagett/dp/1432892649/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3HLQ1QRCEZZ7H&keywords=blood+west+thomas+clagett&qid=1648542766&s=books&sprefix=blood+west+thomas+clagett%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C117&sr=1-1

and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-West-Thomas-D-Clagett/dp/1432892649/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2W9L07XCR8O5D&keywords=blood+west+thomas+clagett&qid=1662365462&s=books&sprefix=blood+west+%2Cstripbooks%2C264&sr=1-1