I’m very happy to announce my ninth novel – and ninth western novel – MEXICAN SUNSET has been published by Andride Press. It was published as an e.book on September 17 2024 and as a paperback on October 15 2024.
The cover (from an Adobe Stock image, designed by Richard Hearn) reflects the novel’s setting – southern Arizona and
the Sierra Madre mountains of Sonora, Mexico.
MEXICAN SUNSET is the ninth in my series acclaimed
western novels featuring the same central character, CALVIN TAYLOR (sometimes
known as ‘CHOCTAW,’ although he’s not an Indian.) It is a stand-alone novel. However, in it
Calvin Taylor is taking stock of his life and does refer back to earlier
adventures, particularly those recounted in THE PEACEMAKER. But you don’t need to have read any other Andrew
McBride books to appreciate and enjoy MEXICAN
SUNSET.
I wanted the book to have an elegiac, end-of-the-west feel, as captured in films like ‘The Wild Bunch,’ where the real frontier Old West is already being overtaken by legends and folklore, as represented by the Dime Novels and the ‘Wild West shows’ that proliferated in the late 19th Century.
BLURB:
1886. Geronimo and the last band of Apache hold-outs have surrendered.
The Indian Wars in the United States are over. Which poses a problem for Calvin
Taylor: what does an Indian scout do when there are no more hostile Indians to
track down? Taylor can use the skills he’s learned to hunt down lawbreakers of all
races, working as a hired gun on a fading frontier; or help mark the passing of
that frontier by becoming a celebrity in a Wild West Show, a living museum
piece.
Instead he decides to go to Mexico and join the Mexican Army, who have
their own Apache hold-outs to conquer: the mysterious renegades known as ‘The
Nameless Ones,’ hiding deep in the Sierra Madre. He’s also on a quest to find
the woman he loved and drove away, who may be hiding with them, and perhaps
heal his empty life that way.
As he climbs into the grim and forbidding mountains Taylor faces
violence and danger not only from Apaches, but also from an unexpected enemy: a
ruthless and cunning bandit known as ‘The Scorpion,’ who is after the same
woman, for twisted reasons of his own. Only he intends to kill her…
What do you think? Feel free to comment (and on the sample
chapter too.) All feedback very much appreciated!
ISBN Number: 979-8341014213
Four
Apaches in 1886, before they surrendered: GERONIMO (2nd from
left) NACHAY – son of COCHISE – (3rd from left)
REVIEWS
MEXICAN SUNSET already has some 5 star ratings! I’m flattered and
humbled that my novel has been getting such a positive response. Even more
flattering, one initial review has come from acclaimed and award-winning author
LORRIE FARRELLY. Accordingly I’ve created this blog as an ongoing scrapbook of
my reviews as they accumulate.
Here’s a quick
sample:
LORRIE FARRELLY:
‘Evocative, gripping,
deeply felt, action-packed
His evocative, keenly insightful, gripping
storytelling makes his masterful sagas of the western frontier all but
impossible to put down.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the books in Andrew
McBride’s Calvin Taylor saga. They are some of the best - and historically
accurate - tales of the Old West, the Indian Wars, and the end of the old
frontier I’ve ever read.’
JOHN LINDERMUTH:
‘Andrew McBride's skills
will draw you into this fast-paced, action-filled story with its sympathetic
characters, a plot full of riveting twists, and a true-to-life setting… The
story combines sympathetic characters, a suspenseful plot, and a secure sense
of time and place. This is a well-researched, gripping tale of the old West.’
The
BOOKBUZZ AGENCY:
‘A striking Western from a gifted
storyteller.’
I’ve also posted a
blog including a SAMPLE CHAPTER from MEXICAN
SUNSET which
you can find here: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2024/11/read-sample-chapter-of-mexican-by.html
FULL REVIEWS
LORRIE
FARRELLY (first place winner in the Laramie
awards for western and civil war fiction, Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award
winner, time-travel novel winner in the Cygnus awards for sci fi and
speculative fiction, Gold medalist in the Author's Cave Book Awards, finalist
for the Orange Rose Award in romantic fiction, Medalist in the 2014 readers'
favorite international book awards and readers' favorite international book
awards honoree):
Evocative, gripping, deeply felt, action-packed
The legendary Army scout and frontier gunman known as Choctaw, the “White Indian,” Calvin Taylor finds himself tormented by one hell of a midlife crisis. Released by the Army after Geronimo and his small, diehard band of Apache warriors are coerced into surrender, deserted by his latest angry, neglected woman, and deeply wounded in body and soul, Taylor is slowly killing himself with liquor and despair.
But something too stubborn to surrender still kicks in Taylor’s heart. When he
learns that a great love of his youth, Nahlin, has joined a band of renegade
Indians just over the border in Mexico, Taylor decides he must find her.
Heading alone into the “Death Trap” - the sun-parched, treacherous, mountainous
Sonoran Desert - Taylor is determined to find his lost love. And if he fails,
well, it’ll be a damn good place to die.
MEXICAN SUNSET is the latest in the Calvin Taylor saga, written by the gifted
Western author Andrew McBride. His evocative, keenly insightful, gripping
storytelling makes his masterful sagas of the western frontier all but
impossible to put down.
McBride writes fierce action, wild adventure, and deeply-felt emotion with
equal mastery. His spare, evocative language is perfectly suited to time,
place, and the Old West character. We all but breathe the dusty air, feel the
dry, rocky earth, and squint against the white blaze of the desert sun. But we
also deeply feel the intense, conflicted emotions that Calvin Taylor has
struggled with for so long.
There is such deep poignance in this story, and it’s not confined only to
Taylor. In one chapter, Geronimo’s small band - scarcely a dozen weary men -
are shackled and put aboard a train that will bear them away to exile in the
miasmic swamps of Florida. As they board the train, the men take a last,
longing look toward the rugged landscapes of the Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains,
their homelands for untold generations. They know they will never see them
again. It is a heartrending, haunting moment, beautifully told.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the books in Andrew McBride’s Calvin Taylor saga. They
are some of the best - and historically accurate - tales of the Old West, the
Indian Wars, and the end of the old frontier I’ve ever read. Calvin Taylor is
compelling, conflicted, and brilliantly realized, and his adventures and
complex character and emotions make for gripping and exciting reading. Very
highly recommended!
JOHN LINDERMUTH
Calvin Taylor's job as a scout for the Army is at an end with
the surrender of Geronimo and his meager band of Apache warriors in 1886.
Though they've been both his friends and his
enemies in the past, Taylor is disheartened to learn the Apache will be herded
to Fort Bowie and put on a train to Florida, never to sit a horse or fight
again. His dismay increases with the discovery his friend Jose and all the
Apache scouts who were the primary force in bringing the hostiles in were to be
'rewarded' for their service with a transfer to Florida along with the other
Indians.
Besieged with guilt, Taylor engages in a bout of
drinking, fighting, and despairing about his future. He sees it as a choice
between finding other targets for his guns or employing them as an actor in a
Wild West show. As he muses between them, his thoughts keep returning to
Nahlin, a niece of the great Chiricahua leader Cochise, a woman he once loved
and lost by his own actions.
He joins Freedom, another former scout, and goes
to Mexico. His friend seeks hold-out Apaches to fight. Taylor hopes to find
Nahlin and redemption.
If you've read any of the previous novels in
this series, you'll know Taylor has already packed a lifetime of experience
into his thirty-some years as a mule wrangler for a freight crew, a scout for
the army, and as a cowboy. He's also been trying to shed the nickname 'Choctaw'
and a reputation as a gunslinger. He owes the nickname to his upbringing on a
reservation, though some have misconstrued it to an unpopular affection for
Indians.
It isn't necessary to have read those other
novels to enjoy this one. Andrew McBride's skills will draw you into this
fast-paced, action-filled story with its sympathetic characters, a plot full of
riveting twists, and a true-to-life setting. I don't hesitate to recommend this
and other books in the series to all who enjoy a good story.
Andrew McBride has crafted another gripping saga
in his continuing series on the adventures of Calvin Taylor. The story combines
sympathetic characters, a suspenseful plot, and a secure sense of time and
place. This is a well-researched, gripping tale of the old West.
A striking Western from a gifted
storyteller. Andrew McBride captures the essence of the desert frontier with
gripping narrative and vivid imagery. Mexican Sunset is a testament to the
enduring spirit of the genre.
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