AUTHOR FAVOURITES: BLOOD MOUNTAIN by PETER BRANDVOLD

Peter Brandvold writes westerns under his own name and as FRANK LESLIE, including two best described as ‘horror/westerns.’

When I asked Peter about his favourite of his own books he exhibited the Doug Hocking trait of picking two! One of the two is BLOOD MOUNTAIN which he describes as: ‘Teeming with young energy.’ I suspect many of us authors feel the same way, admiring our early work for its energy even if we’re still working out how to do the job properly – a bit like having affection for your young, if sometimes foolish, self.

BLOOD MOUNTAIN tells of a group of settlers attacked by merciless outlaws in the bleak northern Rockies. To find a fitting image I thought of some snowbound western movies like ‘DAY OF THE OUTLAW’ (1959)

and ‘TRACK OF THE CAT.' (1954)

The aspect of Scandinavian settlers heading west in a wagon train brought to mind the BONANZA episode ‘Journey Remembered.’

BLOOD MOUNTAIN is described as: ‘Stark realism combined with a classic good-against-evil Western story.’

Reviewers:

‘Peter Branvold is one of the best western writers around.’

‘Full of surprises, I hated to put it down.’

‘I LOVE Peter Brandvold! I stay up late, eyes wide, unable to stop reading his novels… He is a master craftsman.’

‘Peter Branvold has captured the very essence of the old west.’

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Mountain-Peter-Brandvold/dp/0425169766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481012123&sr=1-1&keywords=blood+mountain+peter+brandvold

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: THE WILDEST WEST by DOUG HOCKING

When I asked Arizona-based western writer Doug Hocking which was his favourite of his books, he came up with 3 books he couldn’t decide between. Some people just can’t make up their minds! So, given Doug has 3 joint first favourites, check out this one - THE WILDEST WEST, an anthology of stories about the Southwest in the 1850s & 1860s Doug says he’s really proud of. Notorious gun man Clay Allison features, alongside Kit Carson, Cochise and others.

SHOWDOWN AT ECHO AMPHITHEATRE is an historical fiction concerning an event in Kit Carson's life. 

In CAN WE STILL COLLECT THE BOUNTY gunfighter Clay Allison is embarrassed. 

In ESCAPE FROM MESILLA seven men escape from advancing Confederate forces at Mesilla in a stolen stagecoach only to encounter Cochise (who also features in my novel THE PEACEMAKER – sorry about the plug!)

What do you do when the government won't permit any law enforcement? Find out in THE MARSHAL OF ARIZONA.

Wind Wagon Thomas sails all the way to New Mexico in PIRATES OF THE LLANO ESTACADO.

A soldier who fought in the bloody battle of Cieneguilla in New Mexico writes home in LETTER FROM FORT BURGWIN. Cieneguilla, where the U.S. Cavalry fought the Jicarilla Apaches in 1854, is largely forgotten but is one of the costliest Indian-white skirmishes in Southwest history.

In THE POWER OF FOX AND SNAKE an Apache poses as a Spanish Grandee and becomes a riverboat gambler.

In THE LADY WAS A GUNFIGHTER a girl raised by Indians is taught to be a lady by a gambling courtesan.

PENITENT CHILD is a Christmas story involving a conflict with Penitentes, a mysterious religious cult of the Southwest.

Find THE WILDEST WEST here:

https://www.amazon.com/Wildest-West-Anthology-Stories-Southwest-ebook/dp/B01MCSZKE8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8