ANDREW McBRIDE AUTHOR: Jack Giles

Thursday, 4 April 2019

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: LAWMEN by JACK GILES

Ray Foster, who writes westerns as JACK GILES, tells me a favourite of his own novels is LAWMEN.

Ray has allowed me to say this: in 1999 he suffered a stroke – which he’s now recovered from, fortunately - and couldn’t remember the previous thirty years of his life, including his career as a western writer. LAWMEN was the first novel he attempted after his stroke, and proved he could still do it! LAWMEN, he says, 'was a challenge and I'm proud of it.’

Tom Ford, the sheriff of Stanton, has been gunned down trying to keep the peace between rival ranches. His son Chris returns home to face his past and to find his father's killer. The only way he can do that is by taking up his father's badge - only to discover that not everything is as it seems.

Lawmen who lost relatives (who were also lawmen) in the real west include WYATT EARP (1848 - 1929) who lost two brothers to violence and had a third one crippled, (I’ve blogged about Wyatt Earp’s brothers here: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2018/11/author-favourites-brothers-of-gun-by-b.html

and BAT MASTERSON (1853 - 1921) who had a brother – ED (1852 - 1878) - shot and killed on the streets of Dodge City in 1878.

Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson (standing) in 1876

Ed Masterson shortly before his death at the age of 25

Review of LAWMEN:

‘This isn't a shoot `em up western, but rather a measured consideration of character, an honest depiction of the men who didn't flinch when they had to shoulder the burden of an entire town's survival. Even the bad guys seemed to end up on the wrong side of the tracks by accident rather than by any evil notion… The gunplay, when it happens, seems real and tragic…. The writing has style and the characters, complete with humorous interplay, come alive.'

https://www.amazon.com/Lawmen-Jack-Giles/dp/0709086121

and

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lawmen-Linford-Western-Jack-Giles/dp/184782773X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1503830024&sr=1-1

Thursday, 28 March 2019

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: REBEL RUN by JACK GILES

Ray Foster, who writes westerns as JACK GILES, tells me a favourite of his own novels is REBEL RUN.

This is more an ‘eastern’ than a western, as the location is the ‘Island,’ a POW camp in the eastern states where Confederate Prisoners are held during the American Civil War. This is Ray delving into POW escape territory, not surprising given two of his favourite books are Pat Reid's 'The Colditz Story' and Charles McCormac's 'You'll Die In Singapore.'

In REBEL RUN Confederate artilleryman Van Essen masterminds the escape, which involves a death-defying race down river rapids; but this is only the beginning of the dangers the escapees will face as they attempt to break through the enemy lines and rejoin the Confederate Army.

Ray is rightly proud of the research that went into the novel, conducted prior to the age of Google. Some Civil War POW camps acquired a grim reputation for inhuman conditions. During a period of 14 months, 28% of the Union prisoners held at Camp Sumter, near Andersonville, Georgia died.