AUTHOR FAVOURITES: HICKORY JACK by LOU BRADSHAW

Lou Bradshaw has two favourites of his own novels. One is his first western, HICKORY JACK, first of the Ben Blue westerns. Lou tells me he enjoyed every minute of writing it: ‘It was the story that created the characters Ben Blue and Patty Anne.’

Orphan Ben Blue is raised in the Ozarks by the Moore’s as a brother to their biological son Andy. But in the lawless years after the Civil War, outlaws led by Amos Poke (nicknamed ‘The Judge’) attack and murder Ben’s step parents. When they’re ready, Ben and Andy set off in pursuit. They come of age in their violent quest to bring the Poke gang to justice, journeying from Missouri to New Mexico.

The Ozark Mountains cover an area of 47,000 square miles where the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas adjoin. 

There are two mountain ranges within the Ozarks: the Boston Mountains of Arkansas and the St. Francois Mountains of Missouri.

Many peaks in the Boston Mountains exceed 2,000 feet. Buffalo Lookout, the highest point in the Ozarks, is located in the Boston Mountains and is 2,561 feet.

Two Ozark Mountain farm boys, 19^th Century.

Naturally, thinking of two young Missouri brothers on a revenge quest brought to mind Jesse and Frank James.

FRANK (front left) and JESSE JAMES (front right)

and as depicted by and Tyrone Power (Jesse) - left - and Henry Fonda (Frank) in ‘Jesse James’ (1940)

Two young brothers at the centre of a western brought to mind the TV series ‘Lancer’ and ‘The Quest.’

WAYNE MAUNDER and JAMES STACY in 'Lancer'

KURT RUSSELL and TIM MATHESON in 'The Quest'

Other westerns/ Civil War movies set in the Ozarks include ‘The Shepherd of the Hills’ (1941) and ‘Ride with the Devil’ (1999.)

John Wayne in ‘The Shepherd of the Hills’

REVIEWS of HICKORY JACK:

‘A satisfying, believable, entertaining and engrossing old western tale, told by a skilled writer and master story teller!... brings this Western to life with tantalizing vigor.’


‘Wonderfully written … I like the writer's use of colloquialism consistent with the setting. The story is about two young men coming of age in a very difficult period of our nation's history when the country was still reeling from the civil war and expanding into the western frontier.’

‘If you enjoy a fast paced, action pack, intriguing and believable tale set in the Old West, THIS IS IT!’

‘Lou Bradshaw keeps a positive direction in his writing with a great humorous twist regularly.’

‘Hickory Jack hits the ground running. The story moved quickly and captivated our attention … Lou has made the characters come to life, and the storyline flow.’

‘A wonderful job.' 

https://www.amazon.com/Hickory-Jack-Ben-Blue-Book-ebook/dp/B00CTT66L2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512295864&sr=1-1&keywords=hickory+jack+lou+bradshaw

and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hickory-Jack-Ben-Blue-Book-ebook/dp/B00CTT66L2

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: LEE by TELL COTTEN

Tell Cotten tells me his favourite of his novels is LEE, number #6 in the Landon saga.

Tell is indirectly related to Texas legend Charlie Goodnight. He has won numerous awards, including Best New Western in the Laramie Awards, Gold and Silver in the Readers' Favourite awards, and bronze in the Global ebook awards for CONFESSIONS OF A GUNFIGHTER.

LEE tells of outlaw Lee Mattingly who decides to give up the outlaw trail for the life of a gambler, runs into John Wesley Hardin and finds himself in Huntsville Prison.

Gamblers out west deserve a blog all of their own. I thought I’d take a quick look at the career of JOHN WESLEY HARDIN.

Hardin was one of the breed of loners described in Time Life’s Old West volume The Gunfighters as: ‘emotionally maimed and socially alienated killers who, for the most part, took up the gun in their teens, murdered men with profligate ease…’

He was born in Bonham, Texas in 1853. In adulthood Hardin was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and 160 pounds, with a fair complexion, hazel eyes and dark hair. But this slight, pleasant-faced young man became one of the worst ‘man-killers’ on the frontier. At age 15 he killed his first man, and spent the next 9 years as a fugitive, drifting between Texas and Kansas. In that time he killed between 27 and 44 men. As a large number of his victims were either black or Mexican, there can be little doubt many of his killings were racially motivated.

Hardin made a living as a gambler and once – briefly – a school teacher.

He kept his guns in an unusual place. He had holsters sewn into his vest (waistcoat for British readers) so that the butts of his pistols pointed inward across his chest. He crossed his arms to draw. Hardin claimed this was the fastest way to draw, and he practiced every day.

In 1871 Hardin arrived in Abilene, Kansas where he managed to not get into a confrontation with the town marshal JAMES (known as ‘WILD BILL’) HICKOK. Young Hardin seems to have hero-worshipped this legendary gun man.

A few of Hardin’s killings might have been justified, but most seem to be plain murder. A killing he committed in Abilene shocked even the hardened citizens of that ‘wild and woolly’ cow town. Sleeping in his hotel room, Hardin was awakened in the night by loud snoring coming from the room next door. Hardin shouted several times for the snoring man to "roll over" and then, irritated by the lack of response, fired several bullets through the wall between them. The luckless snorer was hit in the head and killed. Hardin exited through a second-story window onto the roof of the hotel and fled Abilene. The incident earned Hardin a reputation as a man "so mean, he once shot a man for snoring.” Years later Hardin reportedly said, "They tell lots of lies about me. They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. Well, it ain't true. I only killed one man for snoring.”

After killing Deputy Sheriff Charlie Webb in Comanche, Texas in 1874, Hardin fled his home state with a $4,000 reward on his head. The Texas Rangers pursued and 3 years later found him on a railroad car in the unlikely location (for a western gun man) of Pensacola, Florida. When the rangers approached he attempted to draw a .44 Colt pistol but it got caught up in his suspenders. The officers knocked Hardin unconscious and hauled him back to Texas.

After serving 17 years (1877-1894) in Huntsville Prison Hardin obtained a lawyer’s license and opened a practice in El Paso. In 1895 he got into a dispute with two local lawmen after they arrested a prostitute Hardin was acquainted with. One of these men, Constable JOHN SELMAN SNR. approached Hardin in the Acme Saloon, where he was playing dice. Selman shot Hardin in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Ironically Hardin died as his hero, ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok had died.

Despite strong evidence that Hardin was a racist psychopath, Hollywood gave us a sympathetic Hardin (played by ROCK HUDSON) in ‘THE LAWLESS BREED’ in 1952.

Among many 5 star reviews for LEE:

‘A tense narrative filled with action and fascinating characters… a master of writing terse dialogue… If you enjoy westerns with a hardboiled quality, Tell Cotten is one writer you need to check out.’

‘A wonderful story.’

‘Another exciting and refreshing story recounted by his easy flowing style.’

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Landon-Saga-Book-6-ebook/dp/B00WQ6OGRE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM by MICHAEL ZIMMER

Michael Zimmer, winner of the Western Heritage Wrangler Award, tells me he has four favourites of his own western novels. One is WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM.

In 1858, Clay Little Bull, born a slave, and raised by Kiowa Indians, ventures west to seek freedom; but a band of Kansas slavers are on his heels.

An ex-slave in the American west brought to mind ‘mountain man’ and trail blazer JIM BECKWOURTH, who I’ve blogged about previously.  
http://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/author-favourites-to-keep-promise-by-bn.html

A backcloth to the story are the historical events of ‘Bleeding Kansas.’

This is how Wikipedia sums it up:

‘Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent confrontations… between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. The conflict was characterized by years of electoral fraud, raids, assaults and retributive murders carried out by rival factions of anti-slavery ‘Free-Staters’ and pro-slavery ‘Border Ruffians’ in Kansas and neighbouring Missouri.

'At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether the Kansas Territory would allow or outlaw slavery, and thus enter the Union as a slave state or a free state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 called for ‘popular sovereignty,’ requiring that the decision about slavery be made by the territory's settlers (rather than outsiders) and decided by a popular vote… 

'Missouri, a slave state… was populated by a large number of settlers with Southern sympathies and pro-slavery attitudes, many of whom tried to influence the decision in Kansas. The conflict was fought politically as well as between civilians, where it eventually degenerated into brutal gang violence and paramilitary guerrilla warfare. 

'The term "Bleeding Kansas" was popularized by Horace Greeley’s ‘New York Tribune.’

(Events in ‘Bleeding Kansas') …suggested to the American people that the sectional disputes were unlikely to reach compromise without bloodshed, and it therefore directly presaged the American Civil War. Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state in January 1861, but partisan violence continued along the Kansas–Missouri border for most of the war.’

Perhaps the most notorious figure in this dispute was outspoken abolitionist JOHN BROWN (1800-1859.)

John Brown c. 1847

John Brown led his sons and other followers in planning the murder of settlers who spoke in favour of slavery. At a proslavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek on the night of May 24 1856, the group seized five pro-slavery men from their homes and hacked them to death with broadswords.

In August 1856, thousands of pro-slavery men formed into armies and marched into Kansas, leading to the battle of Osawatomie. Brown tried to defend the town of Osawatomie against 400 pro-slave guerrillas but was forced to withdraw. The hostilities raged for another two months until Brown departed the Kansas Territory. In all, approximately 56 people died in 'Bleeding Kansas' by the time the violence ended in 1859.  

A portrait of JOHN BROWN in 1859

In October 1859 Brown led a raid on the federal armoury at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (although it was still Virginia at the time.) His plan was to start a liberation movement among the slaves there. He seized the armoury, intending to arm slaves with weapons from the arsenal, but the raiders were routed by a counter-attack. Within 36 hours, Brown's men had fled or been killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, and US Marines led by ROBERT E. LEE. Brown was tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection, was found guilty on all counts, and stepped onto the gallows on December 2^nd 1859.

‘John Brown’s Body’ became a popular Union marching song during the Civil War and portrayed Brown as a martyr.

Brown’s actions were depicted in the 1940 film SANTA FE TRAIL, which had RAYMOND MASSEY as Brown and RONALD REAGAN as the world’s most unlikely GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER!

RAYMOND MASSEY as JOHN BROWN in ‘Santa Fe Trail’

Films about black men in the Old West include THE SCALPHUNTERS

OSSIE DAVIS in 'The Scalphunters'

and BUCK & THE PREACHER.

SIDNEY POITIER and HARRY BELAFONTE in 'Buck and the Preacher'

Reviews of WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM:

‘A sweeping western adventure in the classic tradition of Lonesome Dove’

‘Great characters, and a fine sense of place.’

‘Zimmer always gives you a good yarn, with a rich mix of characters and in a setting and framework that all come together for a good, informative read.’

‘The story is fast-moving and engaging and the characters are complex and varied enough to avoid being stereotypes... Zimmer is right on when it comes to descriptions of the clothing, guns and gear, and the paraphernalia and process of buffalo hunting prior to the Civil War.’

https://www.amazon.com/Where-Buffalo-Roam-Michael-Zimmer/dp/0786006544/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: CADE’S REVENGE by ROBERT VAUGHAN

In plunging into the world of Social Media I’ve been lucky enough to contact some of the best, most distinguished and successful western authors. Few are more distinguished and successful than Robert Vaughan.

Robert’s books have hit the New York Times bestseller list seven times. He’s won the Spur Award, the PORGIE Award (Best Paperback Original), the Western Fictioneers Lifetime Achievement Award, received the Readwest President's Award for Excellence in Western Fiction, is a member of the American Writers Hall of Fame and is a Pulitzer Prize nominee. And he doesn’t just write westerns!

He tells me he has a first and second favourite of all his books. I’ve already posted about number 2 - YESTERDAY'S REVEILLE.

Robert says his favourite of all his books is the 2nd in his CADE McCALL series, CADE’S REVENGE.

We follow Cade as he rides the Chisholm Trail, crosses raging rivers, faces cattle rustlers and fights marauding Indians while taking a herd of longhorns north to Kansas.

Cattle drives were a major economic activity in the 19th-century American West, particularly between 1866 and 1886, when 20 million cattle were herded from Texas to railheads in Kansas, for shipments to stockyards in Chicago and points east.

1879 Cowboys

These cattle were at least initially scrawny, fractious, semi-wild stock known as ‘Longhorns.’

These railhead towns became known as 'cow towns' and were famous for being ‘wild and woolly.’ Cowboys, fresh from several months ‘eating dust’ driving cattle across the plains, let off steam in the saloons, gambling houses and bordellos of these raw new settlements. First of these was Abeline, at the end of the Chisolm Train.

Abeline stockyards

Others followed, sometimes only blooming for a single season as the railways pushed further west – places like Newton, Ellsworth, Wichita, Caldwell and Baxter Springs.

By 1877, the largest of the cattle-shipping boom towns, Dodge City, shipped out 500,000 head of cattle.

Dodge City 1874

However, through the 1870s and 1880s, railroads expanded to cover most of the west, and meat packing plants were built closer to major ranching areas, making long cattle drives to the railheads unnecessary.

Thinking of trail drives, which have featured in innumerable westerns, naturally I thought of the daddy of all trail drive movies: RED RIVER (1948.)

A trail drive from Texas to Montana is the backdrop to Larry McMurtry’s LONESOME DOVE, a book made into an acclaimed TV mini-series.

Tommy Lee Jones & Robert Duvall in LONESOME DOVE

A trail drive depicted in LONESOME DOVE

And the TV series RAWHIDE had its cowboy heroes (including a young CLINT EASTWOOD) on a 6-year trail drive, as the show ran from 1959 to 1965!

OWEN WISTER, writer of the early western classic ‘THE VIRGINIAN’ (1902) (also made into a TV series) features in CADE’S REVENGE.

Owen Wister

James Drury in TV's 'THE VIRGINIAN'

90% of the reviews for CADE’S REVENGE are 5 star!

‘Intriguing… stays on key from beginning to end.’

'A book that's hard to put down.'

'A fun reading novel of the Old West. The author's development of the character is great.'

https://www.amazon.com/Cades-Revenge-Western-Adventures-McCall-ebook/dp/B01MQGG4HJ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=