AUTHOR FAVOURITES: RIVER RUNS RED by JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE

 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 )

Jeff tells me he has three particular favourites of his own novels, one of which is

RIVER RUNS RED.

 He says ‘I'm a desert rat from way back - I love the big empty spaces, the rugged landscapes, the thorny plants and poisonous creatures, the visible effects of water, where it exists... In RIVER RUNS RED I got to explore that landscape in depth, and also pay tribute to some of my favourite writers who feel the same way that I do about the desert Southwest, particularly EDWARD ABBEY, CHARLES BOWDEN, and WALLACE STEGNER… I felt that the characters were rich and true and I loved spending time with them.’

 About RIVER RUNS RED:

As teenagers, Molly, Byrd and Wade faced inconceivable evil in an underground labyrinth near the Rio Grande in Texas. Reunited as adults, they discover that their terrifying experience was only the beginning. Now they and a CIA agent return to these sinister caves as combatants in a supernatural war. They have to stop the rising of an ancient malevolent force that wants to erase the world and start over. Their paths wend through raging rivers, mysterious murders, long-buried gods, and secrets worth dying—or killing—for, on the way to a final, mystical battle, with the fate of worlds hanging in the balance.

RIVER RUNS RED is the first of The Border Trilogy books, the others being MISSING WHITE GIRL and COLD BLACK HEARTS.

Espionage was also blended with the paranormal/ supernatural in the 1978 movie THE FURY

Amy Irving and John Cassavettes in ‘THE FURY’

And in the TV series THE X FILES

Horror, the occult and the supernatural have been associated with caves and labyrinths since THESEUS fought THE MINOTAUR and probably before. Many movies have – literally – plumbed these depths, from QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967)

to INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989)

to THE DESCENT (2005.)

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 fast paced thriller with a supernatural twist… a character-driven story of epic proportions, an intense experience... This was my first read from Jeff Mariotte and it certainly won’t be my last.’

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

‘Great writing.’

‘Fast paced supernatural horror… Exciting and fun to read.’

‘Mariotte has a strong grip on characterization and page-turning suspense. This is a novel I wish I had written!’

Find RIVER RUNS RED here: https://www.amazon.com/River-Runs-Red-Jeffrey-Mariotte-ebook/dp/B07VMTQCNC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Runs-Red-Jeffrey-Mariotte-ebook/dp/B07VMTQCNC

HOW DID DAVY CROCKETT DIE? ONE ACCOUNT

I’ve been fascinated by the story of The Alamo ever since I was a boy – which was a LONG time ago! I’d planned to post this on March 6^th 2020, the 184th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo (March 6th 1836.) However, life got in the way etc. So here it is, belatedly, better four days late than never…

Ruins of the Alamo in 1844

I thought I’d give a brief consideration to one of the enduring mysteries of the Alamo: HOW DID DAVY CROCKETT DIE?

DAVID ('Davy') CROCKETT (1786-1836) in 1834

In Walter Lord's historical account of the siege 'A Time to Stand' there are clues. A Mexican captain, Rafael Soldana, describes a notable Alamo defender: 'A tall man, with flowing hair, was seen firing from the same place... during the entire siege. He wore a buckskin suit and a cap all of a pattern entirely different from those worn by his comrades... he rarely missed his mark... this man I later learned was known as 'Kwockey'.'

A Mexican sergeant Felix Nunez then described a Texan he saw in the final battle, who seems very similar in dress, headgear, appearance and military prowess: 'He was a tall American of rather dark complexion and had on a long buckskin coat and a round cap without any bill, made out of fox skin with the long tail hanging down the back... he never missed a shot. He killed at least 8 of our men, as well as wounding several others. This being observed by a lieutenant who had come in over the wall, he sprang at him and dealt him a deadly blow with his sword, just above the right eye, which felled him to the ground, and in an instant he was pierced by not less than 20 bayonets.' Even if this wasn't Crockett, it's a hero's death worthy of him.

Another Crockett portrait from 1834

Of course, the two Mexican accounts here highlight an individual wearing a coonskin cap.

So did Crockett wear such an item?

Rafts of scholarly research have gone into this issue, and I wouldn’t dream of arguing with experts who’ve spent months, if not years, investigating it. My ‘scholarly research’ took fifteen minutes via Google, so can’t be compared to their efforts. But, for what it’s worth, here’s what I gleaned:

The popular impression of Crockett at the time of his death was that he wore one. Here’s a woodcut of the ‘Davy Crockett Almanac’ from 1837:

But did he?

A couple of statements would suggest he did (I need to credit WILLIAM GRONEMAN 111, as I took some of the following information from his April 24 2010 article in ‘True West Magazine.’)

Crockett’s daughter MATILDA described her father the last time she saw him as he left his Tennessee home for Texas in autumn 1835: ‘He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coonskin cap, and carrying a fine rifle presented to him by friends in Philadelphia.’

JAMES DAVIS, seeing Crockett leaving Memphis for Texas, wrote: ‘He wore that same veritable coon-skin cap and hunting shirt.’

And (admittedly long after 1836) Alamo survivor SUSANNA DICKINSON recalled being led out of the ruins of the Alamo in the immediate aftermath of the battle. She said, ‘I recognized Colonel Crockett lying dead and mutilated between the church and two-story barrack building and even remember seeing his peculiar cap lying by his side.’

SUSANNA DICKINSON

However, I expect arguments to continue to rage…

Robert Onderdonk’s ‘Fall of the Alamo’ 1903

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: CAIN JUST CAIN by LOU BRADSHAW

Lou Bradshaw tells me he has two favourites of his own novels. One is his western, CAIN JUST CAIN, second in the Cain series.

Here his hero, Shadrac Cain, develops from ‘rock-hard outdated mountain man’ into ‘a soft-hearted defender of the weak and abused.’

The Dooly Gang are raiding out of Texas. When these outlaws kidnap a 3-year-old boy and a woman, Shadrac Cain pursues them into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Paraphrasing Wikipedia: The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish for ‘Blood of Christ’) are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains, located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. They run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of thirteen and fourteen thousand foot peaks. Blanca Peak in Colorado is the highest, at 14,351 feet (or 4,374 metres.)

Although the particular origin of the name Sangre de Cristo is unclear, it’s been used since the early 19th century. It may refer to the occasional reddish hues observed during sunrise and sunset, especially when the mountains are covered with snow.

According to one tradition, 'sangre de Cristo' were the last words of a priest who was killed by Native Americans.

Glorieta Pass was the site of the decisive battle of the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War, fought near the pass between March 26^th and 28^th 1862. The victory by the Union Army (primarily in the form of the Colorado Militia) was low scale with similar casualties on both sides: about 50 men killed and 80 wounded. But it was significant in that it prevented the breakout of the Confederate Army forces onto the High Plains east of the Sangre de Cristo, halting the intended Confederate advance northward into Colorado.

An officer on the Union side in this conflict was MAJOR JOHN M. CHIVINGTON. He later gained infamy when he led the Colorado Volunteers who massacred peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek.

Quests for kidnapped children – usually carried off by Native Americans – feature in many westerns, from films like ‘The Searchers’ and ‘The Missing’ to TV series like ‘The Quest.’

JOHN WAYNE and NATALIE WOOD in ‘The Searchers’

‘The High Chaparral’ episode ‘Ride the Savage Land,’ about an attempt to rescue a girl kidnapped by Apaches, (as played by Claire Wilcox, pictured below) is my contender for best ever TV Western episode.

Lou’s lone hero, Shadrac Cain, with a dog companion, naturally brought to mind the movie ‘Hondo,’ with John Wayne in the title role.

Another lone hero with ‘man’s best friend’ as his companion was played by Brian Keith in the highly-regarded but short-lived TV Western series ‘The Westerner.’

As ever, CAIN JUST CAIN is characterised by Lou Bradshaw’s warm, humorous, colloquial and very easy to read writing style.

REVIEWS:

‘You read what Cain thinks as well as what he does, all of which he describes in a delightfully self-effacing and humorous manner. The story is action-packed from the get-go…’ 

‘No one seems to capture the feel of the west better than Lou does with his word and dialogue craft. The character developments are stone solid and sharp as a skinning knife. This is a great story told by a developing master of his trade, as a reader who could ask for more.’

‘I know that readers of great, gutsy western stories will be as enamoured as I was.’

‘A moving read.’

https://www.amazon.com/Cain-just-Shad-Book-ebook/dp/B00XABW5ZE/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

and https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00XABW5ZE/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i21

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: LINE OF GLORY by THOMAS CLAGETT

Award-winning author Thomas Clagett tells me his favourite of his own novels is LINE OF GLORY.

Here’s my 4 star review of LINE OF GLORY, which I put on Amazon.co.uk and Goodreads:

Author’s audacious approach gives us a fresh take on the Alamo

Almost as soon as the smoke cleared from the Alamo battlefield another fog shrouded the scene – that of legend.

The ruins of The Alamo in 1844

In the nearly two centuries since historians have argued over almost every single aspect of what may have occurred there in early 1836, when fabled heroes – Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis – and a handful of Texans gathered to stand against Santa Anna’s mighty Mexican army and a 13-day siege ensued.

President-General ANTONIO LOPEZ de SANTA ANNA

Numerous novels, TV shows and movies on these extraordinary events have, for the most part, only fuelled the confusion and controversy. So I was sceptical that any further re-telling could add anything new.

DAVID (DAVY) CROCKETT in 1834

Happily I was wrong. Thomas Clagett’s audacious approach brings a fresh twist to the tale.

For a start he doesn’t attempt to tell the story of the Texas War of Independence, or even the whole siege. Instead he concentrates on the last 13 hours – the evening of March 5 and the morning of March 6 1836.

JAMES BOWIE

We get an intense focus on the ‘lull before the storm’ and then on the storm itself, as the Mexican army launches its final bloody assault on the Alamo. And bravely he chooses to tell the story through the eyes of less-famous participants: Susannah Dickinson, wife of an Alamo defender, three brothers among the garrison and a Mexican officer leading his troops against them. The ‘big three’ – Crockett, Bowie and Travis – become supporting players. In this way, Clagett humanises the story, without in any way trivialising or diminishing it, or belittling the participants (on both sides.)

WILLIAM TRAVIS in 1835

This is still an epic of courage and sacrifice, of heroism without false heroics. Clagett expertly captures the tension of men waiting to face death, and then the high drama of them giving and receiving it in the battle that consumes them. Highly recommended.  

SUSANNAH DICKINSON

Other reviews of LINE OF GLORY:

‘Gripping… Rousing and memorable.’

‘Excellent. Superb. Spellbinding.’

‘Vivid and authentic.’

Robert Onderdonk’s ‘Fall of the Alamo’ 1903

Find my reviews here: (Amazon.co.uk) 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Line-Glory-Story-Alamo-Novel-ebook/dp/B079P8LTFM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551781988&sr=8-1&keywords=line+of+glory+thomas+clagett

(Goodreads)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35742791-line-of-glory

You can also find LINE OF GLORY here:

https://www.amazon.com/Line-Glory-Story-Alamo-Novel-ebook/dp/B079P8LTFM/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=line+of+glory&qid=1551792988&s=books&sr=1-1 

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: THE ROCK HOLE by REAVIS WORTHAM

THE ROCK HOLE is the first of Reavis Wortham’s acclaimed series of Red River mysteries. It’s 1964 and farmer and part-time Constable Ned Parker works in a little community in rural Texas near the Oklahoma border. Normally he only has to deal with petty crime and moonshiners; but a disturbed individual enters his patch. This felon moves from killing animals to humans and earns the grisly nickname ‘The Skinner.’ To track down ‘The Skinner’ Parker combines forces with John Washington, a black deputy sheriff.

African-American Police Officers were appointed to police departments in the U.S.A. from the late 1860s onwards.

On May 28 1867 CHARLES COURCELLE, a 'newly enfranchised citizen' was appointed to the board of police commissionaires in New Orleans. A few days later DUSSEAU PICOT and EMILE FARRAR were appointed as police officers. (My information is that they were the first African-American police officers in U.S. history - perhaps someone can verify this.) In 1868, also in New Orleans, OCTAVE REY became the first African-American police captain.

On April 12 1870 WILLIAM JOHNSON, of Jacksonville, Florida was the first recognized African-American police officer killed in the line of duty. 

In 1875 BASS REEVES (1838-1910) was appointed as the first African-American deputy U.S. marshal. Reeves definitely deserves a blog all to himself. He operated in and around the lawless Oklahoma Territory in the last quarter of the 19th Century. He was credited with arresting more than 3,000 felons. He shot and killed 14 outlaws in self-defence. Reeves brought in some of the most dangerous criminals of the time but was never wounded, despite having his hat and belt shot off on separate occasions.  

In 1916 GEORGIA ANN ROBINSON was the first African-American police officer to serve in the Los Angeles Police Department, and possibly in any U.S. police force.

In 1941 WILLIAM B. LINDSAY was the first known African-American state trooper, hired by the Illinois State Police.

Small Texas towns have featured in many movies, from ‘The Last Picture Show’ and ‘Hud’ (both based on novels by LARRY McMURTRY)

MELVYN DOUGLAS and PAUL NEWMAN in 'Hud'

to ‘Home from the Hill’ and ‘The Chase.’

'The Chase' (MARLON BRANDO on right)

The interracial police aspect in THE ROCK HOLE made me think of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT.

SIDNEY POITIER and ROD STEIGER in 'In the Heat of the Night'

Reviewers have compared Reavis’s nourish thriller with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. That may be because the story is partially narrated by Parker’s 10 year old grandson, Top (as well as its literary merit.) Whatever, to be compared to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, IMHO, is about the greatest praise any author can receive!

GREGORY PECK and MARY BADHAM in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Other reviewers of THE ROCK HOLE:

‘An unusual combination of old time Texas humour and chilling thriller.’

‘Great mystery, Great start to this series!’

‘Lean and fast paced… I couldn't put it down.’

‘Very memorable.’

https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Hole-Red-River-Mysteries/dp/159058886X