AUTHOR FAVOURITES: RUMRUNNERS by ERIC BEETNER

Eric Beetner has been described as ‘the hardest working man in crime fiction.’ As well as writing numerous noirish thrillers and award-winning short fiction he’s ventured into western territory with the ‘Lawyer’ series.

Eric tells me that RUMRUNNERS ‘is the one most people have responded to of my novels’ and that ‘writing about the McGraws is a lot of fun.’

The McGraws, whilst calling themselves outlaws not criminals, have made a living driving for the Stanleys, the main criminal gang in their part of the Midwest (mostly Iowa and Illinois.)

Unlike his father and grandfather Tucker McGraw wants nothing to do with hauling dubious loads for criminals and is trying to go straight. But when his father, Webb, vanishes after a job, and with him a truck load of drugs, the Stanleys want their drugs back or their money – and they want it from Tucker.

So Tucker - with the help of his grandfather, Calvin - finds himself sucked back into the family business and heading down a highway that just might get him killed.

A Peterbilt truck, such as Webb drives when he vanishes:

Trucks and truckers have featured in many movies.

In the classic French thriller ‘The Wages of Fear’ (1954) Yves Montand and others take a (literally) explosive ride in trucks transporting nitro-glycerine over treacherous roads.

A sticky moment for a truck laden with explosives in ‘The Wages of Fear:’

Kris Kristofferson (on left, below) is a trucker in ‘Convoy’ (1978) whose rebellious spirit causes him to end up being pursued by the law.

Lone motorist Dennis Weaver is pursued by a monstrous truck determined to crush him beneath its many wheels in ‘Duel’ (1971.) In this early effort by Steven Spielberg, the truck played the role later taken up by the predatory shark by ‘Jaws’ – but for me ‘Duel’ is the better, grittier and more suspenseful movie.

Dennis Weaver looks back...

And he’s still being pursued.

Back in the classic film noir era, truckers involved in crime featured in such movies as ‘Thieves Highway’ (1949) with Richard Conte

and ‘They drive by Night’ (1940) with (below from left) Humphrey Bogart and George Raft.

In ‘I Walk Alone’ (1947) Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster (below, left to right) start out as bootleggers transporting their illegal cargoes by truck.

The vast highways and vast landscapes of the U. S. A. (particularly the west) lend themselves very naturally to trucker movies. The UK couldn’t match that scale and had to make do with movies like ‘Hell Drivers,’ a relatively obscure 1957 thriller starring Stanley Baker.

The illustrious (or soon-to-be-illustrious) cast of ‘Hell Drivers'

It’s most notable for its supporting cast, including character actors like Herbert Lom, William Hartnell, (the first Dr. Who) Jill Ireland, Gordon Jackson, Sid James and Alfie Bass. But it also features some up-and-coming young actors who went on to be major stars on film and TV in the 60s: Patrick McGoohan, David McCallum and – in one of the smallest parts – the actor who went on to be the biggest star of the lot: Sean Connery.

From left: Stanley Baker, Sid James, Patrick McGoohan and Sean Connery

REVIEWS of RUMRUMMERS:

‘I stayed up half one night reading Rumrunners… Terrific. Dark magic.’

‘Few contemporary writers do justice to the noir tradition the way Eric Beetner does… Beetner just takes the form and cuts his own jagged, raw and utterly readable path.’

‘Fast and funny and dark all at once.’

‘Fun plot + believable characters + witty dialogue + breakneck pace = novel that knocks your socks off.’

‘Pretty much the spiritual heir to Elmore Leonard.’

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072YZC9NH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

and https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072YZC9NH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: THE MOSES DECEPTION by STEPHEN MERTZ

Stephen Mertz writes thrillers (sometimes with a political tinge) as well as westerns. He tells me THE MOSES DECEPTION is ‘State of the Art Mertz,’ not a bad place to begin investigating his work.

Archaeologists Adam Chase and Lara Newton, excavating in the mountains between Turkey and Syria, discover an 11^th Commandment to add to the 10 Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. And then they're caught up in the bloody civil war gripping the region.

All of which made me think of Indiana Jones, of course, and CHARLTON HESTON (below) as Moses in the 1956 film ‘The 10 Commandments.’

I thought for this blog I’d have a brief look at Indiana Jones (with the help of Wikipedia.) Here Charlton Heston features again, in a different guise.

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., 1930s archaeologist and adventurer, is a character created by GEORGE LUCAS.  He was portrayed by HARRISON FORD in four movies directed by STEVEN SPIELBERG – ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981) ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,’ (1984) ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,’ (1989)  and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Cave’ (2008.) A fifth film is scheduled to be released in mid-2021.

The young Jones has been portrayed by RIVER PHOENIX (in The Last Crusade) and in the TV series ‘The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles’ by COREY CARRIER, SEAN PATRICK FLANERY and GEORGE HALL.

Although Ford was Spielberg’s initial choice for the role, Lucas and Spielberg auditioned many actors, and finally cast TOM SELLECK. However, CBS refused to release Selleck from his contract to his hit TV show ‘Magnum P.1.’ Subsequently PETER COYOTE and TIM MATHESON auditioned. In the end it went back to Spielberg’s original choice and Ford got the part less than three weeks before filming began.

Indiana Jones has become one of cinema's most famous characters. In 2003, the American Film Institute ranked him the second greatest film hero of all time, second only to Atticus Finch, as portrayed by GREGORY PECK in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (1962.)

The character was originally named Indiana Smith. Spielberg disliked the name Smith, so Lucas casually suggested Jones as an alternative. In ‘The Last Crusade’ script Jones's father reveals his son's birth name was Henry, and that he somehow acquired the nickname Indiana after a dog they had.  

The character is modelled on the action heroes of 1930s film serials and pulp magazines both Lucas and Spielberg enjoyed in their childhoods. Spielberg was interested in doing a fun adventure similar to ‘Dr. No,’ SEAN CONNERY’s first outing as James Bond. So it was something of an in-joke when Connery appeared as Indiana’s father in The Last Crusade.’

HARRISON FORD and SEAN CONNERY in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’

Here Charlton Heston re-appears. ‘Raiders’ costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis said the inspiration for Indiana's costume was the outfit worn by the character Harry Steele, played by Charlton Heston in the 1954 adventure movie ‘Secret of the Incas.’ Throughout the film Steele looks very much like Jones, wearing a brown leather jacket, fedora, tan pants, and carrying an over-the-shoulder bag and revolver. He’s also a cynical American ex-patriot with a sarcastic sense of humour in a far, exotic place.

Landis said, ‘We did watch this film together as a crew several times, and I always thought it strange that the filmmakers did not credit it later as the inspiration for the series.’ She added Raiders was ‘almost a shot for shot’ remake of the Heston film, stating that Indiana Jones was ‘a kinder, gentler Harry Steele.’

Other fictional inspirations for the Jones character were Sir H. Rider Haggard’s safari guide/big game hunter Allan Quatermain in the novel ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ and Professor Challenger in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel ‘The Lost World.’

Real life archaeologists and adventurers that helped inspire the character might include:

American scholar and archaeologist VENDYL JONES (below) who led digs in Israel from the 1960s to the 1990s searching for the Holy Ark. (Not too great a leap from ‘Vendy’ to ‘Indy’ Jones!)

Yale University professor, historian, US senator, and explorer HIRAM BINGHAM the 3^rd, who rediscovered – in 1911 - the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu.

FREDERICK RUSSELL BURNHAM, the celebrated American scout and British Army spy who heavily influenced Haggard's fictional Allan Quatermain character and also became the inspiration for the Boy Scouts.

British archaeologist PERCY FAWCETT (below) who disappeared in the Amazon jungle in 1925, after spending many years exploring the region.

American archaeologist and adventurer WENDELL PHILLIPS who led well-publicized expeditions in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in the 1940s and 1950s.

Although Indiana Jones made archaeology ‘cool’ the archaeological fraternity gave a mixed response.   

Archaeologist Anne Pyburn described the influence of Indiana Jones as elitist and sexist. She argued the film series had caused new discoveries in the field of archaeology to become oversimplified and over-hyped in an attempt to gain public interest, negatively impacting archaeology as a whole. Eric Powell, an editor with the magazine Archaeology, disagreed, saying ‘O.K., fine, the movie romanticizes what we do’, and that ‘Indy may be a horrible archaeologist, but he's a great diplomat for archaeology. I think we'll see a spike in kids who want to become archaeologists.’

REVIEWS for THE MOSES DECEPTION:

'A real page turner.'

‘A great premise for the plot. Excellent story telling with good characters and action. A good read with a satisfying ending.’

‘Hooked me in right from page one. A riveting, mysterious plot line.’

https://www.amazon.com/Moses-Deception-Stephen-Mertz-ebook/dp/B0719B6GFL/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1507374829&sr=1-1&dpID=51xW4qJcK-L&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: JIMI AFTER DARK by STEPHEN MERTZ

Stephen Mertz writes thrillers (sometimes with a political tinge) as well as westerns. He tells me JIMI AFTER DARK is ‘State of the Art Mertz,’ not a bad place to begin investigating his work.

London 1970. Somebody is out to murder rock star Jimi Hendrix, but Jimi's old army buddy – the Vietnam vet who calls himself Soldier - is on hand to help.

Also in this heady mix are infamous London gangsters The Kray twins, German drug dealers and the CIA.

JIMI HENDRIX is one of the most celebrated figures in rock music so here’s (with the help of Wikipedia) only the briefest summary of his extraordinary life:

He was born James Allen (later changed to Marshall) Hendrix in Seattle in 1942. He began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101^st Airborne Division, but was discharged the following year.

He moved to Tennessee and played as a guitarist in bands fronted by The Isley Brothers, Little Richard and Curtis Knight. Model Linda Keith (one-time girlfriend of Keith Richard of The Rolling Stones) brought him to the attention of Chas Chandler, bassist with The Animals, who became his first manager. In a crucial move Chandler brought him to London in 1966.

It was Chandler who convinced Hendrix to change the spelling of his first name to Jimi.

The basis of the Hendrix legend is the next four years, when he released four albums – ‘Are You Experienced,’ ‘Axis: Bold of Love,’ ‘Electric Ladyland’ and ‘Band of Gypsys,’ - with the posthumous ‘Cry of Love’ following in 1971. He also released a string of hit singles including ‘Hey Joe’ and ‘Purple Haze.’

Hendrix formed the trio The Jimi Hendrix Experience in England and found fairly immediate commercial success. Returning to the U.S.A. Jimi finally broke through to the U.S. market with his incendiary performance at The Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The third and final album with The Experience, ‘Electric Ladyland,’ was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his only number-one album.

Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues but went on to influence an enormous number of musicians himself. Writing for ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine Holly George-Warren said ‘Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began.’ Among effects he pioneered were fuzz tone, Octavia, wah-wah and Uni-Vibe.

He is widely rated as the greatest rock guitarist of all time.

As well as his musical brilliance Hendrix was celebrated for the excitement his live performances generated. He complimented his exotic appearance with what Eric Clapton called ‘A few of his tricks, like playing (guitar) with his teeth and behind his back.’ Hendrix wondered how he could top live performances of the Who, which involved smashing their instruments. Talking to journalist Keith Altham he joked, ‘Maybe I can smash up an elephant,’ to which Altham replied, ‘Well, it's a pity you can't set fire to your guitar.’ Jimi promptly put that in his act!

Jimi sets the stage alight (literally) at Monterey

 Hendrix not only wowed the public with his live shows, but also his peers in the rock firmament. The Experience performed at the Bag O’Nails nightclub in London in November 1966, with Clapton, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger and Kevin Ayers in attendance. Ayers described the crowd's reaction as ‘stunned disbelief.’

After a performance of ‘Voodoo Chile’ on BBC's ‘Happening for Lulu’ show in January 1969, The Experience abandoned ‘Hey Joe’ for a wholly unrehearsed version of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ by Cream. Producers brought the song to a premature end and Jimi was told he would never work at the BBC again.

Lulu and Jimi 

His abortive performance on her show

3 years of non-stop touring and recording took its toll on The Experience. As bassist Noel Redding said, ‘Any bad feelings came from us being three guys who were traveling too hard, getting too tired, and taking too many drugs.’ In 1969 they broke up.

Jimi was then the world's highest-paid performer. He threw together an ad-hoc band for his headlining act at perhaps the most celebrated rock festival of all time, Woodstock, in August 1969. This outfit, ‘The Band of Gypsys,’ rehearsed for less than two weeks before the show but pop critic Al Aronowitz of the 'New York Post' wrote of this performance: 'It was the most electrifying moment of Woodstock, and it was probably the single greatest moment of the 60s.' 

Jimi plays Woodstock

During the first half of 1970, Hendrix played gigs with a new band and sporadically worked on a new album. At the second Atlanta Pop Festival on July 4, he played to the largest American audience of his career, an estimated half a million people.

He performed as the headlining act of the Isle of Wight Festival. On September 6 1970, he gave his final concert appearance, at the Isle of Fehmarn Festival in Germany.

On September 18 an ambulance was called to the apartment of Hendrix’s then-girlfriend Monika Dannerman in the Samarkand Hotel in London where Jimi was lying in bed, seemingly unconscious. This ambulance transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. A post-mortem concluded that Hendrix had swallowed his own vomit while intoxicated with barbiturates. 

According to friend and collaborator Stephen Stills, at this point Jimi had been interested in moving away from rock into fusion. Despite his career being tragically cut short, his influence remains huge to this day, on artists from Prince to Stevie Ray Vaughan and many others. Jazz genius Miles Davis compared Hendrix's improvisational abilities with those of saxophonist John Coltrane.

No time in this blog to cover the Kray Twins!

RONNIE and REGGIE KRAY

REVIEWS of JIMI AFTER DARK:

‘Part murder mystery, part political thriller, part war story, part action adventure, part love story and part rock and roll history. The author put his heart and soul into this one, and clearly had fun doing it.’

‘An action crime novel with nicely executed action scenes, a few twists, and big ideas: friendship, loyalty, betrayal… and the relationship between music and culture. …A well-told, exciting story with the cleanest, strongest prose in the business. Stephen Mertz’s best novel, and it should be on everyone’s reading list.'

https://www.amazon.com/Jimi-After-Dark-Stephen-Mertz-ebook/dp/B07K4XSHWD/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=jimi+after+dark+stephen+mertz&qid=1569142702&s=books&sr=1-1

and

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07K4XSHWD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

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: 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