WESTERN PAPERBACKS NEW LINE - FIRST TITLE ANNOUNCED

This is the cover for the first title in the new paperback line of western fiction. Full details of the new venture will be announced in the upcoming issue of Black Horse Extra (the new issue should go live by the end of this month) and you can read an extract of Misfit Lil Cheats the Hangrope HERE

The Tainted Archive recently published a full length earlier O'keefe novel as an E-book. This title is free to all and can be found in the right hand side bar of this blog.

Misfit Lil is a popular character with western fans and she should be just the thing to get readers interested in this new line of westerns in pocket sized, inexpensive paperbacks.

The upcoming Black Horse Extra looks, as always, to be essential reading but I'll let Keith Chapman AKA Chap O'keefe tell you about that with an extract from the introduction to the new Black Horse Extra which will go live soon.

And so over to Keith:


we move on to an important announcement about the publication of an original western novel in paperback. Support for this initiative could result in the book becoming the pilot offering for a new series, supplementing BHWs. Older readers fondly remember the days when the paperback original was a staple on the racks of every corner shop in countries around the world. With the rising appeal of online shopping, can the western ride this modern trail to a new golden age?

A promising sign was the recent huge pre-orders success of the June BHW, The Tarnished Star. As recorded here last time, author Gary Dobbs, aka Jack Martin, waged a magnificent campaign online to show just what could be done.

Readers have been asking the obvious question for years: "Why aren't BHWs – handsome but expensive library hardbacks – also available as lower-priced, convenient pocket-book paperbacks designed for the broader retail market?" The answer has been, "Because there is no demand."

Other than by writing stories that capture the imagination of the contemporary reader, the authors are in no real position to change the situation. Only the book-buying public can. But the first step, of course, is for someone to publish the right books in an attractive format. Readers can't buy what doesn't exist.

Please read the article BHE's First Paperback Original with care and consideration. You'll find it immediately after Hoofprints, the regular round-up of newsy items from the western genre.




The Tainted Archive will bring you all the news of this new paperback line as it becomes available.


Praise for Chap O'Keefe and Misfit Lil
****
"You could as well have been watching a movie as
reading a book. . . O'Keefe writes westerns with the
coolness of a hired gun."
– New Zealand Herald

"Misfit Lil . . . . What a terrific name for a character,
eh? This book belongs to an endangered species: the
western. As for the story: totally professional, as you
would expect, and a lot of fun. By my count, Misfit Lil
Fights Back is the author's sixteenth book, so he knows
how to do the job. Ms Lil has appeared before, and
doubtless will again."
– Grumpy Old Bookman


". . .the quintessential action-packed western."
– Saddlebums Western Review

"Yep, pardners . . . Chap spins a mighty fine yarn that
should send yuh moseyin' on down tuh yuh local
bookshop pronto. This excitin', fast-paced, quickdrawin'
book is jest thuh thing for puttin' in the
cowhands' Christmas stockings."
– NZ Rural Press

"Misfit Lil . . . Chap O'Keefe's daring babe of the West."
– The Tainted Archive

"Misfit Lil Rides In is a fast-paced book that relates the
adventures of independent-minded, tough cowgirl
Lilian Goodnight. Lil is a fine horsewoman, expert at
roping calves and driving cows and is an excellent shot
with a pistol, too. Apparently, she can also out-cuss
her father's ranch-hands. . . . Most enjoyable and
recommended."
– Ross Morton


"Misfit Lil Cheats the Hangrope is a fine and eminently acceptable
western, beautifully written as always, with a nice line in
dry humour, good characterization, a whole string of neat
and imaginative sequences, and a mystery that certainly
baffled this reader right to the end. Refreshing and
bold . . . it takes western fiction in an exciting new
direction and this, I believe, is a major selling-point."
– David Whitehead