TALKING HEADS: WITH STEVE M.

Steve M, owner of the excellent Western Fiction Review website, is often known as, “The Oracle” by those seeking information on western fiction, particularly of the British kind. Steve has an encyclopaedic knowledge of that band of western writers known as the Piccadilly Cowboys who kept the genre booming for much of the 70’s and 80’s. Whenever I need to know anything western related Steve is always my first port of call and so, in cowboy mood, I sat recently sat down for a chat with Steve. The results of our ramblings are presented here:

GD: Steve, the Piccadilly Cowboys were a busy bunch. How many books did they collectively write?

SM: The first Edge book appeared in 1972 and this series finished in 1989.
Breed finished in 85 and all but one series finished in the earlier 80's. The exception was Caleb Thorn that only ran from 77 to 78.Between them they put out 293 westerns (I'm only including the series here as one or two did do some stand-alone film novelizations). I've only included work form Terry Harknett, Angus Wells, John Harvey, Laurence James (and the one from Ken Bulmer) in this total as they the authors who shared series.

I've not included Mike Linaker above. Not sure he was part of the group at the time, was perhaps added as his books fitted the style. If we include him then you need to add 6 Bodie the Stalker books to the total (These are often mentioned along with the PC books so could be added). And what of his Brand books that only appeared in Norway but have since been published in English? If you include them that adds a further 9. Then there's Frederick Nolan who's Angel books aren't anywhere near as graphic but many do seem to include in PC lists. There's 9 of those that can be added if you want.

GD: And of course you are familiar with them all, but which is your favourite?

SM: That would be Edge.
Edge was the first of any of them I read, I collected all that were available at the time and then started reading the other series whilst waiting for new Edge books to hit the shelves. Herne the Hunter was my next favourite.

GD: I seem to remember reading a series about a Gunsmith. Any ideas what this could have been? And what are your thoughts on the Edge series coming back into print via that new fangled eBook medium?

SM: Would the books about a gunsmith have been the GUNSLINGER series? Ryker was a gunsmith turned bounty hunter. Each book featured a different gun.


I think it's hard to pair Edge books up without putting them out in order as they often contained strong continuity links. (It'd also offer the opportunity to put them out in the correct order - this being most obvious with books 17 and 18 being published the wrong way round: Ten Tombstones to Texas should come before Vengeance Valley).
I thought the two short story collections could go together (A Ride in the Sun and The Moving Cage) but another thought would be to add them into the series with the books they came before - Terry included notes as to where these stories fit into the main sequence (problems come where one of them has to fit into the main story though).

I saw your thoughts about combining Apache Death and Sioux Uprising, but for me the death at the end is all the more powerful if you've read the previous two books, Bloody Summer and Vengeance is Black, and shared the romance between Edge and Beth over the three books. If these books were put together then it causes a problem with putting the Civil War stories together. So ideas from me would include Bloody Summer, the story about Edge and Beth from Vengeance is Black (slightly altered so it doesn't refer to the Civil War part of the book) and Siuox Uprising in one book. Violence Trail and Savage Dawn cover a new romance for Edge, so would go well together. The short story books previously mentioned would tie together well. Vengeance Valley with Ten Tombstones (but published the other way round) would link well. Eve of Evil introduces the Orientals that appear in the following book, Living Dying and Dead, so they'd go together well. Another idea would be to put one Edge book out with a Adam Steele book so when you got to the Edge meets Steele books they'd appear in the right place with each series (after all the first Edge meets Steele book - Two of a Kind - does continue a story thread from Steele 24: Manhunt rather than an Edge tale. Only problem is Steele doesn't have the same amount of books so you'd have to have double ups of some Edge books early on to bring Edge and Steele together at the right time. The first two books in both series both begin at the close of the Civil War so they'd have to be together if this was a route worth following.

As you can see this all gets rather complicated which is why I'd pesonally prefer to see them come out as they originally did but with the books in the correct order as already mentioned. If you want to put them out differently - for instance if unsure whether the whole series would make it to eBook, then I'd suggest you think about putting the books out that weren't published in America. You'd have thought they'd be a lot of Americans eager for them.

GD: Good points, Steve and I’ll put then to Terry (Edge author) regarding the return of the man alone. I think you may be right about the gunsmith thing, too. Sounds like it. I seem to recall the character made hybrid guns. How many of these books were there?

SM: Gunslinger ran for 10 books, was written by Laurence James and Angus Wells under the name of Charles C. Garrett.The books contained tons of gun info and Ryker often remembered back to when various fictional and real people called in his gunshop and he offered or got advice from them. I don't think Edge was mentioned by name, just description and about carrying a straight razor behind his neck.

I don't think Ryker (also known as Black Jack) built hybrids although in the second book he builds a pistol with lots of gold for a Mexican bandit.

GD: That’s interesting about Edge sort of popping up in one of the books. Did characters made cameos often?

SM: I think of the four writers (Terry Harknett, Laurence James, Angus Wells, and John Harvey) Terry was the only one to not do this. Having said that the characters didn't turn up themselves as such - except in one instance that I remember - but more as memories of meetings or seeing them in passing, or hearing something about them. For instance in Breed #15: Slaughter Time there's mention of a young girl being taken to see a block of gold guarded by a tiger, which refers to Edge #14: The Big Gold (Tiger's Gold in America). I'd say a very high percentage of the books by James and Wells mention at least one of the other western heroes of that time, be they from the other series by the Piccadilly Cowboy's or from western films. I seem to think Cuchillo Oro (Apache) was one of the most mentioned, particularly by James.
The one instance is in Jubal Cade #6: The Burning Man where Edge makes an appearance and saves Cade's life in a saloon shoot-out. The book was written by Angus Wells and it's rumoured that Terry actually wrote the sequence with Edge in it. Something Terry hasn't confirmed or denied to my knowledge.

GD: Wow, you know your stuff! Do you only read westerns?

SM: More or less these days as I get a few sent to me from a couple of publishers each month and occasionally from authors, mainly those self-publishing. Then there are the westerns I buy myself. So it's hard to fit in time each month to read anything else book wise. I do read a few magazines.

If I read other books they are usually thrillers/crime. Having said that I am reading through David Robbins' Endworld and Blade series. I do have to read something other than westerns every now and again just for a chance of scene.

GD: Do you have all the PC books in your collection.

SM: Yep, I have them all, bought as they came out, except the Apache books that came out only in America, these needed a bit more hunting for and are very good used copies.

GD: It’s interesting to consider the PC writers approach to the western, for just as the Spaghetti Westerns revitalised the movies the PC guys seemed to give the literary western a much needed shot in the arm.

SM: Yes I would. I think they offered a new take on the western that appealed to a lot of younger and new readers to the genre.

GD: Maybe be they could again. After all the western is kind of cool again. The videogame Red Dead Redemption could have been lifted directly from the PC lot.

SM: And I hear that interest has been shown in turning that into a film. Whether it happens we'll have to see.

GD: The film of the game of the book. Still, it often only takes one success for a genre to spring up again. And there are many films in production with at least a western element – True Grit, Cowboys and Aliens. The latter sounding off-beat enough to be a massive hit. Maybe the next generation of PC type writers will be churning out strange western/SF hybrids. I had high hopes for the Jonah Hex movie but that’s not been well received.

SM: Yes, I hoped it'd bring in more interest in the western. Maybe if Hollywood had made it more like the comics in would have.

GD: Thanks for your time Steve. And now with the Edge series heading back into print via the digital format what are your own thoughts on eBooks? Do you see the format as the perfect medium for all those paperbacks we used to buy?

SM: ebooks don't interest me (at the moment), they cost too much and then there's the cost of the reader. It's still cheaper (unless you're after the paperback of Edge #61 maybe) to buy the book. I guess maybe I'm a bit old fashioned with that outlook, but then again I prefer a CD to an MP3. Having said that I guess somewhere down the line I'll give them a try but at the moment I prefer to read print off paper rather than a screen.

Whether it brings forth a new era to compete with paperbacks at the height of their popularity is open to debate. You've got to get the younger generation interested in reading first, whether in book form or ebook, and if the latter does get people interested in reading fiction again then that can only be good, right?