Tombstone SHOWDOWN by Mike Stotter

 

Jack Martin rides The Tumbleweed Trail

To celebrate the release of my new western, The Tumbleweed Trail - to be published this January  by Black Horse Westerns and available now, I thought I'd post a little something about the man who gave me my pen name.

And so I present the real Jack Martin

Jack Martin. The man whom I looked up to as a kid, he seemed ten feet tall, and the man whose name I use for my western fiction. 

Jack Martin was a coal miner in the South Wales coal fields - indeed it was the dust from this environment that eventually killed him - pneumoconiosis, black lung disease,was common among a certain age group in the village I was raised in and the sound of chesty coughs often accompanied the dawn chorus.

The original

 Coal mining with the then primitive conditions was a  arduous job and in those days there was only basic safety equipment. Lives were often lost in explosions and one time the level where my grandfather was working flooded and over 20 men were drowned. That was all before and I learned much of this from my grandmother and Gramps never really talked about it.

I was born in 1965 and Gramps had retired by the time I was five so I can't really remember him working. He was a tall man, always dressed immaculately, even when doing the garden he wore a shirt and tie, as people of his generation did. He grew the best tomatoes around and my first ever paid job was collecting horse manure from the mountain for his garden. I think he gave me something like 10p a bucket which was good money in those far off days when the world was black and white and the sun always shone.

My Grandmother often referred to him as Father Christmas and although they would argue as people did in those days, about anything really - leaving the door open, not wiping your feet and trampling garden over the mat, their relationship was a strong and loving one. They both spoiled me rotten and I always got the latest comics and would go on the annual British Legion day trip to Porthcawl with them. Though often only me and my nan went. Gramps stayed home and probably went for a sneaky pint down the legion. He did so like a sneaky pint or two.

Hey, sorry about the ancient history but I feel almost old enough to remember black and white radio.
Gramps loved the westerns and was always reading a western novel. When there was a western on TV I would watch it with him and he would tell me stories of when he was in the wild west (completely invented, of course. The furthest West he ever went was Tonypandy) and in these stories he would be teamed up with John Wayne or Gary Cooper but never Clint Eastwood - he never really liked him and would refer to him as an unshaven hooligan. As a young boy I believed every word of these wild stories.

Jack Martin MK 2

Gramps was a natural storyteller.

Jack Martin - it was his  love of westerns was passed onto me and apart from the fact that Eastwood is my all time fave, our tastes are very much the same - John Wayne is still the ultimate man's man, and the cowboy creed is  a design for life.

When I published my first western novel, Tarnished Star with Robert Hale LTD I was proud that it contained the byline - by Jack Martin. When trying to decide on a pen name to keep my western fiction separate from my other stuff it was only natural to use Gramp's name.

He's been gone now for close on forty years and I still miss him but I guess he's still here, inside me - his ideals, his ways, his humour and when Tarnished Star by Jack Martin finally sees print it is as much his work as mine. For without him I would never have developed my interest and love for the American West.

So saddle up and check out Jack Martin's western page HERE

THE WESTERN 2017 ANNUAL ROUNDUP

When I first started The Tainted Archive, way back in 2009 it was to write about my love of the western genre and also to promote my first western novel, The Tarnished Star. Over the years the blog has changed and become something that encompasses all of pop culture. My writing's branched out also - as well as the westerns, which I still write, I've been publishing non-fiction historical work through Pen and Sword Books and next year will see the publication of my first crime fiction hardcover. However the Western is still foremost on my mind, it remains the genre which I love the best - earlier this year in fact saw the publication of my eighth novel for the Black Horse Western imprint with Massacre at Red Rock. And I intend to get to work on a new western novel early in 2018.

The western's been pronounced dead, interred, buried and burned more times that Donald Trump's upset the Twitterites. Strange then that a genre that's been on it's last legs for decades is still alive and kicking. The back end of 2017 saw Netflix launch a western mini-series in Godless that just may be the best TV oater since Lonesome Dove. Godless is an absolute triumph that rewards binge viewing; tightly written, brilliantly acted  and excellently executed. This is one show that western fans will not want to miss. There have also been more rumours from HBO that the long awaited Deadwood TV-Movie is finally off the ground and moving towards production, but we've had this news before so it's a case of waiting....and waiting...and waiting.......

There have been scores of low budget western movies this past year, most of them straight to DVD but some of them enjoying limited theatrical releases. OK, many of them have been forgettable but there have been some nuggets of pure gold in amongst the pyrite. On particular movie I would urge the reader to view is Tombstone Rashomon directed by Brit Alex Cox.

The movie was crowdfunded and shows not one but five differing versions of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral, each from the perspective of the different lead players. It's an interesting movie that could have benefited from a larger budget, but even in its lower than low budget state it remains a fine viewing experience. Another low budget and more traditional western I would point fans towards is The Ballad of Lefty Brown, a straight forward revenge western that shows a real love for the genre.

With a much larger budget and a big name cast, Hostiles (which I've not seen yet since it doesn't get a UK release until Jan 2018) looks hugely promising - already it's gathered good reviews and the trailer promises an intelligent western movie.





The western's continued to put in a strong showing in the literary world - Robert Hale's Black Horse Western imprint, now owned by Crowood Press, continues to put out hardcover westerns on a monthly basis, most of these books also become available digitally and as large print paperbacks. And speaking of eBooks the excellent Piccadilly Publishing continue to release classic and original westerns. And of course over in the US there are several major publishers that continue to put out western novels. I must mention Craig Johnson's modern day oater, the Longmire series which, enjoys strong sales and is helping to bring mystery readers towards out beloved genre. In fact given all the classic westerns coming out in eBook, not to mention the stuff coming out from small and self publishers then there has never been an easier time to get your hands on a western fix.

The Western Writers of America 2017 Awards:

Historical Nonfiction
Winner: The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, The Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton (Crown)
Finalists: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains by Dan Flores (University Press of Kansas); The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Peter Cozzens (Alfred A. Knopf)

Biography
Winner: Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Finalists: Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde by John Boessenecker (Thomas Dunne Books); Nobody Rich or Famous: A Family Memoir by Richard Shelton (University of Arizona Press)

Contemporary Nonfiction
Winner: New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and Public Diplomacy by Michael Duchemin (University of Oklahoma Press)
Finalists: The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Fernanda Santos (Flatiron Books); Stories From Afield: Adventures with Wild Things in Wild Places by Bruce L. Smith (University of Nebraska Press)

Traditional Novel
Winner: The Mustanger and the Lady by Dusty Richards (Galway Press)
Finalists: The Contractor by James C. Work (Five Star Publishing); News of the World by Paulette Jiles (William Morrow)

Contemporary Novel
Winner: Off the Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Finalists: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes (Dog Ear Publishing); Hidden Star by Corinne Joy Brown (FriesenPress)

Mass-Market Paperback Novel
Winner: Return to Red River by Johnny D. Boggs (Pinnacle)
Finalists: Widowmaker Jones by Brett Cogburn (Pinnacle); Frontier: Powder River by S.K. Salzer (Pinnacle)

Juvenile Nonfiction
Winner: The Wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill (Flying Eye Books)
Finalists: Entertaining Women: Actresses, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West by Chris Enss (TwoDot); Sissy Bear at the Fort by Holly Arnold Kinney (Fur Trade Press)

Juvenile Fiction
Winner: Trouble Returns: A Ruby & Maude Adventure by Nancy Oswald (Filter Press)
Finalists: The Green Colt: The Adventures of Wilder Good by S.J. Dahlstrom (Paul Dry Books); Saddle Up! by Donna Alice Patton and Emily Chase Smith (Chase Smith Press/Redwood Digital Publishing)

Storyteller (Illustrated Children’s Book)
Winner: Seasons of the Bear: A Yosemite Story by author Ginger Wadsworth and illustrator Daniel San Souci (Yosemite Conservancy)
Finalists: Voices of the Western Frontier by author Sherry Garland and illustrator Julie Dupré Buckner (Pelican); Big Buckaroo Goes to the Special Olympics by author Rachelle “Rocky” Gibbons and illustrator Jason Hutton (Tate Publishing)

Short Nonfiction
Winner: “‘Master of Ceremonies’: The World of Peter Biggs in Civil War-Era Los Angeles” by Kendra Field and Daniel Lynch (Western Historical Quarterly)
Finalists: “Cowboys & Millionaires: How Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders Bonded as Brothers Before Leaving to Fight in the Spanish-American War” by Mark Lee Gardner (True West Magazine); “Touching History: A Grandson’s Memories of Felix Marion Jones and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by Will Bagley (Utah Historical Quarterly)

Short Fiction
Winner: “Odell’s Bones” by Troy D. Smith (Cane Hollow Press)
Finalists: “Comanche Camp at Dawn” by Johnny D. Boggs (Giacobbe Fritz Fine Art/Nocona Burgess); “Umpire Colt” by Johnny D. Boggs (High Hill Press)

Poetry
Winner: “Ain’t A Hermit” by Floyd Beard (self-published, produced by Butch Hause)
Finalists: “Ballad of a Basque Sheepherder: Shaniko, Oregon” by Matt Schumacher (Redbat Books); “Diamonds” by Ann Sochat (TwoDot)

Song
Winner: “Halfway Down The Devil’s Road” by Jim Jones and Allan Chapman (East Mountain Music)
Finalists: “Tularosa Rose” by Doug Figgs and Les Buffham (Slash DC Music); “The Cattleman” by Jeff Posey (Buckskin Friend Music)

Drama Screenplay
Winner: Hell Or High Water by Taylor Sheridan (Film 44/OddLot Entertainment/Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/CBS Films)
Finalist: Desierto by Jonas Cuaron and Mateo Garcia (Esperanto Kino/ Itaca Films/CG Cinéma/STX Entertainment)

Documentary Script
Winner: The Drift: An American Cattle Drive by Geoff O’Gara (The Content Lab)

First Nonfiction Book
Winner: The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Fernanda Santos (Flatiron Books)

First Novel
Winner: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes (Dog Ear Publishing)

The western is even represented in new media, with several podcasts that western fans will find enoyable. So take a seat around the virtual campfire and check out Voices of the West . Another show which I enjoy is Westerns with Dad , in which father and son team, John and Scott Bernhard watch and talk about classic western movies. A recent episode that I very much enjoyed compared the John Wayne True Grit with the Cohen's remake. Another great podcast is Hellbent for Letterbox, which again focuses on western movies and is hosted by Paxton Holly and Michael May. There are also scores of podcasts that present Old Time Radio westerns but one I would urge you all to try is TimesPastWesterns - this particular podcasts cherry picks the best of old time radio for our western pleasures.


So this long dead genre seems to be very much alive and kicking, and no doubt the next classic western is just around the corner. So saddle up, there's plenty out there to enjoy.

Massacre at Red Rock

Just released in hardcover and eBook from Black Horse Westerns. Massacre at Red Rock is my eigth book written under the pen-name of Jack Martin.

Liberty Jones is tired of war - he fought hard in the Civil War, saw great suffering and endured much himself. Now all he wants is to be left in peace, but trouble has a way of finding him. He rides into the town of Red Rock to escape a marauding tribe of Indians, but any hopes of safety he may have held are soon dispelled. For the town is under military command and facing a gathering of great Indian tribes who are determined to drive the people from the town and reclaim their land. Liberty, along with a rag tag band of townspeople, must face impossible odds and soon blood will run deep in the streets of Red Rock.

The book is available in both hardcover and eBook, and if you are looking for a damn good adventure novel then you won't go wrong...mind you I am biased.

Robert Hale Rides into the sunset

This is a sad post to write - the news that Robert Hale, publishers are to cease operating as publishers is terrible. Hale had been in the book business since 1936 and are the only UK print publisher with a western line. It's sad when any publisher closes doors but it's personal for me since Robert Hale are the publishers of my Jack Martin western novels - indeed, a new western, Riding the Vengeance Trail is due to be published next summer.

The UK's government's austerity policies have seen a large number of public libraries closing in recent years. Hale's western line was largely aimed at the library market so this was a bitter blow. Add to this the upheaval  to traditional publishing caused by the digital revolution, and it is a difficult market within which to do business.

Hale made the announcement to it's author's via email.


Having been publishers since 1936 the Hale family has to announce that from 1 December 2015 the Company will no longer be trading as a publisher. We will though continue to remain in business in the immediate future. 

However, we are delighted that our publishing assets including contracts and stock, both physical and ebook, and forthcoming titles of the imprints Robert Hale, J A Allen, NAG Press, Buried River Press and Black Horse Westerns, have been acquired by the independent publisher, The Crowood Press of Ramsbury in Wiltshire to whom queries about your titles already in print and forthcoming should be directed. 

At the moment every-thing's up in the air but I have been told that my forthcoming western will indeed see publication through Crowood Press. This is indeed a positive but I'm deeply saddened to see Hale go and will always have a deep love and respect for the publishing house. They were the first publisher to put me into print, and although these days I have other irons in the fire, my western writing persona of Jack Martin is still very much in the saddle.


I thank Robert Hale for being a publisher who truly supported writers, and I feel they have left a legacy of which they can be proud, but I shed very real tears at their passing.

It has been of immense pleasure to all of us at Robert Hale to have had the privilege of being associated with your books and we hope you will find as comfortable a home at Crowood as you have had with us. We wish you well in the future.

The Man From Jerusalem

 My next hardcover for Black Horse will be published May 29th and the cover image is shown here. I'm not sure what that hand gesture from the cowboy in the background means, but it looks rather odd, not to mention obscene. Of course there is always that possibility that he's a literary critic sending me some sort of message.


The Blurb:

There are times when it seems that even the Good Lord above might have something personal against the town of Jerusalem - day after day the sun does its utmost to roast the very land upon which the dilapidated town sits. Johnny Jerusalem is returning home to the town that gave him his name. He'd left many years previously in search of a fortune he didn't find, but no sooner is he home than the little money he has is stolen from him during a bank robbery. Johnny sets out with a young gunslinger to find the culprits who have wronged him. There's a posse behind them, bandits ahead of them and soon bullets fly as Johnny and his young companion realize that death comes from all directions.

The Man From Jerusalem
Jack Martin
Black Horse Westerns
May 2015

70 YEARS YOUNG AND STILL KICKING UP A STORM

The Archive would like to wish Keith Chapman AKA western writer, Chap O'Keefe a happy birthday - Keith turns 70 today and his family had a very special birthday cake, that represents important parts of Keith's life, made - take a look at the pic left.

The company that produced this very special cake have even written a blog post about the cake HERE

I've never met Keith in person but consider him one of my closest online friends, and not only that but someone I look up to. When I started out as a western writer, Keith was there with tireless advice and help.He's never afraid to speak his mind is our Keith and that's always helpful to a writer. Keith has  written extensively for the Archive and supplied many of the scans for the Sunday Comics series. In fact the Archive owes much to Keith Chapman.

Many of Keith's excellent early westerns are now available as eBooks - just do a web search on Chap O'Keefe and if you've never read him before then I suggest you get started right away.

And so I'd like all Archive readers to wish Keith a very happy 70th - of course turning 70 means two things. You survived the 60's and you survived your 60's, and here's to many many more years of producing top quality western adventures.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAP O'KEEFE !!!!!

Regards from the Tainted Archive.

 

And keep us a piece of cake.

Black Horse Hardcover charts

Charts supplied by Black Horse Express

Bestselling Hardbacks on amazon.co.uk - 5 November

1. Wild Bill Williams (Black Horse Western) by Jack Martin (31 Oct 2012)

From £9.56

2. Shadow of Guilt (Black Horse Western) by Mark Bannerman (31 Aug 2012)

From £12.38

3. Beyond Redemption (Black Horse Western) by I. J. Parnham (31 Aug 2012)

From £4.99

4. Crazy Man Cade (Black Horse Western) by Amos Carr (31 Oct 2012)

From £10.51

5. Ghost Ranch (Black Horse Western) by C.J. Sommers (30 Sep 2011)

From £7.94

6. The Ballad of Delta Rose (Black Horse Western) by Jack Martin (29 Jul 2011)

From £9.10

7. Hell Come Calling (Black Horse Western) by Josh Lockwood (30 Dec 2012)

Available for pre-order £12.38

8. A Thunder of Guns (Black Horse Western) by Clay Starmer (1 Apr 2013)

Available for pre-order £13.47

9. Drive to Redemption (Black Horse Western) by Mike Deane (31 May 2011)

From  £9.13

10. Arkansas Smith (Black Horse Western) by Jack Martin (31 Mar 2010)

From £7.18

Now

Official records show that some 80,000 Welshmen made their home in the place now known as the Wild West, though the true figure is likely to have been much higher. This is the story of one of those men. William Williams, otherwise known as Wild Bill Williams, is no stranger to trouble. It seems to follow him like a shadow. But even as a survivor of the Little Big Horn, as he claims, he has never before had to face the kind of trouble that he finds in the town of Stanton. When the bullets start to fly and the blood begins to run, Wild Bill is never far behin

The Afterlife of Slim McCord

Those publishing lead times - Wild Bill Williams  was published this month and only this morning I signed the contract for a book which will be my fifth Black Horse title for Robert Hale Ltd. Wild Bill was actually written more than fourteen months ago, and by the time it had gone through the publishing process I had completed another western,and no doubt I will have written another by the time this next one comes out. I've got a list of ideas for new western novels that could keep me writing long into my afterlife. (pun intended - read on)

Elmer McCurdy

It's early days yet, and I'm about to start work on a second Granny Smith novel, but I'd like to tell you a little bit about my fifth Black Horse title, which will be published sometime next year. It's called The Afterlife of Slim McCord and uses an unusual premise - here's a very rough draft of the blurb:

“True friendship continues long after living is gone!”

Aging not so bad men Blackman and Tanner thought they had seen it all, but nothing could have prepared them for what they would find in the town of Possum Creek.

Once they had ridden with the notorious outlaw Slim McCord and when they come upon his mummified remains in a traveling carny show, they find themselves thrown into an unlikely and dangerous series of events as they, together with their dead leader, head towards a destiny that seems preordained.

Slim McCord, long after his death, is now involved in the most lucrative bank robbery of his outlaw career, as the three men, together again, face all manner of danger and find that, as the bullets fly, it’s just like old times.

It's kind of the story of the end of the frontier as seen through the eyes of two aged outlaws and one dead one. I was thinking along those lines, or at least the lines of aging outlaws when I stumbled across the real life story of Elmer McCurdy, a badman who was indeed mummified and then shown as part of a traveling carny show. 

Here's a snippet from the author's note that will accompany, The Afterlife of Slim McCord

In 1911 McCurdy was shot during a failed robbery and as no one claimed his body the undertaker embalmed the outlaw with arsenic based preservatives and put the corpse on show. From there the corpse ended up in various traveling shows before disappearing sometime in the 1930s. Incredibly in 1976 a prop man on the set of the TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man, rediscovered it. It had been thought to be a wax model, and used in a fun house set before a finger broke off, revealing it to be actual human remains.  Elmer McCurdy was eventually buried in 1977 in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery, Oklahoma with most of the cast and crew from The Six Million Dollar Man in attendance.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction - and there was something fine and dandy about that old corpse causing such a commotion in 1976,all those years after death - the police were called in and production on The Six Million Dollar man frozen until they identified the body. And that's how Slim McCord developed in my mind. I liked the idea of the old outlaw kicking up a storm long after death  - My story is set in the Old West and our mummified outlaw finds himself playing an active part in a bank robbery long after he's cashed in his chips. I like the concept - nothing's truly new and there have been many western novels that have used a parallel between aging characters and the end of the frontier to tone their story, but as far as I know there's never been one with a mummified outlaw at the heart of the story. And I'm mighty pleased with Slim McCord - it's a larger than life story, with action, adventure, comedy and a stirring of sentiment. Above all I think Slim McCord's got a lot of heart.

Those days were gone though and Blackman knew it. It was written in his face and he had a wrinkle for every fence that had been thrown up around previously open range. He could dream though, and in his dreams there were no fences, and enough pretty ladies to warm the coldest of nights. 

Anyway that's it, The Afterlife of Slim McCord and I'm sure I'll be making a big old fuss when publication day nears, but for now the taster above is all your getting.

This book is also dedicated to the memory of Elmer McCurdy and all those who rode the Wild West, both in life and death.

 

 

Bill's first review

The first review of my new novel, Wild Bill Williams is posted HERE

Those Black Horse Westerns

 In anticipation of the next Wild West eMonday promotion (the first Monday in November 2012)  we are reposting this article, with some revisions, from Oct 2009

ROBERT HALE LTD, the publishers behind the Black Horse imprint have been champions of the western genre for longer than most people care to remember. They were founded in 1936 and although the Black Horse imprint didn't come about until much later, they have always published western fiction.

Indeed when the genre vanished from British bookshops during the mid-Eighties, Robert Hale continued to publish classic westerns as well as publishing scores of newcomers. Some of these new voices have gone on and become masters of the genre. Indeed it was during the Eighties, a decade when the western truly seemed dead, that the Black Horse imprint was launched.

Black Horse Western are no nonsense, all action western novels - usually around 40,000 - 45,000 words but the writers don't skimp on that all important characterization and indeed the best Black Horse titles can stand up alongside the best the genre has to offer.

AMERICA IS SECOND TO LONDON'S ROBERT HALE LTD, WHICH LEADS THE GLOBAL RACE IN PUBLISHING NEW WESTERN FICTION - TRUE WEST MAGAZINE AUGUST 2009

Without the Black Horse imprint we would have no Lance Howard, Chap O'Keefe, Jack Giles, Ben Bridges or Ross Morton- all legendary names with western fans.


You won't find many Black Horse titles in the shops because the primary market has always been the libraries. However with the Internet and on-line book selling, the imprint is enjoying a new level of success and today the books are much more visible than they have ever been. Many of the titles ride high in online retailers books charts. And only this past week we have learned that the Black Horse imprint is moving into eBooks and that the titles should be more affordable than ever.

So what can new readers expect from a Black Horse title?


"These days more and more back cataloug titles are available as cheap eBooks."

Well take a look at the covers on this page -none of them would be out of place as a poster for any 1950's western but don't let that lead you into the impression that the books are old fashioned. Whilst it is true that the books firmly model themselves on the Golden Age of the genre (and is there a better period to draw from??) the themes and issues woven into the plots are as up to date as, tomorrow's headlines.


Find links to several interviews with some of the bigger Black Horse Western authors Here


There are no pretensions with a Black Horse western. You know what you are going to get and the book's deliver with each and every title - James Thain.


Older titles are always turning up on Ebay and sites such as Amazon and the Book Depository regularly offer good deals on current and forthcoming titles. Black Horse are quite unique in that the name of the publishing house is every bit as important to that of the author. Readers know that any book with the Black Horse logo is going to provide a good, fast paced and thoughtful read.Black Horse westerns are fun to read and surely reading should first and foremost be fun.

I myself am proud to be a small part of the Black Horse range - as a lifelong western fan it's amazing to see my own books and my pseudonym, Jack Martin on the shelves alongside some of my favourite western writers.

So go on treat yourself to a Black Horse western  - you won't be disappointed.

NOTABLE WEBSITES:
BLACK HORSE EXPRESS
BLACK HORSE EXTRA
BLACK HORSE COMMUNITY

(A) Bill comes through the post

No wonder Amazon are the top dogs in online shopping - I've not even had my complimentary copies from my publishers yet (they usually come about two weeks before publication) but Amazon delivered a copy of my new book, Wild Bill Williams this very morning - that's a full three weeks before official publication!!!

The cover image looks stunning on the glossy boards used for the binding. Robert Hale use stock images for their western novels, which can often result in the cover image having little to do with the actual novel, but for this book this is not the case and the scene on the cover comes from within the book - right down to the colour of shirt old Wild Bill wears, and the time of day even. The scene within the book that so closely resembles the cover image occurs at sunset - and look at those saturated colours in the cover image! I'm one happy chappy and grateful for the work my publisher's have done in ensuring the book comes to market as the best possible product.

Anyway I do hope many of you will go get the book, even those who have never tried a western - it is first and foremost a western, a genre I love above all others, but at the heart of the story is a character study of an often hilarious but always deadly Welshman. I had a great deal of fun writing this fish out of water story, and found that the Welsh humour didn't have to be forced into the western setting, but was perfectly at home on the wild frontier.

‘Do you want to die?’ Stanton asked, presently.

‘Die, me?’ for a moment Bill seemed to be considering the question but then he smiled. ‘I don’t think I’m quite ready to die yet. There’s still so many drinks I have not drunk and pleasant thoughts I have not thunk. The world is a wondrous place, full of possibilities so no, I do not wish to die.’

The book this time around is dedicated to the memory of my late mother, for it was she who taught me to read in the first place and opened up a wonderful world of adventure and romance. And I hope I've captured a certain spirit of adventure, of optimism in Wild Bill Williams.

The initial idea for Wild Bill Williams came from a book review by fellow Black Horse author, Nik Morton.  The book in question was Welsh Cowboys and Outlaws by Dafydd Meirion and published by Ylofa Books. Now being Welsh and a western nerd, not to mention a writer of breezy little westerns, I had to get the book.  I'd just completed work on The Ballad of Delta Rose and had no clear idea what my next western would be, but as soon as I read the Welsh Cowboys book I knew that the main character would be, like myself, a Welshman and also, like myself, he would hail from the small village of Gilfach Goch - a fitting birthplace for a Welsh cowboy since the name translates to Red Valley.

As soon as I had that idea the story came to me quickly - especially the character of William Williams AKA Wild Bill Williams.  I found old Bill to be a quirky sort of fellow, and as I started writing of his visit to the town of Stanton he revealed much about himself to me - for instance Bill loves to knit (claims it improves his trigger finger) and carries several balls of wool and knitting needles in his saddlebags, he dislikes and distrusts authority and understands that quite often  law and justice are not quite the same thing.

The fastest stitch in the West.

I figured that the likes of Dodge City and Tombstone wouldn't offer too much of a shock for a man used to the Rhondda Valleys of a Saturday night. The point was how would the Americans find the Welsh cowboy with a bell in every tooth, a penchant for knitting and a deadly fast draw?



There was nary a frown when Wild Bill Williams was in town. He had a way about his manner that enabled most folks to forget all their troubles and become positively festive. It was said that Bill could start off a dance at a funeral and carve a grin out of the most granite of faces.

I'd always thought of Wild Bill as a standalone novel, and it is,but lately I've been thinking that Wild Bill could return again one day, because a character with a heart as big as his perhaps deserves a few more wild stories spun about him. Ahh well, that's another story and one I may tell one day but for now go get your hands on a copy of Wild Bill Williams.


Visit Wild Bill's Facebook page and give him a big old Like - HERE 

Wild Bill's HERE!!!!!

The official publication date is Oct 31st 2012, but Amazon are already shipping the book with a one day delivery on orders using the prime service. Wild Bill Williams is the fourth western I've done for the Black Horse imprint and I hope it will prove just as popular as the others.

The Wild Welsh go West

The initial idea for Wild Bill Williams came from a book review by fellow Black Horse author, Nik Morton.  The book in question was Welsh Cowboys and Outlaws by Dafydd Meirion and published by Ylofa Books. Now being Welsh and a western nerd, not to mention a writer of breezy little westerns, I had to get the book. And so, credit card in hand,  I set off on a quest up the Amazon and a day later I had the book.

I'd just completed work on The Ballad of Delta Rose and had no clear idea what my next western would be, but as soon as I read the Welsh Cowboys book I knew that the main character would be, like myself, a Welshman and also, like myself, he would hail from the small village of Gilfach Goch - a fitting birthplace for a Welsh cowboy since the name translates to Red Valley.

As soon as I had that idea the story came to me quickly - especially the character of William Williams AKA Wild Bill Williams.  I found old Bill to be a quirky sort of fellow, and as I started writing of his visit to the town of Stanton he revealed much about himself to me - for instance Bill loves to knit (claims it improves his trigger finger) and carries several balls of wool and knitting needles in his saddlebags, he dislikes and distrusts authority and understands that quite often  law and justice are not quite the same thing.

The fastest stitch in the West.

I figured that the likes of Dodge City and Tombstone wouldn't offer too much of a shock for a man used to the Rhondda Valleys of a Saturday night. The point was how would the Americans find the Welsh cowboy with a bell in every tooth, a penchant for knitting and a deadly fast draw?



There was nary a frown when Wild Bill Williams was in town. He had a way about his manner that enabled most folks to forget all their troubles and become positively festive. It was said that Bill could start off a dance at a funeral and carve a grin out of the most granite of faces.


 I found that the book contained much more humour than my previous westerns, but pulled back from out and out comedy. The humor comes from the  characters, especially Bill himself and the Billy the Kid-alike young man he befriends. There's all the usual action and adventure expected from a western, but alongside that I hope I've created characters that live and breath as real people rather than western stereotypes. When I offered the manuscript to my publishers they called it a, "truly excellent western."

The book is available now and I guess the real test is when you, my readers, get hold of it.I do hope you all enjoy it, but the one thing I know for certain is that Wild Bill Williams was a project that I enjoyed from start to finish.

And I sincerely hope you do.

Visit Wild Bill's Facebook page and give him a big old Like - HERE

The Wild Welsh go West

The initial idea for Wild Bill Williams came from a book review by fellow Black Horse author, Nik Morton.  The book in question was Welsh Cowboys and Outlaws by Dafydd Meirion and published by Ylofa Books. Now being Welsh and a western nerd, not to mention a writer of breezy little westerns, I had to get the book. And so, credit card in hand,  I set off on a quest up the Amazon and a day later I had the book.

I'd just completed work on The Ballad of Delta Rose and had no clear idea what my next western would be, but as soon as I read the Welsh Cowboys book I knew that the main character would be, like myself, a Welshman and also, like myself, he would hail from the small village of Gilfach Goch - a fitting birthplace for a Welsh cowboy since the name translates to Red Valley.

As soon as I had that idea the story came to me quickly - especially the character of William Williams AKA Wild Bill Williams.  I found old Bill to be a quirky sort of fellow, and as I started writing of his visit to the town of Stanton he revealed much about himself to me - for instance Bill loves to knit (claims it improves his trigger finger) and carries several balls of wool and knitting needles in his saddlebags, he dislikes and distrusts authority and understands that quite often the law and justice are not quite the same thing.

The fastest stitch in the West.

I figured that the likes of Dodge City and Tombstone wouldn't offer too much of a shock for a man used to the Rhondda Valleys of a Saturday night. The point was how would the Americans find the Welsh cowboy with a bell in every tooth, a penchant for knitting and a deadly fast draw?



There was nary a frown when Wild Bill Williams was in town. He had a way about his manner that enabled most folks to forget all their troubles and become positively festive. It was said that Bill could start off a dance at a funeral and carve a grin out of the most granite of faces.


 I found that the book contained much more humour than my previous westerns, but pulled back from out and out comedy. The humor comes from the  characters, especially Bill himself and the Billy the Kid-alike young man he befriends. There's all the usual action and adventure expected from a western, but alongside that I hope I've created characters that live and breath as real people rather than western stereotypes. When I offered the manuscript to my publishers they called it a, "truly excellent western."

The book is out in a few weeks and I guess the real test is when you, my readers, get hold of it.I do hope you all enjoy it, but the one thing I know for certain is that Wild Bill Williams was a project that I enjoyed from start to finish.

And I sincerely hope you do.

Visit Wild Bill's Facebook page and give him a big old Like - HERE

Jack's Back

Several of my westerns are now available as Low Price eBooks.

Arkansas Smith
Savage Slaughter
Arkansas Smith II
A Man called Masters

Visit my Jack Martin page and Amazon US and UK

And this month will see the hardcover publication by Robert Hale Ltd's Black Horse Western imprint of my latest western, Wild Bill Williams.

Wild Bill's page

My fourth novel from Black Horse Westerns will be published this October and you can like the Facebook Page HERE


Official records show that some 80,000 Welshmen made their home in the place now known as the Wild West, though the true figure is likely to have been much higher. This is the story of one of those men. William Williams, otherwise known as Wild Bill Williams, is no stranger to trouble. It seems to follow him like a shadow. But even as a survivor of the Little Big Horn, as he claims, he has never before had to face the kind of trouble that he finds in the town of Stanton. When the bullets start to fly and the blood begins to run, Wild Bill is never far behind

Wild West eMonday returns - the genre too tough to die

It's on it's way - the next Wild West eMonday.

"One of the most vapid and infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood film producer." ...Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany 1929

"The western remains, I suppose, America's distinctive contribution to the film."...Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Show April 1963

Geographically and historically the concept of "The West" is very loosely defined, when associated with the literary and film genre of the western. With the possible exception of the Eastern Seaboard almost every part of the USA had been called "The West" at some stage in the country's history.

The federal government defines "The West" as including the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. But from the movies and books both Kansas and Nebraska can be added. And maybe Hawaii and Washington should be removed. The West of popular imagination usually contains those areas associated with the final frontiers of American settlement - anything West of the Mississippi River. An area associated with cowboys, Indians, outlaws and lone lawmen.

Amongst the earliest western literature with artistic merit were the works of James Fennimore Cooper, his most famous works being 1826's Last of the Mohicans - though by the true definition of the genre none of the author's works are strictly westerns. The books were set in colonial America and featured the British rule but true westerns are set in independent America.

EZC Judson, writing under the pen name Ned Buntline was an early writer of traditional westerns. He earned himself the nickname of, 'Father of the Dime Novel' and turned Buffalo Bill into a figure of mythic proportions. However the first western with the classic ingredients was Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902, which largely invented the guidelines that western writers still follow today.



The names Louis L'amour and Zane Grey have dominated the genre for many years and still do to some extent. But an early European champion of the genre was Karl May with his popular Shatterhand books. He wrote over 60 books but Shatterhand remains his most famous character. Indeed Shatterhand was revived by B.J. Holmes in a series of books for the successful UK western house, Black Horse Westerns.

The cinema has always had a love affair with the western and during the silent era there were many hundreds of westerns made. Most of these have been lost but there are still some prime examples of early westerns to be sought out by fans.

Some of the most important silent westerns that still exist and can be found on DVD or in many cases for free download from archive.org include:

The Iron Horse (1924) directed by John Ford
The Covered Wagon (1923) directed by James Cruze
Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) directed by D W Griffith

In cinematic terms there is little doubt that the Golden Age of the western took place between the years 1940 - 1970. There were many classics before and since but during these years there was never a time when most major studios didn't have at least one western in production.

During the Fifties and Sixties in particular the western also dominated the small screen with many western TV series being aired. Among the most well known are:
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
The Big Country
The Virginian
The Rifleman
Have Gun will Travel
Wyatt Earp
Wanted Dead or Alive

The modern era has also seen many classics of the genre, both on the screen and between the covers - Lonesome Dove, Sons of Texas, Blood Meridian, Tombstone, The Unforgiven to name but a few. And of course in recent years we've seen the Coen's re-make of True Grit and next year will bring us Quentin Tarantino's long awaited take on the genre with Django Unchained. And that's not to mention my own LawMaster which is in the early stages of production with Burnhand Films.

The Western truly is THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE. Kevin Costner is working on a new western and there is a remake of Butch and Sundance in the works. American greats like Dusty Richards and  Larry McMurtry continue to write quality western works. And British western house, Black Horse Westerns are continuing to bring out new western fiction written by writers from all over the world. Among these you will find such loved writers as B. J. Holmes, Ben Bridges, Jack Giles,Nik Morton,  Ian Parnham, Mathew P. Mayo, Chap O'Keefe, Jim Lawless and myself, Jack Martin. And this is just a small selection of the writers producing all new traditional westerns under The Black Horse banner. And of course there is the story of John Locke who became the worlds' first self published writer to sell a million eBooks on Amazon, and several of his titles are westerns. Mind you Locke was recently discredited when it emerged that he had paid for many positive reviews which helped sell his books.

Westerns have also made the transition to eBooks and the excellent publishing house, Piccadilly Publishing is reissuing western classics in the new electronic format, and of course the popular Edge series is also available in eBook. The Edge books, for instance, are a particular favorite of mine and I am proud to say that I was instrumental in initially bring the series to eBooks, but the reissue program is now in the industrious hands of Malcolm Davy.

So if you've never tried  a western then maybe now is the time to do - they've never been so easily available and online giant Amazon has many titles at good prices.

Come on saddle up and let's ride.

Take a look at my Jack Martin page at Amazon - click HERE

The Archive will soon be running another of it's popular Wild West eMonday initiatives with guest posts from many modern luminaries of the genre, so make sure you stick with the Archive for our forthcoming western onslaught, which will take place the first Monday in November 2012.

 

The deal with Wild West eMonday is that we'll give you a solid weekend of western related posts from various hands, maybe as many as a hundred posts over the three day period, and hopefully by the big day itself you will be inspired to buy a western  or two.

Sample from Wild Bill Williams

Pre-order Wild Bill Williams now CLICK HERE

OCTOBER 2012

Like many other nationalities, the Welsh made a unique contribution to the time and place we call, The Wild West. Official records show that some 80,000 Welshmen made their home on the American frontier, though the true figure is likely much higher.

This is the story of one of those men.


William Williams, otherwise known as Wild Bill Williams was no stranger to trouble. It seemed to follow him, sticking to him like a shadow. A survivor of the Little Big Horn, or so he claims, he has never had to face trouble like that which he found in the town of Stanton. When the bullets start to fly and the blood begins to run, Wild Bill is never far behind.

  .
My previous bestselling westerns, The Tarnished Star, Arkansas Smith and The Ballad of Delta Rose are still available - check out your favorite bookseller or request the books at your local library.

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd (31 Oct 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 070909633X
• ISBN-13: 978-0709096337

Visit Amazon's Jack Martin page HERE

Under the name Jack Martin I am well known in the western community and have written several highly popular westerns. My debut was The Tarnished Star which was followed by Arkansas Smith and 2011 saw my most hardboiled western, The Ballad of Delta Rose. I also write under my actual name Gary Dobbs and my historical crime thriller, The Rhondda Ripper is available for the Kindle with a print edition to follow. Arkansas Smith II the sequel to my popular hardcover Arkansas Smith is now available as a Kindle only book, as is Savage Slaughter. October of 2012 will see the publication of a new hardcover from Robert Hale Ltd entitled, Wild Bill Williams. 



BOOK SAMPLE FOLLOWS:

There was nary a frown when Wild Bill Williams was in town. He had a way about his manner that enabled most folks to forget all their troubles and become positively festive. It was said that Bill could start off a dance at a funeral and carve a grin out of the most granite of faces.

He had been born a Welshman; in a village called Gilfach Goch, a name that was unpronounceable to all but himself. But as a young man of fifteen summers, with no compulsion to go and work in the coalmines, those same mines that had aged his father beyond his years, he had had set out in search of adventure and found himself stowed away on a ship making the Atlantic crossing to the United States. He’d landed in New York and after a few aimless years had started out West in search of the future he had in mind for himself.

“Go West, Young Man, and grow up with the country”, The New York Tribune had advised in striking headlines that had filled men such as Bill Williams with optimism for a future on the rugged frontier. It had seemed Bill’s destiny to follow the westward trail. What that destiny was no one, Bill included, knew.

GILFACH GOCH AS BILL WOULD HAVE KNOWN IT

Indeed if Bill had ever known what he had intended to do with his life then he’d long forgotten. And these days he just walked through life happy-go-lucky and faced whatever fate threw at him.

Fate sure did like to interfere with Wild Bill Williams.

Take today for instance; one moment Bill was enjoying a poker game after drifting into the town of Stanton, and the next he was in the jailhouse nursing a split head.

It had happened thus:

Bill, face totally expressionless, peered over his cards at the men seated around the table. He was holding, “Aces Up”, a strong enough hand but he would have preferred better. There were three men, four counting himself, at the game and Bill looked at each of them in turn. Dutch Carter had a sweat on, Sam Jessup looked to be almost asleep and Cleveland Ohio, lovely name that, sat trying to suck life into a massive cigar.

‘You know,’ Bill said, about to make his move when the batwings suddenly swung open and a young man of maybe seventeen summers stood in the doorway, his face furious, his hands hanging, gunfighter style, at his side. Whatever Bill had intended to say then was lost, even to himself as the actions of the armed man had stolen Bill’s train of thought.

‘Caleb Stanton,’ the young man said. ‘I’ve come to kill you.’

The saloon fell silent and at the far end of the counter, a big man of about thirty, Caleb Stanton, Bill guessed, stepped forward. The big man was dressed completely in black - black pants, black shirt, black boots, with a black Stetson sat upon his head. He even wore a matching gun-belt and save for the glow of the Schofield pistol, the only colour about the man was his thick red hair, which was a trait of the Stanton clan.

‘Come back when you grow up,’ the man spoke directly to the kid. He seemed completely at ease but Bill noticed the way the man held his body, coiled, ready to act at any moment.

‘I’m plenty growed up,’ the young man said and pulled a Colt. He pointed it directly at the man named Stanton. ‘Make a fight then,’ he prompted.

‘I’m not going to draw on you,’ Stanton said, calmly.

‘Then I’ll shoot you down like the dog you are,’ the young man snarled. ‘Now defend yourself.’

‘In front of all these people, I don’t think so,’ Stanton said and Bill had to admire his coolness. ‘For the last time, boy. I’m not going to fight you.’

‘You’ve got no guts less it’s for disrespecting women?’ the young man sneered.