It was actually my first book published - back in 2009 I took the step from amatuer to professional writer when Robert Hale published my novel, Tarnished Star as part of their Black Horse Westerns series. The hardcover did really well, remaining their fastes selling title, selling out its first print run on pre-orders alone. Fast forward to the 2018 and the book, now retitled LawMaster has been optioned for a film (although it seems stuck in development hell) and is now available as an audiobook read by the talented Marcus Litch. The reader does a great job in bringing the title to life.
All Sheriff Cole Masters wants is to raise a family with the woman he loves. But upholding the law in an era when gunfire speaks louder than words can be a risky business. Cole makes an arrest for the brutal murder of a saloon girl but the killer is the son of a wealthy rancher and it’s clear the old man will do anything to see his son set free. Soon the peace of the small town is shattered with deadly force and Cole finds himself a lawman on the run for murder. The rancher wants Masters dead and the two deadly gunmen on his tail are sure they can do it. Soon blood will run as Cole Masters attempts to reclaim his tarnished star.
About the author: Gary Dobbs is the man behind the Jack Martin pen-name and had a string of popular westerns to his name. He also writes on criminal and military history. His debut western, The Tarnished Star (now known as LawMaster) remains the fastest selling Black Horse Western ever. Adventure fiction, and particularly westerns, holds a special place in the author's heart, and he intends to be produce western fiction for as long as there are readers who want it.
The book can be found at Audible - In fact if you sign up for a trial with Audible you can get the audiobook of LawMaster for free.
Requirements: To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 1.3.1 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.
And of course that powerhouse Amazon carry the title in both audiobook and eBook - you can even find the Tarnished Star hardcover on Amazon.
I am of course immensely fond of this book - it started me on the writer's life of late nights at the keyboard, huge coffee consumption and perpetual poverty.
General George Armstrong Custer, famed for his defeat at The Little Bighorn was something of a dog lover and his passion for hunting with his staghounds, actually Scottish deerhounds, named Blucher and Maida are well documented. Other famous westerners with a passion for the dogs was Teddy Roosevelt.
Custer loved his dogs and as well as hunting he would take the hounds into battle with him - in fact Blucher would be killed at the Battle of Washita River, which saddened Custer more than the loss of 21 of his soldiers. Maida was later killed by friendly fire during another Indian skirmish.
Custer would often use the hounds to hunt buffalo and he wrote of one instance where his two beloved hounds brought down a young bull. The dogs had the bull but the beast refused to fall and put up a tenacious fight. Custer had to run to the aid of his two dogs and slit the bulls throat.
Theodore Roosevelt also used staghounds during his Dakota Territory ranching days in the 1880's and the future president was rarely seen without his hounds.
There is much debate over the actual breed of Custer's dogs - he himself called them staghounds but many have suggested that they could have been lurchers. However Custer's dogs were undoubtedly Scottish Deerhounds - originally bred to hunt red deer or stags in Scotland and the breed were one of the earliest European breeds to arrive in the New World.
There were many differing breeds of dog in the Old West and because of the way of life the dogs would often run wild and breed as nature intended, so bloodlines became diluted and the majority of animals running around during this period were of mixed breeds.
Custer himself owned a kennel of over forty dogs of various breeds. Some of these were Walker Hounds (American Foxhounds) but most were sight hounds which included Greyhounds, Scottish Deerhounds and Russian Wolfhounds. The Greyhound was one of the earliest breeds known to man and it is thought the dogs first came to America with the Spanish adventurers in the 1500's.
George Washington actually owned a huge greyhound called Azore.
"The true way to kill wolves is to hunt them with greyhounds on the great plains. Nothing more exciting than this sport can be imagined." Teddy Roosevelt.
The staghound remains a popular breed to this day but, although well bred, the breed is not recognised as a pureblood. They are a tough breed and the typical life span of the dog is between 12 and fourteen years.
The video embedded below,which was filmed by the Edison Company in 1894 features some incredible footage of actual Old West icons including Buffalo Bill. And below that we have the complete Battlefield Detective documentary looking at Custer's Last Stand.
Nature of nurture - that's a question asked these days by those
trying to understand the motivation of criminals. Can a person be born
bad? Or is the seed of their destruction sown in their formative years?
Johnny Ringo, famed after his confrontations with the Earps certainly
had a rough time of it as a youngster.
John was born on May 3rd
1850 in Wayne County, Indiana. In 1864 the young boy was excited at the
first real adventure of his life when his parents Martin and Mary Ringo
decided that the family's future lay in California. They packed up their
five children John, Martin, Fanny,Mary and Mattie and set off on the
trip West.
They set out on the Fort Leavenworth Military Road with 68 other wagons and headed for Fort Kearny.
The
trip was to be full of hardships. On June 7th the fourteen year old
John was involved in an accident when a wagon rolled over his foot,
severely injuring it. And then that same day he witnessed another young
boy fall under a wagon which killed him. They say troubles come in
threes and they certainly did that day, for later a wagon master
accidentally shot one of his teamsters through the head, killing him
outright.John witnessed both accidents .
The following day John, still
hobbling due to his broken foot, went along with several men on a
buffalo hunt and participated in killing several of the creatures.
One of the many movie Ringos
On
June 13th, the Ringos picked up the Great Platte River Road. The next
day his mother, Mary wrote in her journal that John had a chill and was severely ill throughout the
night and for the next few days. But he recovered by the time they
reached The Cottonwood Springs military post. Here soldiers stopped the
wagon train and searched for horses containing the US brand but none
were found and so the wagons continued on their journey.
June 25th
saw the wagons halt on The South Platte Crossing where they were forced
to stay for two weeks while hard rains and strong winds struck them.
Mary wrote that during the stay several Indians came into camp and that
one carried a sabre that he said he'd taken from a soldier he'd killed.
Independence Day passed without celebration and it was July 9th before
it was deemed safe to cross the river which led them onwards to the
North Platte.
On July 16th several of the cattle in the wagon
train became sick from the alkali in the water they had been drinking
and died. And later two of the oxen also died from the sickness. By now
there was a very real threat of hostile Indians and soon the wagon train
came across the scalped corpse of a white man who had been half eaten
by vultures.
On July 30th John's father, Martin was standing on
one of the wagons, looking for Indians when he accidentally set off his
shotgun, sending the load into his own head. John and fellow traveler
William Davenport witnessed the grisly event.
"At the report of
the gun, I saw his hat blown up 20 feet in the air and his brains were
scattered every which way." Davenport wrote.
John helped dig a
grave and his father was buried and left at the wayside. Mary's journal
contain details of this fateful day and she recorded that her own heart
was bleeding as the wagon train rolled on, leaving the grave behind
them.
On August 1st the wagon train arrived in Platte Bridge
Station but further misfortune was to strike the Ringo clan when the
eldest girl Fanny suffered an attack of what Mary called,
"cholremorbus." The term cholera morbus was used in the 19th and early
20th centuries to describe both non-epidemic cholera and other
gastrointestinal diseases.
On October 7th the Ringo clan were in
Austin, Nevada and Mary gave birth to a stillborn son with a deformed
face. It was said that the shock of her husband's death had traumatized
her and caused both the deformity and the still birth. John looked onto
the dead baby's hideous face and turned away in disgust.
On the
last day of October the family reached the Sacramento Valley just ahead
of the first snows and stayed with relatives for some time. A year later
Mary moved her family into a house on Second Street in San Jose. The
youngest Ringo - Martin died in 1873 of tuberculosis, he was only 19.
Fanny and Mattie grew up and were married. Mary the younger became a
schoolteacher and mother Mary died in 1876.
It was been said that
John Ringo was forever affected by seeing his father blow his own brains
out and that the sight of his deformed stillborn brother pushed him
over the edge. He began drinking heavily when he was 15 and ran off to
Texas and eventually ended up in Arizona Territory where he fell in with
the Clanton faction and became the infamous Johnny Ringo.
He was murdered, as we all know, in July 1882.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2773934 by Gary Dobbs
Custer's Last Stand occurred on June 25th - 26th June 1876. It happened near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory. By all accounts a fierce battle that saw the combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho going against the 7th Calvary regiment of the US Army. The Seventh were of course led by General Custer and during the fierce battle he and the regiments under his command were wiped out. Five of the companies that made up the Seventh were annihilated that day.
The great silent witness
The only survivor from the Seventh Calvary was a single horse named, Comanche. This incredible animal had been shot several times during the battle but when the army rummaged across the battlefield, bodies of both men and horses spread everywhere, the horse called Comanche was discovered, the hand of his dead master , Captain Myles Keogh still clutching the reins. Man and horse had been through much together.
It was during1868, when Comanche received his first wound while fighting Comanche Indians on the Cimarron River near Fort Dodge, Kansas, legend has it that it was Captain Keogh who cradled his head while a farrier removed the arrow shaft that had broken off in his right hind quarter, and perhaps even suggested the horse’s name. Comanche recovered quickly and resumed his duties on the frontier. He was wounded again in 1870, when he was shot in the right leg during a skirmish in Kansas near the Saline River. He was lame for several weeks, but “came through like an old soldier,” wrote an eyewitness, “and was [soon] ready for duty, good as new.” In 1871, Comanche’s unit, Troop I, was transferred to Kentucky, where the army was dealing with post-Civil War developments such as the Ku Klux Klan, carpetbaggers, and moonshiners. While taking on a crowd at an illegal distillery, said the observer, Comanche received “a slight flesh wound in the right shoulder, but he quickly recovered.” In 1873, Troop I received orders to return to Ft. Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory, to rejoin the Indian wars under Custer.
Comanche remained with his owner on Custer Hill. While all around him soldiers slaughtered their horses to hide behind and shoot, evidence and oral tradition shows that Keough crouched between Comanche’s legs, holding onto his reins, while he was fighting. Keough was killed, but his hands still clutched Comanche’s reins. Warriors left the horse alone; it would have been bad medicine to take a horse so closely tied to his owner that the man held the reins even in death.
Initially the horse was to be put down but he was saved when a trooper poured whiskey into his hat and the horse perked up and came over to drink the strong spirit. Comanche became known as the silent witness because he could say nothing of what he had seen during the battle and he was lovingly looked after by the army. He would live for another seventeen years and it is said that he developed a taste for booze and would often sip with the soldiers who looked after him. The first case of military post traumatic stress, perhaps!
Below is an interesting letter from 1878
Headquarters, Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory
April 10, 1878
General Orders No. 7
I. The horse known as "Comanche", being the only living representative of the bloody tragedy of the Little Big Horn, June 23, 1876, his kind treatment and comfort should be a matter of special pride and solicitude on the part of every member of the Seventh Cavalry to the end that his life be prolonged to the utmost limit. Wounded and scarred as he is, his very existence speaks in terms more eloquent than words of the desperate struggle against overwhelming numbers; of the hopeless conflict, and of the heroic manner in which all went down on that fatal day.
II. The commanding officer of Company "I" will see that a special and comfortable stall is fitted up for him, and he will not be ridden by any person whatever, under any circumstances nor will he be put to any kind of work.
III. Hereafter upon all occasions of mounted regimental formation "Comanche" saddled, bridled, draped in mourning, and led by a mounted trooper of Company "I", will be paraded with the regiment.
By command of Colonel Sturgis,
(Signed) E.A. Garlington
Red Brandon did a roaring trade at his saloon in Nebraska - his wife, Ada danced to entertain the customers but one day Red got jealous when one customer positioned himself at the foot of the stage when Red's wife did her high kicks, giving the customer a worm's eye view as it were. Red shot him dead and nailed his spectacles to the stage to warn future customers.
Rancher Jack Zeims of Hutchinson Kansas would not fence his horses, believing they had the right to wander at will. However when a neighbour fenced off his own property to stop the horses wandering in Zack shot him dead. The idealist was hung and his horses sold off.
Jim Bowie knifed Major Norris Wright to death in 1827. The dead man's brother swore revenge and when Bowie was asleep in the town hotel he planned on sneaking into his room and putting a knife in his heart, but the man fell on the knife while sharpening it for the task and bled to death.
The stylish western short story anthology, A Fistful of Legends continues to make waves - there's a review of Gillian F. Taylor's story from the book over on Davy Crockett's Almanack
It's Wednesday which means it's time for another trawl around the wild west web in search of the best western content - THE STORY WITH NO NAME is over on Broken Trails. This is part 13 and is penned by none other than western favourite Jack Giles. There are also links to the previous instalments. The Archive is saddened to learn that the Louis L'Amour project is no more - Chris just doesn't have to time to maintain the blog but we do hope he comes back one day. Jeff Smith of Soapy Smith's soapbox has been out and about promoting his new bookie - check it out HERE.
James Reasoner's blog Rough Edges has been taken over by a guest blogger - Norman German tells us about his latest historical crime novel which will be of interest to western fans. There's also a chance to get one of the book in a giveaway draw. What are you waiting for - get over there! There's always some interesting information on the old western pulps over on Laurie Powers' blog.
The always excellent Meridian Bridge has just published a great post which is essential reading for tech savvy western fans - the piece looks at the western fiction currently available as Ebooks and provides some great links. This takes my vote for most useful post of the week.
Go to Black Horse Express for all you Black Horse Western news - the blog maintained by Ian Parnham is the place that collects together links to all of the Black Horse information on the wild west web. Head over toEd Gorman's blog for his unique marketing campaign - buy this book, I need the money. Click on the image left to go to the Book Depository where you can get the book at a great price which includes free worldwide delivery.
And finally for this week Davy Crockett's Almanac is worth visiting daily - scrub that, visit several times a day. This guy is such a prolific poster that we've got him lined up for a feature as part of the Archive's Sherlock Holmes weekend coming on 7th November 2009. Like The Archive, the Almanac is varied in the subjects its covers with a large percentage having a western interest.
The western is one of the most vapid, infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood movie producer - Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany
When in doubt make a western - John Ford
While literary men seem to have neglected their epic duties, the epic has been saved for us by the westerns (and) by of all places, Hollywood - Jorgie Luis Borges
I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam - Tom Mix
This is the new book trailer in the Arkansas Smith/You Tube campaign. The video will go live over the weekend. Pre-order the book HERE. Don't forget no monies will be deducted from your account and if by the release date the price drops you will be charged the lower price.
Nicknames, aliases and fancy monikers were popular in the Old West - often people would assume a name in order to hide from the law but sometimes it was in order to build a reputation.More often again these colourful monikers were attached to a person by friends or enemies and the name would stick whether they liked it or not.
Below is a list of Wild West nicknames followed by given birth names.
Annie Oakley was actually Phoebe Ann Mozee Billy the Kid was actually William Bonney (or Henry Antrim depending on which story you believe) Apache Kid was actually Sergeant Joe Kid The Baron of Arizona was actually conman Jim Addison Reavis Bat Masterson was actually Bartholomew Masterson Big Foot Wallace (pictured) was actually William Wallace, Texas Ranger.
Often the non-de-plume attached to a person would be descriptive of their appearance or manner. Thus the cold hearted bandit Charles E. Bolton became known as Black Bart and Frank Lelsie, a Tombstone gunman became known as Buckskin Frank.
Some more aliases were:
Theodore Roosevelt was wildly known as Bullmoose because of his hunting skills. Ella Watson who was lynched for rustling in Wyoming was known as Cattle Kate Crawford Goldsby was known as Cherokee Bill Nat Love (pictured), an African American cowboy was known widely as Deadwood Dick O. C. Hanks, a member of Butch Cassidy's wild bunch was known as Deaf Charley Mountain man, James Capen Adams was known as Grizzly Adams Texas outlaw, William Martin was known as Hurricane Bill.
Alice Tubbs, a mining town gambler was more commonly known as Poker Alice Conman and saloon owner Jefferson Smith who was eventually lynched in Alaska was Soapy Smith. Be sure to check out Jeff Smith's Blog - he a descendant of the famous conman and writes much about the old scoundrel. General George Armstrong Custer was known as Longhair. Sam Bass, outlaw, had the rather romantic title of, The Robin Hood of Texas and fellow outlaw, Charles Fallon was known as Rattlesnake Jake.
These are just a few of the colourful nicknames that abounded in the Old West - it has been an hobby of mine to document as many of these as possible over the last few years and I have a list running into two hundred names. I'll publish more of these later this month on The Tainted Archive in the lead up to November 2nd and Wild West Monday the Fourth.
There are so many new western blogs springing up that it's hard to keep track of them all - however here's a cracker I discovered earlier today and promptly clicked the follow option. Go HERE
By the way look out for a blog roundup on The Archive soon listing the best western blogs out there.
Joaquin Murrieta came to California to mine for gold and he was remarkably lucky in sniffing out rich strikes - he first struck lucky near Sonora but a band of American prospectors drove him away and Murrieta left without a fight. Then once again he struck gold - this time around 1850 and once again he was set upon by greedy prospectors. This time two Irish forty-niners asked him to leave but Murrieta was damned if he's give up another claim.
When the young Mexican refused the Irish men's demands a fight broke out. And Murrieta was beaten senseless, one of the man smashed a whiskey bottle in his face, leaving a scar that would become a distinguishing feature.
Murrieta, seething at the injustice of it all, decided that he would still search for gold but he wouldn't look for it below ground - no, he'd become a bandit and steal it just as it had twice been stolen from him.
In his 1932 book, The Robin Hood of El Dorado author Walter Noble Burns depicted Murrieta as a man fighting against injustice - like the titular Robin Hood or the legendary Zorro and even during the bandits life time there were many who shared the sentiments. The early Californians lost much of their lands to the encroaching Americans and to the Hispanic and Californio people he was seen very much as a man fighting for them, an avenger with God on his side. Indeed in the 1936 movie, The Robin Hood of El Dorado Joaquin is presented as a proud man and righteous in his rebellion against the greed and theft of the Americans. However the California Rangers would not see it that way and would hunt the man remorselessly until he was killed. And even when death stopped him that was not enough and Murrieta's head was preserved in alcohol and displayed for the curious to see. Murrieta's luck finally ran out in 1853 when he was cornered and forced into a fight by the newly formed California Rangers. It is recorded that Ranger Bill Henderson shot Murrieta through the heart as the man was trying to flee the 20 strong team of Rangers. The leader of the Rangers, Captain Harry Love wrote down a description of the bandit and then ordered that he be decapitated. The head was transported to Fort Miller where it was preserved in a bottle of alcohol to later be exhibited as a warning against other bandits. The head was later destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
However there have always been doubts that the man killed was actually Murrieta and many claimed that the man actually escaped and lived his life out on a ranch south of the border.
Further reading: The Legend of Joaquin Murrieta by James F. Varley Wiki entry
Most western movies have a scene or two set in the saloon - a place for refreshment and entertainment. Some are plush establishments with a stage area for dancing girls, card tables and a restaurant area. Others are much more basic, little more than a wooden bar and a spittoon.
Usually in the movies the saloon sells whiskey and if the thirsty cowpoke is lucky they may offer up a basic meal of beans and stale bread. But in reality it was far different and although there were saloons where the bar was nothing more than a wooden plank nailed to some beer kegs, there were many luxurious establishments where whiskey was only one of the options offered. Quite often saloons also offered free meals with their drinks but this usually consisted of pigs feet and Cheese or a plate of beans.
In 1881 the most popular drink served across American saloons was eggnog. Indeed Harry Johnson's Bartenders manual (1882) list the recipes for many exotic drinks that would have been offered across the West - Sherry Monahan, Claret Sangaree, Tom and Jerry, Applejack are among some of the mixtures detailed in the book.
TOM AND JERRY 1 egg separated Powdered Sugar pinch baking soda 1 jigger rum hot milk 1 ounce of California Brandy nutmeg CLARET SANGAREE 1 ounce claret 2 tsp powdered sugar 1 t. brandy
One little detail common to most saloons, which I don't recall ever seeing in a western movie, were the moustache rags which would be dotted around the bar area. These were small pieces or rags which patrons would use to wipe the foam from their moustaches after partaking in a particularly lively beer. These were, in fact, common place until the 1918 flu epidemic when they were considered unsanitary. The same thing happened with spittoons which also went out of vogue after the flu virus spread like wildfire across the country.
The Tarnished Star - the western they're all talking about. Buy it now - Amazon, Book Depository, Borders and anywhere else books are sold.
"If you’re a Western fan, you want to get your hands on this one." James Reasoner
"Martin keeps the action high and the suspense notched up to eleven, but he also manages to show us some timeless truths about being young, being old, showing personal responsibility, achieving autonomy, and what it means to be a good guy…and what it means to be bad." Meridian Bridge
"Plenty of action, a fast pace and a hero in the mould of James Stewart." Ross Morton
History has not bestowed upon them the notoriety of The James Gang, nor are they as well known as The Daltons but in their day The Cook Gang were every bit as feared as any of the Old West's outlaws.
"They are a stench to the nostril of lawful men." Said one Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) newspaper in 1890. and during the height of their crimes they were pursued by a team of U. S. marshalls, the Army and even The Texas Rangers.
Their leader was William Tuttle Cook but their ranks changed so often that it is impossible to pin down all the names of the actual members.
The first recorded incident of Bill (William) Cook falling foul of the law was in 1892 when the half Cherokee, was charged with selling whisky in Indian Territory. Later Bill worked as a posseman for U.S. Marshall Will Smith. But when his kid brother Jim was charged with larceny and jumped bail in 1894 he moved over to the other side of the law and joined his brother on the lam. It was not too long before the two brothers met and joined up with Crawford Goldsby, an outlaw, better known to history as Cherokee Bill.
Together with other men, drifters mostly, including Jim French, Skeeter Baldwin and The Verdigris Kid (Sam Mcwilliams then only 17 years old), they started stealing horses whilst keeping one step ahead of the law.
In the Spring of 1894 the U.S. Government passed the law that became to be known as, 'Strip Money'. This was $7 million of compensation to be paid to the Cherokee Nation at Tahlequah. Now Cherokee Bill and the two Cook boys were entitled to payment under the scheme but being on the scout, as they called it, they didn't see how they could claim it. They eventually gave written persmission to one Effie Crittendon to collect their shares on their behalf.
When the law learned of this they sent a Cherokee posse out to Effie's home at Fourteen Mile Creek to capture the outlaws. The posse included Effie's husband, Dick Critterdon. There was a shoot out and Sequoyah Houston, a respected member of the Cherokee police, was killed. The two Cook brothers and Cherokee Bill managed to escape. Though Jim Cook was wounded by buckshot.
Following the incident the newspapers were calling the men 'The Cook Gang' and so began a trail of theft, murder and unspeakable violence that would turn The Cook Gang into household names across America.
Yet they are not remembered today in the way other Old West Badmen are -there was nothing romantic about the Cook gang, nothing to really mythologise though some did try - legend says that as Cherokee Bill was finally led to the hangman his last words were - "I came here to die and not make a speech. It is a good day to die." Though in fact documents record that he had no last words.
Bill Cook, leader of the gang, died in prison in 1901. His brother Jim had died the year earlier when he came second place in a gunfight over an argument about a steer.
If this brief article has prompted anyone to want to learn more about The Cook gang then I suggest getting hold of Black, Red and Deadly by Art Burton.
In one day I will officially become a published novelist - yep, June 30th is the official publication date for Tarnished Star even if the book is already available and people have been able to get it for the last two weeks. I'm still excited, though and I think tomorrow I'll get up extra early to celebrate.
It's an important event and one that any writer will, no doubt, remember fondly and so Tarnished Star is out there for anyone wanting some old style traditional western adventure.
And so I get back to The Tainted Archive and getting some great and varied content out there - this coming month sees the blogs first birthday and I intend to double the readership by this time next year so I'll have to get my thinking hat on. I do try and provide a entertaining mix of features and interviews and reviews.
And so here's to Tarnished Star - I hope it entertains and doesn't dissapoint any readers who give it a go. My second novel, Arkansas Smith will be out next March and so the blatent self promotion will start again before too long. But seriously let me know what it is you like or dislike about The Tainted Archive so I can produce a blog that you just have to read.
Gillan F. Taylor describes herself as a part time writer from Sheffield but for a part timer she is certainly prolific with eleven Black Horse Westerns under her belt. She also writes fan fiction set in the Blakes 7 and Star Wars universes. She has a joint honours degree in ancient history and archaeology and proved her smarts when she recently won BBC's television's Mastermind which is probably the most arduous TV quiz in the world.
The Archive caught up with this lady of the West for a quick question/ answer session.
TA:
What is it about the western that appeals to you?
GT:
Horses ! I was, and still am, a classic pony girl. So I loved to watch westerns on the telly because they had horses in. The first western I read was called ‘White Stallion, Red Mare’, by J T Edson, which I bought under the impression it was about horses. It wasn’t, but I enjoyed it and bought more.
I like westerns in much the same way I like other action-based genres, but it does has some unique aspects. I love the way that westerns are so often firmly set into the landscape. They evoke wide plains, mountains, deserts. The landscape often influences the action in a way that you don’t get in other genres.
I’ve done a lot of research about the west for my own writing, of course, especially how people lived out in this new land. When I read a western I’m reminded of what these pioneers went through, moving into a empty land, facing all the natural and unnatural hazards, and building a new life so far from home and family. The people who moved West were brave people.
TA:
What writers influence you?
GT:
That’s difficult to answer, because I read a lot of different authors, and have been writing for many years now. I could suggest Jane Austen, Ian Fleming and J T Edson and they’re probably all in there somewhere.
TA:
What is your writing pattern?
GT:
My writing tends to be rather irregular, hence the erratic gaps between books appearing. When I’m being organized, I try to write during the day, regular working hours,but I’ve always been a nightbird, so it’s not uncommon for me to work in the evening or late into the night. When I’m making the effort to sit down and get on with a book, I aim to write two pages a day, five days out of seven.
TA:
How would you describe your books to newcomers?
GT:
Umm…I guess there’s a bias towards character-driven stories. ‘Cullen’s Quest’ is a more straight-forward adventure, though its two sequels, ‘Hyde’s Honour’ and ‘The Judas Metal’ (out next year) are more character driven. There’s usually a streak of humour in them, especially the Darrow novels. Writing dialogue for Darrow and Keating when they start sniping at one another is great fun.
More specifically, there are three series so far. The Rocking W trilogy (Rocking W, The Paducah War and San Felipe Guns) is complete and evolved from the first western I wrote. It centres around the friendship between Paul Hallam, and the Comanche half-breed, Josh Thunder and is set down in the Big Bend of Texas.
The Williams/Hyde trilogy will be complete on the publication of ‘The Judas Metal’. Hyde and Williams meet during an eventful stagecoach journey in the south-west of Texas (Cullen’s Quest) and start working a silver mine together. Loyalty and friendship are the themes of these books, tested by lots of action.
There are currently three Darrow books (Darrow’s Law, Darrow’s Word and Darrow’s Badge) and I intend to write more. These are set in an expanding railroad town in Wyoming. Darrow is the local sheriff, who does a good job in spite of his low opinion of the town and his deputy. Deputy Hugh Keating is an English gentleman with a weakness for alcohol and gambling, and a sense of self-preservation and borders on cowardice.
Of my other titles, Jonah Durrell, the protagonist of ‘Two-Gun Trouble’ will probably return again, as will Sheriff Alec Lawson and his deputies from ‘Silver Express’ – out in September 09.
TA: Given the state of the genre at the moment where do you see it going in the future?
GT:
There’s been a mini-revival of the western in cinemas recently, so one can hope that this would spill over into more mainstream books. However, I suspect that the western book as likely to remain sidelined, especially here in the UK. I don’t think it will die out totally, but I think it needs to find a younger readership. Just don’t ask me how.
TA:
Future projects?
GT:
I’m currently writing a short story featuring Jonah Durrell for the next Express Westerns anthology. After that I plan to write the next Darrow novel. Elements of that story have been simmering away for three or four years now, but I recently figured out how to make them work as a coherent story. Then it’s either another full length Jonah Durrell novel, or a Sheriff Lawson novel.
TA:
How does it feel to be a Mastermind winner?
GT:
Great ! I’d been on 15-1 three times before (final twice, won once) so I knew I wasn’t likely to freeze under the pressure of answering questions in front of the camera. I had a lovely day out – the production team are lovely people and really took care of us. I loved sitting in the black chair, being challenged with the questions and giving back the answers – at least in my specialized subject, where I got everything right, and made what I believe to be the highest score of the series (18), and possibly of the revived format. Then as my general knowledge was weaker, it went to a tie-break, which is unusual. I won on Mastermind thanks to something I’d picked up from watching ‘I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here’, which amuses me no end.
I’ve watched Mastermind from back in the 1970’s, and long had a vague idea of appearing on it. I finally decided that this was as good a time as any, and went for it. I guess anyone who watches it wonders how they would do, and I’m proud that I not only tried, but won.
My next appearance will be broadcast on Friday 17th April.
TA:
Desert island book?
GT:
That’s a tricky one to answer. I’ll nominate ‘Out West’, a short story anthology from the 1950’s edited by Jack Schaefer. It has stories of all kinds, including some good comic yarns, and covers pretty much the full range of the western story. Sadly, there’s nothing by Schaefer himself, who was an excellent writer. I’m also tempted to claim my own ‘Darrow’s Badge’, because I enjoy it so much.
TA:
Desert island film?
GT:
Once Upon A Time In The West. All three or so glorious hours of it. The first time I saw it, I was fascinated by the three men waiting at the railroad station, the way they passed the time and the natural sound that gave a better sense of time and place than any dialogue. I love the soundtrack – the wailing harmonica and Cheyenne’s jaunty theme, and how each theme is used and transformed within the film. I’m a big fan of Charles Bronson and this is a good role for him. I love the way the stories unravel, and the different layers of the characters, and Cheyenne’s fate and…
Dime novels glorified The West when the actual events were happening.
Young Sleuth was a detective who roamed the continent bringing criminals to justice and facing down desperadoes. The character was first seen in BOYS OF NEW YORK MAGAZINE. The character proved so popular that he soon had his own weekly dime book. The first issue came in October 1892 and ran for 143 issues, with the last edition dated November 13th 1896.
The cover opposite shows Young Sleuth arriving in a mining town heavily disguised. Those men outside the saloon are in for a shock if they keep joshing on him.
OK - the next Wild West Monday will be the first Monday in June - some want one sooner, others think once a quarter is enough. And so you can't please everyone all the time but I have decided on three Wild West Monday pushes a year. June is next and then November. My reasoning for three a year is the time taken to set the events up. After all we've done two and we need to step it up a level. In June we go for it big time.
In the meantime stay tuned to the Archive for news of a Wild West Monday letter writing campaign that we want to cajole, bully and force everyone to get involved in. In the nicest possible way of course.
THE TAINTED ARCHIVE - SPEARHEADING THE WESTERN REVIVAL
It was actually my first book published - back in 2009 I took the step from amatuer to professional writer when Robert Hale published my novel, Tarnished Star as part of their Black Horse Westerns series. The hardcover did really well, remaining their fastes selling title, selling out its first print run on pre-orders alone. Fast forward to the 2018 and the book, now retitled LawMaster has been optioned for a film (although it seems stuck in development hell) and is now available as an audiobook read by the talented Marcus Litch. The reader does a great job in bringing the title to life.
