SO WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT THESE BLACK HORSE WESTERNS?

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 characterisation 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.

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

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 newspaper.


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 this Wild West Monday - you won't be disappointed.

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

Jack Giles Rides again

Can't get enough Black Horse Westerns - then head over to Davy Crockett's Almanac where our host, Evan Lewis is looking at a Jack Giles western from yesteryear. Jack Giles AKA Ray Foster is a long time supporter of the Archive and a damn fine western writer.


LATER ON THE ARCHIVE - What's so good about Black Horse Westerns anyway?

FAITH AND A FAST GUN SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE

Stay tuned over the weekend for yet another clue in the BHE Books £100 prize competition - I've heard from Keith and as of this morning no-one has claimed the prize so come back for the next clue which, when placed with the clues given thus far, should lead you easily to the answer.

In the meantime there is now a sample chapter for the forthcoming Faith and a Fast Gun by Chap O'Keefe. Go HERE to read the first chapter of this all action western which will be published by Hale this December.

Wild West Monday - 2nd November, the countdown begins here.

SHERLOCK HOLMES GOES WEST

Neatly dovetailing Wild West Monday with our forthcoming Sherlock Holmes Weekend is this

It's from 1954 and sees Holmes right up to his neck in Wild West adventure.

The complete public domain movie is here for you to view.

GOOGLE JOIN THE EBOOK WAR

Google confirmed plans to introduce an online storefront for electronic books, promising that content will be available across any device with a web browser, including mobile phones and netbooks. The web services giant said it will launch Google Editions in the first half of 2010, initially offering about half a million ebooks in partnership with its existing publisher partners--Google will award publishers about 63 percent of revenues,

FULL STORY

DRACULA GETS A SEQUEL

Expect a review of this book on the Archive soon but for now here's some news courtesy of Entertainment Daily


Dracula: The Un-Dead" (Dutton, 424 pages, $26.95 - UK £ 7.99 Harper) by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt: Long before Edward Cullen of the "Twilight" series and Bill Compton of HBO's "True Blood," there was the original vampire, Bram Stoker's Prince Dracula, in the gothic horror novel "Dracula."

Now, more than 100 years later, Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of the famed Irish novelist, and Ian Holt, have written a sequel, "Dracula: The Un-Dead."

The sequel begins in 1912, 24 years later, and it revisits original characters Mina and Jonathan Harker, Dr. Jack Seward, Arthur Holmwood and famed vampire hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing.

The Harkers' marriage has been strained since Mina was seduced by the Dark Prince. Her youthful appearance and insatiable sexual appetite — conditions of the blood exchange — serve as a constant reminder of her betrayal. Concern mounts for the Harkers' son, Quincey, as he pursues a career in the theater against his father's wishes. He is mentored by a mysterious Romanian actor.

Seward, now a morphine addict, and Holmwood, who is stranded in a marriage of convenience, still pine for their lost love, Lucy Westenra. The sequel offers an alternate explanation for Lucy's death, casting doubt on Dracula's involvement.

Actual events and historical figures are woven into this work of fiction, which puts a new spin on the Jack the Ripper murders and incorporates Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th-century Hungarian countess accused of killing hundreds of women. It was said that Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth.

Dacre pays homage to Bram by casting him as a character in the sequel and making the original novel a focal point of the story. When Quincey reads "Dracula," he discovers it has details about his family that are too specific to be coincidence. The book is the impetus for Quincey's discovery of his parents' perilous dealings and his mother's disloyalty.

One may wonder whether Bram would have approved of the contemporary Dracula, who has been reinvented as a romantic hero. The sequel stands on its own, without the original novel, and opens the possibility of a third book by Dacre.

STEPHEN KING E-BOOK NEWS

Stephen King's publisher is keeping the e-book edition of his novel "Under the Dome" under wraps until the day before Christmas, as tensions mount between book publishers and retailers over the crucial issue of pricing industry blockbusters.

Aiming to preserve the value of the hardcover edition, Scribner, an imprint of CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster publishing arm, is delaying the electronic-book publication of the King thriller until Dec. 24, or six weeks after the $35 hardcover hits the bookstores on Nov. 10.

King has stated that he is a huge fan of E-books but when asked if he owned a Kindle or Sony Reader he said he had both. When pushed he wouldn't say which system he preferred.