August 2023 MBR The Western Fiction Shelf

The Western Fiction Shelf

Adios, Bandido
E. Jefferson Clay
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444850246, $24.50, PB, Large Print, 234pp

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/adios-bandido-e-jefferson-clay/1136785767

Synopsis: In "Aidos, Bandido" by Jefferson Clay, both Brazos and Benedict are still searching for Bo Rangle, the outlaw who'd killed most of their comrades in the war and stolen a fortune in gold. But the West is a big place, and Rangle could be anywhere. Then they chance upon the best lead they've had in months. The only trouble is that Race Sackett, the man who can take them right to their quarry, is behind bars and facing the noose. There's only one thing to do - bust out the outlaw and force him to lead them to Rangle's lair!

Critique: The third volume in author E. Jefferson Clay's western series starring two unlikely and seemingly mismatched partners in a quest for vengeance and looted gold from the Civil War, this large print paperback edition of "Aidos Bandido" from the Linford Western Library series is a 'must' for the dedicated fans of Brazos and Benedict. A fun read from cover to cover, "Aidos Bandido" is especially recommended for community library Western Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: E. Jefferson Clay (https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/e-jefferson-clay) is one of the many pseudonyms for legendary Australian author, comic book writer and illustrator, Paul Wheelahan.

The Man With No Past
Pete B. Jenkins
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444850345, $24.50, PB, Large Print, 246pp

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-man-with-no-past-pete-b-jenkins/1136785768

Synopsis: In the wilds of Arizona, a man wakes up with a nasty head wound and amnesia. Unaware of who or where he is, all he has to go on is the name inscribed in a bible, found in the saddlebags of a lame horse grazing nearby: Zachariah Thompson. Believing this to be him, Zach carries on his way, eventually collapsing and being found unconscious by Jeff Fawcett and his daughter Emily, who nurse him back to health. When their ranch is attacked by Apaches, Jeff is killed, leaving Zach and Emily to flee for their lives. But Zach begins to question his identity when he is mistaken for a notorious outlaw.

Critique: Original, entertaining, memorable, "The Man With No Past" by western novelist Pete B. Jenkins is a riveting read from cover to cover and this large print paperback edition (part of the 'Linford Western Library' series) will prove to be a welcome addition to both the personal reading lists of dedicated western buffs and community library Western Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: There is a lengthy listing of the western and other novels of Pete B. Jenkins at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10911451.Pete_B_Jenkins

Gun Law At Lost Bucket
Colin Bainbridge
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444850109, $24.50, PB, Large Print, 228pp

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gun-law-at-lost-bucket-colin-bainbridge/1136775910

Synopsis: A quiet life is the only thing Dane Cleadon wants, but it seems he can't escape his past reputation as a gunfighter and town-tamer. When he is called out by young Tim Ryland, he does his best to avoid trouble, but to no avail. After Ryland dies accidentally by his own gun, his father, local rancher Cass Ryland, wants revenge. Hoping to avert further bloodshed, Cleadon leaves town, accompanied by his friend Cayuse. They are pursued by Ryland and his gang into the hills, where they stumble upon a ghost town by the name of Lost Bucket. And things just keep getting more and more dangerous!

Critique: A riveting and fun read with more unexpected plot twists and turns than an Oklahoma tornado, this large print paperback edition of author Colin Bainbridge's "Gun Law At Lost Bucket" from the 'Linford Western Library' series is a 'must' for any and all dedicated western fans, and a very highly recommended pick for community library Western Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: For fans of western novelist Colin Bainbridge, it should be noted that there is an extensive listing of his books at https://www.fictiondb.com/author/colin-bainbridge~72205.htm

Greenville Raiders
Alex Frew
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444850222, $24.50, PB, Large Print, 252pp

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/greenville-raiders-alex-frew/1136785789

Synopsis: While Sheriff Flint is out of town, bandits strike Greenville Bank. Only they have come at the wrong time and do not get the haul they expected, instead leaving behind a trail of destruction. On Flint's return, he is faced with a deadly situation. When a beautiful woman and her elderly father get involved, Flint thinks at first that they are a liability, especially when he discovers that he has to lead a posse into the dangerous borderlands between Greenville and Mexico. And then, to make matters even more complicated (and dangerous!) his deputy becomes embroiled in a fight to save a gold consignment on its way to town.

Critique: The stuff of which movies were made with the likes of John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott, and Jimmy Stewart, "Greenville Raiders" by Alex Frew, this large print paperback edition is a compulsive page turner of a read from cover to cover and guaranteed welcome addition to the personal reading lists of western fans and community library Western Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: An extensive listing of the western novels by Alex Frew is readily available at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/8103933.Alex_Frew

Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend
Charlie Steel
https://charliesteel.net
Condor Publishing Inc.
www.condorpublishinginc.com
9781931079617, $12.99, www.amazon.com

Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend sounds like it will be nonfiction, but is a novel that portrays and embellishes the life of a notable 1800s Western figure whose actions are almost bigger than words.

In true keeping with the factual focus of a historical novel, Charlie Steel bases these stories on real events, but also in keeping with a storyteller's flair for tall tales and drama, he adds the fictional touches that keep them thoroughly engrossing and compelling. These treatments result in a Western legend whose exploits challenge any fictional Western dramas and many a biographical sketch as fictional character developments meets the Wild West frontier of historical research, running head-on into the stereotypes of Indian and White relationships and charging through them like a tornado.

As the tale opens, Private Tom Sharp lies somewhere in a camp of wounded soldiers. General Sterling Price of the Army of the Confederate States of America is searching for him to reward him for his valor. His battle days are over, but his adventure is just beginning in many ways, because Tom is fulfilling a long-held dream by choosing not to go home, injured, but to head West.

Sharp defies his upbringing and training in more than one way as he embarks on his new life after war, encountering Indians and refuting the common notions of their inhumanity and psyches to forge uncommon relationships which earn even their grudging acknowledgement: "'Take the weapons,' said Sharp, 'and protect yourselves and the children.'

'Hard to say thank you to white men,' said the Indian woman."

Charlie Steel builds the reputations of all races and both gender through the perceptions and reactions of Tom and those around him as he forges new pathways to connection and understanding while exploring matters of wilderness and the heart. His gift for storytelling lies in how he paints with a colorful hand heavy to understanding the human reactions and feelings of all characters, no matter their race, color, or gender. This makes for a series of encounters that not only opens eyes on Tom's influences and why he appears so enlightened in the face of so much prejudice around him, but allows readers to absorb that the Wild West contained not unified figures of any race, but a disparate group of individuals who each harbored their own choices and reasons for undertaking journeys and relating to the unfamiliar, changing world around them.

More so than most Western novels, Tom Sharp's ability to build understanding from these contrasts and historical precedent lends to a story that is as educational and thought-provoking as it is adventure-filled and character-driven. From the conjoining of families and cooperative efforts to build lives and connections to the forces that try to drive them apart, Tom's world is buffeted by social and political forces as well as romance and family influences. All these facets keep his life and experiences well rooted in thoroughly absorbing, action-packed scenes that keep shifting even as Tom finds his equilibrium and place in the West.

From the powerful specter of Raine, an Indian woman who becomes a teacher called upon to stand up to a father and wife abuser who enters her classroom to kidnap a child to how bad and good men evolve under the same conditions, Steel creates a host of characters surrounding Tom Sharp who bring their own battles and concerns into his life.

Libraries and readers looking for Western fiction that sparkles with thought-provoking contrasts in belief systems and behaviors, and which defies the usual stereotypes of all kinds of Western figures, will find Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend not only a powerful addition, but worthy of high recommendation to book club readers examining historical fiction's potential for revitalizing and revising Western history traditions.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

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