Off to the Library; Black Horse Westerns

This morning Livia and I decided we needed a little more research material for the new series we're about to start writing, so it was off to Fort Worth, to the main library downtown. I don't get down there very often, too much traffic, not enough parking, etc., but today it wasn't too bad. Of course, I can't resist browing through other books while I'm there, and I usually come home with some stuff I want to read in addition to the research books. Today it was a couple of Astro City graphic novels by Kurt Busiek and three large print Linford Westerns, reprints of books originally published in England by Robert Hale Ltd. as part of the Black Horse Western line.

I've read a couple of dozen Black Horse Westerns by various authors and really enjoy them. They're short (supposedly around 45,000 words, but I'd wager that most of them are actually shorter than that), well-written, and have plenty of action. Most of the authors are British, but there are some Americans who write for the line, too. There's an on-line newsletter about the line called Black Horse Express . I'm also a member of a Yahoo group devoted to the books, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blackhorsewesterns/ . Most of the members there are authors who write for the line. The books can be difficult and expensive to get in the U.S., but they show up sometimes on eBay and many libraries have at least a few of the Linford large print reprint editions. Highly recommended if you enjoy traditional action Westerns (and I do, of course).

When we got home I was able to finish reading the page proofs for that other book, found only two pages with mistakes on them. I'm glad that job's done so I can get back to writing, and to reading something that I didn't write!