This massive anthology claims to be a tribute to the pulp magazine LARIAT STORIES, but only five of the twenty-two stories it contains actually appeared there. The others all come from various pulps and slick magazines, although some of those authors also appeared in LARIAT STORIES from time to time. Regardless of where the stories first appeared, though, most of them are pretty good, making this a worthwhile collection. To me, any book that includes stories by Walt Coburn, Max Brand, T.T. Flynn, Les Savage Jr., and Lewis B. Patten is likely going to be worth reading, and all their entries in this volume are top-notch, with Savage’s novella “The Beast in Cañada Diablo” (which was also reprinted in a Leisure paperback of the same name) being particularly outstanding. I also liked the stories by Eugene Cunningham, Luke Short, Barry Cord, Frank Bonham, Steve Frazee, Peter Dawson, and D.B. Newton. Newton’s “Reach High, Tophand!” is also one of the best stories in the book, with an unlikely but very likable hero. There were a few stories I didn’t like, but that’s to be expected in a book of this size. Jon Tuska provides the introduction and notes for the individual stories, but if you’ve ever read any of the various Leisure/Five Star/Thorndike collections of these authors, you’ve seen all of that material before. I enjoyed SHADOW OF THE LARIAT a lot. It’s an almost perfect collection of stories to read between novels, which is the way I like to read an anthology.
Of Urban Combat & Black Beans
1 hour ago
6 comments:
Ah, this looks great. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I'm ordering now and what a great cover!
It does look interesting. I see you read collections like I do: rarely straight through but salting the stories between novels.
What was the title of the Bonham story? I read one of his books last summer, Snaketrack, and really liked it.
This looks interesting. I recently read two Lewis B. Patten novels and liked them. I've started reading a Steve Frazee Western tonight.
Ed Lynskey
Chris,
The copy I read was from the library, and I don't recall the title of the Bonham story. But I'll check the next time I'm there. I knew Bonham as a young adult author before I ever read any of his Westerns. I recall really liking his YA novel DURANGO STREET.
Besides writing quality westerns, some of my favorite Frank Bonham novels were hardboiled detective stories. I liked "One For Sleep" and "The Skin Game." I believe the same detective was in both. Excellent stuff!
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