Now Available: The Legend of Johnny Colt #3: Staked Plains Slaughter

The railroad has finally reached the Texas Panhandle, but not everyone is happy about it—in fact, there are some very bad people willing to slaughter a lot of folks to keep the railroad from advancing. Johnny Colt has faced down many killers before, but this mission might be his most dangerous--and last--assignment yet. When he crosses paths with a kill-crazy gang led by the murdering devil Billy Six-Ears, his undercover mission turns into a violent and blood-soaked fight for his life. With deadly gunfire erupting from all sides, Johnny Colt must rely on all his courage and sharpshooting skills to escape with his head still intact and bring these outlaws to justice…the kind of justice that swings from the end of a rope.

On the Staked Plains, death can come from anywhere. In this unrelenting, brutally violent fast-paced Western, Johnny Colt must once again put his life on the line to bring law and order to a terrifyingly violent American frontier, where bullets are cheap…and life is cheaper.

Bestselling western veteran author James Reasoner once more brings his gritty, take-no-prisoners depictions of the West in STAKED PLAINS SLAUGHTER.

PRAISE FOR JAMES REASONER:

"James Reasoner is a master of the Western. You can always depend on his work to excite and entertain." —Joe Lansdale

(This is one of the fastest-paced books I've ever written, and that's saying something. Johnny Colt's uncle, Texas Ranger Captain Esau "Brimstone" Parker, also known as the Hellfire Ranger, gets to play a pretty big part in this book. I love these characters and have really enjoyed writing the three books so far. I hope some of you wlll pick it up and enjoy it as well. The e-book edition is here, and it's available in a paperback edition, as well. Spread the word, and I'll greatly appreciate it!)

Now Available: Johnny Colt #2: No Tears in Hell

The second exciting adventure in a brand new Western series from James Reasoner!

The path to justice winds through the Gateway to Hell. Fourteen soldiers are dead, the shipment of rifles they were guarding is gone, and those responsible are hiding behind whiskey, cards, and dirty money. Johnny Colt arrives in Harker City, where nobody asks too many questions—unless they're prepared to pay for the answer. He is supposed to track down the killers and uncover the truth, but first, he needs to make them believe he is one of them.

Every man he meets seems meaner than the last, and a knife might be hiding behind every pretty smile in town. No Tears in Hell is a gritty Western about stolen guns, border bloodshed, and a Texas Ranger risking everything under an outlaw’s name. On the border, the truth often comes out with a gunshot!

(I realize I'm hardly an unbiased observer here, but I think this novel is a really good Western yarn with lots of interesting characters and plenty of fast-paced action. I had a great time writing it, and I hope many of you will have a great time reading it. It's available now on Amazon in very affordable e-book and paperback editions. I don't promote my stuff often, but if you've been thinking about buying this one, today would be a great day to do it. Release day sales always bump up the Amazon rankings, which help a lot.)

Review: Taming the Nueces Strip: The Story of McNelly's Rangers - George Durham as told to Clyde Wantland

I mentioned the other day that I sometimes read Western history books, and here’s a good example. As research for the second Johnny Colt novel (currently being written), I just read TAMING THE NUECES STRIP: THE STORY OF McNELLY’S RANGERS by George Durham as told to Clyde Wantland.

Durham was a member of Captain Leander McNelly’s Special Force of Texas Rangers that was sent to the Nueces Strip are of Texas, between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, to clean out the rustlers and outlaws plaguing the area in the 1870s. Years later, Durham told the story to journalist Wantland, who turned the old Ranger’s reminiscences into this book first published in 1962.

And it’s a great yarn, not the least bit dry and academic. Most of it, in fact, reads like a novel, and I had a fine time reading it. I’m pretty sure I read it when I was in college for the Life and Literature of the Southwest course I took, and I knew quite a bit about McNelly and his Rangers from other research over the years, but that didn’t prepare me for the vividness and sense of authenticity found in this account. It’s a fine example of Texana and Western history, and if you’re interested in those subjects, I give it a very high recommendation. TAMING THE NUECES STRIP is still in print in e-book and paperback editions.

And if you’ll allow me an infrequent bit of blatant self-promotion, JOHNNY COLT #2: BLOOD ON THE BORDER will be along presently from Dusty Saddle Productions.