Now Available: The Bandera Brawl (A Judge Earl Stark Story) - James Reasoner

In Bandera for a trial, circuit-riding Judge Earl Stark volunteers to referee a prizefight between the local champion and a pugilist from out of town. Stark—who was once the shotgun-wielding Big Earl Stark, toughest stagecoach guard in Texas—doesn't realize that this bout is going to lead to gunplay and an explosive showdown that threatens the whole settlement! 

One of award-winning Western author James Reasoner's most popular characters returns in this 6,000 word short story originally published in the boxing anthology FIGHT CARD PRESENTS: BATTLING MAHONEY & OTHER STORIES.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: All Star Adventure Fiction, May 1936

There's almost an all-star line-up of writers to go with that action-packed cover on this issue of ALL STAR ADVENTURE FICTION. Stories by Hugh Pendexter, J. Allan Dunn, Frank Richardson Pierce, Eugene Cunningham, and Anthony M. Rud, among others. Prolific, long-time, well-respected pulpsters, each and every one.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: New Western, November 1948

That is a tough-lookin' hombre. And with stories inside by Peter Dawson, Talmage Powell, William R. Cox, and Tom W. Blackburn, among others, I'll bet this is a pretty good issue of NEW WESTERN, too.

Forgotten Books: Honkytonk Brand - Walker A. Tompkins

"The chips were down, and Banning bought a dance-hall queen to buck the range-hog's ace..."

This short novel first appeared in the Spring 1951 issue of the pulp magazine TWO WESTERN ACTION BOOKS and was later reprinted in a large print edition, which is where I read it. An odd thing about TWO WESTERN ACTION BOOKS is that in the indicia (the tiny print at the bottom of the table of contents page) it's listed as TWO WESTERN ROMANCES. Actually, either title would be appropriate for HONKYTONK BRAND, since there's plenty of action in it, yet it's also unmistakably a Western romance.

Rancher Wes Banning, who operates a small outfit in Washington Territory, has a problem as this book opens. The local cattle baron, Greg Costaine, wants to take over the range that Wes has leased from the government. Costaine plans to push his herd through a small section of land that hasn't had a homestead claim filed on it. Wes can't claim another section himself, but his wife could...if he had a wife. Luckily, he's already engaged to a seamstress in the nearby settlement. All he has to do is talk her into a hurry-up wedding.

Naturally, complications ensue. Wes winds up with a wife, but not the one he intended. Troubles keep piling up on his head, as every time he tries to foil Costaine's plans, the ruthless cattleman has some other trick up his sleeve. And Wes's new bride has dangerous secrets of her own that may doom all his efforts to save his ranch.

As you can tell from that description, if you've read many Westerns you won't find much in HONKYTONK BRAND to surprise you, but that doesn't really matter. Like L.P. Holmes, another favorite of mine, Walker Tompkins produced stories and novels that were very traditional in their plots and characters, yet he spun those yarns with such skill that it's easy to forgive their predictability. In this case, I raced right through HONKYTONK BRAND and enjoyed every page of it for its sure-handed prose and Tompkins' mastery of pacing. For a fan of traditional Westerns, it's pure entertainment and well worth reading.

Free for a Limited Time: Blaze! - Stephen Mertz

   If you've been meaning to read the Blaze! series but haven't gotten around to it yet, right now you can get the first book absolutely free for the Kindle. You can't beat that deal!

J.D. and Kate Blaze are two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen. They also happen to be husband and wife, as passionate in their love for each other as they are in their quest for justice on the violent frontier! 

BLAZE! is the first novel in a thrill-packed, all-new Adult Western series created by bestselling action/adventure author Stephen Mertz. J.D. and Kate find themselves facing a deadly ambush by Apaches, then they're hired to track down a gang of ruthless outlaws led by the beautiful, savage bandit queen Rosa Diablo. It's gun-swift excitement all the way in this gritty tale from Stephen Mertz. Rough Edges Press is proud to present BLAZE!

Tuesday's Overlooked Movies: Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

A while back, John Hocking suggested that I watch this movie, and I'm very glad he did. Somehow, I'd never seen any of the Mr. Moto movies, at least that I remember, and I've still never read any of the books by John P. Marquand. I might have to remedy that, too, although I have a hunch the books are considerably different from the movies.

Anyway, like THE MOLE PEOPLE last week, MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE is pure pulp adventure. You've got a plucky aviatrix played by Rochelle Hudson (Wotta babe!—although her jodhpurs could have been a little less baggy, if you know what I mean). You've got a couple of American newsreel cameramen, one stalwart and two-fisted (Robert Kent), the other reasonably tough but also serving as the comedy relief (Chick Chandler). You've got an ancient civilization ruled by a sleazy rajah in the jungles of Southeast Asia. You've got an evil high priest and the ruins of an old temple. You've got henchmen, revolutions, sword fights, hidden passages, disguises, double- and triple-crosses, and most important of all, to sort it all out you've got "archeologist" (really intelligence agent) Mr. Moto, played by Peter Lorre.

This one rambles along for a while, but once the action starts it's non-stop, culminating in a huge battle in and around the temple with machine guns. The photography is excellent, and there are quite a few shots that look like they could have been covers on issues of THRILLING ADVENTURES or SPICY ADVENTURES, including one of Hudson tied to a pillar in the temple with her shirt ripped off one shoulder. Hubba-hubba!

Despite what they may sound like, none of these comments are intended as ironic, post-modern snark. You know me. I'm absolutely sincere in my love of this stuff. Watching MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE made me feel like I was twelve years old again, sitting cross-legged on the floor in my parents' living room on a Saturday afternoon, watching the movie on Channel 11 on our old black-and-white TV, interspersed with commercials for the drag races at Green Valley Raceway and Monday night wrestling at the North Side Coliseum. I need to watch more Mr. Moto movies. I know I can't retreat completely into adolescence, but more and more, it's nice to visit.

Now Available: Blaze! A Son of the Gun - Stephen Mertz

When Kate and J.D. Blaze set off in pursuit of the Ludlow brothers, as crazed and vicious a trio of owlhoots as they've ever encountered, J.D. never expected to run into the biggest surprise of his adventurous career: a fast-on-the-draw young man who claims to be his son! Not only that, but young Joe Bridge has trouble of his own dogging his trail—a ruthless cattle baron and a gang of bloodthirsty nightriders! Joe just wants to settle down with the beautiful girl he's fallen in love with, but he'll have to fight his way through hell to do it...and who better to help him than the man who just may be his father, gunfighter J.D. Blaze? 

Legendary author Stephen Mertz, creator of the BLAZE! series, returns with another fast-action novel filled with all the thrills and passion of the Old West. Read A SON OF THE GUN and see why BLAZE! is the bestselling all-new Adult Western series.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Detective Tales, July 1937

I love the dangerous, gun-totin' women in many of Tom Lovell's covers for the Western pulps, and here's proof they showed up in his detective pulp covers, too. This one's a blonde, not a redhead, but still not a gal you'd want to cross. Inside are stories by Norvell Page, Paul Ernst, Wyatt Blassingame, Ray Cummings, Wayne Rogers, and more. Hope they lived up to the promise of that cover.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Story, January 20, 1940

We start the year off right with another cover from the longest-running Western pulp of all, and a nice action scene to boot. Good contents inside, too, with stories by T.T. Flynn, Harry F. Olmsted, Norman A. Fox, Wilfred McCormick, and Frank Richardson Pierce writing as Seth Ranger. This was a great era for WESTERN STORY.

Forgotten Books: The Ham Reporter - Robert J. Randisi

Robert J. Randisi has long had a fondness for using historical characters in his fiction. Many of them appear in his Westerns, especially the Gunsmith series. But one of the best examples is THE HAM REPORTER, which has one of the most intriguing concepts I've come across: Bat Masterson, who has long since retired from being a lawman and has become a reporter and newspaper columnist in New York City, and his friend and fellow columnist Damon Runyon team up to solve the disappearance and ultimately the murder of another newspaperman. This brings them into conflict with a number of dangerous men who rule various factions of the city's criminal underworld.

Randisi has always known how to spin a fast-moving yarn with plenty of action and dialogue, and he's at the top of his game in THE HAM REPORTER. Masterson and Runyon may not be great detectives, but they're fine protagonists. Randisi does a fine job of working in all the history involved with the plot, explaining in an afterword the parts that really happened and the parts that are fiction. I read this book when it first came out and liked it, but I recently read it again and was even more impressed.

THE HAM REPORTER is available in a brand-new e-book edition as part of an impressive boxed set from Western Fictioneers called LEGENDS OF THE GUN. I don't know if it's Bob Randisi's best book because I haven't read all of them, but it's certainly near the top. If you enjoy historical mysteries, you definitely should check it out. Highly recommended.