It’s another all-Western column for the simple reason that I always wanted to be a cowboy. Two of the books covered are from series that I’ve been featured before, while the last one is new to this column, but part of another long-running Western series. So dig out that copy of THE HIRED HAND, play yourself a Marty Robbins record and read on. Let’s kick things off with the warmest character of them all.
EDGE #11: SIOUX UPRISING by George G. Gilman — What better way to start than with the ultra-violent tale of one Joseph Hedges? Since I jump around so much with this series, I was a little surprised to find where Edge was at the start of this 1974 tale: married. Yeah, everyone’s favorite psychotic Civil War veteran is married and making a life on the lone prairie with his new bride.
But I think everyone can figure out from the title alone that things don’t go the way of a Roy Rogers film. Not at all. The Indians are attacking the homesteads, including our heroes. While Edge is away, he comes across a neighboring farm where a pregnant woman has been brutally killed, and the husband wants to borrow Edge’s rifle to end it all. (Take that, Zane Grey!) So Edge rushes home to find his wife is missing, and thinks the worst, setting off the plot of tracking down the group of Indians who have taken her.
Gilman ups the action with some of the deaths being film-worthy material, such as an arrow going through the mouth of a soldier who was bragging about how they beat the Indians. But after all the brutality — and there is plenty to go around — the author still has a little surprise no reader will see coming. I’ll just say THE GREAT SILENCE had a more upbeat ending. But that is what makes these books so much fun. You know going into an EDGE that it will never be happy, because he is just a miserable killing machine.
THE GUNSMITH #44: THE SCARLET GUN by Robert J. Randisi — Cramming in three types of Western stories into one book pretty much sums up this 1985 GUNSMITH read. We have the young kid who wants to prove himself a gunfighter, a vengeful woman who is out for justice for what happened to her family, and the greedy land owner who brings in a ringer gunfighter to take care of these problems. These have all been done before, so there is nothing to surprise readers.
But those who pick up GUNSMITH books are used to that tried-and-true storytelling, with the added bonus of a PENTHOUSE FORUM-type sex life for the characters involved. This opens up as Clint Adams — aka The Gunsmith — is getting his rocks off with the sister of the young gunfighter with something to prove, who runs away and tries to make a name for himself. The boy kills a few no-names and ends up working for Titus, the greedy landowner in a Colorado town.
Cue the second storyline of a woman named Scarlet turning up in the same town looking for revenge on Titus, who, years ago with four others, raped and killed her family, leaving her for dead. Then there is the hired gunman Bowman, who is sent for to dispose of Scarlet, but is more than ready to go toe-to-toe with Adams, who gets sucked into all of this since he is trying to bring back the young gunfighter to his sister, who’s all in a panic about her brother being killed.
All these plot points come together with a healthy mix of sexual activities. Going in, you know full well this is not Max Brand. It really is just the Western version of a men’s adventure book — nothing more, nothing less. It takes all of two hours to read and will be forgotten about 30 minutes later.
CHEYENNE BLOODBATH by Jake Logan — This 1986 effort is #90 in the John Slocum series. I could not find any information of who the real author is, but supposedly, this was another series that Randisi had a hand in. Again, this is very typical Western fare — nothing groundbreaking. This is like THE GUNSMITH, LONESTAR and LONGARM: geared toward the adult reader. While those other series seem to function on the basis of sex every few chapters, it’s not as prevalent here, but just as graphic — just the right amount of titillation.
Slocum rides into some town called Cheyenne, and comes across a hanging body left to the vultures. The body was a friend of his, and there was a note accusing his friend of being a thief who had $500 on him. But the money was lent to him by Slocum, so you can pretty much guess the rest of the book from that point on. The town is overrun by some secretive vigilante group run by a wealthy gambler named Kincaid. Slocum’s friend needed the money to buy his daughter out of a contract Kincaid has on her, like an indentured servant. It comes down to Slocum against the vigilante group.
This novel is very black-and-white with the characters; there is no gray whatsoever. Slocum is like all the Western heroes of his type: a super-fast draw and endowed like he could be a tripod. Still, it will pass the time for a Western fix, and these books are easy to find. Just realize that you will be able to figure out the plot. Even some of the brutal scenes came as no shock — well, maybe Kincaid forcing his wife to watch him and a whore together.
Next time: pissed-off guys with guns. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF GEORGE G. GILMAN:
• ADAM STEELE #1: REBELS AND ASSASSINS DIE HARD by George G. Gilman
• EDGE #2: TEN GRAND by George G. Gilman
• EDGE #4: KILLER’S BREED by George G. Gilman
• EDGE #6: RED RIVER by George G. Gilman
• EDGE #15: PARADISE LOSES by George G. Gilman
• STEELE #17: SATAN’S DAUGHTERS by George G. Gilman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ROBERT J. RANDISI:
• LONE STAR LAW edited by Robert J. Randisi
• THE GUNSMITH #23: THE RIVERBOAT GANG by Robert J. Randisi
• THE PICASSO FLOP by Vince Van Patten and Robert J. Randisi
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