Black Hat Jack

by Joe R. Lansdale

The story of African-Americans in the West has been confined to the dusty, bottom shelf of recorded history and American literature. But in the vein of the old dime novels containing stories about such heroes as Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James, comes the true story of one of those ten-cent novel heroes, Deadwood Dick, disguised in those novels as a white champion of justice and adventure, but in reality a black cowboy, buffalo soldier, Indian fighter, and general hell raiser.

Here, Nat Love, the one and only Deadwood Dick, writes down his version of certain events, straightening out numerous misconceptions raised in the popular and sanitized dime novels. Though his version varies considerably from the numerous volumes of adventures attributed to him, his true story, with perhaps a bit of exaggeration, is no less fascinating or exciting.

Nat was one of those Old West characters who seemed to be everywhere and met everyone that was anyone at some point in his life. Black Hat Jack details Nat’s version of the events of the now famous Second Battle of Adobe Walls, where he and a handful of buffalo hunters, primarily his good friend, Black Hat Jack, were pitted against hundreds of Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa warriors.

Heroics abound. Curse words fly. Humor flows as free as blood, and there’s even a spot of romance. And with all that real life bravado, there might even be a few lies.

Joe R. Lansdale’s stories about Nat Love are based loosely on the real Nat Love, who may have told a few windies about his time in the West, but at the same time revealed that African-Americans of that era were not all cooks and custodians. In fact, a full third of the cowboys of the Wild West days were African-American, Hispanic, or of mixed blood. This is a tribute to the real deal, as well as to the great mythology of the Old West.

Genres: Westerns, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Novella, Historical, Horror, Adventure

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 2014

About the author

Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror," and he adapted his short story "Christmas with the Dead" to film hisownself. The film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Sundance Channel has adapted his Hap & Leonard novels for television.

He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read westerns as a rule. But if a lot of them are like this, I can see the appeal.

If it weren't for the lovely folks at Subterranean Press, I don't think I would ever have run across the work of Joe Lansdale. They've published a lot of his work over the years, including this lovely novella. I owe them for that.

It's written from the first person, and there's a really great voice in it from the first page. There's no supernatural element to this book (I mention this because so much of what I read and review here is fantasy) but I didn't miss that at all. Good action. Good tension. Really delightful banter and dialogue.

That's what really made this story for me. The banter and sheer delicious crassness of the language. It's on par with the cussing in Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series. I loved it. Loved it loved it.

[Zoeytron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Hat Jack, once a mountain man, is now a buffalo hunter and fighter of Indians. With no mind to the weather, he always wears a hat made of buffalo hide with earflaps, it is 'black as the devil's shadow'. He can smell a Comanche well before he comes into sight and is a keen-eyed tracker to boot. His partner on the trail is Deadwood Dick, an African-American scout, tracker, and a renowned sharpshooter with his pistol. Deadwood Dick has a code - don't steal nuthin', don't kill a man unless he has it comin', and don't be mean to animals. Together, the two of them are making their way to Adobe Walls in Texas, an erstwhile trading post. Along with 30 or so other buffalo hunters, they will soon be fighting the Second Battle of Adobe Walls against hundreds of Indians.

Irreverent humor, great characters. Joe R. Lansdale knows what he is doing.

[Robin Hobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book lived up to my expectations for a Joe Lansdale book! Is there a nicer thing I can say?

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Mr. Lansdale's easy going story telling and down home narrative this short little book moved way faster than I wanted. What we are given here is like a Tall Tale about an Indian battle in a West Texas trading post named Adobe Wells.

Least you think this is a fiction here is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

"Adobe Walls is a ghost town in Hutchinson County, 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Stinnett, in the U.S. state of Texas. It was established in 1843 as a trading post for buffalo hunters and local Indian trade in the vicinity of the Canadian River. It later became a ranching community. Historically, Adobe Walls is the site of two decisive battles between native Americans and Anglo forces. In the November of 1864 First Battle of Adobe Walls, native Americans successfully repelled attacking troops led by Kit Carson. Ten years later, on June 27, 1874, known as the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, civilians at the Adobe Walls trading post successfully repelled an attack by native Americans"

The book was most enjoyable and as I mentioned a fast read. Now, if you like the characters as I did, Mr. Lansdale has a complete book coming out about these characters next year (as he mentions in his Authors Afterword). The book is titled "Paradise Sky" which is scheduled to appear in the spring of 2015"

Last but not least from Mr. Lansdale's blog the following about the book "Heroics abound. Curse words fly. Humor flows as free as blood, and there's even a spot of romance. And with all that real-life bravado, there might even be a few lies."

This is copy 69 of 350 signed numbered leather bound copies

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding novella with breakneck pacing and a linear plot that brims with profane and colorful dialogue, and some thought-provoking ruminations on racism. A very fun and entertaining read from start to finish.

[Ctgt · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Craig Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and deserves consideration for a 2015 Spur Award. I can't imagine any other Western this year being as exciting or inventive.

Joe R. Lansdale brings back one of his best characters Nat Love, the African-American cowboy who many scholars believe was the original inspiration for the Deadwood Dick character that became popular at the turn of the 20th century. A lot of frontiersmen took the nickname Deadwood Dick, so it’s hard to know which was the real one, but several events from accounts of Nat’s life make him a likely candidate.

This story is a fairly accurate retelling of the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, which was the skirmish that finally broke the back of the Comanche in West Texas. Nat rubs shoulders with famous historical figures like Billy Dixon, Bat Masterson, and Chief Quanah Parker, as well as less-known real-life residents of Adobe Walls at the time of the battle, like Mr. and Mrs. Olds who ran the general store. The story mixes a heady blend of history, action, and humor. There is also some nice historical commentary on the role of former slaves and free black men at the edge of the Western frontier, which was much different from how they were treated in the cities and settlements. As a bonus, there’s even a subtle nod to Lansdale’s long-running Hap and Leonard series!

Nat Love has also appeared in two other Lansdale short stories, “Hide and Horns” and “Soldierin”. The forthcoming novel Paradise Sky is also purported to feature him as a main character.

Some authors naturally excel in certain forms of fiction other others. The novella seems to be Joe R Lansdale's greatest strength. His short stories and novels are often good, too, but the novella allows just enough elbow room for his offbeat characters to live and breathe, for his colorful rough dialogue to find its perfect rhythm, and for his plots to hit their stride without seeming too contrived. He has written some doozies in this form—On the Far Side of Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks, The Events Concerning a Nude Foldout Found in a Harlequin Romance, The Big Blow, Bubba Ho-Tep, and Prisoner 489. Now we can add Black Hat Jack to this impressive list.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A série do cowboy negro Deadwood Dick começou muitíssimo bem, mas, na minha opinião humilde, conforme foram se arrastando os números de edições, também foi se arrastando o ritmo das histórias e a empolgação que elas fornecem. Talvez uma das razões de que este número três, intitulado Black Hat Jack tenha sido menos empolgante para mim seja o fato de que ele narra uma guerra entre os caubóis e um conclave de índios. As melhores partes deste volume são o começo e o final. A parte do recheio, digamos assim, fica bastante enrolada. Os mérito dos desenhos do artista italiano Stefano Andreucci não são tomados por mim, o que me incomoda é o ritmo que o roteirista Mauro Boselli imprimiu para a história. O estilo do desenho de Stefano Andreucci, por outro lado consegue unir o clássico (para não dizer datado) da narrativa bonelliana com o traço moderno, muito próprio das artes digitais e de artistas que estouraram no início do século XXI. No final das contas se eu tivesse que recomendar para um leitor a saga de Deadwood Dick diria para que ele ficasse no primeiro volume que sairia bastante contente com a leitura.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lansdale gives us the exploits of Black Hat Jack and Deadwood Dick at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. I've said before and I'll say again that Lansdale is a master of many genres and the western is one of them. This is a great little novella that gives us a pulpy look at one of the fights that closed out the Old West period. Placing Jack and Dick at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls is a natural and bless Lansdale for doing so. It's also a fight that was just weird enough that it falls right into Lansdale's bailiwick.

Being familiar with the life of Quanah Parker I was already familiar with the fight. It's a "battle" that should have ended with the Comanche and their allies over-running a small group of buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls and ended with a very large native American force that had been influenced by the Sun Dance withdrawing after a one-in-a-thousand shot by Billy Dixon. The battle led to the Red River War and the breaking of any power held by the Southern Plains Indians.

Of course with Lansdale writing this isn't dry history. It is pulpy western adventure with a modern sensibility and well worth the limited time commitment.

[Arthur O'dell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally read westerns, but I have loved everything I have read from Joe R. Lansdale, and this did not disappoint. A fantastic novella with just the right mixture of true history and tall tale.

[Corinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pulp western tall tale narration style was appealing, but mostly this western contained all the tropes I don't enjoy.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lansdale gives us another straight-up western, told in the usual Lansdale style. That means it's crass and profane, though that shouldn't stop anyone from reading it. Crass and profane is what you should expect from a Lansdale story, unless it's written for the young'uns.

Nat Love has been a subject of interest for Lansdale for a long time, according to the afterword of this novella. He's been working on the book that became Paradise Sky for over thirty years, because he's felt like blacks in the Old West haven't been given their due. Of course, the story is fiction, but Lansdale draws on enough history to flesh out the story. Aside from using Nat Love as his narrator, Lansdale also uses the Second Battle of Adobe Walls as its main plot. He brings in enough facts to satisfy the historians, and enough action to keep his story humming along. And hum it does.

Thematically, the story focuses on the brutalities that Native Americans performed on whites, but Nat acknowledges that the whites did the same to Native Americans, as well as to blacks. Toward the end, Lansdale gives us a piece of Texas history, showing how black men, even those who fought against Native Americans and saved white men and women on the way, are mistrusted and treated like animals. He also draws a divide between white and black society during that time, and shows how white people can talk and act big when they're outside of their own group, but clam up when they're back inside. It's a sad take, but it makes the story more than just a shoot-'em-up western; as usual, Lansdale has something to say outside of telling us his story.

Of all the Lansdale novellas I've read lately, this is the best of the bunch. Without bringing up the thematic elements at the end, it would have been just another Lansdale story (not that there's anything wrong with that), but by doing so, he elevates it above that. It touches on what made Sunset and Sawdust such a fine novel, which makes me want to read Paradise Sky as soon as possible. If he can do it in a novella, I can't wait to see what he can do with an entire book.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsanitized story of Black Hat Jack and Nat Love, aka Deadwood Dick and the Second Battle of Adobe Walls as only Joe Lansdale can tell it. Buffalo Hunters, Scouts and all round bad ass cowboys, Black Hat Jack and his African American sidekick Nat Love, aka Deadwood Dick, arrive at the semi deserted, aptly named Adobe Walls, located in the wilds of mid 19th century West Texas. Together with 30 or so frontiersman, they hold off an army of Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa braves led by the great Comanche Chief, Quannah Parker and his war chief Buffalo Hump. Using the flimsy cover of the broken down adobe walls of the makeshift saloon, the Texans outlast the Comanche army which suffered heavy losses in the attack.

This is no dry history by any means. Joe Lansdale is first and foremost a brilliantly entertaining story teller and nobody does dialogue and Texas dialect better. He brilliantly recreates a segment of the life and times of two truly unforgettable characters in Black Hat Jack and Nat Love. This novella is so good, I feel like rereading it - and every other book written by Joe Lansdale while I'm at it! The only drawback to that thought is stated by Stephen King's "Life is Too Short to Reread Books". I wonder though, if Stephen King reads Joe Lansdale?

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but very engaging, this is an episode in the life of Deadwood Dick. It tells the story of Black Hat Jack, and how Deadwood Dick and he wound up at the battle of Adobe Walls, against Comanche. Pretty exciting stuff, but Deadwood Dick's narrative style is low-key. The character of Millie, who is there for the standoff is a great part of the story.

[Clint Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we have one of Joe Lansdale's historical western, dark comedy offerings: sounds great to me!

Finally, though real historical characters are mentioned in this story, this is my version of events, and even the real characters are not meant to be represented in an exact and accurate manner. They have become mythology, and I have played with that mythology, attempting like all story tellers, and tall-tale advocates, to give them their own sweet myths.

Black Hat Jack is a great introduction to the Nat Love series. It includes a few glimpses into the award-winning Paradise Sky that soon followed.

It's set in the the Battle of Adobe Walls, bringing attention to the factors that led to it. Multiple tribes have reached a tipping point with the settlers' wasteful buffalo hunting, depleting their food supply. They follow the guidance White Eagle, their Medicine Man who promises his people invincibility against their enemy.

Their target is a small bar with a gathering of a few dozen buffalo hunters, Nat Love and Black Hat Jack among them: a pitifully small target having little chance against their attack. Yet they start facing losses anyway:

He gave the braves instructions on how they were to conduct themselves, and if he can prove someone killed a skunk, which is bad medicine when on the war path, then he can claim they are the ones threw off the magic. Medicine man has not only got to come up with predictions, he's got to plan excuses for when things go wrong. It's part of the job.

A sadly humorous, and somewhat shockingly abrupt piece of luck ends the siege in the blink of an eye. The warriors fail to earn a simple victory. They shun White Eagle and retreat. It's a dark point in their people's history, signalling a fateful change in their future.

Lansdale provides his wry humor along the way:

The horse I had on the ground was a fellow I called Satan. He wasn't the original horse I called Satan, as I had to eat him, (which is what made me an expert on the eating of horse) but this one was pretty good, black as the one I had before, and about of the same spirit, though less mischievous. He would even come when I whistled. If he was in the mood.

"The other problem I’d like to mention, and this is a personal problem... I caught a bullet a short time back... It come over the top of this dead cayuse and caught me in the gut."

"Damn, Jack," I said.

"Bad?" Millie asked.

"I'd say so, yes," Jack said, "which is why I call it bad news.

If it sounds like I'm bragging, forgive me. But it's true. I can shoot a shot up a gnat's ass and knock out its teeth, make them line up like piano keys in front of the little bastard's corpse.

She wasn't much to look at, thick and big-boned, and though I wouldn't call her ugly, she was as plain as homemade soap with a wad of hair in it.

It's not all crass jokes. It has range, putting the reader in the room with the action:

Bullets tore through the door and made holes that light peeked through and the room was riddled with these sticks of light.

That's the way whites worked. You slaughtered an Indian, it was a victory. They slaughtered you, it was a massacre.

I have trouble imagining that anyone sampling his works would not recognize Lansdale's storytelling craft. From the opening sentence...

Black Hat Jack and me had been riding at night, trying to take in the cooler weather, avoid the sunlight, but mostly avoid being seen.

... to the last from the Author's note, his Twain-influenced voice comes through:

I appreciate your support, but if you feel that I have made an error here concerning any weapon or any piece of history, well, keep it to yourself.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nat Love is better known to some as “Deadwood Dick” as he did some fancy shooting in Deadwood, and “Deadwood Nat” just sounds wrong. Nat was a ex-slave, a gunslinger, a soldier, a cowboy and all-round troublemaker. You may have seen those “dime novels” with his nickname on the cover; them Eastern writers cleaned up his language considerable, his behavior some, and worst of all bleached his skin.

But this here story is told in Nat Love’s own words, all about how he and mountain man Black Hat Jack decided to try their hand at buffalo hunting but wound up fighting in the Second Battle of Adobe Flats. Now, this is a thing that really happened and the way Nat tells it is true…mostly. Lyin’, well, that’s just something people do.

Joe R. Lansdale is a noted author of crime, horror and yes, western books. He was a big name in the splatterpunk movement, and his stories often include plenty of gory violence, strong language and assorted bodily fluids. This novella is no exception. It’s part of Mr. Lansdale’s series about “Deadwood Dick.” There have been relatively few stories written about African-Americans in the Old West, certainly disproportionately few in comparison to their actual numbers.

In some ways, this story is very much like the old dime novels, full of fast-paced action, flying lead and a casual relationship to historical fact. Yes, there really was a Second Battle of Adobe Flats that Bat Masterson was present for. And one of the defenders did pull off an amazing shot. After that, the accounts tend to contradict each other, and Mr. Lansdale has put them together to tell the story he likes.

Where the book is unlike a dime novel is the extended coda after the battle, as Nat Love starts a relationship with a young woman he rescued during the fighting. This plays out in a disappointing but entirely realistic manner. It’s surprisingly melancholy for the genre.

In addition to the grisly violence mentioned above, Nat and Jack stumble across the results of torture, described in detail, and there is frequent talk of rape. Period racism is unsurprisingly present, and Nat points out that it’s better out in the lawless West where it’s a man’s achievements that matter, than back East where you have to fit in to society.

The heavy use of obscene language made this book thick going for me; this book is not for children.

For fans of spaghetti westerns ready for a bit of diversity in the protagonists.

Note: The copy I read was an Advance Uncorrected Proof and small changes may have been made in the final product, like fixing a couple of typos.

[Doc Ezra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lansdale's Wild West bona fides are pretty well established at this point, so when I stumbled across this novella, told from the point of view of Nat "Deadwood Dick" Love, I couldn't resist. I'm a sucker for Westerns of any stripe, and have really appreciated the trend over the past decade plus of highlighting the many tales of African-American cowboys and gunslingers (and the occasional US Marshal).

Focused almost entirely on the events surrounding the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, the protagonists find themselves surrounded by a massive force of hostile Comanche, with only a handful of townsfolk and buffalo hunters to hold them off. Lansdale includes fairly rich detail around the actual participants on both sides of the battle, though the titular (fictional) Jack and Nat Love are not usually counted among the figures that were present. The author's command of the sorts of mode of speech and vernacular common to the era (at least as passed down to us through dime novels and scattered first-hand accounts) is likewise spectacular, and makes the entire thing read like the sequel to Love's own autobiography.

I know Lansdale visited the Nat Love well on a few other occasions, and I'm definitely going to have to track those down, in particular Paradise Sky, a novel-length exploration of Nat Love's origins in post-Civil War Texas.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a Humble Bundle (Humblebundle.com) and it is distinctly different from the other books in the set. While the other books were primarily horror related, this is an American Western mythology book. It is a gritty version of the Tale-tales us Americans learn as a kid about pioneers like Kit Carson, Daniel Boone, and Davy Crockett. This book features a legendary frontiersman, Black Hat Jack, and his loyal partner, Nat.

Nat, a black man, is the main character and the story is told through his eyes. The story is quite amazing in how it deals with race issues of the US in the 180os as a fact, and doesn't dance around the subject. While it is only a short story, I think there is enough to feel the depth of the characters and engage in the story.

I recommend checking this couple hour read out if you are into Westerns, Fantasized American history, or action novellas.

[Jim Collett · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have read much Joe Lansdale, you will know that he does not pull punches when it comes to rough talk and violent action. This short novel, as told by African-American Nat Love, is very much in that vein. Loosely based upon the battle of Adobe Walls in the Texas Panhandle, it is a quick and bloody read. Though Black Hat Jack is the title character, this is really Nat's story. It does ring true to the real life rather than dime novels, which I think were never this blunt or graphic. There is heroism and the ending, while not exactly happy, is true to the times. I found the book had several really great sentences worth writing down or sharing. Lansdale has written a longer novel on Nat and I plan on reading it. In fact, I do recommend Lansdale's work, just be prepared to have a strong stomach!

[Glen U · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nat Love was a real life former slave turned cowboy during the late 18oo's. He actually wrote and published an autobiography in 1907 and this is Joe Lansdale's tribute and salute to this African-American hero. Joe Lansdale is an accomplished and excellent writer, a winner of numerous literary awards, but usually associated with horror or crime novels. This Western is written in the same vein - witty, action, at times gory, but always unforgettable characters and a gritty realism that take hold of the reader, no matter how implausible. It is a novella and can be enjoyed in a few hours of reading. A very good read.

[Jeri Claridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sticks To Your Ribs

I'm not a typical WESTERN fan, but have loved everything Joe has written. His choices of vernacular and his sense of humor are equal to the adventure. His personal notes explain he might not be exact in the historical accuracies, but I think his stories are perfect. I came to love & respect Back and Nat, as well as many of the other scoundrels. Stay busy Joe. We need Deadwood Dick as a bit of a role model 👍

[Eliece · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this just a few days after I finished "Paradise Sky", and it was o.k., but I doubt I would have gone on to read "P.Sky" if I hadn't happened to read it first. In my opinion, there is really no comparison even though they both feature the character Nat Love. So don't judge the one by the other, because I would hate for you to miss the truly fabulous book that is "Paradise Sky."

[Gustavo Nascimento · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma das melhores histórias de Western dos quadrinhos desde Ken Parker. Baseado num evento real caçadores de bisonte ficam presos num bar contra centenas de índios de várias tribos. Uma história mais uma vez extremamente violenta, mas com personagens muito carismáticos e grande potencial cinematográfico.

[Lee Tyner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t get past page 3. I’m a huge Lansdale fan from Hap & Leonard to Nat Love but this wasn’t for me due to writing style. Rambling thoughts, ignorant grammar, and the story was in the weeds quick. Sorry Joe, this one wasn’t for me.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit surprised when I received my used copy to find out that this was a novella, and not a full novel. On the other hand, I was not disappointed with the book itself. A good solid story that was not as historically accurate as I'd hoped it would be, but a good fun read.

[Spiegel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story moved quickly and I liked the snarky narrator's voice.

[Chompa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid western short story.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

nails it. an old dime novel .

[Charlotte Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun historical fiction fiction of the old West. really great characters, each one of them a delight

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short. Sweet. That is this novella and what a wonderful book it is. It reminded me a bit of a L'Amour novel (his books could be very short) but with more swearing and better jokes.