Paul Bishop's Blog, page 16

BONANZA TV TIE-IN NOVELS

              
 
 
    
     
 
 

GUNSMOKE TV TIE-IN COMICS

      
 
 
 
 
      
 
 
      
        

GUNSMOKE TV TIE-IN NOVELS

              
 
     
     
 
 
   

WESTERN MOVIE TIE-IN NOVELS

 

WESTERN MOVIE TIE IN NOVELSMY NEW COLLECTING OBSESSION          
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         
   

WESTERN WORDSLINGERS—ROBERT VAUGHAN

WESTERN WORDSLINGERS
ROBERT VAUGHAN
WRITERS ON BOOKS 
As part of an ongoing series of blog posts, I’ve asked prolific wordslinger Robert Vaughan to give us his personal take on what writers read and what books influence their lives. Vaughan sold his first book when he was 19. Since then he has sold nearly 500 more, including many written under pseudonyms for ongoing publishing house series, such as Slocum (as Jake Logan), Remington (as James Calder Boone), McMasters (as Lee Morgan), Stagecoach (as Hank Mitchum), Faraday (as William Grant), The Regulator (as Dale Colter), and many others. His books have made a splash on the NYT bestseller list seven times.
His Western fiction has been highly lauded, winning the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America (for Survival, a Novel of the Donner Party under the pseudonym K.C. McKenna), the Western Fictioneers’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the Readwest President's Award for Excellence in Western Fiction.
A retire an Army officer, Vaughan’s experiences as a helicopter pilot with three tours in Vietnam—receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with three oak leaf clusters, and the Air Medal for valor with 35 oak leaf clusters—have made his Vietnam war novels as close as you can get to the hell of war without actually being there. Vaughan was inducted into the Writers' Hall of Fame in 1998, and is a Pulitzer Prize nominee.

His latest Western novel, The Town Marshal, has been recently released by Wolfpack publishing and is quickly climbing the Amazon sales rankings. Wolfpack is also currently reprinting the six books in the Western series Arrow and Sabre—starting with Oushata Massacre—which Vaughan originally wrote in 1989 and 1990 under the pseudonym G.A. Carrington. 
********IF THE TEXAS RANGERS NAILED UP A WANTED POSTER FOR ROBERT VAUGHAN, WHAT INFORMATION WOULD IT CONTAIN? 
Vaughan is a rather big man, but he is slow: Slow to anger, but slow to forgive, slow to make friends, but slow to cast them aside, slow to learn but slow to forget. If you want to set a trap for him, put out some cornbread and milk. He’ll take the bait every time. 

WHAT WAS THE BOOK YOU LOVED AS A CHILD?
Believe it or not, it was a dictionary. I got one for my 8th birthday, (I still have it, and in the foresheet it says: “This book belongs to Dicky Vaughan, keep it clean.”) I loved to look up new words and use them with my friends such as asking the umpire in a Little League game to show some measured impartiality in his adjudication of close calls. 
WHAT BOOKS WOULD YOU READ TO YOUR KIDS OR GRANDKIDS? 
I read Grapes of Wrath to my kids when they were in the 5th and 7thGrade. We were stranded by a blizzard for one week in a cabin on the McKenzie River in Oregon. We had no electricity, so I had to read by the light of the fire in the fireplace (which was also our only heat). The kids really got into the book and quoted it for years afterward, and they still remember it. 

WAS THERE A BOOK THAT MADE YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER? 
I can’t remember when I didn’t want to be a writer. Before I could even read, I would make scribbles on a piece of paper then make my mother, grandmother, or aunt listen to my “stories” as I read aloud to them. 

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CLASSIC? I don’t know if FROM HERE TO ETERNITY qualifies as classic, but I have read that book at least 20 times. I read it first when I was in high school, and I read it many times while I was still in the army. My 23 years in in the army is still the seminal part of my life, and the army portrayed in From Here to Eternity was my army. 

WHAT CLASSIC HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN ABLE TO READ? 
WAR AND PEACE, because I couldn’t keep the names of the characters straight. 

WHAT IS THE CLASSIC YOU’VE PRETENDED TO HAVE READ? No such animal. 

WHAT BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATION HAVE YOU ENJOYED? 
SHANE. I very much enjoyed the book, and I consider SHANE to be the best Western movie ever done.  Also, I had the privilege of meeting Jack Schaefer at a Western Writers Convention once. 

WHAT BOOK WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AS A MOVIE? 
I wrote THE LAWMEN as a screenplay which was supposed to star Robert Mitchum and Dale Robertson as two old lawmen who had been political opponents for their entire lives, but come together to help a young woman who is granddaughter to both. We started production, but Mitchum died before principle photography could begin, so I turned it into a novel. I would very much like to see that one produced. And wouldn’t Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot be great in it? 

WHAT IMAGINARY PLACE WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT? 
Not so much a place, as a time. The concept of time travel fascinates me, and since it is also imaginary, I guess it would qualify as an answer for this question. I would like to be on Custer’s last scout. I was in the 7th Cavalry during my time in the army, and I was in D troop. As it turns out, D troop was with Benteen, so the chance of my surviving that epic battle would be fairly good. 

WHAT GENRE WOULD YOU READ IF YOU WERE LIMITED TO ONE? 
I would read Westerns, they are the epic American story, good vs. evil, restless exploration, self-determination, courage, ambition, and confidence. 

WHAT BOOK HAVE YOU RETURNED TO AGAIN AND AGAIN? 
As I stated earlier, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. If this question would also refer to movies, I would say SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON one of the John Ford/John Wayne trilogy of cavalry of the Old West. That was also John Wayne’s personal favorite. 

WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER WOULD YOU LIKE AS A FRIEND? 
Tom Sawyer, because I almost did have him as a friend. My best friend growing up, was named Tom, and we not only emulated Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, in the high school drama club production of Tom Sawyer, my friend Tom, portrayed Tom Sawyer and I was Huck Finn.

WHAT NOVEL MADE YOU LAUGH, AND WHAT NOVEL MADE YOU CRY? 
All right, I’m going to be self-serving here, but that would be my book BRANDYWINE’S WAR on both counts. It has both humor and pathos, and it so closely resembles my own time in Vietnam that it could almost be autobiographical. 

WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW? 
I read after I go to bed and generally do a book every two nights so my answer now will not be valid when this is published. But, tonight I will be finishing Louis L’Amour’s BORDEN CHANTRY. 

WHAT SPARKED THE STORY IDEA BEHIND THE TOWN MARSHAL? 
The story of Henry Brown has always fascinated me, how someone could be so lauded as a peace officer by the people he served and yet, make such a drastic and fateful decision at the end of his life. 

HOW DID YOUR ARROW AND SABRE SERIES ORIGINATE? 
I mentioned earlier that I was in the 7th Cavalry. This is while I was in Germany, and because I was a junior officer I was given the job of historical officer. At first it was just another collateral duty, BUT we had a lot of memorabilia. We had one of Custer’s hats, his gauntlets, and his saber. However, most interesting to me was a field diary he kept during the 7thCavalry’s Black Hills expedition, written in his own hand! I can’t tell you how it felt to hold that book and know that it had Custer’s writing. I became fascinated with the entire cavalry mystique. We had a pipes and drum corps that played GARY OWEN on proper occasions.  That fascination extended to the entire cavalry of the Old West, and the ARROW AND SABER books, (as well as several other Western Cavalry books) are the result.
THE TOWN MARSHALRipped from the annals of authentic Wild West history, The Town Marshal tells the tale of James Cooper and Henry Newton Brown, who form a close friendship when—alongside Billy the Kid—they are caught up in the Lincoln County War. When they move on, their bond of friendship continues as James becomes a crusading newspaper editor and Henry puts on a marshal’s star, becoming feared by outlaws and idolized by the citizens of the towns he served. But newspaper editors and marshals serve different masters driving the two best friends toward a deadly confrontation.

ARROW AND SABRE #1: OUSHATA MASSACREFort Reynolds, Colorado: 1868...Fresh from WestPoint, Second Lieutenant Marcus Cavanaugh arrives with a platoon of recruits from the East into territory seething with Indian trouble. Two Eagles and his renegade band of Cheyenne warriors have broken the peace, raiding railroad crews and wagon trains, slaughtering men, women, and children, then disappearing into the hills...Scouting for Two Eagles war party, Cavanaugh, at last, discovers their winter village, barely escaping with his life to report back to the fort. But nothing in his military training has prepared him for the savagery and danger he encounters as he leads his men against hostile braves in the bloody battle known as the Oushata Massacre... 
 

SUSPICIOUS MINDS

SUSPICIOUS MINDSELVIS HAS NOT LEFT THE BUILDINGSuspicious Minds, my Elvis-is-not-dead novel, has been release by Wolfpack Publishing with a fantastic shiny new cover. I'm really happy with the way this novel came together as it contains a couple of the best scenes I've ever written—I’ll try not to hurt my arm patting myself on the back, but I got goosebumps as I was writing them...
SUSPICIOUS MINDS The King Is Dead...Long Live The King 1977 The one and only king of rock-n-roll, Elvis Presley, is taken from the world far too soon, but the legend will never die. 1996Elvis impersonator Cole Ramsey, a young man with enough voice and a style to take him to the top, receives a very odd phone call from an Icon dead for almost twenty years. Cole has heard all the Elvis conspiracy rumors, but...No way, it couldn't be. Before he knows it, however, Cole's life is turned upside down. He's on the run and up to his ears in Elvises—Are they all impersonators or is one of them hiding from deadly Suspicious Minds...
 

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF RICHARD HANNAY

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF RICHARD HANNAY
An only child, I was transplanted from England to America when I was eight. Like most kids in similar situations, I didn't fit in. I lost a lot of fights while learning how to fight, and once I'd gained my street fighting skills, nobody wanted to fight anymore. Funny how that happens. But reading was always my refuge and remains so to this day. Somewhere around ten years old, I discovered The 39 Steps by John Buchan. His hero, Richard Hannay, resonated strongly with me. I identified with Hannay's everyman status and his Englishness.

I devoured all five of the Hannay books and two in which he has a minor role. I then moved on to the rest of Buchan's canon, including my favorite non-Hannay, Prester John.

  Now it appears Scottish writer Robert J. Harris is picking up Buchan's mantle with a new Hannay 'shocker' (as Buchan called his fiction works), The Thirty-One Kings.

  I can't imagine there are too many readers around today who are familiar with any of Buchan's work beyond The 39 Steps, so I'm dubious of the commercial viability of resurrecting a Bulldog Drummond contemporary, but I'm compelled by my appreciation for Buchan to give this new outing a try...

   

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE STEEPLED FINGERS

   SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE STEEPLED FINGERS Many actors have played the role of Sherlock Holmes. Each of them has found a certain pose to express their version of Sherlock in thinking mode—most often by steepling their fingers.
  In reality, in the language of micro-expressions and gestures, steepling of the fingers (or hands pressed together and held in front of the body as if in prayer) is a sign of superiority. In Sherlock’s case this may actually be appropriate.
  Thinking is more correctly displayed by (usually) the non-dominate hand touching the forehead (sometimes with a slight rubbing movement of the fingers as if dealing with a minor headache) and the face downward with a neutral expression.
Thinking, or more correctly contemplating, is also displayed by hands gently clasped and a relaxed body. A sub-set of this is sherlock's thinking/contemplation while using his violin...
 

Thinking while in an anxious state can ben seen in hands behind head or one hand (usually the dominant hand) to the mouth...   

MISS SHERLOCK

MISS SHERLOCKI’ve always been intrigued by the number of times Sherlock Holmes continues to be resurrected since he and Moriarty went over the Reichenbach Falls. With an ever evolving compendium of literary, theatre, film, and television reiterations, Sherlock never seems to go out of style. Guinness World Records, in fact, claims Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed fictional character on film and TV—played 254 times by more than 75 different actors. Not being a purist, I’m more than happy to give each new Holmesian appearance at least a curious, non-judgmental, once over. 

Of the more recent Sherlocks, I’ve enjoyed all three of the major forays—Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes movies, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock (at least the first two seasons), and Jonny Lee Miller’s turn as Sherlock in Elementary. 

In my opinion, Elementary is the best of the trio, as it has overcome the Herculean task of shooting twenty-four reasonably high level episodes for each of its six seasons on network television. Elementary should also be given high marks for keeping the essence of Sherlock Holmes intact while allowing the character to recognize his inherent flaws and fight to make Doyle’s creation a better person.

Elementary gives us a more human Sherlock, one with whom we can more find a more personal connection than we have been allowed before. We ache to see him struggle, as we ache when we see others close to us struggle. This is great storytelling, which adds to the Sherlockian mystique rather than simply mimicking it. 

I find less satisfaction in many of the Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels. These often pale by comparison to the original tales. At worst, they show a complete lack of understanding for the material. However, starting with A Study In Charlotte, Brittany Cavallaro’s trio of Y/A books featuring Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes—the modern teen descendants of the original Holmes and Watson—have kept me entertained enough to hope for another sequel.
  A distaff Sherlock Holmes is not an original idea. Sherlock has appeared as everything from a dog to an alien and all incarnations in between. However, I was intrigued when HBO Asia announced plans for an Asian female version of Sherlock Holmes for the series Miss Holmes. In this Sherlockian reimagining, both Sherlock and Watson are female and have traded Victorian London for present-day Tokyo.
  The original Sherlock Holmes stories are well known in Japan. There have also been several other Japanese translations of the character, including an anime titled Sherlock Hound and a weekly manga called Detective Conan, which was made into a popular TV series.

Billed as The most beautiful Sherlock ever, when this latest Japanese take on Sherlock premiered, I jumped online and quickly tracked down the eight episode first season—complete with English subtitles. As I was prepossessed to like Miss Sherlock, I was able to overlook a number of early episode shortcomings while still finding a lot to like.
  By episode four, however, the series began to find a stronger footing and a sure direction. I became slightly obsessed with the series, binge watching the final episodes.
There is a delicate Japanesenessabout Miss Sherlock, which is both charming and fascinating. I’ve seen this before. While the popular Miss Fisher Mysteries are set in Australia in the 1920’s, they capture the same delicate charm and addictive nuances.


Yuko Takeuchi plays Miss Sherlock with an awareness of her blunt temperament. She uses this controlled insensitivity to hide her secret identity as the Queen of Impatience. She sees her impatience as an uncontrollable flaw—or at least, a flaw she is disinclined to control. Therefore, she chooses to use blunt narcissisim as a Kabuki mask. Her enemies cannot use her raging impatience against her if they are unable to discern it.

In person, Takeuchi doesn’t speak with the same rapid-fire intrusiveness of Miss Sherlock. Asked about the challenges of the role, Takeuchi claimed the hardest part was the sheer number of lines she needed to memorize to play this motor-mouthed version of the detective.
  The soft calm of Shihori Kanjiya as Dr. Wato Tachibana (aka: Wato San—which is pushing the envelope hard) alleviates the bad-tempered Sherlock by bringing a sweet innocence to her character. She also possesses an endearing immaturity we haven't seen before from other actors in the role. As a surgeon recently returned from a voluntary, yet grueling, medical mission to Syria, Wato-san is faced with her own demons, which Miss Sherlock tends to purposely aggravate and makes no effort to understand.
  Standing in for Inspector Lestrade, Ken'ichi Takitô's Inspector Reimon is by turns suitably deferential and protective of Sherlock. He realizes she is his most valuable crime solving asset—despite his assistant, Sergeant Shibata (Tomoya Nakamura), long suffering frustration.

Ran Itô portrays the show’s Mrs. Hudson, Kimie Hatano, with a certain ditzy personality, which hides her iron fist in a velvet glove.
  The whole package is wrapped with sharp direction and cinematography, which shrewdly emulate the same pacing, shot choice, and color palate of other recent mainstream Sherlock productions. There is also a compelling soundtrack to complement the whole production.
  Listening closely, you quickly realize the Miss Sherlockintro and underlying music are the perfect Japanese translation of Hans Zimmer's Sherlock Holmes movie scores and the incidental music from Elementaryand Sherlock. Beyond the soundtrack, there are other clear influences from both Elementaryand Sherlock, but this gives a comfortable familiarity to offset Miss Sherlock’s unique Japanese sensibilities.

As a nod to its Sherlockian origins, Miss Sherlock’s backstory includes being raised in Britain and graduating from Cambridge University. But Miss Sherlock also finds its own originality in Japanese cultural differences, including taking into account Japan’s strict policies toward drugs and weapons. And to make sure the viewer is aware of the Tokyo local, there are often lingering camera shots of Japanese food and the Tokyo cityscape.
  Trading Sherlock’s traditional violin for a cello, Miss Sherlock appears to have much more affection for her older brother—Secretary to the Prime Minister, Kento Futaba—than Sherlock ever did for Mycroft. Faced with the dull routine of existence, Miss Sherlock releases her inner chocoholic rather than a 7% solution of cocaine (another nod to Japan’s strict drug laws).
  With some of the blame owed to the lack of nuanced English subtitling, the writing in the early episodes is somewhat pedestrian. In the first few episodes, the mysteries are clever and inventive at the onset, but quickly fizzle without truly being able to tax Sherlock's superior crime solving abilities. However, this flaw begins to mitigate with episode four as the series takes a more deadly turn prior to the entrance of Akira Moriwaki—Miss Sherlock’s very own Moriarty. Miss Sherlock hasn't yet risen to the level of 'don't miss' television, but it certainly deserves your attention...  MISS SHERLOCK SEASON ONE EPISODE ONE: THE FIRST CASE   Wato Tachibana has just returned to Japan from Syria. Her mentor suddenly dies after his stomach explodes at the airport. Consulting detective Miss Sherlock is on the case.
 
EPISODE TWO: SACHIKO'S MUSTACHE A vandal draws a mustache on Sachiko, a famous painting by Saneatsu Kishida. The owner of the painting, Mariko Maibara, approaches Sherlock for help.
  EPISODE THREE: LILY OF THE VALLEY Dr. Hiroshi Watanuki is tortured to get information regarding his top-secret research on a fear-erasing drug. Reiko Haitani's identity is stolen by a recruiter looking to gain entry into a pharmaceuticals laboratory.   EPISODE FOUR: THE WAKASUGI FAMILY CURSE Sakura Wakasugi is found sucking her daughter’s blood, and her family suspects a curse is behind her behavior. Wato visits an exhibit by war photographer Toru Moriya.   EPISODE FIVE: THE MISSING BRIDE Risa Mashima suddenly go missing after her picture-perfect wedding ceremony. Wato learns from Dr. Irikawa that her flashbacks are a symptom of PTSD.   EPISODE SIX: STELLA MARIS Yuichi Takayama receives a severed ear in the mail from an unknown sender. Sherlock gets closer to understanding the truth behind Stella Maris.   EPISODE SEVEN: STOLEN VIRUS While on the run from the police, Sherlock races against time to stop Akira Moriwaki from infecting Tokyo with a deadly virus.   EPISODE EIGHT: THE DOCK After Toru’s death, Wato relies on Dr.Irikawa. Sherlock tries to keep the design for a nuclear warhead from falling into Akira Moriwaki’s hands.  

THE GUNSMITH AND THE LADY

   THE GUNSMITH AND THE LADY
Recently, I’ve been pulling together information for an article on the history of the Adult Western genre.

I reached out to a number of sources for material, one of whom was my friend Robert (Bob) Randisi who provided me with a wealth of information on his series The Gunsmith, the longest running (and continuing to run) Adult Western series of all time. What follows below are a few of the questions Bob answered gathered in the form of a quick interview…

HOW MANY TITLES ARE CURRENTLY IN THE GUNSMITH SERIES?

439 regulars, 16 Giants.

  HOW MANY ARE YOU CONTRACTED THROUGH?

The contract is open ended.

  HOW DID THE GUNSMITH COME INTO EXISTENCE?

I was asked by my editor if I could write westerns with sex in them. I didn’t think twice. I said yes, even though I had never even thought about writing Westerns—sex or no.

  IS THE GUNSMITH CURRENTLY THE LONGEST RUNNING ADULT WESTERN SERIES?

Yes, we just passed Longarm and Slocum.

  TO WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THE GUNSMITH'S LONGEVITY...BEYOND YOUR OWN DETERMINATION TO CONTINUE TO FIND NEW PUBLISHERS?

The loyalty of the Gunsmith readership who don’t want it to end.  As long as they’re out there buying, I’ll be in here writing. But also the loyalty and dedication of ONE author writing the series, and not a stable of writers who are doing it only for the payday.

  IS THE GUNSMITH THE ONLY REMAINING ADULT WESTERN SERIES OUT OF THE ORIGINAL ENTRIES

Yes, everyone else is gone. Longarm, Slocum and Trailsman were hanging on, but now they’re all gone.

  WAS THE GUNSMITH THE FIRST ADULT WESTERN SERIES OR WAS SLOCUM SLIGHTLY EARLIER?

Slocum came first with Playboy Press, then Longarm (Jove Books) and then Gunsmith (Charter Books).

  DID YOU REALIZE GOING IN THE GUNSMITH WOULD BE MARKETED AS AN AS SERIES, OR DID THE LABEL EVOLVE AS THE GENRE EXPANDED?

They approached me about writing an Adult Western, so that’s what it was from the start.

  IN YOUR OPINION HOW DID THE ADULT WESTERN GENRE START AND WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS IT SO POPULAR...WAS IT REALLY ALL ABOUT THE SEX?

It started at Playboy Press, so I think the sex was a natural when they created Slocum. I’m not sure who first came up with the label Adult Western Playboy or Berkley, but it stuck. I don’t think it was ever only about the sex, because I think the writers—Lou Cameron, Mel Marshall, Jory Sherman, James Reason, Frank Roderus, etc.—were better storytellers than to write Westerns only about sex. I think the readership recognized all the aspect of the series. i.e., the sex, the history, the heroic journey.

BECAUSE OF THE CONSTANT DEMAND FOR MATERIAL, WE'RE PLOTS RECYCLED FROM SERIES TO SERIES DELIBERATELY OR SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH PLOTS TO GO AROUND?

I can tell you I never reused a Gunsmith plot in another one of MY six other adult western series. I’m going to guess other plots may have been revolved from Longarm to Slocum to Lone Star to Trailsman to Canyon O’Grady  only because so many of the writers were doing more than one series. 

  OUTSIDE OF THE GUNSMITH, WHAT ADULT WESTERN SERIES DO YOU THINK WERE AT THE TOP OF THE GENRE?

Well, naturally, Longarm was near the top. There were so many top writers in that stable.  And Jory Sherman’s Gunn series at Zebra was at the top, because he was writing all of them and he was so good.  I’d say Longarm, Gunn and a guy named Gunsmithwere the top series.  Edge, while not labeled an Adult Western, belongs at the top, as well. And if we go beyond the AWs, I think Ben Haas’ Fargo was the best of all.

  WHICH ADULT WESTERN SERIES WERE UNDERRATED AND DESERVED A LONGER RUN?

I think the Tracker and Angel Eyes series, which I created and wrote, deserved to run longer.  Lou Cameron’s Renegade probably should’ve kept going, and Jory’s Gunn.

  WHAT WAS/IS THE KEY TO KEEPING A LONG RUNNING ADULT WESTERN SERIES GOING

If the author can keep himself interested, then he’ll keep the readers interested.  Once he starts to do it just for the money, all is lost.

IS LADY GUNSMITH AN EXCEPTION AS A RELATIVELY NEW AW SERIES? IS IT A LABOR OF LOVE FOR YOU OR A VIABLE COMMERCIAL VEHICLE?

Back in the early 80’s, just before Berkley bought Charter, my publisher agreed to let me do a Lady Gunsmith series. The idea fell by the wayside when Berkley bought the series.  I think other than The Gunsmith—which was owned by me—Berkley only wanted to do series owned by them. I think they saw the quality of The Gunsmith and decided to keep it going with me.

The idea for Lady Gunsmith stayed in the back of my brain. A couple of years ago at the behest of my better half—Christine Matthews—who always thought it was viable, I brought the series up again to my agent while we were having lunch in New Orleans. He mentioned it to Speaking Volumes, the current publisher of The Gunsmith, and they flipped for it.  I always thought it was a natural progression—and it only took 36 years to make it happen. How could you NOT call that a labor of love.  However, I do think it’s a viable commercial vehicle.

Thx to Bob and a number of other friends and Adult Western writers and aficionados who are always ready with a quip and an answer…Look for my full article on Adult Westerns, Sex and Six-Guns, in the upcoming Hot Lead Issue #3…