Blood Sky at Morning

Shadow Rider #1

by Jory Sherman

Those who inhabit the harsh, beautiful, blood-red land between Tucson and Fort Bowie have never seen the like of the Shadow Rider—who appears out of nowhere and vanishes just as suddenly in the desert heat. Now death and lies surround him again. The Apache are under siege for murders they didn't commit—and Cody's riding hell-for-leather into a war where nothing's what it seems. But his mission is to get to the truth . . . and to kill the cause of the bloody chaos—even if it means laying down his own life.

Genres: Westerns

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 27, 2007

About the author

Jory Sherman was born in Minnesota and grew up in West Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado. He was a magazine editor for a time and had some of his work published, including some poetry, short stories and articles. Sherman had a friend who owned a publishing company and asked him to write a novel for the company. From that offer came five more novels, all written in one year. He wrote the supernatural mystery series, "Chill," which was somewhat revolutionary for the times, but which earned him an eight book contract. He then came up with the idea for "Rivers West," a series which had each book written by a different western author. Then came the "Baron Saga," the first of which was "Grass Kingdom" which earned Sherman a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Letters. Sherman has also won the Spur Award for his contribution to Western Literature.

Reviews

[HornFan2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was Bill Crider's 'Outrage at Blanco' that made me love revenge stories so much and can't thank him enough for that.

Jory Sherman's one of my favorite Western authors, could he ever put you into the wild and wooly old west with his writing. Never read anything by him, were he didn't have it masterfully paced, you were never bored, typically themed good verse evil and the good guys/gals always won.

Probably the most interesting thing about his writing is that he, never fully described his characters details, but he portrayed his Western settings in great detail and yet it never tarnished his stories.

With 'Blood Sky Morning', Sherman creates a likable character in Zak Cody, aka 'Shadow Rider' is part Cheyenne has credentials from President Grant and basically working undercover. Back in his regular Army days he saved the life of General Crook during the Civil war and he rewarded him by obtaining his special credentials.

You have a plausible storyline, set in Arizona territory, between Tucson and Fort Bowie, that involves the Apache tribe, the US Army and corrupt group of citizens who want the tribe gone. To know what happens you'll have to read it.

He probably wrote the first single series with the 'Shadow Rider trilogy series, for best reading you'll want to have both 'Blood Sky at Morning' and 'Apache Sundown'. With this having just been re-released in November 2018, these two titles can be found in one paperback volume.

Definitely if you ever want to try a Western, then Jory Sherman's one of the best ones to hook you into liking Westerns and if you already a fan, then you know what a legend he is in the genre already.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a complicated reaction to this book. First, it's beautifully written. At times the poetical prose gets in the way of the story, but the language is certainly lovely. It's also a non-traditional story in that we seldom see Sherman resort to any kind of cliché in his writing. In fact, the book is sometimes jarringly original in a way that catches your attention but throws you out of the story.

A big issue I had with the book, though, is that it isn't complete. The story isn't concluded. It just trails off before the final climax that we've been building toward. The end just hangs there, and apparently you have to at least read a sequel called "Apache Sundown" to reach any kind of satisfactory ending. There's also a third book called "Ghost Warrior."

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind trilogies and I don't mind when a book leaves some loose ends for a sequel to bring together, but when I come to the end of a book I want to feel some kind of closure, at least some kind of small climax. I got to the last page and turned it looking for the next chapter. Only, there wasn't one. And there was absolutely no mention anywhere on the front or back cover, or anywhere in the front matter, that this was the first book in a trilogy. I've learned since that this book was also re-released with "Apache Sundown" included and I wish I'd known that and read that edition.

I don't know Jory Sherman, who died in 2014. I've heard he was a wonderful fellow and I'd certainly like to have met anyone who can turn a phrase as he does. I will give some of his other books a try but right now I'm rather irritated at the non-ending of this work.

[Lowell Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed reading

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zak Cody, A.K.A. The Shadow Rider, has been hired on an undercover assignment by President U. S. Grant and Major General George Crook. His assignment is to discover who is committing murders, the Apaches or another group pretending to be Apaches. Cody, who is also looking for a man named Trask, who tortured and killed his father, might be able to kill two birds with one stone if things pan out the way they are going. Of course, you have a beautiful woman in this story, who falls for the hero, and you have a lot of killing by Cody, who always gives the polecats a chance to walk away, but they never do.

[Blake Hiatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grudging two stars.

Purple prose across the purple desert. Ludicrous gun fights, ridiculous scenarios, etc.

And, to top it off, the book doesn't finish, but, rather, seems to be part of a series. I had trouble enough getting through this book, no way I care to get the sequel so I can find out how it ends.

Mr. Sherman should go back and read some Louis L'Amour. L'Amour may have been a bit formulaic, at times, but, at least he had some idea how to draw characters, gun battles, etc.

[Victoria Embry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story a little.Too much waxing.poetic

The author likes to put filler in the book but in between the filler is a decent story i would recommend

[Ted Cartier · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading this author. Good book, looking forward to reading more.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

New author to me. Good story but leaves a reader hanging to read the next story in the series called, Apache Sundown. The local library has it, so I requested it.

[Jeff]

great but no ending