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The Floating Outfit #38
The Quest for Bowie's Blade
Quest Bowies Blade (Paperback) by J.T. Edson
- GenresWesterns
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
J.T. Edson
184 books81 followersJohn Thomas Edson is an English writer of Westerns.
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 22, 2023
This is the first J.T. Edson book I've read. I know that he was incredibly prolific and most (or all) of his Westerns were set in the same universe, with characters crossing over into different series.
This book is in the 1870s. The main character is the Ysabel Kid, one of Edson's regular characters. He is tasked with the job of retrieving Jim Bowie's famous knife from the (now elderly) Mexican officer who took it off of Bowie's body at the Alamo. The knife is supposed to be returned to Bowie's family. For unknown reasons, the knife is considered valuable beyond its status as an historical artifact. So several nefarious persons are after the knife as well.
Edson tends to use a lot of footnotes to refer readers to other books set in the "Edson-verse" whenever a related incident or character is mentioned. I have to say I was a little annoyed by this, since the information in the footnotes was not necessary to this particular story and it broke up the flow of the prose.
But I still liked the book. Several of the characters end up working with the Kid, but he knows he can't trust most of them, generating a fair amount of tension. The climax includes several confrontations and double-crosses, with a band of Yaqui Indians (also after the knife) charging in at the last minute to upset everyone's calculations. It's not surprising, but still pretty cool, that the final action includes a knife fight with one of the combatants using Bowie's knife.
The reason for the knife being valuable provides a nice twist, as does the ironic eventual fate of that knife.
One last fun touch is Edson tying Sherlock Holmes and the Maltese Falcon into the "Edson-verse."
There were a few places were the story dragged a little and then there were those annoying footnotes. I'm not sure I'll re-visit the "Edson-verse," but overall I did enjoy this one.
This book is in the 1870s. The main character is the Ysabel Kid, one of Edson's regular characters. He is tasked with the job of retrieving Jim Bowie's famous knife from the (now elderly) Mexican officer who took it off of Bowie's body at the Alamo. The knife is supposed to be returned to Bowie's family. For unknown reasons, the knife is considered valuable beyond its status as an historical artifact. So several nefarious persons are after the knife as well.
Edson tends to use a lot of footnotes to refer readers to other books set in the "Edson-verse" whenever a related incident or character is mentioned. I have to say I was a little annoyed by this, since the information in the footnotes was not necessary to this particular story and it broke up the flow of the prose.
But I still liked the book. Several of the characters end up working with the Kid, but he knows he can't trust most of them, generating a fair amount of tension. The climax includes several confrontations and double-crosses, with a band of Yaqui Indians (also after the knife) charging in at the last minute to upset everyone's calculations. It's not surprising, but still pretty cool, that the final action includes a knife fight with one of the combatants using Bowie's knife.
The reason for the knife being valuable provides a nice twist, as does the ironic eventual fate of that knife.
One last fun touch is Edson tying Sherlock Holmes and the Maltese Falcon into the "Edson-verse."
There were a few places were the story dragged a little and then there were those annoying footnotes. I'm not sure I'll re-visit the "Edson-verse," but overall I did enjoy this one.
December 1, 2012
Annnnnnnd it's another Belle Boyd story. I'd forgotten just how many of the Floating Outfit stories she's in until reading the series through again. In this story, which opens with Jim Bowie's final moments at the Alamo, Ole Devil Hardin is asked by the heirs of Jim Bowie to secure the return of Bowie's famous knife from the Mexican Officer who killed him. Initially Dusty and the Kid set out to do so but a bushwhacking attempt knocks Dusty out of commission and the Kid is forced to continue alone. He too almost fall victim to another ambush but is narrowly rescued by Belle Boyd. Belle then adopts one of her favorite persona's, that of Betty Hardin, and as Ole Devil's granddaughter accompanies the Kid to meet the Bowie family's representative. This representative proves to be a powerful European criminal kingpin known as the Ox and he has his own agenda for the knife. He also has a local associate who's a little too familiar to Belle Boyd and the Kid, one Belle Starr. After saving the knife owner's life, like his boss Ole Devil before him, the Kid is given the knife and from then on everyone from outlaws to Apaches try to steal it. I think I've only read it once or twice before, not one of my favorites.
January 31, 2012
Very good book. Great western. A must read for any fan of westerns.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews