Dead Man's Canyon

Sundance #2

by John Benteen

The brainchild of Amazon Kindle Number One bestselling western writers Mike Stotter and Ben Bridges, PICCADILLY PUBLISHING is dedicated to reissuing classic fiction from Yesterday and Today! DEAD MAN’S CANYON Sundance, the professional fighting man of the plains and the Baron from the Austrian Court made a deal. For $35,000 the big man with the bronzed face and the yellow hair would take the nobleman into deadly Apache territory to search for Emperor Maximilian of Mexico’s priceless treasure of lost jewels. Before it was over, Sundance would meet Cochise, chief of the Chiricauhuas, and together with a luscious young woman, face his closest crapshoot with death. And a score of men’s bones would bleach on the floor of Dead Man’s Canyon. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Benjamin Leopold Haas was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1926. His imagination was inspired by the stories of the Civil War and Reconstruction as told by his Grandmother, who had lived through both. Ben’s father was also a pioneer operator of motion picture theatres, “ ... so I had free access to every theatre in Charlotte and saw countless films growing up, hooked on the lore of our own South and the Old West.” Largely self educated (he had to drop out of college in order to support his family), Ben wrote his first story, a pulp short for a western magazine, when he was just eighteen. But when he was drafted into the Army, his dreams of becoming a writer were put on hold. He served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1946, and saw action in the Philippines. Returning home to Charlotte (and later Sumter, in South Carolina) in 1946, Ben married Douglas Thornton Taylor from Raleigh four years later. The father of three sons (Joel, Michael and John), Ben was working for a steel company when he sold his first novel in 1961. The acceptance coincided with being laid off, and thereafter he wrote full time. A prolific writer who would eventually pen some 130 books under his own and a variety of pen-names, Ben wrote almost twenty-four hours a day. “I tried to write 5000 words or more every day, scrupulous in maintaining authenticity,” he later said. Ben wanted to be a mainstream writer, but needed a way to finance himself between serious books, and so he became a paperback writer. Ben’s early pen names include Ben Elliott (his grandmother’s maiden name), who wrote Westerns for Ace; and Sam Webster, who wrote five books for Monarch. As Ken Barry he turned out racy paperback originals for Beacon with titles like The Love Itch and Executive Boudoir. But his agent was not happy about his decision to enter the western market, and suggested he represent himself on those sales. Ben had sent a trial novel to Harry Shorten of Tower Books. Ben’s family remembers it being A Hell of A Way to Die, written for Tower’s new Lassiter series. It was published in 1969, and editor Shorten told his new author to create a western series of his own. The result was Fargo. The success of Fargo led to the Sundance series. Jim Sundance is a half-Cheyenne gunslinger who takes on the toughest jobs in order to raise funds to fight the corrupt Indian Ring back in Washington. The short-lived John Cutler series followed, and then perhaps Ben’s crowning achievement, the Rancho Bravo novels, published under the name Thorne Douglas. Ben Haas died from a heart attack in New York City after attending a Literary Guild dinner in 1977. He was just fifty-one. Fan favourite James Reasoner has hailed Ben as “one of the best action writers of all time”.

Genres: Westerns

Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Pseudonym used by Ben Haas.

Reviews

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun series, Jim Sundance is a halfbreed and hired gunman, he will take any job that pays enough. He needs the money to try and lobby Washington for a fairer deal for the indians. A Baron from Austria is in Apache territory and needs help recovering a lost treasure that was taken out of Mexico when Emperor Maximilian was at his end. It belongs to Austria and he finds out that Sundance is the only man who has a chance to get it back. Though like usual Sundance is in the middle and has indians and white men to deal with, either can be deadly for him. Also teams up with Cochise, which was fun.

Highly recommended, it's a fun series that really is just another version of Fargo. Though that's not a bad thing.

[Martha Peebles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sundance

I really like these books on Sundance. He is a real tough man and a fair man. He lives between two worlds. Indian and white, but he is a honest man. Now on to book 3.

[S.wagenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid western from Benteen. Sundance is hired by a wealthy Austrian to try recover some missing jewels that are linked from Napoleon to Maximilian, former Emperor of Mexico. Of course they are hidden deep in Apache territory, and things get complicated when a gang of bandits get wind of the expedition. Violent action ensues, a little sex for spice and Sundance gets revenge with a little help from an Apache chief named Cochise! Also, a little bit of background info on Sundance’s father is revealed, and it sounds very similar to the events depicted in the movie A Man Called Horse. Recommend.

[Martha Peebles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book Sundance always does what he says he will do. Even at the risk of his own life. Now for book 3.