The Goodnight Trail by Ralph Compton (audio book read by Jim Gough) (Trail Drive series)

It took me a while to warm to the "Ralph Compton" style. When I first listened to the audiobook of Doomsday Rider, it seemed too much like the Western cliché for me to really realize what a good read it was, even though I had no trouble finishing it and instantly acquired its sequel, Vengeance Rider (which was even better). Compton's name stayed in my mind afterward, however, and when I was looking for another similar book to fill my commute, I picked up Rio Largo, and that was so terrific I was hooked.

The books carrying on Compton's "brand name" were enjoyable enough on their own, but it seemed time to try out the works of the man himself. Not long after, I came across a copy of The Goodnight Trail, the first in Compton's popular, long-running Trail Drive series. It was also Compton's debut novel and an auspicious one it seems.

June 1865 — Not long after the end of the Civil War, three men — Benton McCaleb, Brazos Gifford, and Will Elliot — hatch a plan to "make the gather" — herd the cattle that had gone maverick while the Civil War was being fought — and drive them up a new trail being blazed by Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving in what would eventually become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. (Goodnight invented that staple of the trail drive, the chuck wagon — not named after himself, as some people think, but because trail food was called chuck.)

But even herding cattle is action-packed for this crew under Compton's pen: they get involved in a family feud (Rebecca and Monte Nash against their father) and side with a Spanish-speaking Apache Indian named Goose in a continuing battle against "bloodthirsty Comanches". This adds three more to their team and offers Compton the chance to show his skill at mixing characters.

Not all of the characters become truly individual, because in general they aren't all that different from one another. They operate by the same code, and tend to react similarly to situations, but they have strong personalities if not necessarily separate ones. The most memorable ones are McCaleb, Rebecca Nash, and Goose. Compton inserts a few real people for variety, too. Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving play a fairly large role (not surprising, given the title), Judge Roy Bean even makes an appearance to dole out his particular brand of frontier justice.

The Goodnight Trail is a slice of life on the trail, and that's all it pretends to be. Don't expect any character arcs, or any real plot to speak of, and you'll be quite satisfied by this constantly moving combination of history and myth. Compton has an action-oriented style more than somewhat influenced by the pulps, and he makes time to throw in a little bit of a roughneck romance. I also enjoyed his insertion of useful tips on the trail. You will learn (among other things) how cauterize an arrow wound and the many alternate uses for grain alcohol.

If you have the chance, find a copy of the audiobook of The Goodnight Trail (with music and sound effects) read by Jim Gough. His authentic Texas drawl makes the story sound as if it was being told around a campfire, with coffee brewing and bacon frying. (If Gough had read my copy of Lonesome Dove, I may have actually been able to finish it.)

The Trail Drive series was originally conceived as a trilogy (and The Goodnight Trail leads right into the sequel, The Western Trail). But the series has grown (with help from modern writers) to around 20 books, contesting to the popularity of this subgenre. As of this writing, they are as follows.

By Ralph Compton:
1. The Goodnight Trail
2. The Western Trail
3. The Chisholm Trail
4. The Bandera Trail
5. The California Trail
6. The Shawnee Trail
7. The Virginia City Trail
8. The Dodge City Trail
9. The Oregon Trail
10. The Santa Fe Trail
11. The Old Spanish Trail
12. The Deadwood Trail
13. The Green River Trail

By modern authors:
14. The Dakota Trail by Robert Vaughan
15. The Alamosa Trail by Robert Vaughan
16. The Bozeman Trail by Robert Vaughan
17. The Abilene Trail by Dusty Richards
18. The Trail to Fort Smith by Dusty Richards
19. The Ogallala Trail by Dusty Richards
20. The Palo Duro Trail by Jory Sherman
21. The Ellsworth Trail by Jory Sherman
22. The Tenderfoot Trail by Joseph A. West
23. Trail to Cottonwood Falls by Dusty Richards

Hardboiled P.I. Quote of the Day (from The Big Kill by Mickey Spillane)

Sometimes you come across a passage that is just the perfect example of a particular type of writing. That's what I thought when I read this sentence from the third paragraph of page one of The Big Kill by Mickey Spillane:

She saw me sitting there with my stool tipped back against the cigarette machine and change of a fin on the bar, decided I could afford a wet evening for two and walked over with her hips waving hello.

The Overland Kid by Max Brand (Western novellas)

Many of the Leisure reprints of Max Brand's work are not actually novels but collections of novellas, often not related at all, either in year of publication or pseudonym. Luckily, this does not matter so much, as Frederick Faust (under whatever name he wrote) was such a good writer that it is hard to go wrong with his work at any length. The Overland Kid is one such collection, containing three novellas, with the title story starring his famous series character, Reata.

The title piece, "The Overland Kid," is the last and longest, the sixth of the very popular Reata stories from the 1930s (this one was published in 1934); "George Owen Baxter" was the official author of this series of stories, connected by little other than the main character. Unfortunately, it is also the weakest of the three novellas, mainly because its main character, a man who eschews guns in favor of his trusty lariat, is simply too good to be true.

Reata's method of getting into trouble is by returning stolen gold to the bank it was stolen from. The thief wants it back and tries to get people to kill Reata and get "his" gold back. These include the Overland Kid, a gunfighter considered nigh unbeatable. It's a decent read, though a bit long at 110 pages. But fans of the character will probably enjoy it. The other two novellas are simply better.

First up in The Overland Kid is "The Cabin in the Pines," first published in 1922 under the name "John Frederick." It concerns Babe Rourke and Angus Cairn, two men who are so great in their own circles that learning of each other's reputation causes them to seek out one another for a confrontation: they believe they are enemies just by their very existence.

When they eventually run into each other, they decide to take their feud up to the titular location. There they meet up with Nell, a woman in distress, whereupon they must put aside their differences and work together to save Nell from her pursuers (while each wooing her in his own way).

Brand Faust Frederick The author makes Babe and Angus two easily distinguishable characters linked only by their superiority to other men, and watching them seethe at each other while doing their best to hide this from Nell, who favors different things about each man, is some great entertainment. The ending is quite abrupt, though, and is not quite satisfying.

But the best piece by far in The Overland Kid is the novella in the middle, entitled "Joe White's Brand." This one was also published in 1922, but under the George Owen Baxter byline. Thirty years ago, Joe White was called "Young Stallion on Fire" by the Indians, but that was three decades ago, and time has taken a lot of the fire out of this no-longer-young stallion.

But time has not lessened his reputation, and White is constantly on the run from young up-and-comers looking for a quick reward and a quick reputation from killing the legend. This time, a skinny fellow wearing a red bandanna comes after Joe and eventually wipes out his entire posse. Some are killed, and some leave out of fear, with Joe left to fend for himself. But Joe White is in for a big surprise when he and "red bandanna" finally meet up.

"Joe White's Brand" is a surprisingly fast-moving, suspenseful tale with a great deal of unexpected emotional depth, and Joe White is one of the most fully developed characters I have come across in some time — even in Brand's work, which is full of such characters. This short novel is one of the best things I have read by Max Brand yet, and it soundly defeats the other entries in The Overland Kid.

Friday's Forgotten Book: White Star by James Thayer (audio book read by David Purdham)

For more of Friday's Forgotten Books, visit Pattinase.

During Vietnam, Owen Gray was a sniper with the greatest reputation, having eliminated 97 enemy targets, after which he retired. At each site, he would fold a white star out of paper and leave it behind as an identifier. This led to his nickname, White Star. Gray's list of kills was supposed to have included his main rival, Russian Nikolai Trusov.

But Trusov wasn't killed, only deeply humiliated, and he yearns for a rematch of sorts in a one-on-one sniper fight to the death. Interestingly, author James Thayer has written Trusov as a villain with a strong moral compass, however misguided: he refuses to meet Gray in anything but a fair fight. If an advantage appears on Trusov's side, he eliminates it. Likewise, if one of Gray's friends tries to give Gray an advantage, Trusov kills them.

White Star culminates in the grudge-match duel that is the main reason for reading the book. Preceding it, though, are enough details about the sniper life, in addition to the suspense of whether it's going to happen and then how it's going to play out, to keep things interesting until then. The showdown is truly fascinating, as we get to see a pair of evenly matched supermen as they repeatedly attempt to outwit each other, and succeed a little more each time.

What Thayer puts his characters through is jaw-dropping. A highlight is certainly the scene where Trusov tries to flush Gray out of his hiding place in a field of tall grass by setting fire to the area. Gray knows that any motion on his part equals his death, and so he has no choice but to let the fire overtake him. Thayer does not flinch in his description of the damage to Gray's skin or the resulting pain, and the reader feels roasted right along with him.

Reader David Purdham's intensely serious reading style fits right along with Thayer's text in the audiobook (only available abridged, as far as I know). It's a perfect listen for the work commute or any other road trip, chore, or event that needs to go by quickly. White Star isn't a classic by any means, but it's certainly a forgotten book that needs remembering — if only for as long as it takes to experience it.

Killer Grizzly (The Gunsmith #24) by Robert J. Randisi writing as J.R. Roberts (Western series)

When a wheel on his rig breaks, Clint Adams — a.k.a. The Gunsmith, an ex-lawman with a well-known reputation — is stranded in the town of Bear Pass, Wyoming, while it is fixed. Adams laments being stuck, but before long a Killer Grizzly known as "Ol' Three-Paw" appears and destroys his horse team, making things immediately more interesting.

A reward is soon offered by Calvin Lockman, the local bigwig, for the death (with proof) of the giant grizzly bear — Ol' Three-Paw seems to like eating Lockman's cows. So the Gunsmith is on the hunt — despite the protestations of hotel mistress Dorian Ward, who says Ol' Three-Paw killed her husband and followed her here from Montana. Though it is thought that the money will bring all the amateurs out of the woodwork, Adams's only competition is Lacy Blake, a beautiful bounty hunter who heard about the reward. Will they compete against each other or decide to join forces?

One trait about the Gunsmith series that invariably brings a smile is how the author's business sense comes out. After referring to characters or events in past storylines, Randisi includes a footnote naming the other volume in which it appeared. For example, in Killer Grizzly, Adams thinks the Parker-Hale game rifle would be best to use on Ol' Three-Paw since it was so effective in taking down Big Foot (in book #21, Sasquatch Hunt). (A poker game also reminds him of the events in book #13, Draw to an Inside Death. I think you get the idea.) This is probably the best way I've seen yet to get a reader to buy other books in a series.

Killer Grizzly and its brethren are perfect back-pocket reads. The stories are fast-paced and told simply, and the short chapters make them easy to dip into at any free moment. Most appealing, however, is how Roberts / Randisi offers a heavy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor along with the sex and violence expected in "The All-Action Western Series." He doesn't take himself too seriously (he had his hero hunting down Big Foot, for Pete's sake!), making for an all-around pleasurable reading experience.

Friday's Forgotten Book: Walk in Shadows by Nicholas Kaufmann (horror short stories)

For more of Friday's Forgotten Books, visit Pattinase.

Author Nicholas Kaufmann was one of a select handful of writers chosen to pen the inaugural novels of the Gabriel Hunt adventure series from Charles Ardai (founder of Hard Case Crime). Kaufmann's book, Hunt at World's End is the third in the series, and though he was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for his novella General Slocum's Gold, many readers may not previously have heard of him. A good place to get an idea of his range (and especially his skill at fast-paced narratives) is his first book, a collection of short stories called Walk in Shadows.

Despite what some reviewers would have you think, it's really not very often that a debut fiction collection comes along that trumpets an exciting new talent (at least new to me). I've probably only read three so far in my life. The first was Soft and Others by F. Paul Wilson, then more recently there was Douglas Clegg's The Nightmare Chronicles.

Now, add Nicholas Kaufmann to that list. With Walk in Shadows, he shows a sure hand at horror, from the psychological profile ("Not That Kind of Story") to the kinetic escape (aptly titled "Go!").

There are several highlights in Kaufmann's debut collection (culled from several magazines and anthologies of which mainstream readers have likely never heard), beginning with "The Jew of Prague." This story starts out as a simple jewel heist and turns into something else. The atmosphere is the strongest point of this story and Kaufmann layers it on with gusto. Similarly, "VIP Room" is the most disturbingly sexy story I've read since Dan Simmons' "Dying in Bangkok" (from Lovedeath), and that is mostly due to Kaufmann's skill at setting the scene properly.

Unlike many authors who seem to tread similar ground over and over, Kaufmann doesn't write the same kind of story (although many of them take place in his fictional Quick City); each has a different tone — and, surprisingly often, a different voice — from the preceding one. This allows him to excel as the first-person narrator, since his "author's voice" is completely absorbed into the character's (one prime example is with "Better Off with the Blues").

The only story in Walk in Shadows that shows its obvious origins in a themed anthology (a tribute to Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers), "With Its Sleeves Rolled," is a weaker entry, although it does manage to achieve the unthinkable: making Senator Joseph McCarthy a sympathetic character and causing the reader to think of Communism in a new way.

Kaufmann's characters aren't always the nicest people (like the assassin in "The Dead Stay Dead"), but he manages to make them easy to identify with. Even the gang members in "Street Cred" — which takes hazing to a new low, adding zombies to the equation with complete believability — are somehow familiar enough to elicit empathy.

"Voir Dire" is original to this collection and is another highlight. I read it prior to my own jury duty, and it gets the details right, but it's really about fear: the universal fear of being found out, because everyone has a secret they wouldn't like discovered, however small. I've also ridden in a taxi in New York, but luckily it was nothing like "Hail" (a double entendre dealing with taxis and the weather). I must admit I didn't care for the ending, but I was willingly carried along up until then.

Only "La Bete est Morte" was what I would call mediocre, and that only because the "surprise" was entirely predictable (in fact, I hadn't realized it was a surprise until it was "revealed"), and without that, there was little remaining. This is a small complaint because the story reads so well that it almost doesn't matter.

But all of the stories in Walk in Shadows are great reading. The only piece I actually regret reading is not even Kaufmann's doing; that honor goes to the rambling introduction of Brian A. Hopkins, in which he talks about himself for several pages, saving only a few paragraphs for praise of Kaufmann.

Aficionados of new voices would do well to pick up a copy of Walk in Shadows. It is filled with imagination and natural storytelling ability, as well as a talent for action that should serve well in a pulp-style narrative.