BACKTRAILS
March 2012
The Writing of Old Guns
Lance Howard
Western Villains
December 2011
New authors
Mike Stotter ebooks
Gunfighters
September 2011
Real/Reel Cowboys
Ebooks debate
Serenade for Misfit Lil
June 2011
Lessons from True Grit
Tha Ballad of Jack Martin
Ross Morton beginnings
ABC of Branding
March 2011
Trouble with Misfit Lil
Horse Opera Renaissance
Fargo Creator's Pattern
December 2010
Books for Writers
Read by Jake Douglas
The Talking Wire
September 2010
Joshua Dillard
Paperback Blues
Remington Part 3
June 2010
Imagination in the Saddle
Last word on Blurbs
Remington Part 2
March 2010
Jack Martin #2
Justice and the Western
Frederic Remington
December 2009
Ross Morton
Faith and a Fast Gun
Sex and Violence
Gold Robbery Mystery
September 2009
Steve Hayes
BHE Books
Paul Lederer
Accurate words
June 2009
Jack Martin
Series Heroes
Riding the Range
March 2009
Blast to Oblivion
Tyler Hatch and Twins
Night Herding
Walt Masterson
December 2008
All Guns Blazing
Jim Bowden & Co.
Revolver Conversions
September 2008
Western Noir
Power of the Premise
West on Wheels
June 2008
Plot or Not Debate
Jack Giles
Whitney Revolver
March 2008
Walt Masterson
Plotters and Pantsers
More Horse Talk
December 2007
Peace at Any Price
Dan Claymaker
Horse Sense
(For links to editions March 2006 to September 2007, please go via December 2011)
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BLACK
HORSE EXTRA
Black Horse Extra appeared as a quarterly online magazine for six years
from March 2006. It promoted the western genre and the work
of authors published by Robert Hale Ltd in the Black Horse Western
series of hardback novels sold mainly to the UK public lending
libraries.
Today, most of the active authors run personal blogs and websites.
Links to some can be found lower in the column to the right, while
past
editions of Black Horse Extra can be accessed using the links to the
left.
Lately, the number of hardback books published monthly has
been reduced and readers have been offered more modestly priced
ebooks online. BHW titles are now widely available in digital format
from Robert Hale
and several other companies, including Piccadilly Publishing,
Western Trail Blazer, Western Fictioneers Library, and Black Horse Extra Books. Excerpts can be
read (and the books conveniently downloaded) at Amazon and other
ebook retailers.
"I am a big
fan of the Black Horse Westerns line and have read two of your [Chap O'Keefe]
books on Kindle. They were excellent! I'm looking forward to
reading more of your work."
– Austin Kaiser, PhD, Department of History, University of Oregon
In Denver, a shotgun blast brutally ends a man’s life and
sets in motion a deadly chain of events that threatens Joshua Dillard, drifting
detective and former Pinkerton agent. Hired by a beautiful woman to untangle
the mystery of her brother’s murder and bring the killer to justice, Joshua’s
investigation takes him to the raw and dangerous mining town of Silverville,
where he finds a web of deception, greed, lust, and violence. Aided only
by an eccentric hermit, Joshua will need all his cunning and gun-skill to
avoid being blasted to oblivion himself!
Inspired by the classic Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear, veteran
Western author Chap O’Keefe spins another exciting tale filled with action
and plot twists galore.
“Mr O’Keefe has reworked the plot of a Sherlock Holmes story as an exploit
of his ex-Pinkerton protagonist Joshua Dillard. The result is clever, atmospheric
and exciting.”
– The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
“The story opens with an epigraph from The Valley of Fear, and with good
reason: the book is a western, with plenty of color and atmosphere and violence,
and a mystery that will not be a surprise to those who have read and remember
Conan Doyle’s story.”
– Peter E. Blau, the Baker Street Irregulars, New York
A Kindle ebook available from Amazon HERE
A band of Apache bucks led by a charismatic hothead abandons reservation
life to go on a bloody rampage. In pursuit with Lieutenant Michael Covington’s
cavalry detail is civilian scout Jackson Farraday. But a showdown looms between
the pair when Jackson is misled by Lilian Goodnight, a harum-scarum youngster
who boasts the handle “Misfit Lil, Princess of Pistoleers.” After a clash
with the Apaches and the slaughter of an Army paymaster and his escort, Jackson
is fired. But his troubles are only just beginning when he’s framed for murder
by crooked Sheriff “Wheezer” Skene. Can Misfit Lil make amends by saving
her reluctant hero?
BONUS FEATURE: Heroines of the Wilder West
“A fast-paced book that relates the adventures of
independent-minded, tough cowgirl Lilian Goodnight. Lil is a fine horsewoman,
expert at roping calves and driving cows and is an excellent shot with a
pistol, too. Apparently, she can also out-cuss her father’s ranch-hands....
Most enjoyable and recommended.”
– Nik Morton, author of Write a Western in 30 Days
A Kindle ebook available from Amazon HERE
Drift Garrity followed a grueling cowboy life. Working the grub line,
poorly fed and without prospects, he determined to unravel the mysteries
of the deprived past that had made him what he was. His objective brought
him within a trigger-squeeze of death from Mad Dungaree Dan, a reclusive
ex-miner who lived in a mountain ghost town where he kept captive his two
beautiful daughters, Melissa and Isabella. Also to be tackled was Zack Emmett,
vicious range boss and one-time gunfighter. The trail would lead Drift to
dirty tricks, accusations, and finally to deadly gunplay amongst the ghost
town ruins.
“Highly recommended as an old-fashioned western thriller for fans everywhere.” – Midwest Book Review
A Kindle ebook available from Amazon HERE
"One
of my favorite characters in current Western fiction, Chap O'Keefe's freelance
range detective Joshua Dillard, returns in a novel originally published by
Robert Hale in 2005. It's now available in an inexpensive ebook edition and
is well worth reading.
"This novel delves into Joshua's past, flashing back to his days as a Pinkerton
operative when he was sent to a mining boom-town in Montana to corral a gang
of outlaws operating in the area. While he's tackling that job, he gets mixed
up in the schemes of a beautiful saloon entertainer and is unable to prevent
a deadly saloon robbery. The loot vanishes, and so does the songbird.
"Years later, after personal tragedy has led him to quit the Pinkertons and
embark on a hardscrabble life as a drifting troubleshooter, Joshua returns
to that same Montana town, which is still plagued with lawlessness. This
time he's hired as the local marshal, and a daring stagecoach robbery is
the first act in a chain of events that might give Joshua a chance to redeem
himself for his earlier failure—if he can survive a hail of outlaw lead.
"As usual, Chap O'Keefe (who is really Keith Chapman) throws in some nice
plot twists and packs the yarn he's spinning with plenty of gritty action.
The pace never falters, and The Lawman and the Songbird delivers top-notch Western entertainment. Highly recommended, as are all of Keith's books." – James Reasoner at Rough Edges
"Can't go wrong with Keith. Glad to hear this is out in ebook form." – David Cranmer
"Cool. Gonna go have a look at this." – Charles Gramlich
"I think I’m right in saying this is the fifth book in Chap
O’Keefe’s nine-book series about Joshua Dillard, but you don’t have to have
read any of the previous tales to fully enjoy this one. In this story Dillard
has more than met his match in Kate Thompson, who makes for a very strong
female lead character who seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. Having
said that the robbery she masterminds doesn’t quite go according to plan
and the chase is on.
"Chap O’Keefe once more presents the reader with a fast- paced book filled
with action and a twisting storyline. Never was it obvious how this tale
would end and the conclusion does come as a fitting surprise. As with all
of Chap O’Keefe’s books I’ve read this one left me eager for more. If you’ve
not read one of his books yet, then may I suggest this as an excellent introduction
to his extremely readable writing. – Steve M at Western Fiction Review
A Kindle ebook available from Amazon HERE
"Jim Hunter and Matt Harrison are best friends and the owners of the
once-thriving Double H ranch in Trinity Creek, Texas. Their
cowpunchers have heeded the call of the Civil War and now they are
trying to keep the enterprise afloat in lean times. It does not help
that the Double H’s cattle is a frequent target for rustlers and
that the sole remaining member of their crew is disabled
Mexican-American War veteran Walter Burridge.
"When the raiders take their pillaging a step further and burn the
ranch to the ground, killing Old Walt in the process, the partners
have no option but to leave the area and look for a job in the
nearby port city of Brownsville. Matt and Jim soon realize that the
war has also exerted its toll on the once-busy border town as work
is hard to come by. Matt, a Union sympathizer, joins the Northern
Army while the pro-Confederacy Jim chooses to stick around. He soon
hooks up with the sensuous Lena-Marie Baptiste and her brother Raoul
whom, among other business ventures, smuggle guns for the southern
forces.
"Peace at Any Price by Chap O'Keefe is the quintessential
action-packed Western .... Sparsely written and at times
frantically-paced, it introduces the characters with a few broad
strokes and then wastes no time in pitting them against all sorts of
challenges. Jim returns from the war but the Double H and Trinity
Creek no longer feel like home, not in the least because his former
darling Alice Cornhill has married someone else in the interim. Fate
leads him right back to the Baptistes, their dubious business
concerns and a face-to-face encounter with the ruthless Woodson
Waldrop, the man he suspects burnt down the Double H.
"In this age of bloated techno-thrillers and three-page chapters
designed not to upset MTV-addled attention spans, Peace at Any Price
is a refreshing story that delivers genuine, non-stop entertainment
... highly recommended."
– Saddlebums Western Review
A Kindle ebook available from Amazon HERE
OR depending on country of residence and other factors, the
Smashwords edition HERE may be a preferable option. Available formats: epub,
mobi (Kindle), pdf, rtf, lrf, pdb, txt
San Francisco was hot. Too hot for troubleshooter Joshua Dillard
after a vice lord drew a gun on him in a ritzy Russian Hill parlor
house and he was obliged to blast him down with his Peacemaker. So
Joshua brought forward a railroad trip to the wilds of Colorado
where he had a job lined up for him by a mysterious Leigh Jordan, of
New York City. In Colorado he was soon embroiled in more bloody
mayhem, this time with hostile attorney Walt Sloane and his thugs.
Enter a femme fatale needing his unorthodox services, take a ride
into the rugged foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and Joshua was
soon neck-deep in deception, deviancy, and murderous gunfire. The
facts that emerged concerning an abusive father, his adopted
daughter, and a contestable Manhattan inheritance fell into place to
tell an ugly story...
"Western gold. The Archive urges readers to support
the creative community by paying the meagre price for the book ... we can
guarantee you a damn good read. O'Keefe is a master of the genre." – Gary
Dobbs/Jack Martin at the Tainted Archive
"Joshua has to put it all together, survive several
murder attempts, and help a young woman stuck in the middle. As always, author
Chap O'Keefe gives us a fast-moving western tale and a satisfying read."
– Randy Johnson at Not the Baseball Pitcher
A Kindle eBook available from Amazon HERE.
Where was Emily
Greatheart? The pretty young lady from Denver had gone to
Arizona to meet her dead fiancé's mother and vanished. Only a
bloodstained jacket was found in an abandoned spring buggy
hired from the Pike's Crossing livery stable. Emily was the
daughter of Big Jack Greatheart, ex-marshal and one-time tamer
of brawling boom-towns.
But Big Jack lay in his bed in Colorado, frustratingly
crippled by arthritis
and a skeleton of his former self. So he called on
ex-Pinkerton detective Joshua Dillard. Joshua followed a cold
trail
and hot impulses into battle against ambitious cattleman Bart
Waller and
his gun-handy, womanizing son, Vincent. No wonder he was soon
up to his reckless
neck in two-fisted, lead-slinging trouble!
“As
usual, Chap O'Keefe (who's really veteran author and editor Keith Chapman,
as most of you already know) spins this tale in terse, no-nonsense prose
and skillfully throws in enough plot twists to keep things racing along to
a powerful climax. Joshua Dillard is a fine character, a dogged investigator
who's plenty tough when he needs to be, and his own tragic background adds
a touch of poignancy to his adventures. I've probably said this before, but
fifty years ago these books would have made good Gold Medal paperbacks or
Double D hardbacks.” – James Reasoner
“I always enjoy a skillfully written cross-genre novel.
Chap O'Keefe's Sons and Gunslicks is a Western/Mystery that
manages to hit the right notes in both genres.... Dillard himself is a great character, almost a frontier Mike
Hammer, who doesn't take crap off anyone and isn't above beating
up thugs for information when ratiocination fails. He's also a
standup guy who's looking out for those who can't look after
themselves, the classic tough/tender sleuth in a Stetson and duster.” – Charles Rutledge
A Kindle eBook available from Amazon HERE.
Paid to mind other folks’ business, Joshua Dillard did it with a .45
Colt Peacemaker. But he also had a mission of his own, and when Butch
Simich and his bunch stuck up the stage from Tucson he swung into
vengeful action. Stirring it along came Dorothy-May Pennydale, spirited
daughter of a whiskey-soaked way station boss. And in the thick of it
from the start was Clement P. Conway from New York City, hack writer of
dime novels – a greenhorn with guts plunging out of his depth. The fight
led into treacherous territory, up against rogue marshal Virgil Lyons
and saloonkeeper Dice Sanders, whose greed for women and money produced
mayhem ... and the most violent gun battle the one-horse town of
Hellyer’s Creek had ever seen!
“Chap
O’Keefe has assembled a terrific set of characters for this Joshua Dillard
novel that begins with a stagecoach robbery and then never lets up with action
until the end ... Dillard isn’t above making mistakes, and after being captured
by the stage robbers he’s left in a 'how’s he going to get out of this situation?'
that will keep any reader turning the pages to discover the answer. Shootout at Hellyer’s Creek
should appeal to all those who enjoy traditional westerns filled with non-stop
action, and at just under $3.00 / £2.00 how can you afford not to give
this a try?” – Steve M at Western Fiction Review
A Kindle eBook available from Amazon HERE.
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Be reading this western ebook in UNDER A MINUTE!
Be reading this
western ebook in
UNDER A MINUTE!
Be reading this
western ebook in
UNDER A MINUTE!
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