Saturday, January 28, 2017

New Bear Haskell!


MOUNT UP FOR AN EXCITING RIDE WITH A BRAND-NEW WESTERN SERIES IN THE SAME ADULT WESTERN VEIN AS LONGARM!

In fact, it’s written by a veteran Longarm writer...

Meet Bear Haskell, former union war hero, former Pinkerton agent, current deputy United States marshal, and lover of some repute.

Bear’s a big man--over six and a half feet tall and as broad as a barn door. He wears a necklace of bear claws taken from the grizzly that almost had him for supper. That’s the kind of man bear is. He’s holds a grudge and he gives no quarter--to grizzly bears or men.

Bear rides for Chief Marshal Henry Dade out of Denver’s First District Court.

In this fourth adventure, Henry Dade sends Haskell deep into the frozen bowels of Dakota Territory to solve a series of unexplained murders in the little town of Sioux Camp. Two of the town’s prominent businessmen and the postmaster have been gunned down. Tortured with bullets, in fact.

The county sheriff was also killed, and the first deputy U.S. marshal sent to investigate, from the territorial capitol in Bismarck, also met a grisly fate on the streets of Sioux Camp. So now it’s Haskell’s turn to investigate. On the way there, he meets the beautiful daughter of a prominent Dakota rancher, and they while away a stormy night in a storm-wracked hotel in Oxbow, in the best possible, toe-curling fashion.

When Haskell finally arrives in Sioux Camp, he finds the town’s sole lawman there to greet him. But the local lawman’s about as warm and accommodating as a side of frozen beef, for he’s hanging from a noose thrown over a beam in his office!

From there, Haskell’s visit to northern Dakota Territory continues to go even farther south. Things get crazier and even more dangerous when he meets up with a non-hibernating bruin while chasing a potential killer, and the beautiful Sioux madam who runs the local parlor house and calls herself Chance.

Oh, and there’s also Chance’s Sioux bodyguard, Jimmy Two Eagles, and his nasty sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun that threatens to give the nettled lawman from Denver a particularly nasty belly ache.


It’s all here, all-action western adventure in its rawest, fastest form—Bear Haskell, Bullets, Bruins & Lady Called Chance!

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Ti West Missed the Target


I was riveted to this one for 45 minutes. Great animated credit opening homage to the old spaghettis. Great setup. I thought I had a winner here. Then they killed the dog. Kill the girl or the dog and turn the story into yet another cliched vengeance quest, and you lose ole Mean Pete. Can't recommend it. More tired even than the zombie western. I hate it when they kill animals--not only because I'm an animal lover, but because it's a crutch for otherwise poor motivation and plotting. Uninspired writing. For crying in the queen's ale, come up with something fresh. It's not that effing hard! Ethan Hawk, John Travolta, and Taissa Farmiga were terrifically wasted in a poorly imagined and written script by Ti West, whose work--primarily his horror movies--I've admired in the past. This, however, misses the mark. If you raise money to make a western, make a good one.