A ride down a supposedly familiar trail takes some unexpected turns.
Gunmen. A novella by Timothy Friend, One Eye Press LLC, 95 pp., 2015.
This is the sort of yarn that used to get made into good, tight, low-budget Westerns back in the ’70’s with actors like Warren Oates, Peter Fonda or Jack Nicholson. Two men, stuck with ownership of the least popular bar in a dying mine town, see a way out by bringing in a wanted man for his bounty. The man is caught and killed and that’s when things really start to go downhill for Owen Ashe and Charley Brittle.
Timothy Friend, the author, hasn’t devised anything particularly new as far as plot goes. Several elements could be characterized as fairly stock, two protagonists who are basically drifters who take the wrong trail to a passel of trouble, a soiled dove prostitute who does double duty as a hostage, and even the religious fanatic patriarch of an outlaw band. Where Friend’s originality lies is in the distinctive individuality he gives to his characters and the life that they bring to the dialogue and action that make up the novella. Dottie the prostitute is anything but a generic character. She’s a real person with a recognizable personality. The way she acts and behaves throughout the novella is consistent with that personality. The same holds true for other characters, especially the narrator Owen Reade and his take no prisoners partner, Charley Brittle. Friend also has a real talent for depicting violence, another vitally important skill for western fiction writers. His shootouts are abrupt, incredibly bloody, and believable. He has the old pulp writers’ knack for setting up a story that makes it very difficult to put down. I read the novella in one sitting and enjoyed it thoroughly.
This would make a good read on a short trip or while commuting to work. American newsstands used to be filled with magazines and paperbacks that offered just such entertainment. This is no longer the case. People who want this sort of thing have to hunt for it nowadays. That’s why if you like blazing Western action, you couldn’t do much better than to order a copy of Gunmen.
https://www.amazon.com/Gunmen-One-Eye-Press-Singles/dp/0692459413