Forthcoming Westerns: December 2007

It’s a holiday weekend here in the United States, so I’m posting December’s upcoming Western releases a little early this month. The list, while not quite as impressive as the last few months, is pretty darn good. We have the usual suspects—a new Longarm, Gunsmith, Trailsman, and Slocum—and we also have a new Western from literary writer Thomas Eidson, and the plot—see below for the synopsis—sounds pretty good.

Leisure Books is releasing Tim Champlin’s latest novel, Devil's Domain, The Penguin Group is releasing a new Ralph Compton novel written by David Robbins—the same guy who writes Wilderness—as well as a new Vigilante novel by Jory Sherman, and there are six new Black Horse Westerns scheduled for release in the U.K.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. And maybe I’ll see you in the Western section in the local bookstore. Happy reading.

Synopsis for Devil's Domain:

There was a reason people called Andersonville Prison hell on earth. With more than thirty thousand Union soldiers held captive in the worst conditions possible, death and disease were daily visitors. If scurvy or starvation didn’t kill them, the guards would. Sergeant John Mulroy knows he’ll die if he doesn’t find some way to escape. Problem is, even if he does get out, his closest ally suffers bouts of madness and just may murder him anyway….

November 27th

Devil's Domain by Tim Champlin
Wilderness #54: Pure of Heart by David Thompson
Shower of Gold by Zane Grey
The Soldier’s Way by Dane Coolidge

December 4th

Ralph Compton’s Blood Duel by Ralph Compton & David Robbins
St. Agnes’ Stand by Thomas Eidson
The Trailsman #314: North Country Cutthroats by Jon Sharpe
The Vigilante: Santa Fe Showdown by Jory Sherman
Preacher’s / Fury of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone
Rampage of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone

Synopsis for St. Agnes’ Stand:

July 1858: Nat Swanson, a bullet in his leg and bone-weary, flees across the New Mexico desert from a vengeful posse. Back in west Texas, he killed a man over a woman whose name he never knew, and now he’s on the run to California, his only hope for a new life the ranch deed in his pocket.

In a dry riverbed, Nat spots two overturned wagons surrounded by Apaches. The only sign of a survivor is his quick glimpse of an old woman’s face–a face that forces a stark decision. Nat can ride on and save himself, or stay and try to save the stranded and doomed party. Sister St. Agnes, huddled between the wagons with her fellow nuns and the orphans in their care, somehow knows that God will answer her prayers and send a savior to deliver them from evil.As death shadows the dusty arroyo, the forsaken canyon becomes a place of destiny where a courageous nun and an embattled man confront their fates together.

December 12th

Doubtful Canon by Johnny D. Boggs
Outlaws from Afar by Max Brand

December 15th

The Shopkeeper by James D. Best

Synopsis for The Gunsmith #313: Wildfire:

After a posse mistakes Clint Adams for a murdering pyromaniac who's scorched a path from Texas to New Mexico, he joins them on their hunt for the match-happy madman.

December 18th

The Gunsmith #313: Wildfire by J.R. Roberts
Longarm #350: Longarm and the Hangtree Vengeance by Tabor Evans
Slocum #347: Slocum’s Four Brides by Jake Logan

December 24th

The Flying Wagon by Ian Parnham
Lone Survivor by V.S. Meszaros

December 26th

The Horses: The Journey of Jim Glass by Bill Brooks

December 30th

Barbary Coast Gundown by James Gordon White
Find Madigan! By Hank J. Kirby
Justice for Crockett by Dale Graham
The Legend and the Man by Ben Nicholas
The Modoc Kid by Mark Bannerman
The Night Riders by Matt Laidlaw
Outcasts of Rebel Creek by Frank Bonham & Bill Pronzini
Sharpshooters and the Rainman by Ron Watkins
Twisted Bars by Max Brand
Wyoming Showdown by Jack Edwardes

Synopsis of The Bull Chop:

Jude Linsey is a young man who is content to live off his rich father's allowance. He ekes out the money in and out of Spooner's Drift by gambling, or fishing and hunting beaver in the high creeks of Shell Mountain. Then the town's bank gets robbed, and Jude is suddenly aware there's a chance to redeem himself with his family and friends. But the deceitful Sheriff Ingram Bere has to be considered: a man with a covetous eye and more than a lawful interest in Jude's welfare. To mull over his predicament, Jude takes to the timberline with his saddle-broke roan. But events change, and Jude has little choice but to pit his wits and guns against Bart and Dooley Susans' gang of hard-nosed, desperate killers.

Black Horse Westerns

December 31st

Manhunt in Quemado by Daniel Rockfern
Desolation Pass by Lance Howard
Hammer of God by Phillip McCormac
The Bull Chop by Abe Dancer
Wilde Country by Tyler Hatch
Judge Parker's Lawmen by Elliot Conway