Gunsmoke

by T.T. Flynn

Book Overview

"Dead Man Deputy" finds Buckshot Bledsoe in Zamora, Mexico, looking for Jim Tennant, who was believed to be dead and buried. Rumors of a blue-eyed Mexican with a scarred face name Ponchito leads... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843962771
• ISBN13: 9780843962772
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.3" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

REPRINT OF STORIES FROM THE PULP MAGAZINE ERA

Anyone a member of the Leisure Books Western Book Club since February, 2000, has gotten a steady dose of stories from author T. T. Flynn (Thomas Theodore Flynn Jr.). Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he eventually through circumstance settled in New Mexico. There to write both mysteries and westerns for the pulp magazines of the era. Most western readers will know T. T. Flynn through either his very popular western novel THE MAN FROM LARAMIE or the 1955 movie by Anthony Mann with Jimmy Stewart of the same title. Mr. Flynn began his writing career when short stories were badly needed by the pulp magazine industry to fill their prodigious output, with Mr. Flynn eventually becoming one of the nation's best at what he did. His "highly inventive and innovative" writings were very popular for the audiences of that day. In fact some of his western stories were accepted for publication on 'idea' alone before they were even written or a title chosen. All of the 4 stories of this book come from that era, 1926, 1937, 1941, and 1945, with my favorite of this collection being "Lodeville Calls a Gun-Doctor" retitled for this collection as simply "Lodeville". Since the pulp magazine industry paid by the word Mr. Flynn probably received between $200 and $300 dollars for this short story. Very good money for that era, when a typical blue plate special lunch could be obtained for .25 cents or less. While all of these stories are worth the read, there exists a choppy or uneven style within certain spots of the stories. I suspect that since each pulp magazine and its editor had its strict, stylistic requisite formula for a story to be accepted for publication that might account for some of the unevenness or rougher style. That small personal observation aside, I enjoyed these stories from another era by one of the finer writers of that era. These stories were never meant to compete with the smoother written western novels that came later, after World War II when the book market rather than pulp magazine market reigned. I cannot say many of the old time western writers and their stories read as well as their later novels. They could expand and take more time with a novel and eventually receive more money for their work. Many writers of that time such as Walt Coburn, Louis L'Amour, Luke Short, Peter Dawson, Cliff Farrell, Bradford Scott, and T.T. Flynn among several others eventually went the route of the longer better paying novel. Louis L'Amour eventually reworked many of his earlier short stories from the pulp era into larger novels. Some of the stories from these ex-pulp authors changed rather significantly when they were rewritten as novels, in addition to Louis L'Amour contributing 4 Hopalong Cassidy novels as well. Every once and while one of those ex-pulp writer's novels would find its way to the movie screen as well. I'm a major reader of both fiction and non-fiction on the west and overall found the stories and the writing to hold both my intere

Entertaining Quartet of Western Stories!

Leisure Books brings together four stories/novellas by T. T. Flynn in this 2009 paperback. I have read various Flynn collections and had mixed reactions. GUNSMOKE, however, is a top-notch effort with four well-done stories with interesting characters and unique settings. The lead-off story is "Dead Man Deputy," an entertaining tale features Jim Tennant, a rancher thought dead who returns to seek revenge on a crooked banker and reclaim his lost love. Running from a posse with a trumped-up warrant, Shorty Burgess decides to help a mine-owner defend his mine from a double-dealing competitor in "Lodeville." "Shadow" is the nickname given George Washington Archibald Macgillicuddy, a railroad fireman whose drinking lands him in trouble. In "The Trail to Monterey," three grizzled mountain men join General Zachary Taylor fighting the Mexican Army in Texas but find even more danger from unexpected quarters. GUNSMOKE is a good sampling of Flynn's talents. The stories and characters are compelling and Flynn has a nice way with words. In "The Trail to Monterey," for example, he describes how one character "came up out of the harsh arroyo like a drifting memory." The man walks up to a house "quietly as the night's own hush" and so on. Nice touches to well-done stories. All four stories/novellas were originally published in Western pulps published in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. If you're looking for a good collection of Western stories, look no further. GUNSMOKE is a great choice. Recommended.

Outstanding fiction

Dorchester Books hits us with another great collection of T.T. Flynn fiction. This time, we get four novellas ripe for our dissemination. We get "Gunsmoke", "Lodeville", "Shadow",and "Trail to Monterey". These stories appeared in Wesetern Story, Star Western, 15 Western Tales, and Adventure Magazine from 1926 to 1945. Not only do we get scintillating fiction, but also hints of broader philosphical discussions in the characters. My favorite story is the title piece, which originally had no name until it was published. "Gunsmoke", not related to the TV/radio series, tells the story of Ponchito (Jim Tenant) and his need for revenge in the process salvaging a town, his love, and his good name. Triple motivations always make for tense showdowns, don't they? This book is highly recommended. Love the cover photograph. Tim Lasiuta