Review Roundup: Ed Gorman's Balancing Act

Dead Man’s Gun and Other Western Stories
By Ed Gorman
The Western Fictioneers Library, April 2013
$2.99: Kindle, ASIN B00CLTS6MC; Nook, BIN 2940016582924
128 pages

Though he’s better known for his crime, mystery, and horror fiction, Ed Gorman is no slouch at writing westerns, either. Gorman’s spare style and uncomplicated prose make it easy to imagine the author as a storyteller in the oral tradition, forced to put pen to paper during an attack of laryngitis.

Perhaps nowhere is that better expressed than in the new anthology Dead Man’s Gun and Other Western Stories. The collection of nine short tales and one brief treatise entitled “Writing the Modern Western” provides eloquent evidence of the author’s exceptional range in storytelling. More than range, though, Gorman’s short stories display the author’s uncommon ability to dig into the darkest recesses of the human psyche and expose the thin lines separating good and evil, bravery and cowardice, love and hate, pride and shame. The way Gorman’s characters balance on those lines — always in danger of falling to one side or the other — will make readers alternately shudder and rejoice.

No matter how uncomfortable the thought may be, Ed Gorman knows us all. Gazing into his mirror is undeniably uncomfortable, yet oddly liberating. “Dead Man’s Gun” will resonate with anyone who’s ever wanted revenge. Writers and movie buffs will relate to “Pards,” a bittersweet tale about a middle-aged, unsuccessful writer who finds a spiritual twin in an aging matinee icon. “The Face,” a Civil War story, is an atmospheric, psychological study of men under pressure, inexorably sliding into madness. “Mainwaring’s Gift” is at once sad and romantic and hopeful. “Gunslinger,” “Blood Truth,” and “Dance Girl” are equally compelling, each in its own way.

Though all the stories take place in the 19th century American west, it’s difficult to define Dead Man’s Gun and Other Western Tales as simply “western.” Fans of psychological horror, crime, and mystery will find much to enjoy in this volume, as well.

Read the book.


Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and a novelist in training. Her opinions are her own and are neither endorsed nor necessarily supported by Western Fictioneers or individual members of the organization. The publisher provided a review copy of Dead Man's Gun and Other Western Tales.

The Western Fictioneers Library --Three Fantastic Western Reprints

DEAD MAN'S GUN & OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Ed Gorman

From acclaimed author Ed Gorman and the Western Fictioneers Library comes this powerful collection of Western stories, many of which have never been reprinted. This volume includes the stories "Dead Man's Gun", "Pards", "The Old Ways", "The Face", "Gunslinger", "Guild and the Indian Woman", "Mainwaring's Gift", "Blood Truth", "Dance Girl", and the article "Writing the Modern Western". Gorman's unforgettable stories feature fine writing, compelling characters, and an undeniable sense of authenticity and realism. You can feel the cold, smell saddle leather and gunsmoke, mourn along with the tragedy-haunted men and women who populate Ed Gorman's West. Read DEAD MAN'S GUN and see why Ed Gorman is one of today's most honored Western authors.

FINDING NEVADA by Frank Roderus

Frank Roderus's critically acclaimed, award-winning Harrison Wilke trilogy comes to a rousing conclusion in FINDING NEVADA, which finds reluctant hero Harrison embroiled in a dispute over a potentially valuable gold mine. From Denver's high society to the rough-and-tumble mining camp of Goldfield, Nevada, Harrison has to navigate a treacherous path that includes murder, action, and romance. The Western Fictioneers Library presents another classic traditional Western novel from one of the most popular authors of our time! The order of this trilogy is Leaving Kansas, Reaching Colorado, then Finding Nevada.

GUN FOR HIRE by Jory Sherman

A fortune in gold dust, two beautiful women, a pair of deadly bushwhackers gunning for him, a dangerous blizzard, an avalanche, and an unknown plotter masterminding murder and robbery . . . These are just some of the things Clay Brand has to deal with when he signs on to guard gold shipments coming down from the mining country in California's San Bernardino Mountains. But before Clay can get to the bottom of the violence plaguing the mountains, he'll have to shoot straight and fast and escape the unexpected menace of a lynch mob!  Available again for the first time in more than thirty years, GUN FOR HIRE is the first Western ever written by acclaimed author and poet Jory Sherman, who has been honored with lifetime achievement awards from both Western Fictioneers and Western Writers of America. It's a classic action-packed novel filled with suspense and also includes a new introduction by the author written especially for this volume in the Western Fictioneers Library. 

           
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