Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Hell and Gone

It’s all about the western right now and just to continue the theme, my story HELL AND GONE is up at THE BIG ADIOS today. I submitted this one back in the summer and I guess Ron Earl Phillips and Ryan Sayles must have liked it, because not only did they agree to publish it, but I also got offered an editors chair. I’m grateful for both.

The story is set on the Kansas / Missouri border towards the end of the Civil War. I have long been fascinated by this period of America's history and especially by the bloody, brutal and often short lives of the Missouri Guerrillas under the command of William Quantrill and Bill Anderson. These men rode hard, fought hard and ultimately died hard. Some of those who survived the war went on to become notorious outlaws such as Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger. There is no doubt that the Guerrillas put a lot of the blood into 'Bloody Kansas', although to many living across the state line in Missouri they were seen as heroes, rather than murderers. I think the truth probably lays somewhere in the middle.  

HELL AND GONE introduces the character of Mitchel McCann; a preacher with Southern sympathies who worships his own particular kind of religion.  You’ll be seeing a lot more of him and his adopted daughter, Justice in my novella GOSPEL OF THE BULLET, which will be out sometime early next year. But for now go and get yourself to HELL AND GONE. I hope you dig it.

 

2 comments:

  1. History that continues to fascinate me too, Chris. When folks ask what more is there to write about the Old West, I laugh. We've only just started! The African American, Chinese American, Native American, etc hasn't even been scratched yet. When the name Bass Reeves rolls off American tongues like Wyatt Earp then maybe we can say were halfway there.
    Congrats on your story at The Big Adios. A favorite webzine of mine.

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    1. Thanks David. You’re absolutely right, there is so much more to tell. The western genre isn’t played out as some might like to suggest; we are only just getting started.

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