J.T. Edson stand alone books

We are well-aware just how popular J.T. Edson is with our readers and we have gathered those stand alone novels we have agreements for.  With a brilliant new book cover design we are happy to share with you the first of these titles. I'm sure that you will agree that they look really great.

At the moment, the publication date is still to be confirmed (although it will be in 2016) but when it does, we will let you know.

Introducing our new mid-month Books

As you know, we do like to give you a great choice. Each month we've published eight titles but as from December we are introducing a ninth title published on the 15th of the month. And to kick start this, we are proud to announce the first series will be BUNDUKI by J.T. Edson with cover artwork from Tony Masero.

To promote the series, until January 14 2016 it can be found at Smashwords with a 40% discount making it just $1.19. When ordering use the coupon quote of TD76A. You can order any format.

For those of you who do not know or even not heard about this new world fantasy series, here's a little background:


Bunduki was a 1975 novel by J. T. Edson, and the first work in the Bunduki series that followed. Edson explained in his introduction to the Bunduki story in J.T.'s Hundreth that he was a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan series and created a new Tarzan story. The story was rejected by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., as it had been Burrough's wish that no one else write about his famous creation. It was not until Edson read Philip José Farmer's Tarzan Alive (see below) that he saw a way to use his story and created Tarzan's adopted son Bunduki.

James Allenvale 'Bunduki' Gunn was adopted by John Clayton, Lord Greystoke (aka Tarzan) and Jane Porter at the age of two, after his parents were murdered on their plantation by rebels during the Mau Mau Uprising. As James grew up he was trained at the jungle Ambagasali Game Preserve. He was given the nickname Bunduki, the Swhali word for gun. James' birth father was a descendant of Sir Henry Curtis who explored Africa with Allan Quatermain. His mother – Allison Dawn 'Tex' Gunn – was the granddaughter of Texan Mark Counter. James' parents served with Dawn's parents in 'Group Thirteen', a Special Missions Organization of the Secret Intelligence Service during World War II.

Dawn Drummond-Clayton is the daughter of Sir John Armond Drummond-Clayton (himself the son of Korak and Lady Meriem) and Lady Hazel Drummond-Clayton. Through Korak, Dawn is also the grandniece of Capt. Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond. Dawn is a graduate of the Roedean School, and an expert in martial arts, wilderness survival, athletics, gymnastics, swimming, and fencing. Like her husband, she is unaging and immune to tropical diseases and parasitic infections, thanks to a treatment received courtesy of her great-grandfather Tarzan. In the 1970s she was transported along with her mate to the planet Zillikian by aliens known as 'Suppliers'. She uses a Ben Pearson Marauder Take-Down hunting bow and a Randall Model 1 fighting knife.



Zillikian is a counter-Earth planet (i.e. located at the L3 Lagrange point which is opposite the Sun in the same orbit as Earth). The planet is very similar to Earth in climate and wildlife, albeit without the industrialization of Humans that Earth has. In the opening to Bundukithe main protagonists are transported from Earth to Zillikian. It is also revealed that the remainder of the Greystoke clan has gone to live in Pellucidar. Bunduki and Dawn are appointed by the God-like Suppliers to act as the judge and jury for all Zillikian without being sanctioned by the tribes on the planet. They battle warring factions of the Quagga tribe bent on conquering all of Zillikian.

Philip José Farmer In 1972, Philip José Farmer published Tarzan Alive, where he postulated that many pulp and adventure heroes like Tarzan, Doc Savage, Sherlock Holmes, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Shadow were all part of the same family that Farmer referred to as the Wold Newton Family. This concept of a family of adventurers and an interconnected series of exploits was very influential. In 1975, J.T. Edson built on Farmer's theories for his Bunduki series and expanded his own Hardin Blaze and Fog clan and Counter families with several new series Bunduki, Ole Devil Hardin and Company Z series, increasing the interconnections between all of his series. Edson also began to reference Farmer's genealogical research in his novels. Farmer acknowledged this in one of his novels by referencing one of Edson's characters Dusty Fog and making him a distant relative of the Wold Newton Family. source

Short stories
Edson also wrote short stories featuring Bunduki and Dawn set pror to their transportation to Zillikian.

The Mchawi's Powers J.T.'s Hundreth, Corgi 1979

Death to Simba Nyeuse J.T.'s Ladies, Corgi 19809

Accident-or Murder? More J.T.'s Ladies, Corgi 1987

A Good Time Was Had By All Mark Counter's Kin, Corgi 1990

Unpublished
Edson had also written a fifth book, The Amazons of Zillikian but due to ongoing issues with ERB Inc. this novel was never published.

Whether it might see the light of day remains to be seen.

You can pre-order the first two titles right now at Amazon and Smashwords.

Kevin Corcoran "Old Yeller" Dies aged 66

Kevin Corcoran, best known to generations of film fans as the youngest brother in the classic, emotionally devastating Disney kids film Old Yeller, has died at 66, his family confirmed today. Corcoran enjoyed a career as a child actor before transitioning as an adult to a career behind the camera, working in various capacities on numerous films and television shows, including Pete’s Dragon, and most recently as a producer on Sons of Anarchy.

Born in Santa Monica, California, Corcoran got his start in a small role in The Glen Miller Story in 1954, quickly establishing himself as a child actor playing several different, yet similar characters all called “Moochie” in various Disney productions. He would play different versions of “Moochie” throughout the 1950s, and among his roles during this period were appearances in three Mickey Mouse Club serials, episodes of the series of television shorts Spin and Marty, and The Shaggy Dog.

These roles helped establish a long relationship with Disney, for whom Corcoran appeared in many productions as other characters, often as the young sidekick to the main character. In Pollyanna, he played the title character’s friend Jimmy Bean; He played the youngest son, Francis, in Swiss Family Robinson; and he played James Boone in the 1960 Daniel Boone miniseries, among many others. But it was his critical appearance as Arliss Coates in Old Yeller (1957) that cemented his legacy. In the film, Old Yeller’s rabies-driven attempt to bite Arliss is what forces his older brother Travis to put the dog down.

New author acquired: Bruce Clark aka E.R. Slade

We are pleased to announce that we have acquired the eBook rights to some of the works written by E.R. Slade. E.R .Slade is the pen name under which Bruce Clark writes Westerns. He is also the author, under his own name, of DEATHSTALK, and TALES OF MARITIME MAINE. He lives on a farm, where he grows a large vegetable garden, cuts firewood for the stove, and writes on an old manual typewriter.

We begin with THE MARSHAL OF WHITBURG, released on December 1, 2015 and will be available for the low price of just .99c until January 01 2016.

 

The covers to his books have been provided by the wonderful artist, Ed Martin.

Pay a visit to his dedicated author page over at the website:

"The Revenant" with Leonardo DiCaprio. Aiming at the Old West.

Okay, nothing to do with our publishing outfit but it's good to know that the Old West still has a big screen presence.

Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio take on the tale of American mountain man Hugh Glass in The Revenant, which 20th Century Fox is ramping up for a December 25 limited bow before going wide January 8. The survival tale follows explorer Glass and his hunting team as they chart and do battle in the wilds of the early 1820s Western frontier.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The tale as depicted here, based on true events, may take some liberties — DiCaprio’s Glass has a son in the film, which fuels in part his thirst for revenge, and after being mauled by a bear (that really did happen) it is his own confidant (Tom Hardy) he seeks out for betraying him. Those are trifles compared with the big picture, literally: this ambitions pic is a gorgeously shot sweeping epic, with stunning panoramic takes that puts the frontier front-and-center as a main character DiCaprio must confront as he heals from his massive wounds to exact his own pound of flesh — and after what he’s been through, he could use some spare flesh.

Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter also co-star in Gonzalez Iñárritu’s follow-up to his Oscar Best Picture winner Birdman, from the screenplay by Mark L. Smith and Gonzalez Iñárritu and based in part on the 2003 novel by Michael Punke.

Check out the trailer

Hi Ho, Silver - away!

On this day, Sept. 15, 1949, The Lone Ranger—starring Clayton Moore, and Jay Silverheels as Tonto—premiered on ABC television and ran until September 12, 1957. Moore appeared in about 170 episodes between 1949 and 1957.
Read more over at Western Fictioneers ....

Clayton Moore

For John Harvey - HART is where the home is....

As HART THE REGULATOR series draws to an end when we publish #10 THE SKINNING PLACE in January 2016, John Harvey takes the time to reflect on writing #9 CALIFORNIA BLOODLINES out 01 October, 2015, in his blog In a Mellotone Rides Again!
Check out the link:

https://straight75nochaser.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/in-a-mellotone-rides-again/

Purchase from these Retailers

A letter from Anchorage

It brings a smile to our faces when we receive emails from our readers. Like this one:

 

Dear Sirs:

               In the last week you have made my heart sing and my memories go back 30+ years.  I use Barnes and Noble only as my e-book provider.  I had in years past purchased seven J T Edson that were in Nook book format.  To my great surprise this week when I did a search I discovered eight new Nook books.  Needless to say I immediately ordered all seven..

               I am greatly looking forward to the continuing release of his books.  I also want to compliment you on the fact that you are keeping costs down.  I recently expressed my deep resentment in charging over 13 dollars for an e-book that the editor purposely released only in e-book and hard bound form to keep the costs up.  It was of course further complicated that it was a continuing series and they neglected to tell in advance that it was being completed by someone else since the author was deceased. 

               I hope you continue to release as many of the Fog, Hardin, Waco and numerous other series as you can.  I said the memories because I read and fell in love with Dusty that 30 plus years ago and it is just like coming home.

 

Please keep up the good work and should the estate care I am a faithful reader just happy to return.

 

Sincerely,

Sharon Kuhn

Anchorage, AK

 

Thank you very much, Sharon. we appreciate you taking the time to pay us those compliments. It took some time getting the J.T. Edson name into our stable of authors, but I'm glad our persistence paid off.

JULY TITLES

JULY PUBLICATIONS include:

TOUGH BULLET - Carmody #3 by Peter McCurtin
VISION QUEST - Cheyenne #4 by Judd Cole
YOU'RE IN COMMAND NOW, MR FOG - Dusty Fog's Civil War #2 by J.T. Edson
THE GHOST OF BILLY THE KID - Clint Adams the Gunsmith by J.R. Roberts
THE TRAIL ENDS AT HELL by John Benteen
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN/LURE OF THE WILD - Wilderness #1 by David Robbins
SUNDANCE - Herne the Hunter #12 by John J McLaglen
LAWMAN'S SUNSET - The Gunsmith #403 by J.R. Roberts

ALL AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER FROM ALL GOOD OUTLETS

Piccadilly Publishing 3 Years on....

It was on May 9th 2012 that we published our first book: Trackdown (Bodie the Stalker #1) by Neil Hunter.

Little did we know that this would blaze the trail that lead us to today (6th May 2015) where, in the UK Western charts our titles take 5 out of the 10 top positions.

 

This only strengthens what Dave and I had thought all along - the Western is far from dead. For The Ysabel Kid Amazon comments run from ...

"Loved it! It was great being able to read J T Edson on my kindle. I can't wait to receive the entire series from the civil war through to rebuilding Texas, the floating outfit series and the 'modern' law makers (descendants of Dusty, Mark and the Isobel Kid etc.). Please, please, please make them all available and very soon. I am one of Edson's most loyal fans."

to ...

"At last JT Edson released as ebooks, I hope they eventually release all of them. I have loved Dusty Fog, the Kid, Mark and all the other characters since I was a teenager. One small niggle is that someone appears to have done a bit of a hatchet job on some of less pc parts of the book, for example those who have read the original books know that the Kid's horse was not called Thunder, these were written in the 60's and certain words used then wouldn't be used now but I thought it was part of their charm."

 

The above is referring to the fact that we changed the name of the horse from Nigger to Thunder. A decision not taken lightly. We haven't gone all P.C. as characters do use the "N" word. That's how they speak, that is their chatracter. But to use it outside that context, we felt wasn't appropriate.

 

Here at Piccadilly Publishing we are proud of what we have achieved. It certainly has exceeded our original expectations. Our Western series cover various subject matters ranging from the traditional Ranch Western (Storm by Matt Chisholm); a Civil War vetern in search of his lost love (The Searcher by Len Levinson); JT Edson's oeuvre; the West through the eyes of a half-breed (Sundance by John Benteen and Cheyenne by Judd Cole); famous figures (Wild Bill by Judd Cole); turn of the century men's action (Fargo by John Benteen); adult Westerns (Gunsmith by J.R. Roberts) and here we are privileged to take over the series at #400 and print original eBooks. Plus lots more.

 

We've tried over genres: war, French Foreign Legion, science fiction and detective novels. But they've never proved as popular as our Westerns. It doesn't mean we will stop dipping our hand into other genres - you can never tell what will hit the sweet spot with readers.

 

We could never have done this without the support of you readers out there. So, we are sending out a big thank you.

 

Here's to the next three years.

 

Best

Mike

 

 

 

OUR MAN CLINT The Gunsmith Continues

OUR MAN CLINT

The Gunsmith Continues

By Robert J. Randisi, aka J.R. Roberts

            It was a bloodbath, probably fitting, given how long adult westerns and mens adventure paperbacks have been spilling blood within their pages.  But in one fell swoop publishers, with seeming disregard for the readers—or the readers that were left, anyway—cancelled all the Adult Western series—notably the long running Longarm and Gunsmith series—and mens adventure series—most notably, the Mack Bolan series.  This move, as of April of 2015, will not only rob loyal readers of the adventures of Custis Longarm and Mack Bolan, but will also put entire stables of writers out of work. Both series, along with many others, were written by multiple writers, having supplied work for many working writers for a good 40 years.  In fact, the Adult Western genre not only invigorated the western genre and kept it alive, but provided income for dozens of writers over the years. And now it’s the end of an era for all of them . . .

            . . . except The Gunsmith.

            Why?

            Very simple answer. For the most part, the Gunsmith was created and written by one man. When Charter Books contacted me in 1981 and asked me if I could create an Adult Western series for them, I jumped at the chance.  I created a bible and, when it was approved, signed a two book contract.  Then a contract for a third.  And then they called me and said they wanted to go into the genre whole-heartedly, and could I write a book a month.  I was 30 years old, had no idea if I could write a book a month, but I said “Yes!”

            I started writing under the pseudonym J.R. Roberts.  When I attended my first Western convention I discovered what anomaly the Gunsmith and I were. There were several other monthly adult westerns running at the time, and they were being written by three or four writers under a single house name. A “house name” is a name used by many authors on one series.  My “J.R. Roberts” nom de-plume was a pseudonym used by one person, not a house name. (It was only after Berkley Books purchased Charter Books and wanted to keep the Gunsmith going that they asked if they could hire two more writers, just to build up an inventory. The writers were to be approved by me, and I was to own even those books which I did not write, and receive a royalty. It made me even more of an anomaly in the genre. Once we had built up a one year inventory, I went back to writing all the books.).

            And I have done so since then, for over 32 years.  Gunsmith #1: Macklin’s Women came out in January of 1982, and there has been a Gunsmith every month since then.  Berkley Books decided to end of the run in April of 2015 with #399, and I was given enough warning so that I was able to place the series elsewhere and assure that Gunsmith #400 would appear in May of 2015, with no break in the action.  They will appear with a new cover design in ebook for from Piccadilly Publishing, and in paperback from Western Trailblazers.   And Our Man Clint will go on appearing in a book a month for as long as my flying fingers can flex.

            So to those loyal Gunsmith readers who pick up up each and every month, you may continue to do so, with heartfelt thanks from me, and from Our Man Clint Adams.

            I should also thank Charter Books, where it all started, and then Berkley Books, which has kept the series going all these years, as we all move on to the next bend in the road.

Pre-Order from Amazon.com

Pre-Order from Smashwords/Barnes & Noble/ Kobo etc.

Check out the page on Piccadilly Publishing website for more.

THE GUNSMITH LIVES ON

THE LEGEND OF CLINT ADAMS, THE GUNSMITH, LIVES ON IN ALL-NEW MONTHLY ADVENTURES FROM PICCADILLY PUBLISHING!!

The Gunsmith 400: THE LINCOLN RANSOM is now ready to pre-order from all eBook platforms. Publication date April 01, 2015.

The story: When Abraham Lincoln's body is stolen from his Tomb and held for ransom by men who can't admit that the South lost the Civil War, who else would the Government ask to pay the ransom and recover the body but The Gunsmith? Facing a small army led by a former Confederate Colonel and his sexy wife, Clint Adams turns to the only person he can to watch his back, his friend, private detective Talbot Roper. Together they fight to recover Lincoln's body and prove that the South is truly dead.

Sales of printed books fall ...

According the Guardian's article published on January 13, 2015, sales of printed adult fiction have declined by over £150m since 2009, new figures show, as ebooks take an increasingly large bite out of the market.
The adult fiction market was the worst-performing of all areas of the book business, down by 5.3% in 2014 to £321.3m, with volume sales down 7.8% to 50.7m. In 2009, printed adult fiction was worth £476.16m.
“The ebook has quite demonstrably hit the commercial end of the fiction market,” said the Bookseller’s editor Philip Jones. “Almost any drop in adult fiction sales can mainly be put down to the migration to digital, which is obviously still continuing. We think consumer ebooks this year will be worth £350m, with most big publishers reporting ebook growth of double digits – and almost all of that will be in fiction.”
And the piece of news that had me smiling was:
Within adult fiction, there was growth for three unexpected categories: short stories, westerns and graphic novels.
Now why am I not surprised that Westerns are in there?
Since PP began, we have added to our stable (okay bad pun) and the list of authors and series continue to grow. We've seen series with low sales and series with high sales and series I'd thought would bomb but had done the reverse. We've been a gnat whisker away from deals and gotten deals I'd thought would be neigh on impossible. But there is still a market out there for Westerns. And, boy, am I glad. We are now scheduling books into 2018, so there is much more to come for the Western fiction fan. And long may you read them.

The name's Brand, Jason Brand and I'm back!

How about this for a start to 2015?
 

We are VERY happy indeed to report that we have just managed to persuade Mike Linaker(Neil Hunter) to continue writing all-new adventures starring JASON BRAND and BODIE THE STALKER - including the long-awaited Brand/Bodie team-up, TWO GUNS NORTH!

The first of the new JASON BRAND westerns will appear in April, and is called HIGH KILL.