I hate to do this to y’all, I really do. Hate to do it to myself. Every one of us has a TBR pile that’s too damn tall and a book budget that’s too damn small. But what am I supposed to do when Deuce Richardson sends me a very fine feature on a thriller writer who gives a nod to Allan Quatermain? One who’s CV reads:
…former ranch hand, wilderness guide, dogsled musher, and hunter. He spent his childhood summers growing up on his great-grandfather’s homestead or in a remote cabin in Colorado’s Flat Tops wilderness. He has earned a number of sharpshooter and marksman qualifications.
One who cribbed the title of his debut book from a Kris Kristofferson song?
That’s right, I’m gonna post about it. And I’m gonna walk across the street to the library (they’ve got it) and check this sucker out and I’m gonna read it, like, NOW, despite the fact that I’ve got “work” related reading to do. Cuz I LIKE this guy, this Erik Storey. Another uncategorizable Frontier Partisan maverick with a taste for wilderness, guns and the written word.
Sixteen years. That’s how long Clyde Barr has been away from Colorado’s thick forests, alpine deserts, and craggy peaks, running from a past filled with haunting memories. But now he’s back, having roamed across three continents as a hunter, adventurer, soldier of fortune, and most recently, unjustly imprisoned convict. And once again, his past is reaching out to claim him.
By the light of a flickering campfire, Clyde receives a frantic phone call from his sister Jen. No sooner has she pleaded with him to come rescue her than the line goes dead. Clyde doesn’t know how much time he has, or where Jen is located, or even who has her. All he knows is that nothing short of dying will stop him from saving her.
Joining Clyde in his against-all-odds quest is a young woman named Allie whose motivations for running this gauntlet are fascinatingly complex. As the duo races against the clock, it is Allie who gets Clyde to see what he has become and what he can still be.
Vivid with the hues and scents of Colorado’s backcountry, and thought-provoking in its exploration of how past, present, and future collide to test resolve, Nothing Short of Dying is, above all, a propulsive, action-driven race against the clock.
You know, there’s nothing short of dying half as lonesome as the sound of the teetering bedside book pile — TBR tower coming down.
deuce says
I just put this info out there. It seemed like an author who was simultaneously a fan of Haggard, Tolkien and L’Amour was worth checking out. What others do with that info…
JimC says
Yeah, go ahead, evade responsibility. Enabler.
Keith West says
You, sir, are an enabler.
Craig Rullman says
Fantastic. I’m completely in. Thanks for sharing this.
Paul McNamee says
Wishlist .. collapsing ..into … singularity!
JimC says
Yeah, sorry….
Keith West says
Suurree you are…
Matthew says
Seems interesting. He has been compared to Joe Lansdale who I love and Lee Child who I always thought as greatly overrated.
JimC says
Same on both counts. You only need to read one Jack Reacher, really.
J.F. Bell says
I tried reading Lee Child. I really did. Got (I think) four books into the string and realized a couple of things:
– After the third, I could no longer tell the plot of one from another. Child has two stories, at most, and while he does occasionally stumble into an interesting situation it’s more often he’s recycling the same material.
– Child does absolutely ZERO research and has a handful of thin-worn excuses as to why this is the case.
– When he wasn’t getting the details wrong, he was generally pissing me off being self-rightous Eurotrash…frankly, I’m not sure I’ve ever found an author that actively disdains the lion’s share of his readers the way Child does. This seems a questionable strategy to me – but then, I’m not a Famous Author, so what do I know?
Life’s too short to read crappy literature.
Matthew says
Child once claimed he smoked weed before writing. Having read his books that does not surprise me. Jack Reacher is what in fan fiction circles is called a Mary Sue (or since he’s male Gary Stew or Marty Stew) a perfect in every way character. Yet, a lot of people seem to think he’s a very realized character.
About the research, if people who pump out Executioner novels in about three months can do research, he can do research.
J.F. Bell says
The Mary Sue/Gary Stu. If ever there was a creature that needed killing… What caliber for literary abominations? And were does this mythical creature lair? I sense a field exercise in the offing.
Sadly, I believe they’ve expanded well beyond the fanfic crowd. They’re a universal pestilence now.
deuce says
Doug Preston seems to be the side of the Preston-Child thing who makes any of it readable. He’s a Howard and A. Merritt fan, as I recall.
deuce says
WHOOOPS. Confusing Lee and Lincoln Child there. Probably because I’ve never read the Reacher books, but I have read a couple of the Preston-Child novels. I still stand by what I said about Preston.
J.F. Bell says
No argument. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a Doug Preston book, but I’ve read most of the P&C offerings and some of Lincoln Child’s solo efforts. It’s the reading equivalent of ‘solve for X’ to figure out who carries the lion’s share in that arrangement.
Matthew says
People get Lee and Lincoln mixed up all the time. Sometimes I do myself.
I tend to run hot or cold on the Pendergast books. Pendergast reminds me of a old time pulp hero like The Shadow, but some of the books are definitely better than the others. Blue Labyrinth was a real let down (an evil PMC that did not become cliche real fast); but I liked Crimson Shore their tribute to Lovecraft. I haven’t read the newest one.
Breaker Morant says
Well, the last laugh is on you. I have 107 books on my “Frontier Partisans” wishlist at Amazon. Not all of them come from here-but they fit the theme. So it will be way down at 108, how do you like those apples?
We won’t even talk about the 1,000 books I have on my regular Wishlist-many of which probably should be in the Frontier Partisans list.
Gol-darn-it. I happen to be taking the kids to their high school trap shooting practice in the town where the library has this book. Hopefully, I can forget the name of the book as I enter the library. Barring that, it will be read very soon. Sounds too good, not to be moved up.
JimC says
That would be Nothing Short Of Dying. Erik Storey. You’re welcome.
There’s probably a 12 Step program, but I haven’t hit bottom yet.
In all seriousness, the fact that you have a FP wish list tickles me beyond expression. Love it!
And BTW High School trap shooting is a glorious thing.
Black Tyrone says
Truth? Truth? You can’t handle the truth! Jack Nicholson My collection includes few PBs but if included several thousand volumes. 85% perhaps military non fiction. Going to call West Point or an area college one of these days and perhaps donate.
” Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in
one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf,full of majestic potentiality,
is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper.
David Quammen Arm Chair Oxford Scholar
deuce says
Jim, all things considered, you ought to get one of those Amazon thingies on the sidebar where people go straight to Amazon from here and you get a cut. Save everybody some time and make you a little extra. Of course, I’d have to start charging scouting fees then. 😛
JimC says
Ha know…. Hmmm….
lane batot says
Just for THAT, I’m gonna send you a BIG FAT Blog Tithe! Serve you right, dangit!