Back East, they told tall tales about Marshall Clay Halser, the fearless Civil War veteran who became known as the Hero of the Plains for his daring exploits in the Wild West. But the truth, as revealed in his private journals, is even more compelling.
A callow youth in search of excitement, Halser travels to the raucous cow towns of the frontier, where his steady nerve and ready trigger finger soon mark him as a gunfighter to be reckoned with. As both an outlaw and a lawman, he carves out a legendary career. But fame proves to be the one enemy he can never outdrawand a curse that haunts him to the bitter end . . . .
Richard Matheson(1926-2013) was
The New York Timesbestselling author of
I Am Legend,
Hell House,
Somewhere in Time,
The Incredible Shrinking Man,
Now You See It&, and
What Dreams May Come, among others. He was named a Grand Master of Horror by the World Horror Convention, and received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has also won the Edgar, the Spur, and the Writer's Guild awards. In 2010, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. In addition to his novels Matheson wrote several screenplays for movies and TV, including several
Twilight Zoneepisodes.
The best novel I read last year. Stephen King
The best western of the season! Booklist
The author gives his story a credibility and honesty unusual in the genre. Publishers Weekly
Breathtaking . . . first-rate . . . impossible to put down. Mr. Matheson has done something remarkable: with a single novel he has placed himself in the front rank of Western novelists. Richard S. Wheeler, author of Virgin River
A novel filled with remarkable surprises . . . a fine and unique book. Ed Gorman, author of Sleeping Dogs
A remarkable western novel. It strips the romanticism from the old West, but retains the blood-and-guts violence, as well as the lCQ