Written by: James Carlos Blake
Submitted By: Greg Anchors
THE PISTOLEER is fascinating & masterful historical novel about John Wesley Harding;the notorious wild west gunfighter(or serial killer-you look at it whichever way you want).The author rearranges the chronology of Hardin's life & times & murders into a melange of time & place altering devices as narrated by his family,friends & enemies.Anyone recall CITIZEN KANE?Let me take a paragraph to tout the novelist:Blake is 1 of American fictions best kept secrets.He's very highly regarded by writers that are well respected & who he travels in the same territory with,such as James Lee Burke,Cormac McCarthy & Pete Dexter,among many others.His genre is chiefly historical action fiction re;outlaws & badasses.He's written several novels about bank robbers & prize fighters set in the depression era south & has done quite the same with stories about mercenaries,bootleggers & gunrunners in the 19th century.Look out for WILDWOOD BOYS;about Quantrill & the Missouri raiders in the civil war.Blake's prose leans heavily towards the apocalyptic & takes on a kind of white trash biblical timbre.This is why he's thought of in the same light as Cormac McCarthy.I dont want to seem pushy,but I must urge historical fiction fans to get into this guy.Any 1 of his 11 novels will turn you on to no end.
