Helpful Score: 1
Jason Manning writes a good story, no matter what the subject. This story happens to be about a famous gunfighter, Ben Thompson. As he gains reputation as a gunfighter those who are wannabees are searching for him.
He was the most respected gunfighter in the old west-and the most feared. The first shots of the Civil War echoed opportunity to young Ben Thompson: the same traits that had earned him notoriety as a civilian-steady nerves and deadly aim-could win him respect as a soldier. For a while he found it, riding with the famous Second Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles. But it was in the murderous gambling dens south of the Rio Grande that Ben Thompson made his reputation. That reputation would follow him for the rest of his life: as he stared down Wild Bill Hickok in the saloons of Abilene, Kansas, as he battled for control of Colorado's railroads alongside Bat Masterson, and as he cleaned up Austin's streets as a tough-as-nails lawman. He only wanted respect for himself and his family, but it seemed that every cowboy looking to make a name would come looking for Ben Thompson...and it seemed all those names ended up marking fresh graves.
AUTHOR BIO: Jason Manning is the author of numerous frontier novels. A member of SHEAR, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, he has a master's degree from Stephen F. Austin University, specializing in the early national and antebellum periods of American history.He is also an advocate for the protection and recovery of wolves and other endangered species in the United States. He and his family live in the historic town of Nacogdoches, Texas.
He was the most respected gunfighter in the old west-and the most feared. The first shots of the Civil War echoed opportunity to young Ben Thompson: the same traits that had earned him notoriety as a civilian-steady nerves and deadly aim-could win him respect as a soldier. For a while he found it, riding with the famous Second Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles. But it was in the murderous gambling dens south of the Rio Grande that Ben Thompson made his reputation. That reputation would follow him for the rest of his life: as he stared down Wild Bill Hickok in the saloons of Abilene, Kansas, as he battled for control of Colorado's railroads alongside Bat Masterson, and as he cleaned up Austin's streets as a tough-as-nails lawman. He only wanted respect for himself and his family, but it seemed that every cowboy looking to make a name would come looking for Ben Thompson...and it seemed all those names ended up marking fresh graves.
AUTHOR BIO: Jason Manning is the author of numerous frontier novels. A member of SHEAR, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, he has a master's degree from Stephen F. Austin University, specializing in the early national and antebellum periods of American history.He is also an advocate for the protection and recovery of wolves and other endangered species in the United States. He and his family live in the historic town of Nacogdoches, Texas.
