SIX-GUN JUSTICE CONVERSATIONS—PRESTON LEWIS

SIX-GUN JUSTICE CONVERSATIONS

PRESTON LEWIS

It's Wild West Wednesday! As the podcast is on hiatus for the holidays, we are featuring a repeat performance of  our Six-Gun Justice Conversation segment in which Paul talks with Preston Lewis, Spur winning author of the H.H. Lomax series and many other Westerns...

Available now on all major podcast streaming platforms or by clicking on the player below...

 

WESTERN NOVELS—RIO BONITO

WESTERN NOVELS

RIO BONITO 

The new book by Spur award-winner Preston Lewis, Rio Bonito, just out this month from Five Star, which finds Wesley Bracken and his partner Jace Cousins prospering at their ranching operation in New Mexico territory at the confluence of the Rio Ruidoso and the Rio Bonito rivers. 

 

Taking place soon after Lewis’ first entry in this trilogy, Rio Ruidoso, wherein Wes and Jace deal with Wes’ alcoholic brother, Luther, and drive out a mean bunch of Texas terrorists, the opening of Rio Bonito carries Wes and Jace into the village of Lincoln for the County Convention of Democrats. Good guy Bob Casey is standing up to Lawrence Murphy and his outlaws—rumored to be behind outright thievery and other villainous doings. Wes and Jace hope to stand with him, and they do—until Bob is shot. It’s August, 1875, and the killing is a fictionalized account of what actually happened as Robert Casey, successful rancho on the Rio Hondo, is murdered by William Wilson. 

 

Rio Bonito is a rollicking traditional western with plenty of political intrigue, family drama, and real Lincoln County War history stirred into the mix. I want to commend Six-Gun Justice Podcast deputy Preston Lewis on his research, including so many historic figures and key dates in his narrative with seamless elegance. 

 

The shadowy comings and goings of Billy Bonney, aka The Kid, and the killing of John Tunstall are interwoven into the plot and handled especially well. 

 

As the Lincoln County feuds progress, Bracken is forced to stand alone against both factions, defending the lives of his wife, Sarafina, and young step-son, Luis, battling both the law, and the lawless. 

 

Rio Bonito added more depth to the scenarios first presented in Rio Ruidoso, and brought out Wes Bracken’s character in stark relief. I’m looking forward to the sequel, Rio Hondo, which I’m sure Preston is fine-tuning, even as we speak.

WESTERN WORDSLINGERS—PRESTON LEWIS

WESTERN WORDSLINGERS

PRESTON LEWIS 

SGJ: We very much enjoyed your new release from Five Star, Rio Ruidoso, kicking off your Three Rivers Trilogy. What can you tell us about the next two books?

PL: Book Two is titled Rio Bonito and it is at the publisher.  I'll start Book Three next month after I finish my next book for Wolfpack in The Memoirs of H.H. Lomax series of comic westerns. Book three of the Three Rivers Trilogy will be titled Rio Hondo. These are the three rivers and are the scenes of principal action in each book.  The Rio Ruidoso and Rio Bonito come together in the Hondo Valley to form  Rio Hondo.   

SGJ: The story of Wes Bracken and his brother, Luther, takes place against a backdrop of some infamous Western history. How did you approach that?

PL: I'm not the first person to write about the Lincoln County War, as you well know, so I tried to look for different angles that have not been so well covered. The first covers the troubles before the war formal began and deals with the racist Horrell brothers and the havoc that they caused.

The second book deals with the cattle thievery and chicanery that the Murphy machine caused, including the principal events in the Lincoln County War, though sometimes from afar.

The third volume will focus on the Kid trying to go straight and being betrayed by the governor of New Mexico, Lew Wallace. There's different opinions about Lew Wallace and a supposed pardon and it will resolve the ongoing thread with Jesse Evans and the protagonist's brother-in-law who goes bad. 

SGJ: You do a terrific job portraying the relationship between Wes and Luther in Rio Ruidoso, the love and the inevitable conflict brought on by Luther’s alcoholism. Do you have a brother?

PL: Yes, I have a younger brother.  We have a great relationship and rely on each other heavily now as we try to manage our nursing home-bound parents in their 90s.  We were complete opposites, him the popular extrovert, me the bookwork introvert.  We had a great childhood with wonderful parents.

We thought our childhood was typical, though as we've aged and learned of others with the problems they had we realize we may have had an atypical upbringing.  We hunted, we fished, we camped out, we took great vacations, and had a wonderful Christian upbringing. 

None of us in our family drink so I've never had to deal with any alcoholism in real life.  I just tried to imagine how an alcoholic might react and the problems it would create when you couldn't trust your brother. 

SGJ: The Brackens’ work with horses also comes across with great authenticity. Did you have horses growing up?

PL: We lived in the country, the most memorable years from when I was 5 to 10 and we lived on a quarter section we rented where we had a few cows and a donkey we named Flash, but no horses.

On the foaling I just did a lot of research so I could make it sound authentic.  I'm sure a genuine horseman might find some issues with my description but it should pass muster with most. 

SGJ: Thanks for chatting with us, Preston. It’s been a pleasure.

PL: Let me know if you have more questions and thank you for your kind words on and interest in Rio Ruidoso.

WESTERN NOVELS—FIRST HERD TO ABILENE

WESTERN NOVELS

FIRST HERD TO ABILENE

PRESTON LEWIS

H.H. Lomax meets Wild Bill Hickok in Springfield, Missouri, and is responsible for Hickok's legendary gunfight with Davis Tutt. Fearing Hickok will hold a grudge, Lomax escapes Springfield and agrees to promote Joseph G. McCoy’s dream of building Abilene into a cattle town, ultimately leading the first herd to Abilene from Texas.

Along the way, he encounters Indians, rabid skunks, flash floods, a stampede and the animosities of some fellow cowboys trying to steal profits from the drive. Lomax is saved by the timely arrival of now U.S. Marshal Hickok, but Lomax uses counterfeit wanted posters to convince Hickok his assailants are wanted felons with rewards on their heads. Lomax and Wild Bill go their separate ways until they run into each other a decade later in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, where Hickok vows to kill Lomax for getting him fired.

With a cover by the legendary Tony Masero, FIRST HERD TO ABILENE stands as an entertaining mix of historical and hysterical fiction. Currently 99¢ for your Kindle...

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