Ride to Glory: A Western Quartet (Five Star Western)
I’ll list the titles of the four novelettes and short novels it contains, and that’s all you’ll need to have a perfect picture of what this book’s all about: “Ghost Guns for Gold,” “Half Interest in Hell,” “The Gun Wolf,” and “Ride to Glory”. Action, that is, pure pistol-packing action. First appearing in the pages of old pulp fiction magazines such as Star Western (1935), Dime Western (1945 & 1949), and Western Story Magazine (1938), this marks the debut of these tales in hardcover.
And wherever there’s a breathing space between the rounds of gunfire, romance always manages to work its way in. According to the creed of the day, or so it’s implied – if not outright stated – it’s the love of a good woman that gives a man the courage to risk his neck against the crooked ranchers, conniving Mexican despots, and other assorted outlaws found inhabiting these pages, and by extension, the American West.
If these stories succeed, it’s by sheer story-telling power, not by the grace or elegance of the writing. While he was the contemporary of such western writers such as Max Brand and Zane Grey, in terms of word-slinging ability, Flynn was plainly not in their league. But if you can sit back and simply let these yarns of yesteryear take over, you’ll be in for the ride of your life.
