Part of Series
JOHNSTONE. KEEPING THE WEST WILD. Not every Western hero wears a white hat or a tin star. Most of them are just fighting to survive. Some of them can be liars, cheaters, and thieves. And then there’s a couple of old-time robbers named Slash and Pecos . . . Two wanted outlaws. One hell of a story. After a lifetime of robbing banks and holding up trains, Jimmy “Slash” Braddock and Melvin “Pecos Kid” Baker are ready to call it quits—though not completely by choice. Sold out by their old gang, Slash and Pecos have to bust out of jail and pull one last job to finance their early retirement . . . The target is a rancher’s payroll train. Catch is: the train is carrying a Gatling gun and twenty deputy US marshals who know they’re coming. Caught and quickly sentenced to hang, their old enemy—the wheelchair-bound, bucket of mean, Marshal L.C. Bledsoe—shows up at the last minute to spare their lives. For a price. He’ll let them live if they hunt down their old gang, the Snake River Marauders. And kill those prairie rats—with extreme prejudice . . .
Author
William Wallace Johnstone was a prolific American author, mostly of western, horror and survivalist novels. Born and raised in southern Missouri, Johnstone was the youngest of four children. His father was a minister and his mother a school teacher. He quit school when he was fifteen and worked in a carnival and as a deputy sheriff. He later served in the Army and, upon returning to civilian life, worked in radio broadcasting for 16 years. Johnstone started his writing career in 1970, but did not have any works published until 1979 (The Devil's Kiss) and became a full-time writer in 1980. He wrote close to two hundred books in numerous genres, including suspense and horror. His main publication series were Mountain Man, The First Mountain Man, Ashes and Eagles and his own personal favorite novel was The Last of the Dog Team (1980). He also authored two novels under the pseudonym William Mason. Johnstone had lived for many years in Shreveport, Louisiana, yet died in Knoxville, TN, at the age of 65. J. A. Johnstone is continuing William W. Johnstone's series.
