Reviews

COWBOYS, MOUNTAIN MEN & GRIZZLY BEARS: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West

“I loved Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears. It’s absolutely terrific. What a saga of the Great American West.”
—Howard Frank Mosher, award-winning novelist

“Mayo’s gift for detail makes for riveting reading. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have a grizzly bear slice the skin off your back like it was peeling an orange, or what it would feel like to be scalped but only after you’d been punctured with arrows AND shot, or to watch your husband and son be devoured by starving wolves, then you’ll have your answers in Cowboys. Needless to say, you won’t forget these stories anytime soon.”
—Laurie Powers, Laurie’s Wild West

“Serving up fast, bite-sized anecdotes of pulse-pounding history, Mayo gives us the equivalent of salted peanuts (try and eat just one), but packed with ten times more nutrition. It’s the kind of book that will have you loitering around the display like a kid at the comic book spinner.”
—Richard Prosch, Meridian Bridge
(Click here for the full review.)

“… I can’t recommend it highly enough. The man knows the West, and, better still, knows how to tell a story.”
—Andrew Vietze, author of Becoming Teddy Roosevelt

“An excellent variety of great stories, told in superb narrative style.”
—John D. Nesbitt, Spur Award-winning Western writer and author of Trouble at the Redstone

“Mayo brings the West alive in this witty and entertaining volume of essays that span from Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump to Tom Horn. Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears puts the reader right in the middle of the action, making history not only accessible, but fun, scary, and most importantly, real. Mayo is a writer to keep a lookout for.”
—Larry D. Sweazy, Spur Award-winner and author of The Rattlesnake Season

“Just glancing at its title, one would be forgiven for thinking that Matthew P. Mayo’s collection of brief historical anecdotes stays with the more mainstream-classroom elements of Western lore, but don’t be fooled. There are pistoleros galore. Army/Indian conflict is not suggested in the title, but COWBOYS, MOUNTAIN MEN & GRIZZLY BEARS: FIFTY OF THE GRITTIEST MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WILD WEST contains stories about the usual collection of military mishaps and massacres.

Mayo is a breezy yarn-spinner, the kind you’d like to sit around a pot-bellied stove with on a cold night. With 50 tales in a little more than 200 pages, you know there’s no room for details, but the book includes a comprehensive bibliography so you can do a little digging on your own for more information.

This one is fun and the kind of book you’d see in the gift shop in places like Tombstone or Deadwood. If you can’t hit the trail, this is the next best thing.”
—Doug Bentin, Bookgasm.com
(Click here for the full review.)

“I know Matthew’s work from his excellent novels for the Black Horse western range – Winters’ War (also available in a large print edition) is a superb western adventure that could serve as a textbook of how it’s done. Well his new book, Cowboys, Mountain Men and Grizzly Bears is a text book of sorts, that is its a non-fiction title containing fifty true stories from the distant days of the Old West.

There the text book analogy ends, though. The author has avoided setting out his tales as a list of facts and instead, partly dramatised events, so that they become all the more real. It brings everything to life and the reader is sucked into the thrilling stories, making history accessible and enjoyable.”
—Gary Dobbs, The Tainted Archive
(Click here for the full review.)

“A collection of 50 gritty tales from the Wild West that will have you wishing you had a bullet to bite.”
—Allister Timms

“Perhaps the manliest book ever written….”
—Teddy Roosevelt

WINTERS’ WAR

“Fantastic. The characters are so vivid, and I find their actions totally believable but at the same time, refreshing and spellbinding. I laughed out loud….”
—Laurie Lee Powers, author of Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street

“Winter’s War … is a superb western adventure that could serve as a textbook of how it’s done.”
—Gary Dobbs, The Tainted Archive

“… Terrific. The characters (including the animals) really live on in my head, and [Mayo has] drawn the Western landscapes in the most vivid language. Great dialogue. The novel is beautifully written.”
—Professor L. Kaplan

“A great first-time novel…. Well drawn characters move through an icy snowstorm to one of the best finales that I have ever read. A tense Western written with a fine pace, descriptive and with a good sense of time … like watching a film—I could see it all and feel it. It’s one of those books that gets you so involved with the characters that you don’t want it to end—I’d love to find out what happened next. It’s just the right way to end a book.”
—Raymond Foster (aka Jack Giles), Western author

“… a wizard with words.”
—M. Siebert, reader from Surprise, AZ

“A taut, riveting first novel that just happens to be a Western. Everyone is drawn well—living breathing people with whom we can empathise. This is a very good first novel. Sheer enjoyment of a fast-paced, page-turning tale, well told. I’m looking forward to reading Matt’s second book.”
—R. Nicholson-Morton (aka Ross Morton), Western author

“It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Western that I couldn’t put down — come to think of it, I think the last time was when reading another Black Horse Western, Winter’s War by Matthew Mayo, and a few short stories like ‘A Man Called Horse.’ ”
—Laurie Lee Powers, author of Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street

WRONG TOWN

“This has to be my top book for 2008. Even now, nearly a year gone, Roamer’s fight with the grizzly still lives in my mind….

Wrong Town left me stunned and has to be ranked in my own personal top 10 of Westerns that I have read…. The opening chapter has Roamer fighting for his life against a grizzly bear—the read has an authentic feel to it as though the writer had lived through such an ordeal…. This book reads like a movie and is gripping from start to finish.

If you want a book that tells a story, then it’s there for the taking. But read it slowly, for this is a book with hidden depths. Much as I enjoy a traditional western, Wrong Town is something else. It is one of those books that lingers in the mind, and should be ranked up there amongst the best.”
—Raymond Foster (aka Jack Giles), Western author

“I’ve just started reading Wrong Town, and am very, very impressed. This is definitely my kind of Western.”
—David Whitehead (aka Ben Bridges), Western author

“First person narrative is not common in Westerns, yet when handled well, it lends an added weight of authenticity and intimacy. Matthew Mayo succeeds on all levels.

Roamer is a strong creation, and we feel his hunger, his despair and his anger. All the characters—whether the robbers, the major villain or the townspeople themselves—are drawn without resort to stereotype. A strong, character-driven tale, well told.

I’d read three other [Westerns] right before [Mayo's] and none of them came close in their ability to capture a scene or a character; their stories were okay, but reader involvement was limited.”
—R. Nicholson-Morton (aka Ross Morton), Western author

WHERE LEGENDS RIDE: New Tales of the Old West

“Fourteen horse-operas presented for your enjoyment by skilled writers who clearly know their stuff. “Once Upon A Time In Mirage”, by I.J. Parnham, and “Snows of Montana” by the editor, Matthew P. Mayo, read like saddle-tramp sagas inspired by O’Henry, their twisty ends fun. There is so little good short fiction done these days, when an excellent book like this comes along, you dare not pass it up. So tighten your cinches, belt on your holster and get ready to ride. This is one hell of a literary round-up.”
—Pulp Fiction Reviews blog

“Editor Mayo’s “Snows of Montana” reveals a devastating predicament for the narrator which lingers long after you put the book down.”
—Coastal Press, Spain

“Here in this book we have authors who love that old genre. They have written some very readable short stories, which I highly recommend. Some of the authors are old foxes, some are new. Most of them are in fact new to me, but they can really write an interesting and an amusing Western short story.”
—The Swingbed Magazine, Sweden

“Where Legends Ride, an anthology to suit all tastes, encompasses the best of the Western genre, but goes much further. This is an anthology of how the human spirit, even in the most difficult circumstances, can survive and conquer. As in the West itself, though, these are not just tales of grim survival. Some have humour, some are just downright clever. If you like a good read that grips you from start to finish, this anthology is for you.”
—Andrea Hughes, Western author

“A superb collection of Western short stories by a number of new and established Black Horse Western writers. An excellent jumping-on point for new Western readers and great entertainment for longtime western fans.”
—Howard Hopkins (aka Lance Howard), Western author

“Highly recommended. You don’t have to be a Western fan to enjoy it.”
—Raymond Foster (aka Jack Giles), Western author

“Kin” from OUT OF THE GUTTER #5

“From Matthew P. Mayo comes “Kin,” where a guy attempting to retrieve a football under his porch is instead greeted by the fangs of a poisonous snake. His attempts to drive to the hospital for help as the toxins swim through his bloodstream achieve rollicking, bizarrely comic heights.”
—Rod Lott, Bookgasm (www.bookgasm.com)