Wyoming Thunder: A Larry & Streak Western, by MarshallMcCoy, Bantam, 86 pages, 1968.

So, Marshall McCoy is Marshall Grover is Leonard Meares. LeonardMeares (1921-1993) was an Australian writer who is listed as the author of 700+ novels, although—to be clear—most of these are generally of novella length.As you can see, Wyoming Thunder clocked in at 86 pages. In addition to McCoyand Grover, Meares also used the names Ward Brennan and Glenn Murrell, and occasionallyBrett Waring and Shad Denver, as well as writing works under his own name. He apparentlywrote over 400 in the Larry & Stretch series. It looks like many werewritten for a western magazine, thus explaining the shorter length. He alsowrote about 60 in another series called Big Jim, although there could be more.He also did standalones. To add to the confusion, his books have been reprintedin other countries and languages, and sometimes with different author names andeven character names.

So why is the title of this particular book called “Larry& Streak” instead of Larry and Stretch? Therein lies a short tale. InAustralia, the original characters were Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson. Whensome of these books were reprinted by Bantam in the United States, the nameswere changed to Larry Vance and Streak Everett. I don’t know why, although itmight possibly have to do with different copyright laws and publishing houserules in the two countries. (In Sweden, the character names were Bill and Ben.)

Under any names, Larry and Stretch are a couple of charmingrogues. They are variously referred to as the Texas Hellions and the TornadoTwins. They stumble into trouble despite their best intentions, which they thengenerally handle with aplomb. They make a good team.

How did I like the book? Well, I’m giving it 3 stars, which isnot a bad rating. I enjoyed the book. It was leisurely paced by today’sstandards, without a whole lot of action except at the beginning and end. Larryand Streak take on the job of finding a doctor for a woman about to have ababy, and they end up having to break said doctor out of jail where he’s beingheld on a murder charge. Definitely an interesting plot.

I’d previously read another book by Meares, one of his BigJim books. I liked the Larry and Streak characters better and the overallpackage was more fun for me. I’ve also discovered that there are some verydedicated fans out there for Meares work and there’s a facebook page dedicatedto his Larry and Stretch series. His books are not easy to find, and the copiesof the ones I have are beaten up pretty badly from time and reading. I’mhearing that there aren’t any digital copies available. I’m sure someone willcorrect me if I’m wrong.

Overall, I can see the charm in this series and am glad Igave one a try.