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The Floating Outfit #12
Troubled Range
With a Colt in her purse and a price on her head, she was fair game for every bounty hunter in the Territory--until she hooked up with the Floating Outfit's "best-dressed man," Mark Counter, the segundo of the Rio Hondo Gun Wizard himself.
- GenresWesterns
Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1969
35 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
J.T. Edson
183 books79 followersJohn Thomas Edson is an English writer of Westerns.
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 25, 2023
My first leap into this kind of novel and I wasn't expecting much. I enjoyed it though and enjoyed the pace, the setting and the characterisation.
December 20, 2021
Pretty dull bunch of stories. Probably the worst from JT Edson
October 27, 2022
Three enjoyable short stories featuring Mark Counter and the obligatory cat fights. Not quite in the same league as the stories featuring Dusty Fogg and The Ysabel Kid.
August 13, 2016
For some reason I just can't get into the stories where Mark Counter is flying solo. I like him fine when he is with the rest of the floating outfit but not on his own. This is another of JT's short story collections, in the first Mark comes off as a western Jame Bond with Calamity Jane and Belle Starr serving as his Bond girls. A bounty hunter and his crew are after Belle believing she pulled a big bank robbery. Calamity and Belle have a big fight (JT does like his girl fights) over Mark and then decide to become friends. In the second story Mark acts as a trail boss for the OD Connected while Dusty is away and then helps a friend who has just inherited a ranch and inadvertently a wife. The last story illustrates again (much as I love his stories) JT's irritating habit of writing out of sequence because as it refers to events later in the series and states that three years have passed since Mark's meeting with Belle as told in the first story. The story itself is the most amusing as Mark is kidnapped by Cattle Annie and Little Britches. Naturally the James Bond effect kicks in again and both girls throw themselves first at him then each other.
June 25, 2017
I'd never read this book by Edson before and found the three stories very enjoyable. Thw Main Character in all three is Mark Counter and the premise of the three is all about "cat" fighting. Fascinating and fun
March 24, 2020
A collection of stories featuring Mark Counter from the Floating Outfit.
Reflecting the time it was written, it seems to be mostly about various girls getting into fights over Mark and describing their state of undress as they slap each other silly due to various misunderstandings.
Reflecting the time it was written, it seems to be mostly about various girls getting into fights over Mark and describing their state of undress as they slap each other silly due to various misunderstandings.
January 25, 2015
Three short stories, all featuring Mark Counter, and all showing the authors fetish with girl fights, which I find a little boring.
September 22, 2017
Mark Counter
Everywhere he showed girls were fighting crazy over him or his friend Wade. Throwing lead solved some of the problems he faced.
Everywhere he showed girls were fighting crazy over him or his friend Wade. Throwing lead solved some of the problems he faced.
November 21, 2018
Excellent!
Great tale of yesteryear. It is well written and edited with a good plot. It is exciting and interesting from beginning to end.
Great tale of yesteryear. It is well written and edited with a good plot. It is exciting and interesting from beginning to end.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews