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Titus Bass #8
Death Rattle
With the end of the beaver trade at hand, free trappers like Titus Bass must somehow make their way on a changing frontier. Drawn by the promise of adventure and wealth, Bass joins an expedition to Spanish California, where the ranchos have horses and mules in abundance. Their plan is to steal the livestock and drive it back east across the great Mojave Desert to sell to fur traders for top dollar. But pursuit by formidable Mexican soldiers and an attack by fierce Digger Indians take their toll on Bass and his fellow raiders.
Arriving back in the Rockies, the mountain man discovers that even the famous Jim Bridger has abandoned trapping and settled down to trade with overland immigrants plying the Oregon Trail. Wondering where his own trail will lead him, Bass journeys south for a reunion with an old friend in Taos-only to be caught up in the "Taos Rebellion." And in its tragic aftermath, Titus finds himself once again an outsider in a world he no longer recognizes.
Arriving back in the Rockies, the mountain man discovers that even the famous Jim Bridger has abandoned trapping and settled down to trade with overland immigrants plying the Oregon Trail. Wondering where his own trail will lead him, Bass journeys south for a reunion with an old friend in Taos-only to be caught up in the "Taos Rebellion." And in its tragic aftermath, Titus finds himself once again an outsider in a world he no longer recognizes.
592 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
9 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Terry C. Johnston
77 books102 followers Terry C. Johnston was born January 1, 1947 in Arkansas City, Kansas.
Nineteen publishers rejected Johnston's first novel, Carry the Wind, before it was printed in 1982. However, this first novel was to gain the honor of receiving the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award for best first fiction. Johnston is known for his eye for historical detail, and he is a stickler for accuracy. He is known for traveling and exploring down known and unknown dusty roads during the hot summer months, and traversing slippery, muddy roads and hiking through snow to stand upon a historical sight that he would tell his readers in an upcoming book. "Parking in the lower lot, I trudged up the hill to reach the spot where Colonel John Gibbon's infantry waited out the last hours before their attack on the unsuspecting camp. Standing there in the icy snowstorm I was totally overwhelmed by the sight of those skeletal cones of lodgepoles standing stark against the low, gray sky . . ." Some of the sites that he would stand upon were known to the world like the Little Big Horn Battlefield and others would be obscure to the average reader like the Weippe Prairie north of Lochsa. He is known to combine "a roaring good tale with fascinating insights into the lives and times of his principal characters, generally managing to employ his extensive knowledge to enhance a story rather than intrude upon it" (Whitehead, 1991). Johnston would say that he considered himself "not a literary writer but a storyteller." His desire was to reach and teach thousands if not millions of readers about the early western frontier.
He accomplished part of this goal, not only through his books, but through discussions given to elementary children, lectures at symposiums, and historical one-week tours "during which you will re-live the grit and blood, the tears and tragedy of the great Indian Wars." He would blend historical fact with human emotion to re-create the past during his historical tours each summer. One presentation he gave to a fourth grade class was about the Plains Indian culture. He held a discussion with a Honors English class in Castle Rock middle school about "research, writing, and editing that goes into producing two historical novels each year, when compared to their "term papers." He gave keynote speeches at seminars and lectures at symposiums. He traveled all around Montana to sign books for fans, and he signed the books at the local Albertson's in each town. He held radio interviews that "took me into cities, talking before audiences, I never would have managed to reach otherwise."
Nineteen publishers rejected Johnston's first novel, Carry the Wind, before it was printed in 1982. However, this first novel was to gain the honor of receiving the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award for best first fiction. Johnston is known for his eye for historical detail, and he is a stickler for accuracy. He is known for traveling and exploring down known and unknown dusty roads during the hot summer months, and traversing slippery, muddy roads and hiking through snow to stand upon a historical sight that he would tell his readers in an upcoming book. "Parking in the lower lot, I trudged up the hill to reach the spot where Colonel John Gibbon's infantry waited out the last hours before their attack on the unsuspecting camp. Standing there in the icy snowstorm I was totally overwhelmed by the sight of those skeletal cones of lodgepoles standing stark against the low, gray sky . . ." Some of the sites that he would stand upon were known to the world like the Little Big Horn Battlefield and others would be obscure to the average reader like the Weippe Prairie north of Lochsa. He is known to combine "a roaring good tale with fascinating insights into the lives and times of his principal characters, generally managing to employ his extensive knowledge to enhance a story rather than intrude upon it" (Whitehead, 1991). Johnston would say that he considered himself "not a literary writer but a storyteller." His desire was to reach and teach thousands if not millions of readers about the early western frontier.
He accomplished part of this goal, not only through his books, but through discussions given to elementary children, lectures at symposiums, and historical one-week tours "during which you will re-live the grit and blood, the tears and tragedy of the great Indian Wars." He would blend historical fact with human emotion to re-create the past during his historical tours each summer. One presentation he gave to a fourth grade class was about the Plains Indian culture. He held a discussion with a Honors English class in Castle Rock middle school about "research, writing, and editing that goes into producing two historical novels each year, when compared to their "term papers." He gave keynote speeches at seminars and lectures at symposiums. He traveled all around Montana to sign books for fans, and he signed the books at the local Albertson's in each town. He held radio interviews that "took me into cities, talking before audiences, I never would have managed to reach otherwise."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 20, 2012
The Story of Titus Bass and friends continues. Loved it.
August 4, 2022
Second to the last of the Titus Bass series. 5 in the line. Do not start reading this book first. You will be lost.
May 9, 2017
Finally made my way through this dreary book.
Dreary because while the author does an excellent job of describing the times, the culture, the people, etc. (as well as the guns and knives) the author dwells like a sullen teenager over a spurned love for page after page about the dying beaver trade and the dimming of the "shining times."
In the midst of the sullen moaning in the thoughts of Titus Bass, our hero, we are given a wonderful tale describing a raid into Mexican California to steal thousands of horses. That part of the story takes FOREVER to get to the action (crossing the desert, killing horses too infirm to continue, dealing with thirst) and in all fairness, the author does a compelling job of making us feel like we are there suffering with the band of former fur trappers on this raid.
But following that part of the story-- it just kind of lays flat and goes back to sulking over the loss of the good old days of fur trapping and how things have changed. The author muddles about in that gone-by era and the suffering it causes our hero so much that it becomes a sad, tale that the reader just wishes would finally end. After a brief sojourn in Taos (so that the hero can be there and do NOTHING at all to contribute to the Pueblo Indian revolt) once again he heads back for the mountains to weep over the lost days...
I know I came into this series late, and honestly, if this one had been better it might've sent me searching for other volumes as usually I really like the author's historical veracity. However, this one was so long and drawn out and page after page of mournful thinking by the hero, that was just like the page after page we read through two chapters earlier, over and over again, it just failed to move me as a reader forward. So the first half of the novel was interesting and compelling, if a bit overwrought, but the second half should have remained blank for all the good it did the reader. So, I gave it two stars for the first half, but that;s the best it could earn in my opinion.
Dreary because while the author does an excellent job of describing the times, the culture, the people, etc. (as well as the guns and knives) the author dwells like a sullen teenager over a spurned love for page after page about the dying beaver trade and the dimming of the "shining times."
In the midst of the sullen moaning in the thoughts of Titus Bass, our hero, we are given a wonderful tale describing a raid into Mexican California to steal thousands of horses. That part of the story takes FOREVER to get to the action (crossing the desert, killing horses too infirm to continue, dealing with thirst) and in all fairness, the author does a compelling job of making us feel like we are there suffering with the band of former fur trappers on this raid.
But following that part of the story-- it just kind of lays flat and goes back to sulking over the loss of the good old days of fur trapping and how things have changed. The author muddles about in that gone-by era and the suffering it causes our hero so much that it becomes a sad, tale that the reader just wishes would finally end. After a brief sojourn in Taos (so that the hero can be there and do NOTHING at all to contribute to the Pueblo Indian revolt) once again he heads back for the mountains to weep over the lost days...
I know I came into this series late, and honestly, if this one had been better it might've sent me searching for other volumes as usually I really like the author's historical veracity. However, this one was so long and drawn out and page after page of mournful thinking by the hero, that was just like the page after page we read through two chapters earlier, over and over again, it just failed to move me as a reader forward. So the first half of the novel was interesting and compelling, if a bit overwrought, but the second half should have remained blank for all the good it did the reader. So, I gave it two stars for the first half, but that;s the best it could earn in my opinion.
April 5, 2024
Growing despondent that I’m nearing the end of the series.
Don’t pick this one up unless you’ve read the other 7 preceding books in the series first. You’ll be lost, though the authors references events from the other novels often and what other book in the series they’re from.
On to #9, wind walker.
This is gonna be tough.
Don’t pick this one up unless you’ve read the other 7 preceding books in the series first. You’ll be lost, though the authors references events from the other novels often and what other book in the series they’re from.
On to #9, wind walker.
This is gonna be tough.
August 14, 2008
This is another in a long series of books about mountain man Titus Bass. This one near the end of his career takes place in the 1840's. Seems to be well researched and historically accurate. Generally a good read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews