What do you think?
Rate this book
Loco
They called him Loco because he was wild and unpredictable in shootouts on both sides of the Rio Grande. He didn't look for trouble - it found him. This time it found him as he fled from Mexico into Texas. He was caught in the middle of a range war between desperate men - and a strong woman who drove him so crazy she made him sane.
- GenresWesterns
Hardcover
First published June 1, 2005
5 people want to read
About the author
Lee Hoffman
56 books4 followersAlso published books under the name Georgia York
"My mother was born in High Springs, Florida in 1899, my father in Frankford, Pennsylvania in 1898, and my brother in Savannah, Georgia in 1922. I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1932, shortly before the end of the Hoover administration.
By 1938 my parents had decide to relocate. They liked Lake Worth, Florida, the very small town where my mother's folks were living at the time. Taking me along, my mother went to Lake Worth to try to set up in the tourist business. My Dad had a job in a radio factory in Chicago. Since this was during The Great Depression and he didn't want to take any chances, he stayed there to collect a regular salary while my mother got the business established. My brother, then in high school, stayed with him to finish the school term before he came south.
My mother rented a large rooming house on the federal highway and hung out her shingle, but her timing was bad. That winter there was record cold. The tourists went further south, or back to their fireplaces and furnaces in the north. The next winter she rented a smaller place, but the same thing happened. Even so, my father left his job and joined us.
Things looked so unpromising in Florida that they decided to go to Savannah. That's where they'd met and married and built a small house. They still owned the house so they figured whatever happened, they'd have a roof over their heads. We arrived in the fall of 1940. My father landed a job as a radio repairman. Based on past experience, I figured we'd be moving again before long but we didn't. My parents settled in and stayed for the next twenty five years.
I'd done my first two years of grammar school in Florida. I got the rest of my formal education in Savannah. After I finished high school, I went to the local junior college. In grammar school, my ambition had been to become a cowgirl. In high school I decided I wanted to follow in the family footsteps and become a radio technician. In college, I got involved in the local theater scene, and wanted to do that for a living. By the time I graduated in 1951, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
My brother had gone into the Air Corps in WWII, had been stationed in England and had come home with a bride from London. He apprenticed to my father under the GI Bill. By the time I got out of college, they were partners planning to open their own radio & TV service business. I didn't yet realize it, but I was fated to work in the store for them until I left home.
My job was minding the counter, answering the phone and doing clerical work. Much of my time in the store was spent waiting for something to happen. With all that time to kill, I read a lot. When I got tired of that, I amused myself by writing my own books. Although I was an avid science-fiction fan, it was the western that came most naturally to me. I'd finish one and send it to be read by an out-of-town friend who liked westerns. Once I sent one to another friend who'd made some book sales. He thought it was salable and told me to send it to his agent. It bounced back without a word. I decided I was not ready to become a professional author. I was right. Years later, I looked back at those manuscripts and was glad so few people had ever seen them.
While still in college, I got into science-fiction fandom. I did some amateur (fanzine) publishing and went to several conventions. After I started working, I began spending my vacations on cattle ranches instead. Then in the fall of 1955 I decided to go to the World Science-Fiction Convention in Cleveland. That's where I met Larry Shaw, editor of the new science-fiction magazine, Infinity.
Larry and I spent much of the convention together and began a rapid-fire exchange of letters afterward. In one of them, he proposed marriage. I accepted. He came to Savannah to meet my folks and in the spring of 1956, I went to New York to get married. In retrospect, I think we were a little hasty. In 19
"My mother was born in High Springs, Florida in 1899, my father in Frankford, Pennsylvania in 1898, and my brother in Savannah, Georgia in 1922. I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1932, shortly before the end of the Hoover administration.
By 1938 my parents had decide to relocate. They liked Lake Worth, Florida, the very small town where my mother's folks were living at the time. Taking me along, my mother went to Lake Worth to try to set up in the tourist business. My Dad had a job in a radio factory in Chicago. Since this was during The Great Depression and he didn't want to take any chances, he stayed there to collect a regular salary while my mother got the business established. My brother, then in high school, stayed with him to finish the school term before he came south.
My mother rented a large rooming house on the federal highway and hung out her shingle, but her timing was bad. That winter there was record cold. The tourists went further south, or back to their fireplaces and furnaces in the north. The next winter she rented a smaller place, but the same thing happened. Even so, my father left his job and joined us.
Things looked so unpromising in Florida that they decided to go to Savannah. That's where they'd met and married and built a small house. They still owned the house so they figured whatever happened, they'd have a roof over their heads. We arrived in the fall of 1940. My father landed a job as a radio repairman. Based on past experience, I figured we'd be moving again before long but we didn't. My parents settled in and stayed for the next twenty five years.
I'd done my first two years of grammar school in Florida. I got the rest of my formal education in Savannah. After I finished high school, I went to the local junior college. In grammar school, my ambition had been to become a cowgirl. In high school I decided I wanted to follow in the family footsteps and become a radio technician. In college, I got involved in the local theater scene, and wanted to do that for a living. By the time I graduated in 1951, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
My brother had gone into the Air Corps in WWII, had been stationed in England and had come home with a bride from London. He apprenticed to my father under the GI Bill. By the time I got out of college, they were partners planning to open their own radio & TV service business. I didn't yet realize it, but I was fated to work in the store for them until I left home.
My job was minding the counter, answering the phone and doing clerical work. Much of my time in the store was spent waiting for something to happen. With all that time to kill, I read a lot. When I got tired of that, I amused myself by writing my own books. Although I was an avid science-fiction fan, it was the western that came most naturally to me. I'd finish one and send it to be read by an out-of-town friend who liked westerns. Once I sent one to another friend who'd made some book sales. He thought it was salable and told me to send it to his agent. It bounced back without a word. I decided I was not ready to become a professional author. I was right. Years later, I looked back at those manuscripts and was glad so few people had ever seen them.
While still in college, I got into science-fiction fandom. I did some amateur (fanzine) publishing and went to several conventions. After I started working, I began spending my vacations on cattle ranches instead. Then in the fall of 1955 I decided to go to the World Science-Fiction Convention in Cleveland. That's where I met Larry Shaw, editor of the new science-fiction magazine, Infinity.
Larry and I spent much of the convention together and began a rapid-fire exchange of letters afterward. In one of them, he proposed marriage. I accepted. He came to Savannah to meet my folks and in the spring of 1956, I went to New York to get married. In retrospect, I think we were a little hasty. In 19
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 9, 2023
One of the better Westerns I’ve read recently.
Loco doesn’t know his real name… the name “Loco” was given to him by his gunrunner partner Ray de Vaca back when de Vaca and Loco were running guns back in Mexico aiding the peons in their war against their oppressors, the Mexican government.
While running from the federales from Mexico into the United States, uncertain if he’s safely out of Mexico, Loco rides into a range war and gets his horse shot and killed out from under him by what turns out to be the beautiful daughter of one of the ranchers.
It’s as interesting a read as you’re likely to find in a paperback Western novel. Eventually Loco’s backstory is filled in, he’ll switch sides in the range war a couple of times and it all works out like a good B-Western movie.
More interesting than the novel however is the author’s background. Lee Hoffman was a publisher and editor of one of the earlier SF fanzines.
She’d go on to become an author of Science Fiction novels, earning a considerable following. She switched to writing Westerns sometime in the late 50s-early 60s and was almost as successful in that field as well.
Lee Hoffman was an excellent horse-woman, awarded several prizes for her riding and jumping prowess. She was also one of the first women to work on race cars, working for Hoffman Motors - an early importer of foreign sports cars. Lee Hoffman was also a motorcycle enthusiast owning her own bike!
Quite a lady and a damned fine writer!
Loco doesn’t know his real name… the name “Loco” was given to him by his gunrunner partner Ray de Vaca back when de Vaca and Loco were running guns back in Mexico aiding the peons in their war against their oppressors, the Mexican government.
While running from the federales from Mexico into the United States, uncertain if he’s safely out of Mexico, Loco rides into a range war and gets his horse shot and killed out from under him by what turns out to be the beautiful daughter of one of the ranchers.
It’s as interesting a read as you’re likely to find in a paperback Western novel. Eventually Loco’s backstory is filled in, he’ll switch sides in the range war a couple of times and it all works out like a good B-Western movie.
More interesting than the novel however is the author’s background. Lee Hoffman was a publisher and editor of one of the earlier SF fanzines.
She’d go on to become an author of Science Fiction novels, earning a considerable following. She switched to writing Westerns sometime in the late 50s-early 60s and was almost as successful in that field as well.
Lee Hoffman was an excellent horse-woman, awarded several prizes for her riding and jumping prowess. She was also one of the first women to work on race cars, working for Hoffman Motors - an early importer of foreign sports cars. Lee Hoffman was also a motorcycle enthusiast owning her own bike!
Quite a lady and a damned fine writer!
February 12, 2024
I really liked this little book. It was a well-written and the plot and ending were not predictable.
August 10, 2023
CLASSIC western. found this in a vintage market for $1. lowk better than i expected. perfect story
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews