Stagecoach: A Western Story

by Max Brand

Sammy Gregg had been born and raised in Brooklyn. He had worked hard but hadn't been able to save enough money to marry Susie Mitchell, his girlfriend since childhood. Greg believed he needed $15,000, and he gave himself six months in which to do it in the West. Although he was a small man with a frail physique who knew nothing of fighting, of guns, of horses, he did have incredible determination. So taking the $5,000 he had saved, he headed into the West, arriving in Munson, a tough lawless town, and arriving the same day as Chester Ormonde Furness, another greenhorn, but one with a difference. Gregg was calculating enough to find a chance in Munson to achieve his objective, even though it would mean going up against Furness who proceeded to carve a niche for himself as a thief and road agent.

Genres: Westerns

290 pages, Hardcover

First published December 18, 2013

About the author

Frederick Schiller Faust (see also Frederick Faust), aka Frank Austin, George Owen Baxter, Walter C. Butler, George Challis, Evin Evan, Evan Evans, Frederick Faust, John Frederick, Frederick Frost, David Manning, Peter Henry Morland, Lee Bolt, Peter Dawson, Martin Dexter, Dennis Lawson, M.B., Hugh Owen, Nicholas Silver

Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.

Reviews

[Edward Creter · Rating 4 out of 5]

i believe this classic Western was made into "that" movie with John Wayne, yet the heroes are bgger than life in ways Wayne could never envisioned himself in any movie, and that's what us Brandians wanna hear! Sammy Gregg is a former New Yorker trying his luck out West hoping to make enough in 6 months to impress hottie of the town Susie Mitchell. Before he's done, he'll be shot in the head, robbed twice, chasing hore thieves and stare down the gun of legendary badass outlaw Chester "The Duke" Furness. (The Duke! Sound familiar?) And that's just for starters. Fans of the film will guaranteed love this rare gem even better. It's in the true Western tradition of Lauan Paine and Zane Grey, tho some of the things done would get a person hurt, expelled, arrested, possiby deported. To put it another way: don't try this at home. Hear?

[David Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this 3.5 stars if I could. It's not a bad or unentertaining story, it's just not quite up to Band's usual standards of story-telling. The main character stars out as a cold and calculating type with little personality. He develop some as the book goes on, but never quite feels like a real character. The main villain has a similar problem, with the reader learning little of him until almost the very end. The side ad supporting characters are paper thin, which would be some much of a problem if Brand didn't jump to their points-of-view, sometimes for large stretches of the book. Add in a very episodic plot and you get a book who's components don't quite jell. Not terrible, but not particularly memorable either.

[Backoff51 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Brand. Lots of fun.

[Richard Hargreaves]

good plot with unlikely hero...not the usual gunslinger type

[Michael Callison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised about how good this book was!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Michael Peeples · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is so terrible that I dreaded every time I picked up this book. At 25% I gave up

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a classic Western adventure with depth and heart, "Stagecoach" by Max Brand is well worth a read.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in this form in 2013, 'Stagecoach' is a fix-up of three connected novellas originally published in two parts each in six successive weekly issues of 'Western Story Magazine' over the course of October and November of 1925. The three novellas were entitled 'Sammy Gregg's Mustang Herd', Gregg's Coach Line' and 'Sammy Gregg and the Posse', so the new title is misleading and has nothing to to with the famous movie of that name or its dreadful remake. Once you accept that you are reading three novellas all featuring the exploits of Sam Gregg, the lack of plot continuity is explained except within each novella which, for information, start at chapters 1, 16 and 31. So, you have three tales which are short and fast paced yet have most of the ingredients of a novel and so make enjoyable reading.

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this one on new purchase list from the library thought about my father. Verry descriptive, verry morality both good and bad interesting ending. I loved it 1025 it was written 2014 it still applies