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The Floating Outfit #21
The Fast Gun
To Gavin Gartree’s bunch of hardcases, “work” was a cussword, “innocent” was a come-on, and a young pilgrim girl was an invitation to a molestation. But nothing was quite as it seemed. For a start, the young pilgrim girl in question was accompanied by a small and seemingly inconsequential Texan by the name of Dusty Fog. But that was the thing about Dusty Fog. Though small in stature, he was a giant when it came to fighting, and he always made his first shot the last shot as well …
J.T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.
J.T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.
Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1969
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326 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 14, 2017
This is actually the first book I've read by Edson. I will read more. The style was different than I'm used to. Maybe more 'telling' than 'showing.' I'm not quite sure how to describe it. I did get used to it and the story was interesting.
I've been working on a western myself so that's why I picked this up. It was probably not a good choice for that since it is definitely an 'unusual' western. (SPOILER ALERT): The main character, Dusty Fog, becomes involved with three aliens who appear to be identical to humans who have come to study earth. They have been here before, and at least one time the results were disastrous, with members of their party being burned as witches. One of the aliens is female and Dusty falls hard for her, and her for him.
Although revealing the alien connection is a kind of spoiler, Edson made no attempt at all to disguise the fact for a big reveal. Right after we meet the aliens, on page 23, one of them says: "It is doubtful. Your wor--country is not far advanced medically." Is there any adult who wouldn't complete "wor" as "world" and know immediately what was going on?
Unfortunately, Edson really did very little with the aliens and it definitely seemed a kind of throw away plot. This was book 21 about the "Floating Outfit" so maybe Kelton was going through the motions a little bit. Still I found it entertaining.
I've been working on a western myself so that's why I picked this up. It was probably not a good choice for that since it is definitely an 'unusual' western. (SPOILER ALERT): The main character, Dusty Fog, becomes involved with three aliens who appear to be identical to humans who have come to study earth. They have been here before, and at least one time the results were disastrous, with members of their party being burned as witches. One of the aliens is female and Dusty falls hard for her, and her for him.
Although revealing the alien connection is a kind of spoiler, Edson made no attempt at all to disguise the fact for a big reveal. Right after we meet the aliens, on page 23, one of them says: "It is doubtful. Your wor--country is not far advanced medically." Is there any adult who wouldn't complete "wor" as "world" and know immediately what was going on?
Unfortunately, Edson really did very little with the aliens and it definitely seemed a kind of throw away plot. This was book 21 about the "Floating Outfit" so maybe Kelton was going through the motions a little bit. Still I found it entertaining.
November 8, 2019
The book starts as your typical Western and ends as a work of science fiction. Edson is obviously knowledgeable about guns, horses and blacksmiths. The book starts with a typical Western where Dusty is returning through a town on his way back to the ranch. Then the story goes sideways. I have read others in this series and they are not as strange as this story. I liked it, but.....
March 3, 2018
Certainly the strangest and perhaps the best J.T.Edson book I have ever read. The book had its usual share of gun play and Dusty Fog's fighting prowess. But in addition it strongly touched on science fiction as well. Dusty helped and rode along with three travelers with strange and uncommon abilities. An interesting and excellent reading experience.
September 9, 2013
A classic western with a galactic twist...go ahead and use that as a book blurb for this book!
The story has a very standard 'western' start - some drunk drifters looking for trouble lay their hands on a lady! Bad move because out of the crowd comes an unassuming cowboy to save the day. This kind-hearted cowboy, Dusty, takes on all three and whoops 'em. From there we have a quick draw gun fight that Dusty wins. Then he meets up with the lady and her companions for a trek across the country, fighting off the 'bad guys' along the way. Soon enough Dusty and this lady fall in love.
Here is where the galactic twist comes in.
Turns out this lady and her crew are aliens from another planet that have come to study earth. No matter, they still manage to get married and live happily ever after...until she leaves and Dusty is left with only the memories. Which he thinks may be just a dream.
Quite a mash up of genres eh?
It did work though. Edson managed to squash the two story lines together seamlessly. He did drop hints right from the beginning which made the alien twist come as no surprise later on.
To me it did seem, I don't know, weird. I'm a western fan and a sci-fi fan, but, blending them up like a smoothie just didn't leave a nice taste in my mouth. On the bright side, it is good fodder for 'strangest book you've ever read' kind of conversations. So, I am glad I read it.
What I did find very funny was the name of the hero - Dusty.
Why?
Dusty is my fake name. The name I give when I go to Starbucks and they ask to put a name on the cup. I tell 'em, "Dusty".
They have never questioned it, so I assume I must look like a Dusty. I'll take that as a compliment.
The story has a very standard 'western' start - some drunk drifters looking for trouble lay their hands on a lady! Bad move because out of the crowd comes an unassuming cowboy to save the day. This kind-hearted cowboy, Dusty, takes on all three and whoops 'em. From there we have a quick draw gun fight that Dusty wins. Then he meets up with the lady and her companions for a trek across the country, fighting off the 'bad guys' along the way. Soon enough Dusty and this lady fall in love.
Here is where the galactic twist comes in.
Turns out this lady and her crew are aliens from another planet that have come to study earth. No matter, they still manage to get married and live happily ever after...until she leaves and Dusty is left with only the memories. Which he thinks may be just a dream.
Quite a mash up of genres eh?
It did work though. Edson managed to squash the two story lines together seamlessly. He did drop hints right from the beginning which made the alien twist come as no surprise later on.
To me it did seem, I don't know, weird. I'm a western fan and a sci-fi fan, but, blending them up like a smoothie just didn't leave a nice taste in my mouth. On the bright side, it is good fodder for 'strangest book you've ever read' kind of conversations. So, I am glad I read it.
What I did find very funny was the name of the hero - Dusty.
Why?
Dusty is my fake name. The name I give when I go to Starbucks and they ask to put a name on the cup. I tell 'em, "Dusty".
They have never questioned it, so I assume I must look like a Dusty. I'll take that as a compliment.
April 30, 2020
Some of the names mentioned in these novels are real people.
That is where the similarity ends.
In many ways these are modern versions of the old dime novels. The only similarity to the truth are the fact that... The author mentions real people.
However if you just want to read an old fashion cowboy shoot em up, that's what these books are.
That is where the similarity ends.
In many ways these are modern versions of the old dime novels. The only similarity to the truth are the fact that... The author mentions real people.
However if you just want to read an old fashion cowboy shoot em up, that's what these books are.
March 29, 2018
I'm ambivalent about this. I really enjoy J.T Edson's Floating Outfit series even though the writing is awful, but this mix of western with science fiction disturbs me. I'm going to pretend I didn't read it.
May 30, 2023
Starts out as your typical shoot-em-up Western featuring Dusty Fog without his usual two sidekicks. Then, surprise, surprise we have the first ever Western Sci-fi I have ever read. Very interesting from J. T.
Read
February 19, 2020This was a blend of old-western cowboy heroism and new-age sci-fi. A bit surprising, but I recall loving it as a high-school kid used to the Floating Outfit's usual set-to's with gunslingers.
November 10, 2020
Don't bother
Book started off well then went completely ridiculous ! I couldn't be bothered to finish the book.Just don't bother !
Book started off well then went completely ridiculous ! I couldn't be bothered to finish the book.Just don't bother !
September 1, 2022
Don't know have not read the book
December 9, 2013
Hands down the WORST book the author ever wrote. JT must have been watching too much Twilight Zone when he came up with this plot. There is a good reason why Science Fiction and Western are two separate genres. While separated from the rest of the floating outfit Dusty attempts to protect some strange 'Quakers' who turn out to be aliens. The only notable thing about this book is that JT often refers to an event in it as an example of what happens when if you put your finger on the trigger while drawing a gun before it is safely pointing away from you.
September 10, 2014
A western with a twist. Dusty Fog is travelling home he decides to call in for a drink in the town he is passing through. He sees a family being harassed by town bullies and steps in to help. A fight occurs and one of the bullies dies.
Dusty accompanies the family on their journey but the bullies follow to extract revenge.
The ending is unusual Dusty wakes up and the family and bullies have vanished. His this an encounter of the third kind.
Dusty accompanies the family on their journey but the bullies follow to extract revenge.
The ending is unusual Dusty wakes up and the family and bullies have vanished. His this an encounter of the third kind.
March 7, 2018
Great!
It is a good book but due to the fact I do not believe in the existence of aliens, it is hard for me to say I really liked the book.
It is a good book but due to the fact I do not believe in the existence of aliens, it is hard for me to say I really liked the book.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews