Shotgun: The Bleeding Ground

Shotgun #2

by C. Courtney Joyner

He lost his arm to outlaws. Replaced it with a double-barreled boom stick. Now Civil War veteran Dr. John Bishop is armed for justice--and extremely dangerous. They call him. . .

Shotgun
The Bleeding Ground

John"Shotgun" Bishop has tangled with plenty of lowlifes in his time--and he's got the missing limb to prove it. But few sink as low as his own brother Devlin, a crazy-mean cuss who'd steal the horns off the devil himself. This time, Dev's got his cold black heart set on taking over John Chisum's land, destroying the cattle king's dream of building a new town and laying down tracks for the railroad. So Chisum hires Shotgun and his Cheyenne partner, White Fox, to protect his investment. But when the Bishop family feud turns into an all-out turf war, Shotgun ends up on the wrong side of the law--stuck in the middle between the devil he knows and two deadly new players. Their names are Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. And this time, there will be blood. . .

Genres: Westerns

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

is a screenwriter and director with over 25 produced movies to his credit, including the cult films PRISON starring Viggo Mortensen, CLASS OF 1999 directed by Mark Lester, and the new RETURN OF CAPT. NEMO. A graduate of USC, Courtneys first produced screenplay was THE OFFSPRING starring the legendary Vincent Price. His other scripts have included TV movies for CBS, (DISTANT COUSINS), the USA Network (BETRAYAL, GUILTY AS CHARGED), and Showtime (WHITE RUSH). He has written action films (VIETNAM, TEXAS and NAUTILUS) as well as a number of films for Charles Band's Full Moon company, released by Paramount, including installments in the very successful PUPPET MASTER series and TRANCERS 3 starring Academy Award winner Helen Hunt and Tim Thomerson. He also directed this film, as well as the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, THE LURKING FEAR. Staying in the horror vein, Courtney co-wrote all 13 episodes of the series WILLIAM SHATNER'S FRIGHT NIGHT for the SyFy Channel.

As a film journalist, his articles have appeared in WILDEST WESTERNS, ROUND-UP, FANGORIA, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, and others. He has written chapters for such non-fiction books as JOHN FORD A LIFE IN FILM, THE CINEMA OF H.P. LOVECRAFT, THE BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR, and DUKE: WERE GLAD WE KNEW YOU.

His latest movie book is THE WESTERNERS INTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS, DIRECTORS AND WRITERS, which was published by McFarland in November to excellent reviews. He will be following it with a new book of interviews, VOICES OF THE WEST.

His short story Bloodhound was included in Express Westerns' FISTFUL OF LEGENDS, and his story Two-Bit Kill will be appearing in the new anthology LAW OF THE GUN from Kensington in November. He is currently finishing his first western novel, TRACKING THE DEVIL.

Courtney is a member of the Western Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association, and The International Thriller Writers. He lives in Los Angeles.

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Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent entry in this series.

[Thomas Clagett · Rating 4 out of 5]

C. Courtney Joyner weaves a fast-paced Western tale riddled with bodies, bullets and blood in this exciting sequel. As with Shotgun, his first novel in this series, The Bleeding Ground reads like an ode to the two prominent Sergios of Italian Western cinema: Leone and Corbucci. (Joyner is also a screenwriter.) Like Leone’s One Upon a Time in the West (1968), and Corbucci’s Django (1966), Joyner’s story feels almost operatic. The scarred hero, Dr. John Bishop, who lost his arm to outlaws and replaced it with a double-barrel 12-guage shotgun, is hired by John Chisum (yes, that John Chisum of Lincoln County War fame) to protect his cattle empire from being taken over by Bishop’s evil brother. There are twisted desires, epic shootouts, fiery explosions, and along with Chisum, two other real-life hard cases from the old West, namely Sheriff Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. You can almost hear the Ennio Morricone music drifting off the pages.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A western than hearkens back to the 1980's.

Doctor/gunfighter John Bishop is on the vengeance trail after his brother. Recovering both mentally and physically from the last book, John Chisum springs him from jail to help out in Lincoln County. The Flame Riders are robbing Chisum blind.

Bishop shoots some people, heals others. Pretty good stuff.