Law of the Gun

by Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Russell Davis (Editor)

One Man. One Gun. One Law. It's an American icon: the Western shootist, living by skill, courage and a willingness to spit in death's eye. Now, the greatest names in Western literature turn this mythical character upside down, inside out and every way but loose. . .

In "The Trouble with Dude, " awardwinning author Johnny Boggs saddles a oncefamous lawman with some highpaying New York dudes in search of Western thrills who get more than they bargained for; in. "Uncle Jeff and the Gunfighter" Western master storyteller Elmer Kelton chronicles a quarrel between a hardscrabble Texas rancher and a killer for hirewith results that stun a town. . . William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone offer "Inferno: A Last Gunfighter Story " featuring series hero Frank Morgan. From a pistolpacking woman to a freed slave heading into a Nebraska winter and an education in gun fighting, "The Law Of The Gun" is about journeys, vendettas, standoffs, and legends that endor sometimes just beginwith the roar of a gun. . .

Genres: Westerns

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

17 short stories. The best tales meet challenges, are deeply developed in restricted few pages. My favorites have memorable unique people and justice prevail:
Barely surviving old gunslinger resists spoiled rich dudes hanging starving pioneer - Johnny D. Boggs. "Lucy Angel" is in court for saving abused girls - Deborah Morgan. Ex-slave Monday learns "shootist" trade fast; bullets blaze into icy sod hut - Russell Davis.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird short Western stories, at least to me.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent anthology of Western stories with the general theme of gunslingers. (Some stories are considerably less about the gunslinging, one even features a knifethrower as the main character.) The main characters are rather more diverse than people who haven't read a Western lately may expect, women, a former slave, a Jew, etc.

The general tone is melancholy; even if using a gun solves the immediate problem (which it doesn't always, in these stories) the consequences are overall negative. The strongest story in this collection for me was "The Long High Noon" in which two gunslingers attempt to have a final shootout even as the Wild West fades away around them.

For more Western reviews, see http://www.skjam.com/tag/western/

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of old fashioned Western stories by a variety of writers. They were easy reads and do not include the modern trend to sex, profanity, or excessive violence. This book is one that you can let the kids read. There are some moral lessons in the stories.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read with some clever stories. Creative takes on the gunfighter genre. Some were better than others as would be expected

If you like westerns, you'll like this.