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The Floating Outfit #18
The Half-Breed
The man in black rode as sidekick to the Rio Rondo gun-wizard, Dusty Fog, and he wore nothing but black. He looked babyish and innocent but few men were fooled. For when the Comanche blood that ran in his veins was roused, the Ysabel Kid was the meanest enemy a man could ever have.
John Thomas Edson (February 17 1928, died July 17 2014 ) JT 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 12 good fights per volume . Each portrays a vivid, idealised "West That Never Was", at a pace that rarely slackens.
His authentic descriptions of 19th-century weapons, his interest in what causes a gun to jam and in the mechanics of cheating at cards enjoyed a strong following, especially among serving British soldiers. But his accounts of catfights involving women punching, scratching and biting as they tear the clothes off each other in the mud, did not appeal to the new breed of feminist publishing executives. Others pointed out that a young man sent to Broadmoor for killing a Sunday School teacher claimed to have modelled himself on Edson's hero, the half-Comanche, half-Irish Ysabel Kid. There was also the novel The Hooded Riders (1968), which portrayed an organisation resembling the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic resistance group.
John Thomas Edson was born at Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on February 17 1928, the son of a miner who was killed in an accident when John was nine. He left Shirebrook Selective Central School at 14 to work in a stone quarry and joined the Army four years later.
As a sergeant in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Edson served in Kenya during the Emergency, on one occasion killing five Mau Mau on patrol. He started writing in Hong Kong, and when he won a large cash prize in a tombola he invested in a typewriter.
On coming out of the Army after 12 years with a wife and children to support, Edson learned his craft while running a fish-and-chip shop and working on the production line at a local pet food factory. His efforts paid off when Trail Boss (1961) won second prize in a competition with a promise of publication and an outright payment of £50.
The publishers offered £25 more for each subsequent book, and with the addition of earnings from serial-writing for the comic Victor, Edson was able to settle down to professional authorship. When the comic's owners decided that nobody read cowboy stories any more, he was forced to get a job as a postman (the job had the by-product of enabling him to lose six stone in weight from his original 18).
Edson's prospects improved when Corgi Books took over his publisher, encouraged him to produce seven books a year and promised him royalties for the first time. In 1974 he made his first visit to the United States, to which he was to return regularly in search of reference books. He declared that he had no desire to live in the Wild West, adding: "I've never even been on a horse. I've seen those things, and they look highly dangerous at both ends and bloody uncomfortable in the middle. My only contact was to shoot them for dog meat."
John Thomas Edson (February 17 1928, died July 17 2014 ) JT 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 12 good fights per volume . Each portrays a vivid, idealised "West That Never Was", at a pace that rarely slackens.
His authentic descriptions of 19th-century weapons, his interest in what causes a gun to jam and in the mechanics of cheating at cards enjoyed a strong following, especially among serving British soldiers. But his accounts of catfights involving women punching, scratching and biting as they tear the clothes off each other in the mud, did not appeal to the new breed of feminist publishing executives. Others pointed out that a young man sent to Broadmoor for killing a Sunday School teacher claimed to have modelled himself on Edson's hero, the half-Comanche, half-Irish Ysabel Kid. There was also the novel The Hooded Riders (1968), which portrayed an organisation resembling the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic resistance group.
John Thomas Edson was born at Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on February 17 1928, the son of a miner who was killed in an accident when John was nine. He left Shirebrook Selective Central School at 14 to work in a stone quarry and joined the Army four years later.
As a sergeant in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Edson served in Kenya during the Emergency, on one occasion killing five Mau Mau on patrol. He started writing in Hong Kong, and when he won a large cash prize in a tombola he invested in a typewriter.
On coming out of the Army after 12 years with a wife and children to support, Edson learned his craft while running a fish-and-chip shop and working on the production line at a local pet food factory. His efforts paid off when Trail Boss (1961) won second prize in a competition with a promise of publication and an outright payment of £50.
The publishers offered £25 more for each subsequent book, and with the addition of earnings from serial-writing for the comic Victor, Edson was able to settle down to professional authorship. When the comic's owners decided that nobody read cowboy stories any more, he was forced to get a job as a postman (the job had the by-product of enabling him to lose six stone in weight from his original 18).
Edson's prospects improved when Corgi Books took over his publisher, encouraged him to produce seven books a year and promised him royalties for the first time. In 1974 he made his first visit to the United States, to which he was to return regularly in search of reference books. He declared that he had no desire to live in the Wild West, adding: "I've never even been on a horse. I've seen those things, and they look highly dangerous at both ends and bloody uncomfortable in the middle. My only contact was to shoot them for dog meat."
- GenresWesterns
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
51 people are currently reading
237 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 30, 2021
A young Half Breed is accused of murder as the Ysabel Kid and Dusty Fog ride into town. They proceed to clear him. This is actually three short stories. The stories are not bad and were from a different era. In the first story, Ysabel's horse's name is the N-word and it is repeated often and by today's standards is unacceptable. If you are easily offended, stay away from this book. While there are no African-American characters, the use of that name repeatedly is distracting to say the least.
October 8, 2017
Really good three stories of the Floating Outfit. Lon playing a big part. Also he comes up with a way a knife is shot from a gun
October 27, 2017
A Louis L'Amour special with characters as only he could draw them
January 20, 2018
Short stories about the Floating outfit . Interesting and exciting
May 21, 2018
Typical J T book.
Doesn’t take too long to read, but a good escape from the real world. I recommend it to every body.
Doesn’t take too long to read, but a good escape from the real world. I recommend it to every body.
November 18, 2018
Wonderful!
This is a western mystery tale with an intriguing plot. It had me guessing all the way through. It is well written and edited.
This is a western mystery tale with an intriguing plot. It had me guessing all the way through. It is well written and edited.
November 16, 2021
A cowboy western
November 3, 2022
This wasn't too bad. It's not my taste but it wasn't boring and I wanted to finish it.
May 3, 2024
Another GOOD author for Western lovers. The Ysabel Kid and Dusty Fog are interesting characters. This book was three short stories mostly featuring the Kid. The first two stories were very good, but the third was kind of rushed. #1 was about 100 pages, #2 about 50, #3 about 30...so the third one was so so. At times some of the scenery changes were a bit abrupt. Nonetheless, I would hope to find more stories by Edson, and especially with these characters.
March 28, 2023
Excellent reading. The first J T Edson book I ever read way back in the 1970s was Comanche, featuring The Ysabel Kid who remains my favourite Edson character. These three short stories each feature the Kid and could be described as murder/nystery stories with a Western twist. Well worth reading.
December 24, 2013
This is book one of the short story collections in the Floating Outfit series. This collection centers around the Ysabel kid and the three stories in it are quite enjoyable, though they fall all throughout the series chronologically. Two of them were later expanded into full-length novels. In the first story, The Half-Breed, which is retold in White Indians rancher Mort Lewis is framed for the murder of his neighbor and would have been lynched if not for the intervention of Dusty Fog and the Ysabel Kid. The only evidence that will clear him is deep in Comanche territory in the village of Chief Long Walker.
The second story, The Quartet, is expanded in Texas Kidnappers; though personally I enjoyed the short story version more. A group of young wannabe outlaws rob the stage on it's way to Bent's Ford and decide to kidnap the young woman on board and demand a ransom from her wealthy grandfather. The woman's name is Betty Hardin and the outlaws soon begin to wish they'd never met her even before the Ysabel Kid shows up to save her. How the Kid ended up with U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen and outlaw Sam Bass in his posse is a story in and of itself.
In the third story, Some Knowledge of the Knife, the Ysabel Kid is sent to help a friend of Old Devil's but arrives to find him murdered. Only the Kid's unique skill set allow him to unravel the puzzle and solve the mystery. This story is way out of sequence as it mentions Waco, who will not join the floating outfit until Trigger Fast.
The second story, The Quartet, is expanded in Texas Kidnappers; though personally I enjoyed the short story version more. A group of young wannabe outlaws rob the stage on it's way to Bent's Ford and decide to kidnap the young woman on board and demand a ransom from her wealthy grandfather. The woman's name is Betty Hardin and the outlaws soon begin to wish they'd never met her even before the Ysabel Kid shows up to save her. How the Kid ended up with U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen and outlaw Sam Bass in his posse is a story in and of itself.
In the third story, Some Knowledge of the Knife, the Ysabel Kid is sent to help a friend of Old Devil's but arrives to find him murdered. Only the Kid's unique skill set allow him to unravel the puzzle and solve the mystery. This story is way out of sequence as it mentions Waco, who will not join the floating outfit until Trigger Fast.
May 13, 2012
very good book. well written. the book has 3 short stories in it all about a cowboy who is half indian. the makings of a great western hero. the ysabel kid.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews