Apache Arrows

Gunn #8

by Jory Sherman

SMOKE SIGNALS When Gunn saw the smoke drifting in the clear New Mexican sky he knew there was trouble. He had learned long ago that where there was smoke there was fire—and Indians. This time it was a band of renegade Apaches led by the ruthless Cartucho. And in their wake they had left the tauntingly-desirable Penny as the only survivor. But why? Gunn finds out the answer real Cartucho wants Penny for his bride. And she’d rather be dead than wed. So with pistols cocked, Gunn once again comes to the aid of a damsel in distress—but only after she promises to make it worth his while...

Genres: Westerns

Paperback

First published June 25, 2014

About the author

Jory Sherman was born in Minnesota and grew up in West Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado. He was a magazine editor for a time and had some of his work published, including some poetry, short stories and articles. Sherman had a friend who owned a publishing company and asked him to write a novel for the company. From that offer came five more novels, all written in one year. He wrote the supernatural mystery series, "Chill," which was somewhat revolutionary for the times, but which earned him an eight book contract. He then came up with the idea for "Rivers West," a series which had each book written by a different western author. Then came the "Baron Saga," the first of which was "Grass Kingdom" which earned Sherman a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Letters. Sherman has also won the Spur Award for his contribution to Western Literature.

Reviews

[Nick R · Rating 3 out of 5]

The toughest outlaw in the west who also happens to be its greatest lover gets involved in a conspiracy to rustle sheep from some German immigrants and kills a whole heck of a lot of Apaches and hired goons when he isn’t sleeping his way across Brazos Valley.
I have never read another entry in the Gunn series (this installment being the 8th such book) but if the others are anything like this one, old Gunn has certainly seen many days of bloodshed and women in his time. I won’t pretend that there wasn’t something to enjoy about Apache Arrows’ penchant for sex and violence. Truly, I can’t think of another book I’ve read that so blatantly focused on little else. Gunn is THE western male fantasy; he has a commanding presence, says much by saying little, women throw themselves at him and his grit and determination make him nearly unstoppable in a fight. That in one town he manages to set for himself the routine of ‘go to a new place, meet a new face, sleep with another woman, kill a few men’ and actually go through that routine several times is remarkable.
The world Gunn inhabits is surely fit for inhabitants. The women are beautiful and lonesome, the villains savage and evil and our main character meets their savagery but does so for the good guys. While not a believable world, it is a fitting place for the events of this book to occur. Apache Arrows almost reminds me of a swashbuckling story. There’s more adventure present than themes and the action seems to spring up just for the sake of itself. Needless to say the pacing of the book is fairly quick and can make it a brisk read.
I won’t criticize Apache Arrows for being shallow and devoid of deeper meaning in its writing because that was certainly not the intention of the author. This is an almost pulpy, popcorn entertainment action novel set in the old west and brimming with gunfights and sex. It knows very much what it is and wastes little time on the internal affairs of its characters and maximizes it’s efforts on getting their clothes off or gunning them down. It’s exactly what you’d look for if you wanted an HBO western with all the dialogue shaved down to the minimum. Apache Arrows is, if nothing else, fun to read. Silly at times, ridiculous at others, but fun.

[Tyler Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gunn finds himself in the middle of a feud between the sheepherders, the cattlemen and the Apache. In addition, there are several love starved women that lust after Gunn's affection.