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Fastest Draw
This is an alternate cover edition for B016YWZQY2
Written in vivid prose and a Southern Gothic style. Fastest Draw begins in Georgia 1932. When a white writer overhears an old black man trying to sell a coin. He wonders how did the old man come to own a coin, which was never circulated? How is it possible he hated the man who designed the coin before ever meeting him? Intrigued, the writer gets the old man to tell his story which begins in Texas 1875. Meet Luke Sprague, a super-fast Anglo sketch artist inspired by the racial caricatures of Harper’s weekly magazine. Broke and on the run Luke persuades Abe Brown, the coin seller, to help him get to Washington D.C., where he is required to design a coin, and Abe is long overdue after a fruitless search for his mother. The duo are soon thwarted by forces of nature, man, and perhaps even … the devil himself.
Written in vivid prose and a Southern Gothic style. Fastest Draw begins in Georgia 1932. When a white writer overhears an old black man trying to sell a coin. He wonders how did the old man come to own a coin, which was never circulated? How is it possible he hated the man who designed the coin before ever meeting him? Intrigued, the writer gets the old man to tell his story which begins in Texas 1875. Meet Luke Sprague, a super-fast Anglo sketch artist inspired by the racial caricatures of Harper’s weekly magazine. Broke and on the run Luke persuades Abe Brown, the coin seller, to help him get to Washington D.C., where he is required to design a coin, and Abe is long overdue after a fruitless search for his mother. The duo are soon thwarted by forces of nature, man, and perhaps even … the devil himself.
- GenresWesterns
Kindle Edition
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About the author
Gary Power
1 book11 followers"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” Franz Kafka
Gary Francis Power was born in Ireland in August 1971. He grew up in Dublin and now lives in Galway. He has lived and worked throughout the USA and Latin America. Fastest Draw, his first novel, is a Western/Deep South adventure with a Southern Gothic sensibility. The screenplay for Fastest Draw was recommended for the short list of the Dublin International Film festival, DIFF.
An early draft of the novel came fifth in the 2013 American Gems Literary Contest. Fastest Draw is illustrated with a map, and eighteen drawings by the author.
Praise for the Screenplay from DIFF: A joy to read, funny, original, vivid in its character, story and its sense of place and time.
Fastest-Draw-Gary-Power-ebook
#fastestdraw
garyfpower
#Southern-literary #southern-gothic
ISBN=9780993407901
Gary Francis Power was born in Ireland in August 1971. He grew up in Dublin and now lives in Galway. He has lived and worked throughout the USA and Latin America. Fastest Draw, his first novel, is a Western/Deep South adventure with a Southern Gothic sensibility. The screenplay for Fastest Draw was recommended for the short list of the Dublin International Film festival, DIFF.
An early draft of the novel came fifth in the 2013 American Gems Literary Contest. Fastest Draw is illustrated with a map, and eighteen drawings by the author.
Praise for the Screenplay from DIFF: A joy to read, funny, original, vivid in its character, story and its sense of place and time.
Fastest-Draw-Gary-Power-ebook
#fastestdraw
garyfpower
#Southern-literary #southern-gothic
ISBN=9780993407901
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 12, 2022
A Fun Romp Along the Mexican Border with Two Misfits
What an entertaining read, a book written by a new author, who by the way won a reward for it. This is a western with a lot of humor, if you can imagine a southern gothic with humor. It reminded me of All the Pretty Horses because its setting was along the borders of Texas and Mexico, and well, because, like All the Pretty Horses, it was also a southern gothic. As I read on I thought of Mark Twain too, but then I read Huckleberry Finn after reading this book and found that Mark Twain’s writing bored me; Gary Power’s didn’t.
Gary’s story is about two cowboys, Abe and Luke, who are trying to get to Washington D.C. but end up with a group of Texas Rangers that they really don't wish to be with because they fear that one of the rangers could recognize them and either kill them or take them in. They are wanted men, or at least one of them is. Either way they would be dead meat. This is not a comforting thought, but how to get away from this group is another matter that they have to work out.
As this novel continues I realize that they are having more mishaps than the Hardy Boys in all their books put together, and they are not having a great time of it, but I certainly am.
Powers has a unique way of looking at things. His imagery is great, which in turn caused me laugh throughout the book.
Abe says: "I remember once on the plantation growing up, we were shooting doves and this one dove looked like it weren't hit. It flies quarter of a mile then drops dead out of the sky, like a feathered hailstone. What Luke says to me next reminds me of that. 'Abe,' he says, 'this is turning ugly. Let's drink and go.'"
They are in the desert of Mexico and have run out of food, but then have no guns with which to hunt, so they decide to lay still on the ground so a vulture will think that they are dead and will come down to eat them, but instead they plan to capture it for food:
Abe: "I wait til one comes right up on me. It flaps near to me and smells musty and nasty. It pecks at my ear and I try to grab at it, but it flies away." Luke then tells him to grab it before it pecks him, but then they realize that vultures usually go for the eyes first. This scene gets better by the moment.
Later on they come upon a farm house, and Abe says to Luke:
"'You shot their dog! Why?' Luke's lower lip drops. The farmer kicks the dog. It moves like something that's dead, that is, not much at all."
They have just made another narrow escape and Luke finds a honeycomb, gets the honey and hides with Abe in an over hang of a mountain. "Then a bee lands on him, lands right on his forehead. It walks around there for a bit, like a dog might do before taking a shit in the garden." More bees find him, and I am laughing again.
I hope to see more books by this author, if not I guess I will just have to read this book again, and well, I will someday anyway.
What an entertaining read, a book written by a new author, who by the way won a reward for it. This is a western with a lot of humor, if you can imagine a southern gothic with humor. It reminded me of All the Pretty Horses because its setting was along the borders of Texas and Mexico, and well, because, like All the Pretty Horses, it was also a southern gothic. As I read on I thought of Mark Twain too, but then I read Huckleberry Finn after reading this book and found that Mark Twain’s writing bored me; Gary Power’s didn’t.
Gary’s story is about two cowboys, Abe and Luke, who are trying to get to Washington D.C. but end up with a group of Texas Rangers that they really don't wish to be with because they fear that one of the rangers could recognize them and either kill them or take them in. They are wanted men, or at least one of them is. Either way they would be dead meat. This is not a comforting thought, but how to get away from this group is another matter that they have to work out.
As this novel continues I realize that they are having more mishaps than the Hardy Boys in all their books put together, and they are not having a great time of it, but I certainly am.
Powers has a unique way of looking at things. His imagery is great, which in turn caused me laugh throughout the book.
Abe says: "I remember once on the plantation growing up, we were shooting doves and this one dove looked like it weren't hit. It flies quarter of a mile then drops dead out of the sky, like a feathered hailstone. What Luke says to me next reminds me of that. 'Abe,' he says, 'this is turning ugly. Let's drink and go.'"
They are in the desert of Mexico and have run out of food, but then have no guns with which to hunt, so they decide to lay still on the ground so a vulture will think that they are dead and will come down to eat them, but instead they plan to capture it for food:
Abe: "I wait til one comes right up on me. It flaps near to me and smells musty and nasty. It pecks at my ear and I try to grab at it, but it flies away." Luke then tells him to grab it before it pecks him, but then they realize that vultures usually go for the eyes first. This scene gets better by the moment.
Later on they come upon a farm house, and Abe says to Luke:
"'You shot their dog! Why?' Luke's lower lip drops. The farmer kicks the dog. It moves like something that's dead, that is, not much at all."
They have just made another narrow escape and Luke finds a honeycomb, gets the honey and hides with Abe in an over hang of a mountain. "Then a bee lands on him, lands right on his forehead. It walks around there for a bit, like a dog might do before taking a shit in the garden." More bees find him, and I am laughing again.
I hope to see more books by this author, if not I guess I will just have to read this book again, and well, I will someday anyway.
abandoned
September 26, 2016I am not going to rate this book. Seems fair since I never finished reading it. That is not to say it is a bad book, it simply does not appeal to me.
It did come in fifth in The American Gems Novel Contest, so at least check out the publishers blurb. It just might be your cup of tea.
For now I am just trying to squash any feelings of guilt I might have had for not providing a proper review, given that I did get this free from Amazon.
It did come in fifth in The American Gems Novel Contest, so at least check out the publishers blurb. It just might be your cup of tea.
For now I am just trying to squash any feelings of guilt I might have had for not providing a proper review, given that I did get this free from Amazon.
July 24, 2016
This was a well-written and highly enjoyable travelogue through the post-Civil War South.
We follow our protagonist, the instantly relatable Abe Brown, and a man named Luke Sprague, the very definition of "frenemy," and the artist whose rapid skills give the book its title.
The varied (and mostly horrible) adventures these fellers go through are almost Odysseian in scope and craziness. Entertainingly dark and disturbing characters abound, while Abe just tries to get back home, and Luke just plain ticks every single person off.
One of my favorite parts of this story was Abe's voice. He cuts to the heart of the matter, and dispenses old-timey wisdom with such unintentional and humble beauty.
Highly recommended for fans of Southern gothics, road movies, and American historical fiction.
We follow our protagonist, the instantly relatable Abe Brown, and a man named Luke Sprague, the very definition of "frenemy," and the artist whose rapid skills give the book its title.
The varied (and mostly horrible) adventures these fellers go through are almost Odysseian in scope and craziness. Entertainingly dark and disturbing characters abound, while Abe just tries to get back home, and Luke just plain ticks every single person off.
One of my favorite parts of this story was Abe's voice. He cuts to the heart of the matter, and dispenses old-timey wisdom with such unintentional and humble beauty.
Highly recommended for fans of Southern gothics, road movies, and American historical fiction.
May 29, 2022
I wrote this book so I really like this kind of story, picaresque is one of my favorite genres, Huckleberry Finn, Little Big Man, Forrest Gump being among my favorites. Then next would be Southern Gothic, Deliverance, Cool Hand Luke, The Long Hot Summer, The Green Mile and Street Car Name Desire. Necessity is often the mother of invention and it is the influences of wanting to read and see great books and movies that influenced my style. I like a good mix of light and dark, tense situations even grotesque ones are like a chrysalis for the humorous to emerge beautiful from. Some people who begin Fastest Draw might not find it funny, dark incidents may seem the antithesis of humor, but just like The Office or the tragedy of Richard Pryor's comedy, because it's so unexpected, it's the best source with few signposts along the way either for reader or the characters to know if they're out of the woods. Yet you fully feel the fear relief and joy of the protagonists and this transports you to another time and place. If like me you like an action packed story with eccentric characters put in the sweaty cauldron that is the Wild West and the Deep South with humor coming out of the awkwardness of dark situations then Fastest Draw is for you.
August 15, 2016
Interesting yarn intriguingly told
I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book. It begins with two gentlemen, at least one of color, boarding a train during the years in our country when so many things were segregated. The white writer strikes up a conversation with an elderly Negro man, Abraham Brown. I was hooked into the tale of Abe's travel and travail a lifetime earlier as they ride the train. There are beautiful and terrible images drawn with words and sketches from Abe's fellow adventurer, Luke, a white Texan. There are words and terminology that I have a very hard time with - words still used today to hurt and belittle - I believe the author used them to drive a point home. Each of the stories that make up the whole cloth of this tale are different, interesting, funny, sad, confusing, frustrating and make a great read. I enjoyed this book quite although I had a rough time with some words.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book. It begins with two gentlemen, at least one of color, boarding a train during the years in our country when so many things were segregated. The white writer strikes up a conversation with an elderly Negro man, Abraham Brown. I was hooked into the tale of Abe's travel and travail a lifetime earlier as they ride the train. There are beautiful and terrible images drawn with words and sketches from Abe's fellow adventurer, Luke, a white Texan. There are words and terminology that I have a very hard time with - words still used today to hurt and belittle - I believe the author used them to drive a point home. Each of the stories that make up the whole cloth of this tale are different, interesting, funny, sad, confusing, frustrating and make a great read. I enjoyed this book quite although I had a rough time with some words.
September 4, 2016
I took my time with this one because it was apparent almost from the beginning that this writer is a master of figurative language. Once in a while, there were a few too many similes on a page, but I still enjoyed reading them because most were the words of the primary narrator of the story, Abraham Bown. Through him, the author describes things in such a way that you can picture them instantly in your mind. The plot is original and the settings, many. I did find that Brown's dialect was uneven in places, making him seem very educated at times, and very uneducated at others. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this first novel by Mr. Power and, if you're a fan of Southern gothic, you should add this book to your TBR list.
August 28, 2016
Gary Power's book is not the type of book I normally read. From page one I knew I had to find out what happened to Abe and Luke. Mr. Power combines gritty realism with the genre of Southern Gothic. Fastest Draw is an unique story where the characters come to life. It is a wonderful first novel!
February 24, 2017
Torn between three and four stars, this book is an outlandish story that twists and turns is pretty unbelievable. Yet I do believe we'll see more works from this author. He certainly has a wild imagination and seems to have done the right research for the story's background.
May 4, 2019
This was a quick read, just not a satisfying one. It was in my opinion, more a western than southern gothic as billed. I can’t really point to any one thing that made this fall flat for me. Just not my cup of coffee. My thanks to the author for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews