MICHAEL NEWTON HAS WHIPPED UP A COLLECTION OF CHILLING TALES THAT WILL LEAVE YOU BREATHLESS.
Gideon Thorn, survivor at age two of the unknown 'animal' attack that massacred his family in Kansas Territory, roams the West in search of answers to his personal tragedy and other unsolved mysteries of seeming paranormal origin.
Gideon confronts his early fear—perhaps his very fate—on hallowed ground… he must now face an unworldly threat from one dispossessed of what was rightfully his…and there’s no greater foe, man, or beast.
Follow Gideon Thorn as he investigates the unknown that could lead him to the very mouth of Hell. Skinwalker: A Gideon Thorn Western Horror Omnibus includes – Skinwalker, Leviathan Rising, Ghost Town, Mountain Devils, Soul Slayers, Hallowed Ground, Night Flyers and Empty Graves.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
From Wikipedia: "Michael Newton (born 1951) is an American author best known for his work on Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan series. Newton first began work on the Executioner series by co-writing "The Executioner's War Book" with Don Pendleton in 1977. Since then he has been a steady writer for the series with almost 90 entries to his credit, which triples the amount written by creator Don Pendleton. His skills and knowledge of the series have allowed him to be picked by the publishers to write the milestone novels such as #100, #200, and #300.
Writing under the pseudonym Lyle Brandt, Michael Newton has also become a popular writer of Western novels. He has written a number of successful non-fiction titles as well, including a book on genre writing (How to Write Action Adventure Novels). His book Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. Newton's "Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology" won the American Library Association's award for Outstanding Reference Work in 2006."
Pen names: Lyle Brandt, Don Pendleton, Jack Buchanan
very interesting book, combined horror with western touch. I enjoyed reading all the different books in this series but the author could have better proof reading because there were quite a few wrong words out of place. This did not distract from the story and I would read more in the series if he continued it. All in all very entertaining.
This is a series of western horror pulp novels, and they're pretty danged good. There are numerous spelling and word choice errors, especially later in the omnibus, but it's only a minor problem. Enjoy them as a guilty treat, like chips or candy!
Michael Newton – Gideon Thorn Western Horror Omnibus – Skinwalker – Reviewed 5/6/20 – Read 4/29/20-5/5/20 When the pass consumes you, your only recourse is to search it out and find the problem.. till it is solved!
At two years old Gideon Thorn’s whole life changed! On that fateful day, he lost his parents and brother. His memory is vague, but he remembers that the monster that touched him and put a crease in the top of his head was very big. When that crease healed the hair around it turned snow-white, marking him forever! Now twenty-something years later, that day still haunts him causing him to search out other unusual events, and help others if he can. After losing his parents he was sent to an orphanage, but fate again stepped in. His wealthy aunt found out about her brother's death, and she sent her faithful friend, Obi Magoro, to find and return with Gideon, no matter what! Gideon was tutored into the society of Boston, graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in May of 1873. After school, he wanted to take a break before entering law school, so is aunt Drusilla arranged for him to take the summer and tour Europe. Unfortunately, it was cut short with the death of his aunt. He decided to forego law school and search for the answers to his life. Gideon then began in the west arriving at events where there were unusual and unexplained deaths. He never feared death but needed to find and help as many as he could. Now the stories begin...
Skinwalker: A Gideon Thorn Western Horror Omnibus includes – Skinwalker, Leviathan Rising, Ghost Town, Mountain Devils, Soul Slayers, Hallowed Ground, Night Flyers and Empty Graves.
What did I like? This was a very unusual collection of stories. At first, I was not sure that I was going to like the direction they were going, but I am one of those that believes that every book deserves to be read. So I continued, and am I ever glad that I did. As the pages turned I became more involved in the absolutely fascinating stories. I believe that there are things out there that can’t be explained. Maybe not monsters from space, but then again do we really know that we are alone here in the universe? I felt a connection with Gideon, not in a way that would lead me to death-defying actions, but to help… That is the reason that I have my website. I love helping, and believe that when a person works hard for something that others should give praise to it.
What will you like? Captivating, enthralling, mesmerizing, interesting, intriguing, spellbinding, and riveting storyline. I think that every one of those adjectives describes the action in these stories. Every story has this part that is so real and believable, but also has that paranormal event that makes you go, Whoa!!! The characters are charming with some exceptions but on the whole mesmeric to the point of, I would like to know that person. The riveting thing about the stories is that if you really think about each of them, and ask yourself, truthfully, could this happen? What would your answer be? After you read the book, think about that question, I did! Well, maybe not every story, but there were a few. Every story is filled with exciting action, that will keep your nose glued to the pages. Michael has filled the pages with alluring descriptions and thrilling details, you have the sense that you can smell the gun smoke or taste the foods. I loved how he describes the fare at the restaurants, it kept me hungry throughout the book. I wanted to jump up and go fix them, LOL! I did keep control of myself though because if I didn’t, I would have gained a ton. Excellent read, another great one to add to your library.
• File Size: 3431 KB • Print Length: 1482 pages • Publication Date: May 6, 2020 • ASIN: B087GKN3WD • Genre: Western Science Fiction, Western Horror Fiction, Horror Fiction Classics
Not long ago I upgraded my KINDLE account to include more books. I read a few, then started looking for some more. I don't remember exactly how I found them, but I saw the Gideon Thorn series by Michael Newton. I then saw that the first 8 books were available in an omnibus with a similar title and cover to the first book in the series, "Skinwalker", except it was fully titled, "Skinwalker: A Gideon Thorn Western Horror Omnibus". This counts as a single book in your downloads, so if you want other books waiting in the wings, get the omnibus edition. There is also a more recent book, the ninth in the series that didn't make it into the collection entitled, "RIPTIDE". Your choice as to whether or not you want to DL it before finishing the collection. As to the stories, if you are a fan of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" (1970's Darren McGavin, NOT the 2000's remake with what's his name), you'll probably like Gideon Thorn's adventures. In fact, in the first book when they were giving exposition on the murders of the case Thorn was riding to investigate, I couldn't help but hear it in my head as Kolchak's narration as done by McGavin. I challenge you if you are familiar with the series to not do the same thing. But that's the only time this happened. Some may find the stories simple and formulaic... and technically they are probably accurate in that. But these stories are such a breath of fresh air I found myself not caring. In fact I honestly can't remember EVER having read a western before. Each individual story has it's own levels of "weirdness" to the horror, which may be as mundane as a mentally traumatized psychopath, to a raging band of Sasquatch, a Pteranadon or a Basilosaurus, neither of whiches survival to the 19th century is ever explored, and in one story as spooky as Ghosts. In the Kindle editions there are some errors in wording and syntax but I don't think those are the authors problem. I believe these are probably the result of inadequate quality control on the part of whoever is responsible for translating the work into digital form. But this does not detract if you are intelligent enough to figure out what the author meant, and if you are reading the books, you ARE! I won't give away any more than I already have, and end this by encouraging you to at least give it a shot. Gideon Thorn is out there on the dusty trail, and the destination is worth the ride...
Stories are long and drawn out for my taste. Many mistakes including calling Phoenix the territorial capital which didn't happen until afterwards. The Mayans are Native Americans from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. They are not rare. In a later story they are called Aztecs which is probably more accurate as to their previous actions.
This book is a series of interesting interconnected tales of nineteenth century Western Science Fiction. It keeps you reading up to the end, then ends abruptly with a short description of future possible plans. It seems as though the writer just cut the story short when the was more to tell.
I could not put this book down once I started it! Gideon Thorn is a well thought out character and the situations he comes across we’re just as good. Easy to get lost in this book with wording and descriptions done so well you can almost taste the trail dust. Any fan of the Weird West or westerns in general should really enjoy this book.
Started good but got boring fast!! The MC was interesting for a little bit but the writer tried to turn this into a mystery but it was so easy to figure out but for some reason the MC could not !! Just rehashing over and over the same stuff!!
Well paced western themed adventures with a touch of the eerie. Quite a few anachronisms but this is light reading for fun so it isn't anything to make much of a fuss about
This is three or four stories in one book...All about Gideon Thorne....Someone who travels in the Old West looking for , you can say, mysterious creatures....Really good book..I would highly recommend this one by Michael Newton...
This was a great series of Supernatural Westerns. I enjoyed the variety of villains and read the Omnibus in about a week. I only wish that there were more to read in this series and I guess that says a lot!