Dana Fuller Ross is a pseudonym used by Noel B. Gerson and James M. Reasoner.
Noel Gearson specializes in historical military novels, westerns, and mysteries. He also writes under the pseudonyms, "Dana Fuller Ross.", Anne Marie Burgess; Michael Burgess; Nicholas Gorham; Paul Lewis; Leon Phillips; Donald Clayton Porter; Philip Vail; and Carter A. Vaughan. He has written more than 325 novels.
James Reasoner (pictured) is an American writer. He is the author of more than 150 books and many short stories in a career spanning more than thirty years. Reasoner has used at least nineteen pseudonyms, in addition to his own name: Jim Austin; Peter Danielson; Terrance Duncan; Tom Early; Wesley Ellis; Tabor Evans; Jake Foster; William Grant; Matthew Hart; Livia James; Mike Jameson; Justin Ladd; Jake Logan; Hank Mitchum; Lee Morgan; J.L. Reasoner (with his wife); Dana Fuller Ross; Adam Rutledge; and Jon Sharpe. Since most of Reasoner's books were written as part of various existing Western fiction series, many of his pseudonyms were publishing "house" names that may have been used by other authors who contributed to those series
OMG, stop it with Millicent; she is so stupid. No wonder I forgot about her.
Oh dear god, another woman having sex with a married man to save his marriage to someone else. IS THIS REALLY THAT COMMON A THING?
And, I noticed how Toby gets drugged so he can cheat on Clarissa with an exotic Chinese woman (hello racism) but the author can't call it rape (which it is) because that would make Toby less manly.
But the Cindy part was great until the author ruined it with a line about how Cindy proved she was worthy to be Toby's brother (and no, he or she did not mean it in a trans-supporting way).
I am now re-reading the rest of the series as a hate read. I can see why I loved it when I was in middle school and early high school. But the Big Valley which predates it was far more progressive.
Sometimes, you should not revisit things from your youth.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The worst Dana Fuller Ross novel is better than most anything else I have read. Having said that, I agree with some other reviewers that too much of the book is set in China. It's a good story, full of adventure, action, romance and all that makes this Wagons West series great. I just like the western setting more. There was plenty of gunslinging though. At times though I felt like I was watching David Carrodine in "Kung Fu". It's a good read though. I am looking forward to seeing where Ross goes with certain characters in the books to come.
Meh, this started out well, but then ended in a somewhat disappointing fashion. This is the 16th book in a series that’s already a sequel to an earlier series. Each book follows the multi-generational saga of a family of western pioneers who have all manner of drama and adventures. They tend to follow somewhat formulaic plots ( that aren’t always in keeping with todays sensibilities).
The books tend to fall in three categories…
Type 1: the refresh/reboot/renew installment. These tend to introduce new story arcs, new plot lines, new places, new characters. Start to follow the next generation in the family. These newer plot lines will evolve and unfold over the next several books in the series.
Type 3: the closure/conclusion/wrap up installment. These tend to bring all the loose ends, plot lines, villains, and places, to a point of closure. These clean the slate and pave the way for the next book to be a Type 1.
Type 2: the maintenance/continuation:status quo installment. These just move the story along and continue the existing story arcs. The are the installments between Type 1 and Type 3. These are the tougher ones to read because sometimes the story lines run on too long and you just want to move on to a new adventure.
With all of that said, I thought this had the look and feel of a Type 3: we were about to tie up a couple of books worth of loose ends and set us up for all new adventures. Nope. Instead we just made the existing plots more outlandish.
toby does everything for everybody, including writing this book review near the end of the story: "’Somebody always is claiming to need me…I can't seem to get away from it.’”
first the main tong band in China. then in San Francisco. then he needs to rescue Martha from Karl—and that’s just this book. and he’s only 29? please. he looks 45 on the cover. i desperately need variety or im going to give up on this series even though ive invested months of time.
The adventure was thrilling. Most of the setting for the adventure was as far as anyone can get from its namesake. The previous book, Mississippi, was somewhat similar with it being misleading. That adventure took place in Louisiana, not Mississippi. But by 1870, the west had been settled to the point where the states no longer need trailblazing. Maybe the series would have been better off ending after Idaho.
May sound somewhat repetitive here but I got hooked on the first book and it was like an addiction. The author shows how the westward movement affected families and individuals while placing them within history itself.
In 1870 under Ulysses Grant- sent representations to the dowager Princess of China to help her with the Tong who was sending slave labor to the railroads of Chinese workers who were kidnapped. No. 16 in the series- great.
This might be the last book I read in the series. I do not like where the storylines are headed or have been in the past 2 books. China & New Orleans are nowhere near the American West & I'm bored.