Thunder Valley

by John Russell Fearn

When Brad Morrison stops by the Yellow Nugget saloon, he seems like just another prospector looking for gold. But for a simple man, Brad sure finds a lot trouble for himself. Getting on the bad side of Black Joe, who all but runs the town, is a mistake. Getting on the good side of Joe’s beautiful fiancée, Betty Tarrant, is even worse. Then there’s the mysterious Aztec girl, Nariza, who seems a little too friendly for such a dangerous town. All of a sudden, Brad’s got half the town after him. Still, Brad Morrison’s got a few tricks of his own up his sleeve – and plenty more secrets besides. When he boards with a fellow prospector, a man known only as Old Timer, Brad confides in him his cunning plan. He’s not just panning for gold – he’s looking for a mine. Mysterious packages filled with gold have been coming out of Thunder Valley for years, but nobody seems to know anything about it. Will Brad find the source of the gold, or will Black Joe and his men get there first? John Russell Fearn (1908-1960) is well remembered for almost single-handedly driving the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, and westerns. His writing appeared under various pseudonyms and has been translated into many languages around the world. Pioneering Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We publish new and classic westerns by authors from the US and the UK. Follow us on @PioneeringPress www.goodreads.com/PioneeringPress

174 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

A prolific author in various genres under his own name, John Francis Russell Fearn also used these pseudonyms: Astron del Martia, Brian Shaw, Conrad G. Holt, Dennis Clive, Frank Jones, Geoffrey Armstrong, Griff, Hugo Blayn, John Russell, K. Thomas Mark Denholm, Paul Lorraine, Polton Cross, Spike Gordon, Thornton Ayre, Vargo Statten, Volsted Gridban, Dom Passante, John Cotton, Ephriam Winiki, Lawrence F. Rose, Earl Titan, Ephraim Winiki.

John Russell Fearn was an extremely prolific and popular British writer, who began in the American pulps, then almost single-handedly drove the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, westerns, and adventure fiction. He was so popular that one of his pseudonyms became the editor of Vargo Staten’s Science Fiction Magazine in the 1950’s! His work is noted for its vigor and wild imagination. He has always had a substantial cult following and has been popular in translation around the world.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

THUNDER VALLEY by John Russell Fearn is one of several westerns written by the author that are very much in the classic western pulp magazine style, and this one is a tale of a man who rides into town with an eye on finding gold, and he starts by stopping in at the Yellow Nugget saloon to quench his thirst and gain information which the bartender provides, including a warning regarding a man named Black Joe, who’s in charge of everything in the area including the law, along with a warning about his girl, the beautiful singer Betty, who is considered to be his sole property.

Brad braces Black Joe immediately and rejects the advice given regarding Joe and his girl Betty, and adding to his perils is a mysterious girl rumored to be of Aztec descent named Nariza, allegedly a dangerous woman to be involved with, and she and Brad seem attracted to each other.

Old Timer is a miner that the bartender recommended that Brad stay with to be shown the ropes as far as mining goes, and as things become difficult with Joe and his followers the miner backs Brad all the way.

Will Brad survive the opposition of Black Joe and everyone else against him, or will his being a thorn in Joe’s side prove fatal, and who is Brad other than what he appears to be on the surface?

Enjoyable but typically flawed western as was true of many of the older western pulp novels, exaggerated feats by the hero, and predictable in the end result, it’s a perfect light read for a break from more challenging stories by more prominent and current western authors.

3 stars

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in very picturesque prose with lots of detail of background and the beauty that is Arizona, Thunder Valley is an old-fashioned western. I obtained it in a collection called Dead Man Walking A Wild West Omnibus that includes Thunder Valley, Yellow Gulch Law, and Town Without Law. We ride along with U. S. Marshal Bradley 'Brad' Morrison as he wanders through the little southeastern Arizona town of Thunder Bend, posing as a wandering prospector as he seeks out the source of mysterious gold that is finding its way out of Thunder Valley, an area without a gold rush at all. There are prospectors there - Old Timer has been panning gold dust from the creek for nearly 15 years, but he clears only enough to feed himself and keep shoes on his feet. Never has there been an actual gold or silver strike anywhere in Thunder Valley. But the two bags of gold dust and nuggets found by accident in Drew City came on the stage from Thunder Bend, in a franked parcel mysteriously never handled by the clerk there. Inquiring minds want to know who owns the land the gold was harvested from. Brad is determined to find out. Unfortunately, he is the only good guy - or gal - looking for the source of the gold. This is a fast, clean read you will enjoy. I still can't get over the side effects of saloon singer Betty Tarrant's famous high C.

Reviewed on October 7, 2023, at Goodreads, and AmazonSmile. Not available for review on B&N, BookBub, or Kobo.

[Todd Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an easy and enjoyable book to read. The Author really has captured what I believe the gold fields, and the prospectors would have been like in the old west. All Brad Morrison wanted to do was come to Thunder Valley, to the township of Thunder Bend and make a little bit of money, by prospecting for gold. Jeff Willard the barkeep of the saloon did however warn Brad that the town wasn’t as peaceful as it looked. So he can’t say he wasn’t warned. However Brad doesn’t seem too concerned with Black Joe, who owns most of the town. Brad is lucky enough to get a place to sleep in Old Timer’s cabin, who is another prospector. The Old Timer takes a shine to Brad after he hears how Brad put Black Joe in his place, which is not a common occurrence. It turns out that someone has found gold in the Valley, and is moving it out illegally. Brad discloses that he is indeed in the valley to investigate this, and that’s when things start to turn nasty. An Aztec woman named Nariza thought she was entitled to the gold because of her ancestry of the area, and was well within her right to send the gold to anywhere she liked. However when Betty, Brad and the Old Time start to get in her way, she won’t hesitate in killing if she needs to. John Fearn has done a great job with the Characters, and has written a very entertaining story. I’ll certainly be adding this Author to my list to watch out for.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
A typical Western good versus bad.
This was a very easy read although very predictable.

[Bryan Boswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book!!!!!!

This was a very enjoyable read for me. Written very well. Flows nicely and is fast paced. Read it in three days. I highly recommend this book!!!!