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Waco #5
The Drifter
The Drifter Edson, J. T.
- GenresWesterns
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1968
33 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
J.T. Edson
183 books79 followersJohn Thomas Edson is an English writer of Westerns.
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 18, 2018
The literary equivalent of the Saturday morning cinema I went to as a kid. Just as enjoyable as when I first read it forty-odd years ago, if not more so.
July 13, 2018
DRIFTER SMITH AKA WACO
Waco and his buddies led by Dusty Fog, one of the Confederates leading military men. Lively story peppered with a lot folk lore. The English that was spoken Lordy, those people broke up, separated dropped vowels or they invented new words. The author picked the flavor and it carried throughout the story. I hope that he finds another descriptive avenue to follow his characters, for instance his descriptions of the Dusty Fog members mainly the Ysabel Kid whose ethnicity is described as the joining of a wild Irish man who hailed from Kentucky and his mother's who was Cajun/Comanche...then the Kid is described as a dark Comanche Dog Solder...that's not necessary to write...Cajuns have a multi-ethnic background, everyone knows that..We all know Native Americans skin tone varies, but they are dark we all know that...his horse's name the
"N...word" you can do better than that J.T. Edison..every time I came across these descriptive words it took away from the book. The Kid is a member of this crew, why belittle him..Not nice. These men are all strong personalities individually, but as a team they are men to ride the river with...maybe you'll read this review, I hope you think about what I wrote.p
Waco and his buddies led by Dusty Fog, one of the Confederates leading military men. Lively story peppered with a lot folk lore. The English that was spoken Lordy, those people broke up, separated dropped vowels or they invented new words. The author picked the flavor and it carried throughout the story. I hope that he finds another descriptive avenue to follow his characters, for instance his descriptions of the Dusty Fog members mainly the Ysabel Kid whose ethnicity is described as the joining of a wild Irish man who hailed from Kentucky and his mother's who was Cajun/Comanche...then the Kid is described as a dark Comanche Dog Solder...that's not necessary to write...Cajuns have a multi-ethnic background, everyone knows that..We all know Native Americans skin tone varies, but they are dark we all know that...his horse's name the
"N...word" you can do better than that J.T. Edison..every time I came across these descriptive words it took away from the book. The Kid is a member of this crew, why belittle him..Not nice. These men are all strong personalities individually, but as a team they are men to ride the river with...maybe you'll read this review, I hope you think about what I wrote.p
February 22, 2018
Wonderful!
This is an interesting and exciting tale of the old west including romance and good winning over once again. This is an excellent author!
This is an interesting and exciting tale of the old west including romance and good winning over once again. This is an excellent author!
January 4, 2019
,JTE at his best
A classic description of every schoolboys idea of the west. Fast moving, fast guns, good against evil! An excellent read.
A classic description of every schoolboys idea of the west. Fast moving, fast guns, good against evil! An excellent read.
August 9, 2014
Waco and Doc leroy have had to leave the Arizona Rangers because of their lenient treatment of Curly Bill Brocius. They have gone there separate ways when Waco arrives in an isolated town. Here the local saloon keeper, a german is intent on becoming sherrif and arranges crimes for himself to solve. Waco thwarts his plans and is elected sherrif, unfortunately he is shot in the head and loses his memory.
In the end the floating outfit arrive in town to help just as his memory returns and he solves the case.
In the end the floating outfit arrive in town to help just as his memory returns and he solves the case.
November 14, 2019
Another phenomenal western from j t edson. The floating outfit (dusty fog and gang) never fails to entertain
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews