tarana's review against another edition
4.0
Series of novellas/short stories. Several are outstanding which is why I gave it 4 stars. The narrator did a great job too.
skjam's review
3.0
A collection of three stories, only one of which was originally published under the Max Brand byline.
"The Adopted Son" was also a movie at the same time; Mr. Brand did this thing where he sold a story and a movie script to appear simultaneously a couple of times. The ending twist is really telegraphed, but this is somewhat saved by the love interest revealing she'd figured out that twist the first time she'd met the protagonist.
"Billy Angel, Trouble Lover" is the rare pulp Western story from the woman's point of view. Mr. Brand writes a fair romance story too.
And the title story, "Bad Man's Gulch" is only disappointing in that its shortness prevents the implications of Melendez's fatalistic outlook from being fully developed.
For more Western reviews, see http://www.skjam.com/tag/western/
"The Adopted Son" was also a movie at the same time; Mr. Brand did this thing where he sold a story and a movie script to appear simultaneously a couple of times. The ending twist is really telegraphed, but this is somewhat saved by the love interest revealing she'd figured out that twist the first time she'd met the protagonist.
"Billy Angel, Trouble Lover" is the rare pulp Western story from the woman's point of view. Mr. Brand writes a fair romance story too.
And the title story, "Bad Man's Gulch" is only disappointing in that its shortness prevents the implications of Melendez's fatalistic outlook from being fully developed.
For more Western reviews, see http://www.skjam.com/tag/western/
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