cover image The Blooded Stock

The Blooded Stock

J. P. S. Brown. Domain, $3.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-553-28068-5

None of this western's characters is complex or even three-dimensional, but together they present a lively, panoramic picture of cowmen's existence in 1880s Arizona as they socialize, fight one another, tangle with the law or their own consciences, and protect their homes. A. B. Cowden and his family raise horses and cattle and deal honestly with their neighbors, but when Duncan Vincent arrives with herds of purebred stock and substantial funding from Eastern investors, the Cowdens and the other cattle-ranchers find their way of life threatened. Vincent schemes to take over available grazing land with barbed wire fences and ``legal-paper frauds.'' When the Cowdens openly oppose him, they are singled out for harassment from Vincent's henchmen and powerful government contacts alike. Meanwhile the area braces for a confrontation with an Apache tribe, whose warriors have been pillaging settlements--a situation Vincent's men use to mask their own exploits. As the cowmen and their families meet these twin threats, they form the foundation for a young, vital society. Brown is the author of Steeldust . (Sept.)