Title: Blood on the Sun
Author: Thomas Thompson
In: The Mammoth Book of Westerns (Jon E. Lewis)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Westerns
Dates read: 10th October 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 1954
5th sentence, 74th page: The other two gunmen were standing back, letting the thin man do all the talking.

The Preacher is a man who once rode into camp covered in blood. Having survived, he’s led a peaceful life. That is until the brother of the woman he loves starts to think about how much he likes guns…

I really, seriously and thoroughly enjoyed this short story. It was a really great western, and filled with the kind of characters and story line that I really love. It was also a great anti-violence, or at least attempting anti-violence kind of story. Something that I think was a great, and much needed break from too many stories about gunslingers just going to town and taking the law into their own hands…

I thought that The Preacher was a great character. Alright, I had a few flashes to another character called Preacher (Virgin River series). But I found him to be seriously likeable and a really great version of just what the good guys could do. I also loved that there was some good mystery surrounding his character that slowly got un-tweezed as the tale unfolded.

I thought this was a really cool story in the ways that Ted learnt a few needed lessons. It might have been a slightly more brutal manner in which he learnt them, but I think that they were most definitely needed. And, ultimately, they led to a good, Happily ever After at the very end. 😊

<- River Polak

Beecher Island ->

Image source: Hachette Australia