Blood on the Moon

What appeals to me in this genre is the simple, clear "Sunday school" themes I long for from my youth: Good over evil, boy gets girl, vengeance is sweet, justice is attainable, hard work is rewarded, and so forth. Luke Short's (Glidden's)story, "Blood On The Moon" delivers really big for me, redemption mostly powering this one. Jim Garry is the young gun who in the course of the story comes to recognize shame and feels self disgust caused by his past evils, then finds opportunity and occasion to right himself and make some amends. This redemption read was enormously satisfying! Also fun is that Glidden crafts "the boy and the girl" just a tad off the easy ideal: Jim Garry has his tarnished past and his Amy is not the gorgeous sister. For me BOTM delivered Sunday school satisfaction and I am dressed up and eager now for my next Luke Short!

Luke Short, Frederick D Glidden, has written one heck of a novel! "Blood on the Moon" is a terse, atmosphere filled book that lives deep in the imagination of his readers. For instance, the climax of the book describes the shooting of Rling. The book reads: At that moment the raking, booming blast of a shotgun let off in a confined place that shatterd the silence of the night. On the heels of it, Shotten was driven out onto the plank walk. He hit it on his belly, and rolled over twice. The second roll carried him off the walk into the dust on the street, he lay there, limp and unmoving.. (page 255). How much more cinematic do you need to be???? Can you see it? Can you hear it? Blood on the moon is the story of Jim Garry and his tenuous maneuveing between his 'old' friends and 'new' friends that test his character. Another great entry from the Classic Film series from Leisure Western. Hey, the movie isn't so bad either!

Luke Short: "Today's best selling western writer" 1960s As most readers of Luke Short (Frederick D. Glidden) westerns will be aware the original title of this western novel and the 1949 movie Blood On The Moon are one and the same. The cover of my $1.25 paperback (New Bantam edition/June, 1976) is different from this $.60 cent earlier edition shown here, however, the books are identical in print and story. Luke Short: "The Master Storyteller of the West" 1970 Fairly simple tale of one man riding an outlaw trail only to be turned off and away from a friend's greed and violence, to switch sides in a range war. As is said of Jim Garry, he always had a conscience, which went a long way to separate him from the long riders with whom he once rode. Garry's future will be a brighter one now that he rides a different trail, and rides that trail with Miss Amy Lufton. Luke Short: "Winner of the Special Western Heritage Trustee award." 1980s with over 31 million copies of his western novels in print Another readable western novel from Luke Short, just released once again this month as part of Leisure Western Classic Movie Tie-ins. I have a full shelf of Luke Short westerns (48) and find them all entertaining reading with several books such as RAMROD, AMBUSH, and this one, BLOOD ON THE MOON making fine western movies to watch as well. Semper Fi. Semper Fi.

GUNMAN'S CHANCE by Luke Short (1908-1975) has been printed in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, all in mass market paperback and will soon be republished again by Leisure Book westerns, April, 2010. Though the book's original title down through the years has generally been GUNMAN'S CHANCE, since the book was made into the 1948 movie BLOOD ON THE MOON, the title can also appear as Blood On The Moon. Many viewers of the movie see it as a noir western, yet the book is pretty much a man with a plan enlisting a friend to help with his land grabbing scheme, until the friend decides the plan or con is too dirty to carry through. Jim Garry not only begins to reconsider the job but also just what kind of 'friends' he is being asked to side, just who are his real friends? Books and Hollywood movies always differ so seeing the movie with Robert Mitchum among other actors doesn't mean the reader will be given an identical plot line. Good movie and good reading from the Western Heritage Trustee Award winner, Luke Short, or Fredrick D. Glidden, his real handle. Let r rip, pards. Best in western reading bookaroos. (My New Bantam Books edition paperback 0-553-02516-3 was published June, 1976, $1.25). Semper Fi.

Luke Short's books are a pleasure: frequently with a man realizing he doesn't relish the shady or unproductive life he's living, and goes to considerable effort to turn himself around; also, his women are real people, not a sunbonnet waiting at the ranch to wlecome him home. This book, originally titled Gunman's Chance, does it well. Also check the well-done movie, with Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Walter Brennan.