Very Enjoyable Reading

Who says the short story is dead? I gave this collection of fourteen stories a try, although I hadn’t read any “western” fiction since Lonesome Dove. Mr. Fonvielle does the genre proud with realism, stark situations and conflict, and endings that often are not what you’d expect. His characters often speak in crisp Victorian language that reminded me of several John Wayne movies. In fact, I think the dialogue is my favorite part of the collection. But don’t misunderstand: he depicts frontier living with its lawlessness, whores, brutality, saloons, scalpings, and the rest, so it’s not for the fainthearted. The stories vary in length from just 2-3 pages up to 20-30. I was disappointed when I got to the end. Give it a look.

An Amazon customer review which you can see here.