Shadows From Boot Hill - A Spooky Western

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lawrence_Hail]Lawrence Hail
What do a witch doctor and a cowboy have in common? Not much unless you are reading The pulp fiction classic story, "Shadows from Boot Hill"! Combining the two elements together makes for an interesting twist to the classic western story.
In this story, the author, L. Ron Hubbard, takes you into world of the cowboy criminal on the run with a posse close behind. The character he has created goes from one foul deed to the next but this cowboy doesn't seem to be able to get it quite right.
This is the story about the outlaw "Brazos" who's misguided idea of killing a banker as a favor to humanity, must skip town immediately without collecting his blood money due to the swiftness with which the posse is formed to chase him down. He acquires a sinister shadow that he does not know how to deal with and has nowhere to go except to "Los Hornos" where a so called half friend "Whisper Monahan" due to the last parting of ways was not on good terms, was the only option available to him. Upon arrival at Monahan's door, Brazo pleads with him to help him out. Monahan toys with him mercilessly before finally giving him a job that would earn him a couple of hundred eagles to hold him over. The job; kill a local fellow named Scotty Brant that has poisoned over 4,000 acres of Monahan's land by sitting on the headwaters of a rare stream using cyanide to extract gold from oxide ore.
What Brazo does not realize is that Scotty has partnered up with a witch doctor! And things get right spooky when Brazos picks up another shadow after slaying the witch doctor, who, with his last breath, swears a deadly curse on his soul.
Hubbard weaves the story and characters in this sometimes funny but also dark reality of the lawless cowboy who cannot conceive of the wrongdoing in this gun slinging but spooky western story. To tell more of the story would give too much away but is worth reading from the perspective of the writings from the pulp fiction era as this book was published in June of 1940. It is as exciting to read today as it was sixty years ago.
As well as the republishing of this story in paperback form, it also comes as an audiobook which is immensely fun to listen to. The full-cast version of "Shadows from Boot Hill" features the voice talents of Phil Proctor, Corey Burton, R.F. Daley, John Mariano, Jim Meskimen, Tait Ruppert, Fred Tatasciore and Josh R. Thompson. The cinema quality sound effect and music along with the talented actors, the audiobook version of the story can entertain in a completely different way from the book and I would recommend it.
Included in the book are two additional stories to enjoy; "The Gunner from Gehenna" which was originally published in April of 1949 and "Gunman" which was published in February of 1949.
If you have not acquainted yourself with pulp fiction stories then this is a good place to start. Enjoy!
Lawrence Hail is a huge fan of pulp fiction stories and loves to experience them in all formats from print to audiobooks to video and movie. Click here for a catalogue at: http://www.goldenagestories.com/free-asi-magazine-signup-form
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Shadows-From-Boot-Hill---A-Spooky-Western&id=6624706] Shadows From Boot Hill - A Spooky Western