Massacre River — John Benteen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Benjamin Leopold Haas was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1926. His imagination was inspired by the stories of the Civil War and Reconstruction as told by his Grandmother, who had lived through both. Ben's father was also a pioneer operator of motion picture theatres, “ ... so I had free access to every theatre in Charlotte and saw countless films growing up, hooked on the lore of our own South and the Old West.”



Largely self educated, Ben wrote his first story, a pulp short for a western magazine, when he was just eighteen. But when he was drafted into the Army, his dreams of becoming a writer were put on hold. He served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1946, and saw action in the Philippines.



A prolific writer who would eventually pen some 130 books under his own and a variety of pen-names, Ben wrote almost twenty-four hours a day. “I tried to write 5000 words or more every day, scrupulous in maintaining authenticity,” he later said.



The success of his classic action-adventure western series, FARGO, led to the SUNDANCE series. The short-lived JOHN CUTLER series followed, and then perhaps Ben's crowning achievement, the RANCHO BRAVO novels, published under the name Thorne Douglas.



Ben Haas died from a heart attack in New York City after attending a Literary Guild dinner in 1977. He was just fifty-one.



Fan favourite James Reasoner has hailed Ben as “one of the best action writers of all time”. In TWENTIETH CENTURY WESTERN WRITERS, David Whitehead