Night Riders — Thorne Douglas

The brainchild of Amazon Kindle bestselling western writers Mike Stotter and Ben Bridges, PICCADILLY PUBLISHING is dedicated to issuing classic fiction from Yesterday and Today!

NIGHT RIDERS

His name was Elias Whitton. Once a slave, he was now a partner in the Rancho Bravo. A man respected, even feared. Part Comanche himself, Elias had pledged guns and supplies to the Indians to help them through the winter. But the Rancho Bravo wagon train loaded with the promised goods was a thousand miles away, perhaps lost or destroyed by looters. When Elias suggested they give the
Comanches their guns the others said it was madness, that the Indians would kill them all; but Whitton swore it was their only chance - little knowing that two vicious killers in the territory, Plumb and Devlin, had the power to dash their last remaining shred of hope.



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. Largely self educated, he wrote his first story, a pulp short for a western magazine, when he was just eighteen.

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.

Ben wanted to be a mainstream writer, but needed a way to finance himself between serious books, and so he became a paperback writer. Ben's early pen names include Ben Elliott (his grandmother's maiden name), who wrote Westerns for Ace; and Sam Webster, who wrote five books for Monarch. As Ken Barry he turned out racy paperback originals for Beacon with titles like The Love Itch and Executive Boudoir. The success of his Fargo series led to the Sundance books. 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.