Genre: Fantasy
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Maryann
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About The Book
Diablo. Big as one o’ them beer-pullin’ horses, quarter horse sleek, blacker’n the blackest black ya kin see inside yer head er elsewheres. They said as how he was the best saddle bronc ever, ‘n’ weren’t nobody gonna stay on him.
Ha! He was the Devil hisself made horse.
How else ya gonna explain as how the bosses was right? Nobody stayed the eight seconds when the Devil’s horse were buckin’. Weren’t no big deal, him tossin’ riders them first ten, twenny times, with the prize the bosses offered goin’ up a grand each time. But then he bucked off forty, ‘n fifty, ‘n the guy who tried fer the hunnerd grand fer the 100th ride weren’t on longer’n four-five seconds.
He weren’t no normal horse, ‘n I bin knowin’ ‘bout horses fer longer’n most folks bin around. I tried. I told ‘em ‘n’ told ‘em but weren’t nobody’d listen.
So’s I shut up, did my job, kept outa the way of the Devil’s horse, ‘n watched alla them rides. ‘n a bit beyond.
This here’s the story ‘bout how the Devil’s horse got rid a thousand ‘n’ one times.
‘n’ cuz I’m nice, ‘n’ this here Eric Alan Westfall guy is pretty good, I’m givin’ ya some samples—covers ‘n’ blurbs ‘n’ chapters—of some of the books what he’s writ:
The Cooking Mage & The Parchment Prankster Part One
The Rake, The Rogue, and The Roué
3 Boars & A Wolf Walk Into A Bar…
Mr. Felcher’s Grand Emporium, or, The Adventures of a Pair of Spares in the Fine Art of
Gentlemanly Portraiture
Tattooed Wolf, Painted Dragon
Prince Ivan, A. Wolfe & A Firebird
no way out
Of Princes False and True
The Warlord and the Bard
The Raven Prince
Oh, yeah. The story ‘bout the Devil’s horse is 8032 words.
The Review
Diablo was known as the “devils own horse,” and for good reason. He was a dark-as-sin, blacker-than-black horse. Even the whites of his eyes barely showed. He was calm, quiet, muscled and powerful. He could stare anyone down and showed who ruled the stable. He had his fussy ways, like only wanting straw beneath his hoofs. He’d let you do most anything to him, as long as you talked to him and explained what was going on, but he was sneaky, too.
He was a tough horse to stay on, and he changed the game in the ring. The bosses of L&G that owned Diablo made a special deal – anyone could ride Diablo for fifty dollars. There was no point system for rider or horse. As long as you rode one-handed and stayed on for eight seconds, the rider won one-thousand dollars and ownership of Diablo. For every rider that was bucked off, the prize increased.
Even though Diablo’s ride wasn’t a rodeo competition, the L&G owners kept bringing up more ways to make money at each event. The money-making schemes kept getting bigger as they hit rides 995-1000 at the Texas Grand National. But the people were becoming suspicious.
Jess Kristofferson is a sixty-three year old man, and the next rider. Will he be able to stay on the beast where everyone else failed? Only the man who wrote this story knows the ending!
Westfall creates an enjoyable short story in “The Thousand-and-One Rides of the Devil’s Horse,” a blend of fantasy/paranormal and mystery. The author keeps it interesting with “old cowboy speak”, at least that’s what I call it. And there’s a great surprise ending! It’s a quick read and a lot of fun.
This book also has excerpts from many of the Eric Alan Westfall’s books, a great way to get a little taste of the author’s work.
The Reviewer
Hi, I’m Maryann, I started life in New York, moved to New Hampshire and in 1965 uprooted again to Sacramento, California. Once I retired I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011 and just moved back to Sacramento in March of 2018. My son, his wife and step-daughter flew out to Florida and we road tripped back so they got to see sights they have never seen. New Orleans and the Grand Canyon were the highlights. Now I am back on the west coast again to stay! From a young age Ialways liked to read.
I remember going to the library and reading the “Doctor Dolittle” books by Hugh Lofting. Much later on became a big fan of the classics, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and as time went by Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Kingand many other authors.
My first M/M shifter book I read was written by Jan Irving the “Uncommon Cowboys” series from 2012. She was the first author I ever contacted and sent an email to letting her know how much I liked this series. Sometime along the way I read “Zero to the Bone”by Jane Seville, I think just about everyone has read this book!
As it stands right now I’m really into mysteries, grit, gore and “triggers” don’t bother me. But if a blurb piques my interest I will read the book.
My kindle collection eclectic and over three thousand books and my Audible collection is slowly growing. I have both the kindle and audible apps on my ipod, ipads, and MAC. So there is never an excuse not to be listening or reading.
I joined Goodreads around 2012 and started posting reviews. One day a wonderful lady, Lisa Horan of The Novel Approach, sent me an email to see if I wanted to join her review group. Joining her site was such an eye opener. I got introduce to so many new authors that write for the LGBTQ genre. Needless to say, it was heart breaking when it ended.
But I found a really great site, QRI and it’s right here in Sacramento. Last year at QSAC I actually got to meet Scott Coatsworth, Amy Lane and Jeff Adams.