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The Sunday Post, Issue #10: Celebrating July 4th, Bookish Finds, and Western Adventures!

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Happy Sunday! 

In celebration of this year’s 4th of July, I shared my thoughts on Day of Independence by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone. I also posted a snippet from the 1954 historical novel Blue Hurricane by F. Van Wyck Mason on the Friday 56.

I’m curious where everyone discovers new Western releases! Living in a small town has its challenges; my limited options are a mid-size Walmart book department, a Dollar Tree, and a Dollar General, where the tiny book section rarely stocks anything new. I wish there were a Barnes & Noble or another bookstore nearby, but I'm stuck with what's available. The only new Westerns at my local Walmart are the monthly Johnstone titles, along with the occasional Louis L'Amour reprint. Speaking of William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, I recently grabbed their July releases: Calamity James—a fictional take on Jesse James's brother, These Men Chose Hell—the second book in the Fort Misery series, and The Man from Blood Gulch—the first in a brand-new series.


Oh, and what about the thrift store? I rarely find new books at the Salvation Army, but I often score older titles, like the stack of historical hardbacks I picked up this past week for just a dollar. Those titles include The Comancheros and The Bowl of Brass by Paul I. Wellman, The Land Breakers by John Ehle, Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow, Civil War in Pictures arranged with commentary by Fletcher Pratt, The Earthbreakers by Ernest Haycox, For Us the Living by Antonia Van-Loon, Captain Adam by Donald Barr Chidsey, as well as Pride's Castle, The Golden Hawke, Floodtide, and The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby. I found a few other books too, but I’ll save those for my Sunday Post on my other blog.

I also visited an antique flea market in a different town—it's been about five or six months since my last visit. I found a decent number of Westerns there, mostly Louis L’Amour titles I already own. However, I couldn’t resist picking up a $4 Longarm paperback bundle that included Longarm and the Cheyenne Kid, Longarm and the Lone Star Captive, Longarm and the Moley Maguires, Longarm and the Arkansas Ambush, Longarm and the Nesters, Longarm and the River of Death, and Longarm and the Bounty Huntress. I also snagged a $2 Slocum bundle with Slocum and the Railroad Baron, Slocum and the Trail of Death, Slocum and the Bushwackers, Slocum and the Forty Thieves, and Blood Fever. Additionally, I got four titles by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone: Catfish Charlie, Pray for Death, Save It for Sunday, and Hard Road to Vengeance, along with Call Me Lonesome by Brett Cogburn, Ghost Dance by John Norman, and The Medicine Trail by G. Clifton Wisler.

Looking ahead to next week, I’ll be reviewing Longarm and the Molly Maguires on Wednesday and featuring These Men Chose Hell in the Friday 56.

Happy reading, everyone!

⁓B.J. Burgess

Comments

  1. Idea-ist @ GetLostinLitJuly 6, 2025 at 6:41 AM

    That's an impressive book haul. Outside of TrueGrit, I don't think I've ever read a western. I would think you could find new releases on Amazon, and even if you don't have a Barnes&Noble within driving distance you can still shop on their website.

    https://getlostinlit.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-sunday-post.html

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