[cosette]

I just finished "The Trouble Busters". There's a very good fight between Freddie Woods and Kate Gilgore.  They are are rival saloonkeepers and Freddie is also the mayor (and later marries the hero Dusty Fog). The confrontation builds up over several chapters and culminates in a showdown behind locked doors in Freddie's saloon, with their saloon girls also getting in on the act in an overall brawl (no men in the saloon). Freddie and Kate keep getting separated so they go into Freddie's office, lock the door, pause for a drink, and then continue their lengthy battle.

I'm now reading "Slip Gun". This also has a very good fight between Wil Jeffreys and Lily Shivers. Wil is the mayor and Lily is the saloonkeeper. Their rivalry goes back to childhood and there is a very nice build up to the fight in previous chapters. They finally agree to fight topless in Lily's room where there is only a bed. The other furniture has been conveniently moved to the hallway for redecorating. Lily locks the door and they have a sexy, long battle. This fight is now one of my favorites.

I now have 45 of his westerns - and I've just ordered 3 more. I've read 25 so far. Only 3 do not have a catfight, but they still have strong female good and bad characters and they are good stories.

I'm not a fan of female ring wrestling, mud wrestling or boxing; I prefer the different scenario fights with good buildups. Lengthy, even battles between attractive, well-built women, starting out topless, or becoming topless or nude as the fight progresses. These are the type of fights I'm looking for in JT's books.  The 2 books I described above are just that.

Do you remember which 3 books these are? I'm trying to compile a list of JT Edson fights and need to know which doesn't feature fights...

So far I think these are missing a fight:
* Cut One, they all bleed
* The Lawmen of Rockabye County
* Guns in the Night
* Go Back to Hell

I'm also looking for fatal fights in JT Edson, haven't read one yet but I think there's at least one or two... Anyone know anything?

[sinclairfan]

Back to the Bloody Border is indirectly fatal--Eve Coniston dies the next day.

[maine516]

These are the 4 JT books I have that do not contain a catfight:

Texas Kidnappers
Cut One, They All Bleed
Guns In The Night
A Town Called Yellowdog (a good story though I thought)

The only catfight I can recall at the moment with a fatal ending is in Terror Valley.  Let's just say lions are involved.

[lumberjack66]

Never read any of the books (I did read some Jake Longarm novels that had recurring catfight themes and of course Gor books).  After reading this I did do a search and came across the Wikipedia entry which include a partial list of all the books that have Catfights in them.  From the sound of things here, some of you may be able to update the Wiki page with what you know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson

[chickenwuss]

Never read any of the books (I did read some Jake Longarm novels that had recurring catfight themes and of course Gor books).  After reading this I did do a search and came across the Wikipedia entry which include a partial list of all the books that have Catfights in them.  From the sound of things here, some of you may be able to update the Wiki page with what you know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson

Do you remember any of those Longarm books that had catfights? I read a few but none of them had any.

[cosette]

CALAMITY JANE VS. ELLA WATSON
from The Cow Thieves

   “Give it up,” Calamity ordered. “Or do you want to wrassle it out?”
   Seeing that she could not escape unless she got by Calamity, Ella prepared to take action. Quickly Ella hooked her left foot behind Calamity's right ankle, rammed her right boot against the red-head's knee, pulled with the left, hoved with the right, and brought Calamity down on her back. Then Ella reared up and flung herself on the Calamity.
   From the moment Ella landed, Calamity knew, as she figured on their first meeing, that the saloonkeeper could take care of herself in any girl's kind of tangle.
   Calamity's kepi went flying as two hands dug deep into her hair and damned near tore out a pile of red curls by her roots. Pure instict guided Calamity's response. Even as she screeched in pain, her own hands hooked strong fingers into Ella's black hair and Calamity braced herself, heaving up then rolling Ella from her. Swiftly Calamity twisted on to the top of Ella, trying to bang the black head against the ground. Not that Calamity stayed on top for long. Over and over the two girls rolled and thrashed. Neither showed any kind of skill, or gave a thought to anything more scientific than clawing hair, swinging wild slaps and punches or biting at first.
   Nor did the situation improve for almost three minutes. Then, how it happened neither girld could say, they found themselves on the their feet. Ella stood behind Calamity, arms locked around the red-head and pinning Calamity's own arms to her sides. Just what advantage Ella aimed to take from the situation is hard to say. She retained her hold and crushed on the red-head, but could do little more. Gasping in fury more than pain, Calamity lashed backwards, her heels landing on Ella's shins hard enough to make the other girl yelp and loosen her hold a little. Then, Calamity clasped her hands together, forcing outwards agains Ella's grip with her elbows and sucking in a deep breath. Suddenly Calamity exhaled and felt the encircling arms relax their grip. Before Ella could tighten again, Calamity twisted slightly and rammed back with her wlbow, driving it into the other girl's stomach.
   Giving a croaking gasp. Ella lost her hold and stumbled back. Jumping in to attack again, Calamity discovered that the other girl was far from beaten. Ella's left hand shot out, driving the fist full into Calamity's face, then the right whipped across to connect with the other girls jaw. Staggering, Calamity caught her balance just in time to meet Ella's rush.
   For over ten minutes the girls put up a hell of a fight. They used fists, elbows, feet, knees, punching, slapping, kiking, pushing and shoving. Twice they rolled over Calamity's Colt without giving it a glance or thought. However, Calamity slowly gained the upper hand. Her normal working life offered greater advantages in the matter of staying fit and strong than did Ella's career in the saloon.
   Gasping in exhaustion, her shirt torn open and minus one sleeve, Calamity landed a punch which sent the sobbing exhausted Ella sprawling to the ground. Calamity stumbled forward. Through the mists which roared around her, Calamity heard horses approaching. She came to a halt and started to look at the newcomers. That look nearly cost her the fight. Ella had come to her feet, swaying and barley able to stand. Yet she still swung a wild punch that ought to have flattened Calamity; only it missed the read-head by a good two inches. Once more Calamity's instincts came to her aid. Ignoring the two men who rode towards her, she turned and lashed out with all she had. In missing, Ella staggered forward and walked full into the punch Calamity threw. It clocked like two rocks cracking together as they fell down a cliff. Ella shot sideways, landing face down and lying still. Weakly Calamity followed the saloonkeeper up and dropped to her knees by the still shape.
   “Ease off, Calam!” Danny yelled, leaping from his horse and running to where Calamity rolled the unsconscious Ella over.
   “She's done!”
   “Know something?” Calamity gasped. “I'm not much better myself.”
   Five minutes later Calamity recovered enough to tell Danny what had happened. Ella sat moaning on the ground to one side and Calamity looked at Danny with a wry grin as he said:
   “I'd swear you let her jump you and get your gun just so you could fight.”
   “Shucks,” grinned Calamity. “Can't a gal have any fun at all?”

[maine516]

Just fyi - The Cow Thieves was also released later as Running Irons.

[colt 45]

Some VERY Few on AMAZON for kindle.  Most are paperback on ebay.  VERY PRICEY since the auther has passed on.

[CoffeeMug]

Rise from your grave!

Discovered this morning that a new JT Edson book is coming out next week on Amazon Kindle! And it's Book 5 of his Bunduki series! Sadly, Amazon is calling it "unfinished" (131 pages). Here's the description and the link.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazons-Zillikian-Unfinished-Bunduki-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0CKTPN9YT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=452IET8S6WAX&keywords=jt+edson+bunduki&qid=1698098219&sprefix=jt+edson+bunduki%2Caps%2C74&sr=8-1

At last! The final, unfinished action-adventure novel by bestselling author J. T. Edson can be enjoyed by his legions of fans worldwide!
On feeling the dismasted Amazon yacht overturning and themselves being thrown into the hurricane-lashed sea, it seemed to Beryl Snowhill, Charlotte ‘Cha’ Topper and Jill Jervis that nothing could save them from a watery grave.
Yet they had survived!
The mysterious aliens known as the Suppliers plucked them from what should have been certain death and transported them to the planet Zillikian. Having been delivered there, equipped and conditioned mentally to be able to use primitive weapons, they were left to their own devices.
It was fortunate for the Earth women that, in addition to the knowledge they had been given, they had already learned how to protect themselves. Being accepted by the Amazon nations, they became involved in the internal strife as dissidents sought to overthrow Queen Hippolyta. Before the affair was over, they needed all their strength, courage and ability with weapons and at barehanded fighting.
However, when peace was restored, they had won the right to consider themselves as being Amazons of Zillikian.

[maine516]

Thanks, CoffeeMug, for discovering this new release of The Amazons of Zillikian.  I always hoped it would eventually be published even though it wasn't completed due to JTE's passing.  I vaguely remember something about his family members having retained the unfinished manuscript and seeking to publish it at some future point, but I was certainly unsure if that would ever happen.  Now, my problem is that I don't do Kindle and won't likely be buying one just for this book.  I hope there will be a paperback version put out maybe by one of his former publishers.  If you hear of anything, kindly post it here.  I'll keep checking Amazon in the meantime.

[maine516]

CoffeeMug, it turns out I may have reason to purchase a Kindle reader.  If and when I do, possibly in the next couple of months, I'll look to buy this Kindle version of The Amazons of Zillikian.  If I do that, I'll post a review here unless you or someone else beats me to it.  As you well know, JTE left us hanging at the conclusion of Fearless Master of The Jungle with the strong implication that Bunduki's beautiful partner Dawn would have an epic battle with the evil Priestess Charole in the next adventure.  They came close to having one in Fearless Master, but they didn't.  My hope was that Dawn and Charole would eventually have this epic face off in the final book, The Amazons of Zillikian.  Although Charole's name is not mentioned in the overview for the new A of Z book, I'm hoping that somewhere in the 131 pages they will have this epic confrontation.  By the way, this topic made me go back and read the version of a Dawn vs Charole fight you created in lieu of us not getting it from JTE.  That was a fine fight description you wrote back in 2015 and it made me want even more to see a Dawn vs Charole long fight in The A of Z.  Of course, it's likely that Dawn would fight Queen Hippolyta in the finale of A of Z, but since the book was unfinished that fight might not actually have been written.

[CoffeeMug]

Ha ha, thank you for the kind words, Maine!

As for the new release, I've pre-ordered it, and these things don't exactly take a long time to read, so I can come back and post something after I've read it.

Also, don't know how experienced you are with Amazon, but you don't need to buy any new device to read on Kindle. You can read the digital copy on your web browser on your laptop/tablet or on their free app on your phone. You do need to use the browser version of Amazon to buy any digital books, though. They got in a fight with the phone companies and disabled buying books through the Amazon phone app.

Happy to post more specifics if need be.

[maine516]

Thanks for the Amazon info CoffeMug.  I am somewhat aware that there are other options for a digital reading of this book, but I do little to nothing with apps on my phone for one and since I now have another reason for buying a Kindle reader, I'm going that route.  I'll look forward to reading what you post here about the A of Z.  I'm guessing two things in advance; one is that Dawn will fight Charole in this final chapter and that an anticipated showdown between Dawn and Queen Hippolyta will not take place due to the book being unfinished.  We'll see if I guessed correctly.  Either way, I'm thinking there will be one or two female warrior women fights in this last book that could be excellent and very well deatiled.

[CoffeeMug]

My guess is that we get 'introductory' fights between one or two of the women from the description and lieutenant-level Amazons and build-up but no resolution on a fight between Hippolyta and whoever the leader of this group of British women is. I would LOVE to see Dawn and Charole go out at it, but I'd be very suprised if either is in it.

[maine516]

Yeah, I think you're probably right about either Dawn Charole being in this final book.   Dawn is not one of the three leading ladies mentioned in the cover writeup and would most likely be listed there if she was in the book.  It's wishful thinking on my part.  It comes from their near miss battle in Fearless Master of The Jungle and the teaser at the very end that they would meet up again in the future.  I look forward to your posting on what really happens.