Zeke Walters and his brother Brad are returning from the Colorado gold fields after striking it rich. They stop at a small town, where Zeke shoots his way into 52% ownership of the Split Trails Ranch, locally known as Split Tails because of the beautiful women who live there. Follow his adventures as he takes possession, works out an uneasy truce with the women who live there, gains two daughters, and fights the forces who would take his ranch.
Size: 260 KB (51,780 words)
Genre: Western
Sex Contents: Minimal Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa
Review by richardshagrin [other reviews by richardshagrin]
Reviewed:
It's worth reading, but boy is it full of miss-spelled words.
It is a Western, full of gunfights and violence, modified with some sex. Give it a try. The ending is a little unusual for most Westerns, it discusses what hundreds of the hero's family wound up doing long after he died. This author has a lot of good stories.
I hope you like this one too.
Review by burka_oz [other reviews by burka_oz]
Reviewed:
Now, dear reader, I don't normally like Western tales. As an Australian the Western mythos os a stranger to us though we grew up watching the Texas Rangers and many more "Western" shows that are no longer missed.
This is one great tale and even though Westerns are not my thing good stories are.
Zeke, the hero stands out as a strong but fair man with strength built on honesty and a belief in doing right by others. Outlaws and rustlers met their just deserts, many met their Maker. Shady dealers were also brought down to the ground, some literally to the dirt at their feet. Hey, it's a Western, when you bring out guns people die.
I loved the plot as his family seems to grow out of nowhere. Adopted daughters and a new wife spring up and make his life just so much better.
What really makes this different are the two last pieces, I guess you could call them Epilogs but they are a great tool for closing off threads and the tool is used here to perfection. I was very impressed with that touch, it is very rarely seen and much appreciated.
His characterisation was so good you could just see them in your eyes as you read their story.
Technical ability was good but at the time of writing this, there were still some silly bits that a competent editor would have spotted and corrected. I will be sending along the ones that I spotted. There could be more problems. Again, competent editing will fix those kinds of problems.
Appeal to the Reviewer: This is the second or third time I have read this. Does that say enough about how much I liked it?
My big favourite was Jessica. What a feisty little fighter she was. I certainly could stand hearing more about her and what became of her. That is one very strong character.
The author has written some very good stories and shared them in his Library. It will be to your advantage to look through his stories and find more that interest you.
Review by Nulaak83 [other reviews by Nulaak83]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
As someone that thoroughly enjoys Westerns but has trouble reading the more popular Western-style authors from the site, I found this one to be one of the best available on SOL.
The writing is engaging and the plot flows smoothly. The author does a great job of intertwining conversations into the plot without it coming off as stilted. After re-reading there were a few more grammar, spelling, and consistency issues than I noticed on the first read. Overall an outstanding piece of writing and one of my favorite Westerns that with some editing would top several of the professionally published Western works I've read.
Review by Safe_Bet [other reviews by Safe_Bet]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
OH MY GOD! This is a FANTASTIC shoot'em up western that would have made some of the notable writers here (or ANYWHERE) proud.
Plot: Brothers fresh off the Colorado gold fields hit town, enjoy a couple of fallen doves, end up in a shoot-out, end up with a ranch currently occupied by the family of the man they were forced to kill... rustlers... cattle drives... suspense... romance... touching reunions... MORE gun battles... Oh, hell... just read it. The plot is GREAT!
Technical: Sure there were a few oopsies, but nothing to even worry about.
Appeal: The best compliment I can think of is that CMSIX and aubie56 would have loved to have written this story. It is great. Like I said, just read it and you'll see!!!
