Paradise Sky

by Joe R. Lansdale

Overview

A rollicking novel about Nat Love, an African-American cowboy with a famous nickname: Deadwood Dick.

Young Willie is on the run, having fled his small Texas farm when an infamous local landowner murdered his father. A man named Loving takes him in and trains him in the fine arts of shooting, riding, reading, and gardening. When Loving dies, Willie re-christens himself Nat Love in tribute to his mentor, and heads west.

In Deadwood, South Dakota Territory, Nat becomes a Buffalo Soldier and is befriended by Wild Bill Hickok. After winning a famous shooting match, Nat's peerless marksmanship and charm earn him the nickname Deadwood Dick, as well as a beautiful woman. But the hellhounds are still on his trail, and they brutally attack Nat Love's love. Pursuing the men who have driven his wife mad, Nat heads south for a final, deadly showdown against those who would strip him of his home, his love, his freedom, and his life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316329347
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	09/26/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	1,018,021
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Joe R. Lansdale is the author of nearly four dozen novels, including Rusty Puppy, the Edgar-award winning The Bottoms, Sunset and Sawdust, and Leather Maiden. He has received nine Bram Stoker Awards, the American Mystery Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Editorial Reviews

"Fantastic . . . Lansdale has pulled out all the stops to deliver a rip-roaring tale."—Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times

"[A] breakout novel . . . Addictive fun . . . A rollicking ride that's suspenseful, hilarious and satisfyingly redemptive. . . . Lansdale at his funniest and most energetic, with some of the most engaging writing you'll read this year. . . . Lansdale has unleashed something remarkable."—Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle

"Joe R. Lansdale takes on Nat Love and the legend of Deadwood Dick in his new novel, Paradise Sky, and hosannas should be sung to him for doing so. Paradise Sky is a remarkable achievement, an instant classic of Western lit. . . . It sometimes seems as if [Lansdale] has published around a thousand novels, and he, no doubt, will publish many more. Paradise Sky may well prove to be Lansdale's best."—W.K. Stratton, Dallas Morning News

"A deftly told yarn. Everything about Paradise Sky is classic Western drama . . . You can almost smell the beans heating up on the campfire and see the rugged beauty of the frontier."—Evan Rodriguez, Austin American-Statesman

"Lansdale is a master storyteller and this novel is a prime example of his talent. Paradise Sky is at times exciting, inspiring, surreal, and heartbreaking. In other words, the novel is true to life."—Josef Hernandez, Examiner.com

"Beautiful literary prose . . . He fills each page with heartbreak, suspense, hope, and laughter."—Eric J. Guignard, New York Journal of Books

"Folksy, cinematic . . . Lansdale fills his pages with true-hearted heroes, dastardly scoundrels, and rollicking adventures."—Publishers Weekly (starred)

"Paradise Sky is a rowdy, funny, suspenseful, and often quite moving yarn."—Booklist (starred)

"This fast-paced Western with its multicultural cast of characters is a winner."—Library Journal (starred)

"It is a full-blooded western, served up unapologetically and masterfully Lansdale-style and set in the 1870s....Paradise Sky is an unblinking and unvarnished look at a rough-edged time and place in United States history, one that never becomes overburdened with the sorrow of tragic events while respecting the good times and recognizing their temporary nature. Lansdale is one of those very rare authors who can have his readers howling with laughter during one sentence while bringing tear to their eyes with the next."—BookReporter

PRAISE FOR JOE LANSDALE:

"Reading Joe Lansdale is like listening to a favorite uncle who just happens to be a fabulous storyteller."—Dean Koontz

"Too often overlooked in American literature is that lineage descending from our early humorists such as Bierce, and from Twain: regional, darkly comic, bizarre. That's where Joe Lansdale lives. He's very Texan, very American, very funny—and a stone brilliant writer."—James Sallis, author of Drive

From the Publisher

★ 04/06/2015
Edgar-winner Lansdale’s folksy, cinematic fictional memoir tells the story of a man who was born a slave before the Civil War but grew up to become the legendary Deadwood Dick. Willie Jackson is just running an errand in a nameless East Texas town when he happens to glimpse the back end of Sam Ruggert’s wife while she’s bending over a clothes basket in her yard. Sam sees Willie looking at her, and in short order, Willie gets “invited to a lynching” and chooses, as an alternative, to flee. He’s taken in by Tate Loving, who teaches him much about life, including the proficient use of firearms. When forced to flee again, Willie changes his name to Nat Love and heads west to join the Army at Fort McKavett. He and another former slave, Cullen, are the only survivors of an Apache ambush on their unit, after which the two decide to leave soldiering behind. Eventually, he and Collen make their way north to Deadwood, S.D. In Deadwood, Nat meets a beautiful young woman, saves the life of Wild Bill Hickok, and reencounters Sam Ruggert, who still has it in for him. Lansdale (The Thicket) fills his pages with true-hearted heroes, dastardly scoundrels, and rollicking adventures. Author tour. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (June)

Publishers Weekly

★ 03/01/2015
The latest novel from Lansdale (The Thicket) revolves around an unfortunate misunderstanding that leads Ruggert, a local landowner, to seek vengeance against a young African American man, Willie. Ruggert and his men kill Willie's father, and Willie flees his Texas home. Loving, a Civil War veteran, takes Willie under his wing and teaches him how to shoot and ride a horse. When Loving dies, Willie renames himself Nat Love in honor of his mentor and heads to the town of Deadwood in South Dakota Territory, where he befriends Wild Bill Hickock, among other colorful characters. When Ruggert hears that Nat is living in Deadwood, he sets out after the young man again. VERDICT Loosely based on the true story of African American cowboy Nat Love (1854–1921), this fast-paced Western with its multicultural cast of characters is a winner. Readers of Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers will welcome Love's sense of humor and resilience in the midst of the rough-and-tumble American West. [See Prepub Alert, 12/15/14.]—Emily Hamstra, Univ. of Michigan Libs., Ann Arbor

Library Journal

2015-04-01
How did Deadwood Dick get his name? Readers can learn this, and a whole lot more, in this picaresque Western from a master of the form (The Thicket, 2013, etc.). Willie Jackson's origins didn't prophesy a future any brighter than that of most black Americans born in East Texas so soon after the War Between the States that he can still remember his years as an infant slave. What seals his fate, however, is looking the wrong way at the rear end of Sam Ruggert's hatchet-faced third wife. Ruggert, not one to take this slur on his manhood lying down, organizes a lynching party. Although Willie escapes, his father doesn't, nor does the family farm. Taking to his heels, Willie lucks into kind neighbor Tate Loving, who shelters him for several years. But when he's recognized one day by a chance visitor, his real adventures begin. In short order he lights out again, changes his name to Nat Love, enlists in the U.S. Cavalry, deserts his post, crosses paths with four Chinese women, loses his heart to a ratter named Win Finn, lands in Deadwood, where he's befriended by James Butler Hickok—Wild Bill to you—and wins the shooting competition that earns him his enduring sobriquet. Soon thereafter, Ruggert and two hirelings catch up with Ruggert's long-sought quarry and exact a terrible vengeance. The tables now turned, Willie, or Nat, or Dick, plots his own revenge on the man who stole his happiness. Noting that he's starred in many a dime novel penned by his old friend Bronco Bob Brennen, the narrator maintains in closing: "Here is the straight record." That assurance is a lot harder to swallow than the rest of this tall tale, which goes down smooth and easy as a vintage sarsaparilla.

Kirkus Reviews