J. T. Edson - 1980s

1980s

After being enormously prolific through the 1970s, culminating in the publication of JT's Hundredth in 1979, his style began to gradually change. His plots became simpler (e.g., Beguinage / Beguinage is Dead) and his previously thorough approach to detail became even more so. In many cases, a fight scene that would have lasted 10 seconds ran over many pages!

JT's political beliefs became more and more prominent in his writings, to summarise a few:

• The American Civil War was all about the right to secede and had little to do with slavery;
• Cowboys (Texans in particular) were routinely victimised* in Kansan trail end towns;* as told in Trail Boss, page 182, pp.5

• Anyone with "liberal" beliefs is likely to be intolerant of others, believe that they are superior beings, are usually idle and dirty, and (in his later books) are likely to be homosexual.
• Homosexuality is sexual deviance;
• Punitive jail terms and capital punishment are mandatory for a strong society

Incredible detail and expression of his political beliefs simplified and slowed down his plots. There is a huge difference between the pace and complexity of the plots of Trail Boss (1963) and Diamonds, Emeralds, Cards and Colts (1986). To illustrate the point, he began revising, changing and expanding previously published short stories and publishing them as full novels (sometimes 2 novels):

• Dusty Fog the School Teacher from Hard Riders became Master of Triggernometry;
• Sam Ysabel's Son from The Texan became Old Moccasins on the Trail;
• Part 1 – The Setup from Sagebrush Sleuth became Waco's Badge;
• Part 1 – The Futility of War from Fastest Gun in Texas became A Matter of Honour;
• Part 1 – The Half-Breed from The Half-Breed became White Indians;
• Part 2 – The Quartet from The Half-Breed became Texas Kidnappers;
• Part 1 – Better than Calamity from The Wildcats expanded into 2 books – The Hide and Horn Saloon and Cut One, They All Bleed;
• Part 1 – The Bounty on Belle Starr's Scalp from Troubled Range was expanded into Calamity, Mark and Belle.

Despite selling over 11 million books globally and producing over 100 books, his books fell out of favour with UK publishers and from the 1990s were only published in the USA.