The Western, I believe, is the ultimate genre.

The epic nomenclature of tough, strong cowboys in big hats with guns and horses pitted in physical and psychological contests of good versus evil fought on rugged frontier landscapes that externally mirror their own jagged internal natures is mythic and timeless. But while the entire world loves westerns, the U.S. owns the brand, and westerns remain our own uniquely American mythology and true contribution to pop culture. Westerns are the American Arthurian Legend.

Born from the harsh realities of the Old West, bred through a century of thrilling popular culture in novels and film that fired the public imagination, imprinted by books and movies that cross-pollinated each other to create a grand mythology that remains popular as ever today; it’s hard to tell now where the reality ends and myth begins with westerns, but cowboy good guys and bad guys are baked into our collective consciousness.

While there is a certain mystery to the mystique of the western, some things are certain: it’s a heroic genre, full of honor and nobility with bigger-than-life heroes and villains; it’s a physical genre, action-packed on the purest level with riding and fistfights and shooting; and it’s a cathartic genre, where morality tales about good versus evil end in a decisive, satisfying showdown at the climax that gives us a vicarious sense of triumph we rarely achieve in our complicated real world where right and wrong is not always clear.

Some part of us needs this as human beings on the deepest level, which is the appeal of all heroic mythologies going back forever. Reading or watching a western, however briefly, we experience the wish fulfillment of becoming the cowboys we played at being as kids and heroes we want to be as adults if only real life were as simple as saddling your horse, grabbing your guns, and riding to the rescue.

One of the things as a screenwriter and novelist I appreciate most about westerns is the genre can absorb every other genre into the storytelling; elements of other genres like thriller, mystery, crime, even horror, all can be injected into a western story. There is even a thriving genre of romance westerns! The classic template of cowboys and guns and horses and landscapes is a canvas that can be painted with many brushes; this very adaptability makes it such an exciting genre for a writer to explore.

While many folks know me for my horror and thriller films and books, in actuality westerns are my favorite genre and the genre I’ve worked the most in, having written and produced western movies, written western novels and even created a western comic book. The movie was an HBO film called The Last Outlaw starring Mickey Rourke, a gritty, bloody adventure about a gang of outlaws pursued by a posse led by their leader who they had left for dead.

Mixing the horror and western literary genres became the inspiration for my novels The Guns Of Santa Sangre and its sequel The Wolves Of El Diablo from SST Publications, about three tough American gunfighters battling several generations of werewolves who are bandits by day in Old Mexico.

My bestselling current western book series, the Joe Noose Westerns from Pinnacle Books & Kensington Books, revolves around the adventures of a tough and complex bounty hunter in 1800s Wyoming. With Noose, Hanging Fire, Branded and The Crimson Trail, the Noose series is on its fourth book with more to come.

My lifelong love of the Western genre continues to inspire me endlessly as a creative open range of possibilities always offering new frontiers in storytelling.

Saddle up.

BRANDED, the third novel in my Joe Noose Western series from Kensington Books, is now available for pre-order in Mass Market Paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon.

From the publisher’s description: “SCARRED FOR LIFE. Joe Noose hunts down the first known serial killer on the American frontier in this trailblazing thriller. A new kind of evil has come to the Old West. A killer as cold and hard as the Wyoming winter. He wanders from town to town. Slaughters entire families along the way. With grotesque glee, he brands the letter Q in his victims’ flesh. Joe Noose knows the killer’s identity. He recognizes the killer’s brand. He bears the same scar from his childhood—and he’s determined to stop this madman once and for all. Two U.S. Marshals have agreed to help Joe. But they’ve never hunted a killer like this before. A sadist who kills for pleasure—and scars you for life…”

BRANDED is available for pre-order on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2YrD8PW

In Mass Market Paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2YrD8PW.

From the publisher’s description: “SCARRED FOR LIFE. Joe Noose hunts down the first known serial killer on the American frontier in this trailblazing thriller. A new kind of evil has come to the Old West. A killer as cold and hard as the Wyoming winter. He wanders from town to town. Slaughters entire families along the way. With grotesque glee, he brands the letter Q in his victims’ flesh. Joe Noose knows the killer’s identity. He recognizes the killer’s brand. He bears the same scar from his childhood—and he’s determined to stop this madman once and for all. Two U.S. Marshals have agreed to help Joe. But they’ve never hunted a killer like this before. A sadist who kills for pleasure—and scars you for life…”

Coming to bookstores February 2021.

From the publisher’s description: “SCARRED FOR LIFE. Joe Noose hunts down the first known serial killer on the American frontier in this trailblazing thriller. A new kind of evil has come to the Old West. A killer as cold and hard as the Wyoming winter. He wanders from town to town. Slaughters entire families along the way. With grotesque glee, he brands the letter Q in his victims’ flesh. Joe Noose knows the killer’s identity. He recognizes the killer’s brand. He bears the same scar from his childhood—and he’s determined to stop this madman once and for all. Two U.S. Marshals have agreed to help Joe. But they’ve never hunted a killer like this before. A sadist who kills for pleasure—and scars you for life…”

Thanks to my editor Gary Goldstein and the great team at Kensington Books and Pinnacle Books.

Trade paperback and digital editions available now from the publisher Savage Types in Germany.

“Eric Red’s Hanging Fire keeps the reader turning pages, one calamity after another…Throw in a crazed ex-lover, a single-minded Arizona sheriff, stir in a forest fire and Noose’s pure determination and sense of duty, bake for 299 pages and what emerges is brilliant. Filled with tantalizing descriptions and wild action, Hanging Fire is indeed a classic Western, but with a new twist.” – True West on Hanging Fire

Thanks to Gary Goldstein, Vida Engstrand and everyone at Kensington Books for all the wonderful support you have given the Joe Noose Western series!

HANGING FIRE is available from Kensington Books in Mass Market Paperback and Kindle Editions on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2G0d2Lx

NOOSE, the first novel in the Joe Noose Western book series, is available in Mass Market Paperback, Large Print and Kindle editions from Kensington Publishing Corp. on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2MIVTWZ

The first in the Joe Noose Western book series from Kensington Books is available from Audible on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2GTDAg5

Publisher’s description:

“The Devil Is a Woman…In all his days as a bounty hunter, Joe Noose never met an outlaw like Bonny Kate Valence. The notorious female gunslinger has the kind of beauty that drives men wild—and a criminal record longer than the Snake River. She also has a date with the gallows. But before anyone can put a rope around that pretty neck, Joe Noose has to bring her in alive. On the way, he’ll have to protect his prisoner from a vile ex-lover and a vengeance-seeking posse. Which puts Noose’s neck on the line, too. Especially when this female of the species is deadlier than the male…”

What the reviewers are saying:

“This teeth-grinding, bare-knuckling, swash-buckling adventure keeps readers turning pages. A terrific read…the story of one man who knows right from wrong, a man of his word – a rather refreshing notion today. Allow plenty of time to read this. It’s hard to put down.” - Roundup Magazine

“This is an edge-of-your-seat novel with plenty of action from start to finish. You wonder how Noose will escape each trial he is faced. It’s well-written, with great characterization throughout. This book is a Western lover’s dream read…A writer of several blockbuster films, Eric Red is a welcome addition to the Western genre.” - Historical Novels Review

“Red is a writer who deserves to have his stories told on his own terms, and his latest is a treat…Hanging Fire‘s world is populated with compelling characters, boasts danger at every turn, and contains an abundance action-packed mayhem with a bloody punch that begins swiftly and never lets up throughout the story. Additionally, Red’s writing style is breezy, fun, hard as nails and punctuated with lively dialogue, making for a leisurely read and an addictive page turner. You really can’t ask for more from a book of this ilk, and those readers who find themselves constantly searching for new badass heroes will find a new one in Joe Noose should they decide to give Hanging Fire a chance.” - SCREAM Magazine

“If this isn’t exactly the way the Old West was, it should have been.” - John Farris, author of The Fury and Son of the Endless Night

HANGING FIRE is also available from Kensington Books in Mass Market Paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2G0d2Lx

“Meet Joe Noose.  A good bounty hunter with a bad attitude.  In the cutthroat world of bounty hunters, Joe Noose is as honest as they come. Which isn’t saying much. Just look at his less-than-honest colleagues. They framed Joe for a murder they committed. They made sure Joe’s face wound up on a wanted poster. Now they’re gonna hunt Joe down and collect the reward money. There’s just one problem: Joe Noose thinks it’s his bounty. It’s his reward. And it’s their funeral.”

“Exceptionally fast-paced and blood-spattered. Full of action, overflowing with defiant characters and deadly gunplay.” – Ray Walsh, Lansing State Journal.

NOOSE, the first novel in the Joe Noose Western book series, is available in from Kensington Publishing Corp. in Mass Market Paperback, Large Print and Kindle editions on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2MIVTWZ

“Joe Noose is back.  The Devil Is A Woman.  In all his days as a bounty hunter, Joe Noose never met an outlaw like Bonny Kate Valence. The notorious female gunslinger has the kind of beauty that drives men wild—and a criminal record longer than the Snake River. She also has a date with the gallows. But before anyone can put a rope around that pretty neck, Joe Noose has to bring her in alive. On the way, he’ll have to protect his prisoner from a vile ex-lover and a vengeance-seeking posse. Which puts Noose’s neck on the line, too. Especially when this female of the species is deadlier than the male…”

“This is an edge-of-your-seat novel with plenty of action from start to finish. You wonder how Noose will escape each trial he is faced. It’s well-written, with great characterization throughout. This book is a Western lover’s dream read…A writer of several blockbuster films, Eric Red is a welcome addition to the Western genre.” - Historical Novels Review.

“Red is a writer who deserves to have his stories told on his own terms, and his latest is a treat…Hanging Fire’s world is populated with compelling characters, boasts danger at every turn, and contains an abundance action-packed mayhem with a bloody punch that begins swiftly and never lets up throughout the story. Additionally, Red’s writing style is breezy, fun, hard as nails and punctuated with lively dialogue, making for a leisurely read and an addictive page turner. You really can’t ask for more from a book of this ilk, and those readers who find themselves constantly searching for new badass heroes will find a new one in Joe Noose should they decide to give Hanging Fire a chance.” - Scream Magazine.