''Paradise Sky'' is a novel written by American author Joe R. Lansdale, published by

Mulholland Books Mulholland Books (US) is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of the Hachette Book Group. It specializes in publishing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. History Little, Brown and Company announced the creation of Mulholl ...

. It takes place in the post

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

era.

Plot synopsis

Young Willie, the son of a slave in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

, is caught looking at the rear end of a white woman. Her husband, Sam Ruggert, a racist former rebel soldier, catches him looking and immediately calls for his

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

. Willie runs home and tells his father what has happened. His father, knowing what will happen, sends him running before the posse shows up. Willie later returns home only to discover Ruggert and his men have brutally murdered his father and burned down their cabin. So Willie outruns his pursuers is taken in by a man named Loving. Loving teaches him to read, write, and shoot. Loving becomes a father figure and mentor. 4 years later Loving shoots himself after discovering he has cancer. Being a wanted man, Willie changes his name to

Nat Love Nat Love (June 14, 1854 – February 11, 1921) was an American cowboy and writer active in the period following the American Civil War, Civil War. His reported exploits have made him one of the more famous heroes of the American frontier, Old Wes ...

and head west to join the army and becomes a buffalo soldier. However while on patrol his unit attacked by

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

Indians and is almost wiped out. Nat figures he'll be blamed for the incident and deserts. He heads north to the small mining town of

Deadwood, South Dakota Deadwood (Lakota: ''Owáyasuta''; "To approve or confirm things") is a city that serves as the county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It was named by early settlers after the dead trees found in its gulch. The city had its ...

where he is befriended by

Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, reconnaissance, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, s ...

. He meets and falls in love with a woman, but then discovers that Ruggert, a man with a long memory, is still pursuing him. Ruggert and his men eventually catch up to Nat and his bride to be. After leaving Nat for dead, they kidnap, rape, and torture Nat's woman. Bent on revenge Nat, now nicknamed Deadwood Dick for winning a shooting contest, pursues Ruggert and his men for a final and deadly showdown.

Publication history

The novel is published by

as both a hardcover and an

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

. Nat Love also is featured in the

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

Black Hat Jack ''Black Hat Jack: The True Life Adventures of Deadwood Dick as told by His Ownself'' is a novella written by American author Joe R. Lansdale. It tells the story about African-American cowboy Nat Love, also known as "Deadwood Dick" and his friend ...

'' published by

Subterranean Press Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily Horror fiction, horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novel ...

. The

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in th ...

gave this book a Spur Award for Best Historical Novel of 2016.

References

External links

Author's official website

Mulhollond Books website
{{Joe R. Lansdale Novels by Joe R. Lansdale Novels set in Texas 2015 American novels Mulholland Books books