The Pirooters |
Escape From Byzantium |
The Pirooters is published by Sundowners, a division of
. My gratitude to
Ms. Lee Emory, the proprietor of Treble Heart, is inexpressible. A short excerpt can
be found | A new fantasy novella on Withersin Press, Escape From Byzantium is a fast-paced tale,
full of action and intrigue. Click on the dirigible to learn more. |
|
CLICK THE BOOK TO ORDER THE PIROOTERS
Winner of the 2008 Books and Authors.Net Award for Best Western!
| Read my new contemporary Western story "Down To The Frenchman's Place" at Rope And Wire Magazine. |
Pirooters' Reviews
Enthralled by the tale, Jim Ed realizes the secret of the Santa Perdida-and of himself. This unusual Western sends readers along two narrative trails that lead to a heartwarming finale.
True West Magazine---William Garwood
Mark Mellon has created some wonderful characters in Virge, his brother Heck and their ex-slave Old Mose. Virge’s telling of their adventures to Jim Ed makes for very entertaining reading as they move swiftly from one dangerous predicament to another whilst hunting for the lost mine.
There is plenty of bloody action that at times is graphically described, such as the torture scene where the Comanche skin Virge’s finger.
The story moves at tremendous pace to the final violent battle that has an impressive death toll, which painted some very visual imagery within my minds eye.
Most of the story is told as flashbacks to 1865 but the scenes set in the books present provide some very real and relatable situations of conflict between different generations.
Towards the end Jim
Ed asks a question that leads to Virge replying, “that’s
another story,” and that’s one I’d like to
hear too, so Mark, any chance of Virge and co returning in another
book?
– Sunday February 1, 2009 Western
Fiction Review
Western readers have long loved hearing of stories past, which enrich a time of true cowboys and Indians. Western fiction readers will saddle up and head to the campfire to listen to this tale from the heart of the lone state. This Western fiction novel is set in the 1916 is full of rich western dialogue sure to draw the reader in. In addition to a tale of the lost treasure of Santa Perdida this novel weaves in an important lesson in family forgiveness and a whole host of characters. Mark Mellon has authored three previous novels, including The Empire of the Green, Hammer and Skull and Libertarian in Love, Recommended for readers Age 15 and up due to language.
Midwest Reviews---Tonya Thul-Theis
The Texas History Page received a copy of Mark Mellon's new book The Pirooters. Everyone here read it and everyone enjoyed it. It is the story of the Pargrew brothers, Heck and Virge, who have just returned from fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. They return to Reconstruction era Texas to find they have lost everything.
That's where the adventures begin. It was fun to read a Texas western that focused on that period after the Civil War but before the over cliched period of the 1880-1890s.
Mark Mellon's book is very creative in many other ways as well. He definitely did some research. For instance, much of the dialogue used in the book is authentic to the period. And, its not everyday a writer can work the "Bolson of Mapimi" into the storyline of a book.
If you enjoy Texas and western fiction and have ever thought it might be fun to go looking for Jim Bowie's legendary silver mine, we think you will enjoy The Pirooters. I particularly enjoyed the twist ending. The real treasure is where you find it.
The Texas History Page---K. K. Searle
Life in 1916 San Antonio where the civilization has budded with the Battle of Flowers, motorcycles, and talk of renaming Kaiser Wilhelm district to King William is interrupted with long-separated Grandfather Virge Pargrew's retun and recollection of a post-bellum adventure with Indians, treasure, and rides beyond the Rio Grande to the Bolsom de Malpini. It's a ridin' and shoot 'em up.
Seems Virge and brother Heck and Old Mose, the freedman "as old as time," set out on a series of rip snorting cavortations with Comanches, bandits, and a few unappreciative Frenchmen troubling the crew who are after Jim Bowie's Santa Perdida treasure. Mellow shows his realism as he recount the trio's decision to bury some bad guys, not out of sentiment, but out of practical caution, to keep the vultures from marking their location for El Guapo.
Woven into the tale readers find the 1916 descendants' forgiveness for old Virge and welcome him back into the family fold.
Sources vary on what is "pirooting." Some describe it as making one's way down a muddy street, some call it whirling, others wandering. The novel's back-flashing manner between 1916 and earlier times make the story a rootin' tootin' piroot of its own.
The Texas Bookshelf---Will Howard
Escape From Byzantium, a thriller fantasy novella, will be published in 2009 by Withersin. Check this website for further updates and www.withersin.com
Mellon Writes Again!
I am an old cowhand from the Rio Grande. I have never roped a cow and am not particularly interested in learning how to either. The young lady on the left is my daughter dying of shame from having a jackass ham author for a father. The picture was taken at the glamorous Y-O Ranch in the heart of Texas Hill Country.
As the title above indicates, I also have delusions of literary grandeur. Specifically, I am a novelist who supports his family by working as an attorney. My life has been checkered with past experience as a mover, lifeguard/swimming instructor, door-to-door salesman, carpenter's helper, Russian translator, soldier, phone solicitor, collections counselor, and teacher.
This web site has been created for the sole purpose of hyping my writing so I will become insanely successful and wealthy and can congratulate myself for writing my way out of my predicament like G. Bernard Shaw.
Writing Credits
My shorter work has appeared in Aberrations; Chasm; Gothic.Net; Terra Incognita; Anthrolations, the Magazine of Anthropomorphic Dramatic Fiction; the Irish magazine Albedo One; Black Satellite; City Morgue; Aoife's Kiss; Zahir; Hadrosaur Tales; the English magazines Sutekh's Gift and Premonitions; and Whispers From The Shattered Forum. A vampire story, Shtriga's Kiss, has been published in chapbook form by Anxiety Publications. Besides Escape and The Pirooters, I have also written three other novels, The Empire of the Green, Hammer and Skull, and Libertarian in Love (respectively a science fiction novel, a historical novel about World War II, and a contemporary satire). I have recently finished a horror novel set in ancient Rome entitled Roman Hell. A complete bibliography can be linked to below.
Fiction (purple prose)
Well, partners, here it is, the end of another long and dusty cattle drive. Until spring and the next roundup, Jan and I wish you all the best, and we'll see you again, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I hope you enjoyed the site. Anyone sufficiently inspired to contact me (especially literary agents with six- or seven-figure contracts they want me to sign) may use this e-mail address:
artanis_Mark@hotmail.com
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