PURGATORY SANDS
by
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Softcover
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Hardcover
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Book Details
Language :
Publication Date :
12/07/2006
Format :
Softcover
Dimensions :
6x9
Page Count :
245
ISBN :
9781425710118
Format :
Hardcover
Dimensions :
6x9
Page Count :
245
ISBN :
9781425710125
About the Book
Justin Simms comes to Trinidad, Colorado in 1876 as the state is being admitted to the Union. Just orphaned by the death of his mother and barely at an age to be held legally competent, he hopes to begin ranching his inherited estate, the Salida Del Sol. Progress is made. He finds an ally in Phillip ‘Squinty’ Craig. He meets and is smitten by Kate Kantel, daughter of a prosperous cattleman. He also stumbles upon Lilly Castle, the daughter of menacing Andrew Castle. Then events rush in upon him. Squinty Craig is killed. Hard on the heels of this tragedy, Lilly Castle precipitates a vengeful attack upon him by her father. Alone and grieving, his youthful dreams and ambitions shattered, he flees before Andrew’s wrath, forsaking the Salida Del Sol lands.
Rescued by a band of petty cattle thieves, Justin is reborn as Purgatory Sands. The band’s members challenge him, punish him, but also protect and instruct him. In time, he grows into his new name and new life—he becomes an outlaw. Again, events send him in an entirely different direction. Following a failed train robbery and gang gunfight, he is once more alone and fleeing. He reconnects with Sam Boden, a wise and sympathetic man who had befriended him four years earlier while on his journey to Trinidad. To his surprise, he learns that Sam is the legendary Marshal Sam, but he learns this only after Sam, as Marshal, tracks him down in the dry lands west of the Pecos and only after he disables and wounds Sam which fills him with remorse.
Nursed by Purgatory, Sam recovers, takes Purgatory in tow, and introduces him to an entirely new set of opportunities. A powerful Easterner of Sam’s acquaintance, Millard Hamilton Jacobs, owning lands in Wyoming territory, wants a man with a quick gun and a badge to occupy a U.S. Marshall’s office in Green River City. He wants this man to counter the local constabulary’s sympathy for cattlemen opposed to Jacobs’ enterprise. Jacobs chooses Purgatory for the job, and while Purgatory is initially repulsed by Jacobs, he sees the job as the portal to a new life. He takes it.
Being by himself and a fugitive have intensified Purgatory’s sense of aloneness. He often daydreams of dark-haired, blue-eyed Kate Kantel. However, such recurrent fantasies sadden more than comfort him. He is convinced that Kate is lost to him. So, he turns away from thoughts of Kate. His imagery, however, remains stubbornly fixed on dark shiny hair and sparkling blue eyes.
Arriving in Green River City, Wyoming , he comes into the presence of a dark-haired, blue-eyed woman at a restaurant. He is fascinated by the sense that he has already met and known her. She is literally the woman of his dreams! Then a server addresses her as Mrs. Molly, and the illusion is broken. She is married! In wry self-deprecation, he turns his focus to his first assignment as a U.S. Marshal. Better that he do his job as a lawman than pursue idle dreams.
Customer Reviews from Barnes and Noble
A reviewer, Michael Goldstein 02/27/2007
Tales of Daring Do
Those of us born in the first half of the 20th century were only one or two generations removed from the frontier, and recall mythically sung stories of derring-do in western movies. V. E. Bixenstine’s novel, Purgatory Sands, has overtones of those myths. It is clear from the book’s back cover that the author remains in their grip. The novel’s eponymous hero undergoes moral and physical development with
About the Author
V. E. Bixenstine began this book preparing for graduate comprehensive examinations. It was a way to “come down” from the mental jag engendered by long hours of study. It did successfully promote sleep! After passing his exams, he stored the manuscript and turned to a career in psychology. Thirty-five years later, semi-retired, he exhumed the manuscript and reworked it. He views the Western genre at its best as a morality play, examining the stuff of courage, integrity, good and evil, stubborn will, and redemption. The moral dimension resists comprehension in objective terms, but is elemental stuff for the literary artist.