The Cruel Plains

Did Billy the Kid really present a magnificent Arabian horse to a friend as a going away gift - or is this part of the tangled mythology of the Texas desperado? Was a man named "Pink" Higgins one of the best gunslingers in West Texas history - or merely a mighty accurate shooter with his favorite .45 who didn't take kindly to derogatory words about himself or anyone in his circle? These and other tantalizing nuggets from the Old West are posed in The Cruel Plains by Michael J. Price and George E. Turner, a fascinating and informative new collection of short story "puzzlers and torments" from Zone Press that explores the legends and lore of the Southwestern Great Plains. From authors who proudly claim their origins in the oil-and-cattle country of the Southwestern frontier, The Cruel Plains seeks to both inform and entertain while delving into and uncovering the mysteries of both fact and fiction that make western folklore so engaging. While many of the stories in The Cruel Plains were originally made public in the pages of the now defunct Southwest Heritage quarterly magazine, which Turner once served as publisher, they have been freshly revised in this new compilation. Turner, the longtime Editorial Art Director for the Amarillo (TX) News & Globe Times before spending more than two decades as a visual effects and storyboard artist in Hollywood, Calif., also served as editor of The American Cinematographer magazine before his death in 1999. Price considered Turner a mentor, collaborator and friend after initially enjoying Turner's work in the News & Globe Times and later working with him at Southwest Heritage. Price currently is Associate Editor of the Fort Worth Business Press. In their 30-year partnership, Turner and Price also authored the three-volume Forgotten Horrors movie history series, as well as Human Monsters and The Cinema of Adventure, Romance & Terror. Price and Turner are also skilled illustrators who created all of the original artwork and cover art featured in The Cruel Plains.