Sky-Pilot Cowboy, by Walt Coburn, was first serialized as The Owlhoot Sky-Pilot in Ace High Western Magazine from December 1936 to May 1937. It appeared as a novel later in 1937.
I was curious as to whether Coburn revised the novel at all before it came out as a book. I couldn't find any information about that, nor could I find those particular issues of Ace High posted online. Coburn, referred to by one editor as "The King of the Pulps," was producing 600,000 words of new fiction a year at that time. So I doubt he had time to do any revisions. On the other hand, a guy who can write quality stuff that quickly might have somehow found the time to revise something. In the end, my completely blind guess is that the novel is the same (or at least not significantly different) than the original pulp serial.
In either case, it's a really fun novel. It begins with the murder of an itinerant preacher named Preacher Sam Magrath. Sam's son Galt is a teenager at the time. A cowboy named Hipshot brings Galt the news and also gives the boy Sam's now-bloodstained Bible.
A few years pass. Galt is now a young man, traveling with Hipshot and working as a cowboy in various places. And, though Galt has no intention of following in his father's footsteps, he is asked to read from that Bible at funerals and soon gets the nickname Gospel Galt.
Eventually, life begins to get dangerous for Gospel Galt.
Plot twists and revelations of character motivations begin to fly as fast as bullets, so I don't want to go into too much detail and end up spoiling some of the surprises that are seeded throughout the story. In general, Galt and Hipshot get involved in battling a gang of rustlers who also may have been involved in the murder of Preacher Sam. The two get framed for murder, though Galt's reputation for courage and hard-work means that men like Dodge City sheriff Bat Masterson remain on his side. A mysterious woman known as the Rose of Tascosa, rumored to be an outlaw, also gets mixed up in the events.
The man Galt and Hipshot are accused of murdering, by the way, is the father of the lady with whom Galt has fallen in love, which further complicates the plot.
As the novel comes to a conclusion, Galt and his two best friends are racing to confront the villains. But even this is further complicated by the fact that his two best friends also mean to kill each other.
There's a lot of stuff happening and a lot of characters to keep track of, But Coburn's plain and engrossing prose keeps it all straight. The action scenes, particularly the final shootout, are excellent. The characters, both good guys and bad guys, are given strong, believable personalities.
There are a few flaws. The main villain launches into a soliloquy just before the last shoot-out that ties up some loose plot threads, but the moment comes across as very contrived. A black woman is largely presented as a racial steroetype--though, to be fair, even within the confines of that stereotype she is competent, brave and more than willing to use her shotgun to defend those she loves.
But the pros more than outweigh those few cons. Sky-Pilot Cowboy is an entertaining Western filled with themes of redemption and forgiveness. And, also, a few really cool gunfights.
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