Review: Under The Diehard Brand by L. Ron Hubbard

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Besides from AMC's Hell On Wheels, the western genre is almost extinct on television. There use to be dozens of western novels being published monthly, but now there are only a few. Luckily for western readers, Galaxy Press is releasing all of L. Ron Hubbard's short stories from the 1930s and 1940s as audiobooks and paperbacks; giving a new generation a chance to read his works, which includes several western adventures.

Under the Diehard Brand was originally published in the March 1938 issue of Western Aces and centers on a  young trail-hand, Lee Thompson, who journeys from Texas to Montana to search for his father, Diehard Thompson.

Diehard is the sheriff of Wolf River, but time has caught up with him and he is not capable of handling the town's troublemakers anymore. He hadn't seen his son, Lee, in over fifteen years, so when Lee arrives in town, he doesn't recognize the boy.

Outlaws storm into town and it is up to Lee to help his father win back his reputation or Lee will die trying.

What is great about the audiobooks and paperbacks from Galaxy Press is that there is normally two additional stories, which here there is two - one or Hoss Tamer and The Ghost Town Gun-Ghost.

Hoss Tamer was originally published in the January 1950 issue of Thrilling Western and centers on a circus trainer, Tim Farland, whom finds himself out of a job when the circus he worked for closed its doors for good. With no other choice, he takes a job as a bronc buster, but training horses isn't exactly his thing, as he gets injured at his first attempt. So he takes a job working livery stable that is until he learns that the Gopher Hole Gang plans on robbing the Wells Fargo Train. Now it is up to Tim to become a hero and outwit the robbers.


The Ghost Town Gun-Ghost was originally published in the August 1938 issue of Western Action and centers on a prospector, Pokey Mackay, who happens to the only resident of Pioneer, a mining town that was abandoned when the gold ran out. The poor man has went a little crazy being alone; taking on several different personalities. When strangers arrive in town looking for stolen money, Pokey finds himself teaming up with a young man to stop them.

All three western tales have plenty of action and laughs throughout each one, as well as an outstanding voice-cast and amazing sound effects on the audiobook. I was lucky enough to receive both an audiobook and a paperback from Galaxy Press. The paperback has a beautiful jacket in resemblance of the old dime novels. Overall, the stories Under The Diehard Brand are exciting and entertaining and I recommend it to other readers.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.