Hello, fellow Friday 56ers! 

For this week's Friday 56 pick, hosted by My Head is Full of Books, I am featuring the 2009 Western novel The Loner by J.A. Johnstone. It is the first book in The Loner series and a spinoff of The Last Gunfighter series by William W. Johnstone, who passed away in 2004. William was the sole credited author until the 12th book, after which Fred Austin finished writing Savage Country, the 13th entry. The rest of the series credits J.A. Johnstone as a co-author, with later installments including a Publisher's Note explaining how the family estate selected authors to complete William Johnstone’s unfinished works and create new ones. I’m curious about the niece's involvement in this process. Could someone with more knowledge clarify this for me?

The hero of The Last Gunfighter series is Frank "The Drifter" Morgan, whose name is feared throughout the West due to his deadly gun skills. He has an adult son named Conrad Browning. You might wonder why they have different last names: Conrad's mother remarried, and he took his stepfather's name. Conrad has a complicated relationship with his birth father. Then Frank Morgan reappeared years later, shortly before leaving to avenge Conrad's mother's death. Conrad has inherited an empire from his mother, including railroads and banks. Unlike Frank, he is a businessman and is newly married to the spirited Rebel. This is where the spinoff, The Loner, begins, being the first of fifteen books in the series. 

For generations, traditional barn construction has been the standard choice for homeowners, farmers, and property owners who need additional storage, workspace, or agricultural space. However, first-time barn buyers are increasingly looking at modern alternatives that offer greater flexibility, faster installation, and more predictable planning.

While a custom-built traditional barn can still be the right choice for some projects, many new buyers are discovering that modular barns provide practical advantages without sacrificing appearance or functionality. Understanding the differences between these options can help buyers make a more confident decision before investing in a new structure.

There was a time when the Western novel came roaring back, thanks to a flashy revival that ignited in the late 1970s. Adult Westerns, they called them; your run-of-the-mill tales with a spicy twist of love scenes. Publishers were desperate to breathe life into a fading genre, and for a while, it worked like a charm. Among these was the series Chance, published by Avon Books and penned under the pen name Clay Tanner by the Spur Award-nominated George W. Proctor (1946-2008). Dubbed The Maverick with a Winning Hand, the protagonist, Chance Sharpe, is a slick card shark who owns the riverboat Wild Card. You could easily argue that Proctor borrowed a page or several from the legendary Brett Maverick, but that’s a tale as old as the Wild West itself. Only twelve novels graced this series, published from 1986 to 1988.

Fast forward to my recent thrift store adventure, where I stumbled upon the ninth installment, Chance: Deadly Deal. Maybe it was fate, or perhaps just some cosmic irony, but this book felt oddly familiar. I distinctly remember having owned it in the 1990s, maybe not this exact paperback, but close enough. Back then, I was much too young to be reading Western yarns with sex scenes. I could almost picture my mom snagging it from a garage sale, blissfully unaware of the literary mischief I would engage in. I read everything I could get my hands on, regardless of age appropriateness, thinking I was wise beyond my years. Who knows what ever happened to that first copy? Perhaps it found its way to another garage sale. But I digress. There it sat amid the dust and knickknacks: Deadly Deal. The cover was a siren song, pulling me back into nostalgia, and I couldn't resist the urge to scoop it up.

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!

This Week's Prompt:

Do you see yourself more as an editor, a writer, or just a reader?

My Answer:

As a book blogger, you are already a reader. You become a writer without realizing it, and you must learn to be your own editor, even if sometimes you don’t enjoy it.

Hello, fellow Friday 56ers! 

For this week's Friday 56 pick, hosted by My Head is Full of Books, I am featuring the thriller Backtrack by Marc Cameron. It's the eighth book in the Arliss Cutter series.

Now, here’s a preview from page 56:

Cutter stifled a grin. "I told you she was a monster—"

— Cameron, Marc. Backtrack, Kensington, 2026, p. 56.

This book marks the first time I've read an installment in the Arliss Cutter series, even though I believe I own a couple of books from the series that I picked up as paperbacks at a dollar store or thrift shop. I have read a few of the Tom Clancy novels that Marc Cameron has contributed to, and I've been eager to explore his solo works. So, I'm excited to read Backtrack over the weekend, with my review planned for August 17. 

Martial arts legend and beloved cinematic icon Jackie Chan (Rush Hour and Police Story franchises) embarks on a family-friendly adventure in the action-comedy sequel, Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe (NOT RATED; 100 minutes). It's landing on digital, Blu-ray™, and DVD on August 11 from Well Go USA Entertainment. 

Picking up after the events of 2024’s Panda Plan, where Chan plays a fictionalized version of himself who takes on a horde of bad guys threatening a zoo, the sequel takes a more whimsical turn. Directed by Derek Hui (This is Not What I Expected) and written by Keyang Pan, the film introduces a primal twist when Jackie and his panda, Hu Hu, unwittingly stumble into a remote tribe. This quirky tribe, believing Hu Hu is a sacred spirit linked to their ancestral totem, imposes a series of hilariously strict customs upon him. With Hu Hu suddenly designated as the key to solving a long-standing crisis, Jackie finds himself tapping into a blend of wit and skill to navigate this wild new world.

Released in China back in February 2026, the film reeled in about $37.7 million in US dollars. While Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe isn’t without its flaws, it offers a more family-centric tone than its predecessor, leaning heavily into slapstick humor that seems engineered to tickle the funny bones of younger audiences, though adults might just roll their eyes.

Key Takeaways 

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Understanding Dental Implants

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Hitting the bookshelves today from Grand Central Publishing is the thriller You'll Be Sorry, written by the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner. Fun fact: Gardner kicked off her career in the food service industry, but after singeing her hair a few too many times, she wisely pivoted to writing. Now a self-proclaimed research junkie, she has channeled her fascination with police procedures and the criminal psyche into a string of internationally acclaimed novels that have captivated readers in over 30 countries. Her novel The Neighbor even won the Best Hardcover Novel award from the International Thriller Writers.

You'll Be Sorry is set in the eerie charms of Shereford, New Hampshire, and follows Raquel and Theo Collins. Here we have Raquel, a renowned interior designer, and Theo, a brash financial hotshot, whose romance took a tragic turn. To escape their grief, they retreat to a remote town, hoping for a fresh start among the ghosts of the past.

Their new home? The Dixons’ family lodge, once the crown jewel of the mountains, now a shadow of its former self. Three decades ago, on a fateful August night, the entire Dixon family—two parents and their four kids—vanished, leaving only a trail of bloody footprints and a mystery shrouded in whispers and speculation. As the Collinses settle into their new digs, the long-forgotten echoes of the past resurface, mingling with the new inhabitants of the creaking old lodge.

For Amanda Grady, Shereford’s newly minted police chief and daughter of the officer who helmed the Dixon case, it's a bittersweet experience. Reviving the long-abandoned lodge might signal hope for the town, but not everyone is thrilled about the Collinses moving in. As she grapples with her father’s legacy, it becomes clear that some secrets refuse to stay buried.

It's astonishing to realize that the Adult Western series The Gunsmith has reached the ripe old age of forty-four, a year younger than I am; yes, the passage of time is a cruel companion, and I'm feeling every tick of the clock as I write this. It's the creation of J.R. Roberts, the pseudonym for the late Robert J. Randisi (1951-2024); this series stands as the last bastion of Adult Westerns from the 1980s. Following Randisi’s passing in 2024, his stepson, Marcus Pelegrimas, has stepped up to the plate, spinning new tales inspired by a query Randisi submitted before his untimely death. If the name Marcus Galloway rings a bell, it’s likely due to his work on the Snake Oil series, the Man From Boot Hill series, and several titles in the Ralph Compton books, solidifying his status among Western aficionados.

This brings us to my review of The Gunsmith: Tent City, the 496th installment, released in June 2026 by Speaking Volumes, LLC. While I could call it the latest addition, that wouldn’t exactly be truthful since the 497th title, Skinwalker, has just hit the shelves. I’ll have my thoughts on that one once I manage to snag a copy.

So, here’s the heart of the matter: our protagonist, ex-lawman Clint Adams, or as he’s known, The Gunsmith, is wrapping up a brief stint as a poker tournament enforcer in Leadville, Colorado. His journey to, well, who knows where, is abruptly thrown off course by the frantic appearance of a redhead named Mandy, a widowed damsel fresh off a narrow escape from four male kidnappers. Clint, ever the gallant knight willing to brave the wild west for a pretty face, can't turn a blind eye to her distress... but he could never predict the dangers he's about to be swept into.

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!

This Week's Prompt:

If you had to stick to one genre forever, which would you choose and why?

My Answer:

Once upon a time, my younger self would have definitely chosen horror as his forever genre. While I still enjoy a good horror story, my interest in the genre has waned somewhat due to my dislike of many newer authors. Now, as I approach my 45th birthday, my forever genre has become Westerns. Although some Westerns, both old and new, are better than others, I generally enjoy most of them. Why? Honestly, I have no idea. It was as if I woke up one morning and simply decided to read Westerns.

〜B.J. Burgess

This Week's Linky:

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Update 02/20/26:

Please do not link to a random book review on your blog unless it includes the Book Blogger Hop prompt for the week along with your answer to it. Any blog link that doesn't follow this simple rule will be removed from the hop.

Hello, fellow Friday 56ers! 

For this week's Friday 56 pick, hosted by My Head is Full of Books, I am featuring the thriller You'll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner. 

Her father had been one stubborn bastard. 

— Gardner, Lisa. You'll Be Sorry, Grand Central, 2026, p. 56.

Grand Central Publishing kindly sent me an ARC of a new book, which I plan to start either tonight or early tomorrow morning. I only have a few pages left in my current read, which is a Western, and once I finish it, I'll move on to You'll Be Sorry.

When did legendary Wild West outlaw Billy the Kid crawl his way into the fabric of mainstream culture? Was it in 1882 when Pat Garrett, the man who ended his life, published The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid? (Although technically, he had a ghostwriter, Marshall Ashmun Upson.) Or was it in 1948 when Brush Bill Roberts strolled in claiming to be the infamous outlaw himself? Perhaps it was 1988, when Emilio Estevez donned a bowler hat and roamed the screen as Billy in the film Young Guns? Regardless, Billy the Kid continues to haunt our collective imagination like a restless specter.

I've long been enthralled by Billy the Kid; in fact, I had a wall plaque of his famous wanted poster proudly displayed in my childhood bedroom. Maybe it’s because my name is Billy, or maybe because as a kid, he felt like a kindred spirit; an outcast bound by fate. I even remember the nostalgia of late '80s Billy the Kid apparel; I had a shiny belt buckle and a few shirts that made me feel like a renegade at recess. Of course, my parents took me to see Young Guns in theaters when I was probably a bit too young; but hey, that was a different time.

Over the years, I’ve read a range of books about this enigmatic outlaw. Recently, I read Sing to Me Billy the Kid, written by Frances Bonney Jenner and published earlier this year by Speaking Volumes. It popped onto my radar thanks to a publicist who reached out, and naturally, I couldn’t resist the chance to jump into its pages.