James Carlos Blake Books

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James Carlos Blake was born in May, 1947 in Tampico, Mexico. The popular American writer received American citizenship by naturalization. James started writing inconsistently as a teen until in 1980 when he took writing seriously while living in Miami, Florida. In 1997, he quit teaching to concentrate on his writing career. He now specializes in novels, novellas and short stories, with several literary works under his belt. Apart from writing, James Carlos Blake has worked as a jail properties officer, mechanic, snake catcher, college instructor and a stint in the U.S Army.

James Carlos came into the limelight in 1995 after his first novel, The Pistoleer. This novel detailed the life and heinous crimes of John Wesley Hardin, a notorious Texas bandit, in an exciting and breathtaking way. The novel was nominated for several awards and as a first novel, it was unbelievably impressive. In The Rogue Blood is another remarkable work by James Carlos as well as his only two contemporary books, The House of Wolfe and The Rules of Wolfe. He remains one of the most highly rated American authors of historical crime fiction alive.

James Carlos Blake Awards

Like most top authors, James Carlos has won several top awards throughout his illustrious writing career. His third book, In The Rogue Blood, published in 1997 won the renowned Los Angels Times Book Prize. In 1999, his two books, Borderlands and Red Grass River, won the South West Book Awards and Chautauqua South Book Awards respectively. Other notable awards won by James Carlos Blake include the Japan Adventure Fiction Prize in 2005 for A World Of Thieves and the prestigious Maltese Falcon Award won by his novel, Under The Skin in 2007. James Blake has through the years been recognized for many of his works including novellas and essays through nominations for many awards across the globe.

Best Jams Carlos Blake Books

James Carlos Blake has several remarkable novels under his name. However, the following three novels have received accolades from writers, critics and readers hence are arguably his best works.

In The Rogue Blood: This is James Blake’s third novel. In this powerful award winning book, James intriguingly tells us a bloody tale of the American-West in the 19th century. The book happens in 1845 and is a story of two brothers, John and Edward Little. Being offsprings of a whore mother and an alcoholic, homicidal and abusive father who is neither admirable nor trustworthy, they are driven into a crime that determines the course of their lives, patricide. After the sinful act, the brothers begin a trek from Florida to Texas in search of a peaceful home and to escape the law. They have to confront a more hostile environment filled with bandits, scalpings, lynchings and worse, a conflict between Mexico and the US towards the towns bordering Mexico. The brothers part ways and as one joins the US Army, the other one teams up with the Mexican forces. They not only end up fighting in the frontier against each other but also against the demons of their “rogue blood” and the need to escape justice. This book earned James an award in 1997 and received nominations for other awards.

Red Grass River: A Legend. In this novel, James Carlos skillfully takes readers through the lives and acts of racketeers, thieves, bandits and cops in an indecently humorous way. This is a story of John Ashley, chronicled before World War 1 through to the Prohibition Era in Everglades, Florida. James clearly brings up the captivating story of family loyalties and betrayed friendships in two characters, John Ashley and sheriff George Baker. John Ashley is a charming and ruthless character hellbent on leading the family gang consisting of natural-born outlaws and moonshiners. They are determined to kill, rob and carry out all sorts of criminal acts. While the two were once great friends, they are now sworn enemies on opposing sides. George Baker has a personal vendetta against the Ashleys, more specifically against John Ashley. This book has won two awards, the Chautauqua and the French Grand Prix Awards in 1999 and 2013 respectively.

The Killings of Stanley Ketchel: James Blake remains characteristically daring as ever. In this book, he brings out the true story of Stanley’s short life. The legendary ruthless middleweight boxing champion controlled the ring until he was murdered at the age of 24. Outside the ring, Stanley committed several murders and other despicable crimes. As James narrates, Stanley’s rage, violence and murderous passions are attributed to his violent upbringing having escaped from a loveless farm home at only 15 and his nostalgia for the Old West that he missed by just a decade.

When Does The Next James Carlos Blake book come out?

James Carlos Blake doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Bones of Wolfe and was released on July, 7th 2020. It is the newest book in the Wolfe Family Series.

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