Lawmen: Bass Reeves airing November 5th

People from all over the world had descended to render Bass’ story for the screen, based on my books. It was humbling to see all that, and I can’t wait to see the results.
Sidney Thompson, in an interview with Chapter 16

In just two days Lawmen: Bass Reeves, the new Paramount+ series inspired by the first two books in Sidney Thompson’s The Bass Reeves Trilogy, will air. Produced by the makers of Yellowstone, the show explores the life of Bass Reeves who was arguably the greatest lawmen of the Wild West era. That Reeves was also an African American who spent his early life enslaved in Arkansas and Texas made his accomplishments all the more remarkable.

To prepare for the launch of the show we’re spotlighting all things Bass Reeves!

On the Blog

Happy Book Birthday to Black Gun, Silver Star: Art T. Burton reflects on the first year since the publication of his revised biography on the legendary U.S. deputy Marshal.

From the Desk of Sidney Thompson: How to Make Your Dreams Come True: Sidney Thompson shares how he wrote and eventually published The Bass Reeves Trilogy.

Art T. Burton on Black History: Burton honors Bass Reeves during Black History Month.

The Bass Reeves Trilogy

“I’ve spent the last 12 years writing three books . . . I thought I was going to write one. But it ended up becoming too sprawling of a project. I couldn’t do the man’s life justice because [his life] was too complicated over too long of a span of time. . . He had a fascinating life.”
Sidney Thompson in the Dallas Morning News

Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves is an origin story in the true American tradition. Before Bass Reeves could stake his claim as the most successful nineteenth-century American lawman, arresting more outlaws than any other deputy during his thirty-two-year career as a deputy U.S. marshal in some of the most dangerous regions of the Wild West, he was a slave.

“Thompson’s short novel is a fascinating look at life in northwest Arkansas in the years before and during the Civil War, when the future lawman came of age and ultimately made his break for freedom. The rest of the trilogy is likely to be just as intriguing, especially because that’s the way the real Bass Reeves lived his life.”—Glen Seeber, Oklahoman

“Thompson deftly depicts his protagonist, creating a believable coming-of-age story that echoes Huckleberry Finn in its realism and social observation.” – Michael Ray Taylor, Chapter 16

Set in 1884, Hell on the Border tells the story of Bass Reeves at the peak of his historic career. Famous for being a crack shot as well as for his nonviolent tendencies, Reeves uses his African American race to his strategic advantage. Along with a tramp or cowboy disguise, Reeves appears so nonthreatening that he often positions himself close enough to the outlaws he is pursuing to arrest them without bloodshed.

“Hell on the Border works well both as stand-alone reading and as an entry point into the still-evolving trilogy. Thompson opens with the deputy marshal in the midst of tracking down murderers, but the slow pace of pursuit gives him moments to reflect on his past.” – Lone Star Literary Life

“Gripping, hard-to-put-down.”—Sean Clancy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

In The Forsaken and the Dead we meet Reeves again. In the 1890s, past his prime, Reeves proceeds through the valleys and shadows of Indian and Oklahoma Territories. Despite his caution and innovations as a lawman and detective, his nation no longer seems a product of his own making—so much like his children and his marriage to Jennie. While a modern world implodes around him and demons from his past continue to haunt his present, he remains resolute in his faith that he can be a steady rider on a pale horse.

“Finally, the fictional treatment that Bass Reeves deserves! This is historical fiction of the highest order: an unwavering allegiance to the historical record combined with vivid, lyrical writing and deeply drawn characters. Sidney Thompson skillfully weaves together historical elements in this compelling story of one of the greatest lawmen to put on a badge, a sweeping saga reminiscent of Lonesome Dove or The Son. Thompson’s trilogy should be required reading for anyone who loves American historical fiction, Westerns, or just a finely told story about real-life heroes.”—Matt Bondurant, author of Oleander City and The Wettest County in the World, basis for the movie Lawless

Black Gun, Silver Star

The legend of Bass Reeves is currently a shooting star.
Art T. Burton for “Happy Book Birthday to Black Gun, Silver Star“

In The Story of Oklahoma, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves appears as the “most feared U.S. marshal in the Indian country.” Black Gun, Silver Star sifts through fact and legend to discover the truth about one of the most outstanding peace officers in late nineteenth-century America—and perhaps the greatest lawman of the Wild West era.

“The life of Bass Reeves was the stuff of legends, and Art T. Burton’s book is the raw material for the telling of those legends.” – Third Coast Review

“The author, retired history professor Art T. Burton, built his academic career through assembling histories of Black soldiers and gunfighters on the western frontier—the sort of people excluded from the dime novels and Hollywood pictures that continue to form the pop culture memory of the Old West.” – Shepherd Express