I read the Magic Quirt, The (Stories from the Golden Age)
, in exchange for honest review from Galaxy Press. The book was written by L. Ron Hubbard. First thing, I wanted to know was what a quirt was.According to Wikipedia, "a quirt is a forked type of stock whip, which usually has two falls at the end....sometimes called a riding quirt, horse quirt, or a dog quirt."
The quirt can be made from "leather, buffalo, or cowhide" with the core "usually a leather bag filled with lead shot, the main part including the handle is often made from braided rawhide, leather, or kangaroo hide, and is usually somewhat stiff, but flexible."
A quirt can be used as punishment "to slap or goad cattle from horseback." A quirt is also used as a noisemaker.
The book is about Old Laramie, who is a cook for Lazy G Ranch. He is in the middle of reading a book on the occult and black magic. He accepts a silver-mounted, magic quirt from a Hispanic family, he saved from bandits. Laramie starts thinking he is powerful, since he has the quirt and goes on a journey to show his new skills and techniques.
Old Laramie is not happy with the new management. Lee Jacoby is the ranch's foreman, who treats Laramie like a second-class citizen. Jacoby is also not happy with Laramie's food to the point where he tosses it out at the beginning of the book. Laramie is the last men left from the original management.
Laramie is quite a character. I read along with the book, while the audio played. The book was action-packed. Laramie killed two people before page 30 (book).
The book does contain adult language.
The book is available in Audio CD, Audible AudioBook, Kindle, and Print format. The CDS come in a set of 2 and is about 2 hours long. The CDS also come with two stories: Vengeance is Mine and Stacked Bullets
