“‘Shinin’ Times’ details the main character’s Rocky Mountain experiences as a free trapper between 1828 and 1833. … The reader meets numerous historical figures: Joe Meek, Black Harris, Pierre Chouteau, Bill and Milt Sublette, Henry Fraeb, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, among others. Ed Henry knows his geography and his history, too: for example, Milt Sublette’s embarrassing encounter with a grizzly bear, and the 1832 Pierre’s Hole battle with the Gros Ventres are told just as they happened.
This novel offers everything we look for in a good read: credible dialogue and character motivation, sub-plots, tension and conflict, love, tragedy, suffering, excellent prose, and adventure. There isn’t a dull moment; you can practically taste the buffalo tongue, hear the creak of saddles, and smell the horses and campfire smoke. I found a chuckle on nearly every page. This is a wide-ranging portrait of the free-trapper’s life, where races mix amicably (war and raids excepted, naturally!). Ed Henry’s life experiences give the Temple Buck novels the ring of authenticity. They can be read fast if that’s your preference; but you may do as I did and savor the read at a slower pace.”— Eric Bye, Editor, Muzzle Blasts Magazine
“I have read Temple Buck’s adventures in all three books so far published. In fact I have read them twice because I enjoy them so much.There are very few novels written about the fur trade and none that I have enjoyed as much as Mr. Henry’s. For those readers who enjoy Terry C. Johnston and A.B Guthrie,Jr.,they will find Mr.Henry’s novel equal to or perhaps better than their favorites.”—Bob Janes
“… one of the best I’ve read in a long time. The series needs to be read start to finish, and I believe it would make a great movie.”— Old Reader, Amazon review
“‘Shinin’ Times! explores the peak years of the fur trade, from 1828-1833, and continues the story of our picaresque hero Temple Buck, who at the ripe old age of 23 has graduated from wilderness newcomer to grizzled veteran of the Rocky Mountains. Henry writes the book as a first-person “memoir” by Temple, with an authenticity that can easily make you forget you are reading a work of modern fiction…While focusing on Temple and his story, Shinin’ Times! and its predecessors are unlike any novels I have ever read. Henry has done it again, creating a fully realized alternate reality. Ed Henry is a mountain man reenactor as well a writer; perhaps that accounts for his ability to channel historical and cultural details into a total immersion experience, a time machine of the imagination.”— Frances Hunter, author of The Fairest Portion of the Globe and To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark (for the complete review visit http://franceshunter.wordpress.com/)
“I have read Temple Buck’s adventures in all three books so far published. In fact I have read them twice because I enjoy them so much.There are very few novels written about the fur trade and none that I have enjoyed as much as Mr. Henry’s. For those readers who enjoy Terry C. Johnston and A.B Guthrie,Jr.,they will find Mr.Henry’s novel equal to or perhaps better than their favorites.”— Bob Janes, Mountain man reenactor
“If you want to learn about the fur trade’s glory years . . . this novel is for you. The author describes the sights, sounds, smells and feel of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains . . . the annual rendezvous and the mountaineers’ Pierre’s Hole fight with the Gros Ventre.”— Roundup Magazine
“… a sprawling, and long, tale of the men who braved the perils of the Rocky Mountains to fulfill the endless desire for furs exhibited by civilized portions of the country and Europe in the early 1800’s. The book richly describes the men of every race, color, creed, and many nationalities who made up the trading companies, along with their personalities that ranged from good-natured, fun-loving and irreverent, to brooding and surliness that often produced a viciousness that necessitated constant vigilance. It also recounts the swing in activities from comradely competition and bouts of eating, drinking and unbridled sex during rendezvous, to endless work just to survive. Their daily work consisted of gathering beaver pelts, mostly in freezing water up to their waists and under the constant fear of hostel attack. The perils were almost beyond count including inhospitable terrain, weather, wild animals, raiders and the ever-present possibility of broken bones, battle wounds and even simple digestive problems or the particularly much-feared toothache in circumstances where no one had the slightest idea of treatment. They lived by the harsh laws of nature with a respect for courage, skill and fortitude and a dependence upon the existence of these traits in each other.
. . . the author has presented one of the more complete pictures I have read about this hardy, loosely banded, group of courageous men. He also has done an excellent job of employing the vernacular of the day in a manner that allows the reader to be `comfortable’.“—John H. Manhold, award winning fiction/non-fiction author.
