Barclay & Boxing

 My latest release is the historical detective book, Barclay of the Mounted. 

In the chapter entitled 'Battling' Barclay, we see Henry Barclay competing for the title of the boxing champ of the North-West Mounted Police. 

We also see real-life boxing champ George 'Little Chocolate' Dixon of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dixon, a Featherweight and Bantamweight, stood  5ft 3 1/2 inches (1613cm) and began his career weighing about 87 lbs (39 kg). 

George Dixon won the Bantamweight title in 1888, and in 1890 he was officially considered the champion after knocking out Nunc Wallace of England.

Dixon is credited by some for developing shadow boxing, was named a National Historic Person by the Government of Canada, became the first-ever black athlete to win a championship in any sport, and was the first Canadian-born boxing champ.

Barclay of the Mounted can be found on Amazon!

Pulp Boxing Stories

 One cannot talk about pulp magazines without mentioning the subject of boxing. During the 20s and 30s young and old could be thrilled with tales of the ring in such publications as Fight Stories, Argosy, and The Ring. 

Those who followed the sport knew the names Dempsey, Tunney, and Schmeling, so naturally, there was a market for these stories. 

In Barclay of the Mounted, there is a chapter where Barclay is competing for the 1888 boxing title in the North-West Mounted Police. Here is the opening paragraph of 'Battling' Barclay.

MALONEY’S RIGHT UPPERCUT caught me squarely under the chin and sent me back on my heels. The roar of the crowd—half cheering the other half awestruck—sounded muffled to my ears as if from far away across the prairie. I recovered quickly, shaking my head to clear it. Through bleary eyes, I looked across at my opponent. Maloney grimaced. He obviously thought that last blow should have had me down and out, but it did not. He waded in slowly and carefully. He was a brawler, with little scientific skill in the art of boxing, but that made him no less dangerous in the ring. I jabbed at him with my left to keep him at bay. It had no effect, and Maloney moved in. I read the bloodlust in his eyes. He swung his huge right fist in a deadly sweeping arc at my head. I ducked just beneath it and delivered two strong blows to his side. It felt like hitting ribbed stone. He bellowed in rage and brought his left around. It whistled past my ear. If that blow had landed, it would have been the end of the match. Maloney now had me in the corner and there was nowhere to go. He began to deliver punches, most of which I avoided, but I knew I could not avoid them much longer.

Barclay of the Mounted can be found on Amazon!

Barclay and Sitting Bull

 In my recently released historic novel, Barclay of the Mounted, young Henry Barclay inadvertently grants the entire Sioux nation sanctuary in Canada, much to the chagrin of his superiors in the North-West Mounted Police.

This incident is of course based on the true historical event in 1877 when, after defeating the U.S. Army under General Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull sought refuge in Canada.

The Sioux stayed for four years in Western Canada---or what they called the Grandmother's Country, the reference meaning British Queen Victoria---until circumstances forced the Sioux back to the United States.

Barclay of the Mounted can be found on Amazon!

Sherlock Holmes & Barclay

 My latest book, Barclay of the Mounted, reveals my character Henry Barclay, a young man who joins the North-West Mounted Police in 1874. Readers of my Sherlock Holmes books will have read of Henry Barclay in all three of my Holmes books.

Though he is my own creation, readers first met Henry Barclay in The Canadian Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, when, in 1897, Holmes and Watson encountered adventures in Canada. In the chapter entitled Murder on the C.P. R. Holmes and Watson are travelling east by train after their cross-country journey across Canada and meet Barclay of the NWMP. A passenger is mysteriously murdered and the detectives join forces to solve it.

In my second Sherlock Holmes book, Cold-Hearted Murder, Holmes encounters a series of murders in London that has its origins during the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territories. Barclay is stationed in the Yukon at the time and plays an integral part in the story.

Sherlock 6 is a series of  Holmes adventures based mostly on the London detective's unpublished cases. In the chapter entitled The Mortal Terror of Old Abrahams, Henry Barclay pays a visit to his friend Sherlock Holmes in London while Dr. Watson is away in Lausanne looking into the disappearance of Lady Francis Carfax. Holmes and Barclay team up again to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding a client of Holmes.

All of Stephen Gaspar's books can be found on Amazon!

Barclay and the Pulp Tradition

 My new book, Barclay of the Mounted, pays homage to the western pulp tales of the 1930s. The book's cover pays tribute to the pulp covers of the time.

The first all-western pulp, Street and Smith's Western Story Magazine was first released in 1919 and lasted for thirty years. Western Story Magazine would face stiff competition in the 1920s & 30s when magazines such as Wild West Weekly started publishing more violent stories.  

Dozens of other western pulp magazines appeared around this time, such as Lariat, Texas Rangers, Thrilling Ranch Stories, and a plethora of titles with the word West or Western in them.

Complete Northwest Novel Magazine (1935-1940) typically carried a red-coated mounted policeman on the cover. The magazine was published in New York. 

Barclay of the Mounted can be found on Amazon!

Barclay of the Mounted

 2023 will mark the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which was originally named the North-West Mounted Police.

To help commemorate the auspicious occasion my latest book Barclay of the Mounted has just been published.

Barclay of the Mounted is the memoir of a young man who, looking for adventure and glory, joins the newly formed North-West Mounted Police in 1874. A bit naive and idealistic, Henry Barclay, a native of Toronto, travels west "... to keep the peace and uphold the right of all."

Though he is a peace-keeper in late 19-century Western Canada, Barclay seldom uses his gun, but rather in the typical Canadian fashion, he uses wit and reason. As he states in an early adventure: "I had faced death twice in as many days, and neither time did I feel the need to draw my long-barrelled Deane and Adams revolver."

Barclay of the Mounted can be found on Amazon!

New Release! Barclay of the Mounted

 My latest book, Barclay of the Mounted, has just been published!

 Barclay of the Mounted is the memoir of a young man who, looking for adventure and glory, joins the newly form North-West Mounted Police in 1874. A bit naive and idealsitc, Henry Barclay, a native of Toronto, travels west "... to keep the peace and uphold the right of all." Barclay is an educated young man who quotes everything from Byron to the Bible and from Shakespeare to Shelley.

Barclay finds the territories of Western Canada vast, and in his varried duties, he encounters whiskey traders, native tribes, desperadoes, thieves, and murderers. In service to his country Barclay meets historical figures such as Poundmaker, Sitting Bull, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, and George Dixon, the boxer. There are also true figures from the Force as well, such as Sam Steele, James Walsh and James Macleod. 

Barclay's adventures are full of excitement and humour, and are told in the style of the pulp stories of the 1930s.

Barclay of the Mounted can be found on Amazon!