**Selected by Indie Booksellers as an Indie Notable for Feb. 2010.  Click here.**


Mark appeared on KHOW's Peter Boyles Show on Feb. 11th.  Listen to the interview:


Mark appeared on KCUR's Up to Date with Steve Kraske on March 4th.  Listen to the interview:


Mark was interviewed by Western writer Johnny Boggs for Wild West magazine.  Read the interview here.


                     Praise for To Hell on a Fast Horse


"The double-helix relationship between Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett is one of the abiding fascinations of the West.  No one has come closer than Mark Lee Gardner to capturing their twin destinies, and their inevitable final collision.  Gardner's research is so richly detailed, you can almost smell the gunsmoke and the sweat of the saddles." 

-- Hampton Sides, author of the New York Times bestsellers Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers.

"A masterpiece!  Mark Gardner's dual biography of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett cuts through the myth to tell the real story of two real figures in the Wild West.  Gardner's scholarship is superb.  This work can only be called a classic."

-- David Dary, author of The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends, and Lore.

"Incredibly deep research combines with the talents of a fine historian and writer to produce superb narrative history.  The true character and relationship of these two iconic westerners emerge to suppress myth and correct more than a century of tomes laden with bad history."

-- Robert M. Utley, author of Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life.

"Expertly marshaling all the known facts and utilizing quotes from the public record and solid sources, Gardner spins out a concise and quick moving tale.  Even though I have been reading and studying this story for almost a half century, I still found details in almost every episode I did not know....Perhaps the best part of the book for me is the section on the death of Garrett.  All of the controversial, and sometimes confusing, aspects are covered.  Gardner really takes you on a ride, and when you think about it, that's what we want: a thrilling ride to hell on a fast horse."

-- Bob Boze Bell, Executive Editor, True West magazine, and author of The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy the Kid.

[T]his is an assured and masterly addition to the literature of Billy the Kid, and the author is to be highly commended for yeoman work well done, for new facts well found, for level judgments and perceptive insights well presented, and for what, after all, is the whole point of the exercise: to give the reader impeccable research, state-of-the-art overview, and best of all, a hell of a good read.

-- Frederick Nolan, Wild West History Journal

"Gardner's narrative deftly weaves the tales of both men, and takes the reader on one of the greatest adventures in Western history.  The Kid can't help but take center stage, though, and his transition from school-aged boy...to one of the Wild West's most formidable outlaws is riveting....Gardner's extensive research, along with his use of historic photographs, makes this a must-read for Western history buffs.  It's also simply a well-written tale of adventure and a sordid human saga."

-- American Cowboy

"The author has done Billy and Garrett up right, rewarding readers with a superbly written story, utterly enthralling and unforgettable."

-- Marc Simmons, Santa Fe New Mexican

"The life story of Billy the Kid is told in tandem with the story of his most dogged pursuer, Sheriff Pat Garrett, in To Hell on a Fast Horse, a freewheeling, yet meticulously researched, dual biography....Gardner’s passion for his subjects shines through on every page. His extensive review of primary sources and published research adds further illumination."

-- History Book Club
 
"[A]n engrossing examination of the lives of both men and the political and economic milieu of nineteenth-century New Mexico....This is a fine effort to de-mystify a legendary episode in the history of the American West."

-- Booklist

"Gardner, who has made a career out of researching and writing about New Mexican territorial history, tells the story of the young outlaw and his killer in great detail, crafting a narrative that reads like a novel. With evocative character descriptions of many of the men, outlaw or lawman, involved in the rivalry between Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, Gardner renders a time, place and a people with sincerity and accuracy." 

-- Santa Fe Reporter

"Digging beneath the myths and melodrama, [Gardner] begins in Las Vegas during Christmas week, 1880, when the capture and confinement of Billy the Kid made national headlines....Gardner's extensive research and authoritative approach ground this compelling historical recreation."

-- Publishers Weekly

"Mark Lee Gardner's To Hell on a Fast Horse is a fine story about the Kid and his nemesis, Sheriff Pat Garrett.  It's as absorbing as a novel."
 
-- The Denver Post

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