© Becky Burleson

Biography

Sidney Thompson is the author of Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves and Hell on the Border, the first two novels of The Bass Reeves Trilogy, historical fiction narrating the whitewashed life of the slave and fugitive who became the most celebrated lawman of the Old West. An upcoming Paramount+ miniseries based on this trilogy is slated for the fall of 2023 and will be directed by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone and 1893).
   

Schedule

11:15 a.m. to Noon
State Capitol, Senate Committee Room F
Discussion
Fictionalized Facts: Stories Inspired by Real Life
with Matt Bondurant and Sidney Thompson

12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Cavalier House Bookselling Tent
Book Signing

Hell on the Border: The Bass Reeves Trilogy, Book Two

2022 Oklahoma Book Awards Finalist for Fiction from the Oklahoma Center for the Book
2021 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist for Western Fiction
2021 American Book Fest Award Finalist for Historical Fiction

Set in 1884, Hell on the Border tells the story of Deputy U.S. Marshal 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.

After a series of heroic feats of capturing and killing infamous outlaws--most notably Jim Webb--and an introduction to Belle Starr, Reeves finds himself in the Fort Smith jail, charged with murder. This second book in the Bass Reeves Trilogy investigates what really happened when Reeves made the greatest mistake of his life on the heels of his greatest achievements.