In The Last Western, Award winning journalist and investigative reporter Rone Tempest presents a gripping true crime story about a white Wyoming lawman who gunned down a Puerto Rico-born officer in 1978 — and the controversial trial that divided a community.
Neo Text is a new digital publishing company dedicated to publishing short-form prose ranging from science fiction and noir novellas to investigative journalism and narrative nonfiction. Each release from NeoText will be accompanied by covers and spot illustrations from acclaimed comic book artists and illustrators, including acclaimed artist Jim Mahfood and award-winning illustrator François Schuiten.
In the months ahead, NeoText will continue to publish an impressive array of artists and storytellers—including award-winning journalist Mike Sager, Ho Che Anderson, Howard Chaykin, Fay Dalton, Charles Forsman, Mad Dog Jones, Benjamin Marra, Dash Shaw, and photographer and director Neil Krug. Each title will be released on www.NeoText.com and available via Amazon.
“Hugely entertaining…. Think: High Noon meets Training Day in Deadwood.” —Mike Sager, Esquire, author of The Devil and John Holmes and Hunting Marlon kBrando.
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THE LAST WESTERN
Of all the possible explanations for why lawman Ed Cantrell shot and killed his deputy Michael Rosa in the parking lot of the Silver Dollar saloon, the least likely was the one that prevailed at trial—that a deranged Rosa went for his gun and Cantrell outdrew him in self-defense.
In his powerful and compelling reconstruction of the infamous 1978 killing in boomtown Rock Springs, Wyoming, award-winning journalist Rone Tempest tracks the parallel lives of Cantrell, an Indiana schoolboy who fashioned himself into a 19th-century Western gunfighter on the right side of the law, and Rosa, a Puerto Rico-born and West Harlem-raised decorated U.S. Marine who worked under Cantrell as an undercover narc.
For a time, Tempest writes, the two were an efficient team: Cantrell, the steely-eyed Wild West throwback and Rosa, the street-savvy New Yorker with an impressive flair. But then came a falling-out. Tensions and paranoia built to a breaking point until a midnight meeting in a saloon parking lot where Cantrell, with two other cops beside him, drew his Model 10 .357 and shot Rosa between the eyes, killing him instantly as he sat in the backseat of an unmarked police car.
Unearthing previously unseen investigators’ notes, military records, personnel files, census records, college transcripts and even airplane manifests, Tempest skillfully demonstrates the true aim and cost of the raucous murder trial that followed the killing.
THE LAST WESTERN Release date: August 4th. $2.99 is one of NeoText, initial offerings.
Below is an exclusive excerpt of “The Last Western” Chapter 3 “Rosa”
THE LAST WESTERN excerpt – Ch 3 Rosa.pdf
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Art credit -NeoText