Piccadilly Publishing / J.B. Dancer

J.B. DANCER

J.B. DANCER is the pseudonym for the writing team of Angus Wells and John Harvey.

Angus Wells (26 March 1943 - 11 April 2006) was a British writer of genre fiction, including fantasy and, most famously, westerns. In addition to a few standalone novels written under his own name, Wells wrote under numerous pseudonyms, including Andrew Quiller (The Eagles), James A. Muir (Breed), Charles R. Pike (Jubal Cade), William S. Brady (Hawk and Peacemaker), Charles C. Garrett (Gunslinger), Richard Kirk (Raven), J. B. Dancer (The Lawmen) and Ian Evans. Encouraged by Laurence James, he left an editorial job in publishing in 1975 and became a freelance writer.
His friend and co-author, John Harvey, recalls: "A love, and near encyclopaedic knowledge, of western movies --in particular those of Sam Peckinpah - helped to make Angus well suited to the task. He was as inventive and hardworking as was necessary to produce 50,000 words every four or five weeks, and in those books we wrote together, he could be relied upon to correct not just my faulty knowledge of guns and ammo, but my spelling of sheriff and marshal."
Born in Kent, Angus learned to read among the comics and paperback books that crowded the newsagent's shop run by his parents. Leaving Bromley Grammar School at 18, he went first into public relations and then into publishing, where, as an editor at Sphere Books, he was particularly proud of a science fiction list that included Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark. Once the western market faded, he enjoyed his greatest success as a writer with epic fantasies such as the Books of the Kingdoms and the Raven series, which he co-wrote with Robert Holdstock.
Suffering from a number of debilitating illnesses in his later years, Angus became somewhat reclusive. He passed away at his Nottingham home in 2006. He was 63.

John Harvey is a former English and drama school teacher.
Born in London in 1938 and educated at St. Aloysius' College in North London, John Harvey studied at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, and at Hatfield Polytechnic - now the University of Hertfordshire. He took a Master's Degree in American Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he briefly taught Film and American Literature. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, by the University of Nottingham, and in 2013, an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, by the University of Hertfordshire. In 2020, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Goldsmiths' College, University of London, for his "significant achievements and contributions to literature."
Since 1975, he has been a professional writer with something in excess of 100 published books to his credit. After a number of years spent learning his craft by writing paperback fiction for both adults and teenagers, he is today principally known as a writer of crime fiction, with the first of the Charlie Resnick novels, Lonely Hearts, being named by The Times as one of the 100 most notable crime novels of the last century.
Harvey's genre fiction appeared under both his own name and the pseudonyms John J McLaglen (Herne the Hunter), William S. Brady (Hawk and Peacemaker), J. D. Sandon (Gringos), J. B. Dancer (The Lawmen), L. J. Coburn (Caleb Thorn) and William M. James (Apache).
"In the Western," says John, "I'm interested in finding a balance between the myth of the West (as it comes through American literature and film) and the historical reality. Increasingly, I'm concerned to attempt to make a stronger place for women in the Western, which is traditionally a refuge of masculinity and male fantasy."

J.B. DANCER

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