Blood Bond Books In Order

Publication Order of Blood Bond Books

Blood Bond is a series of Westerns written by William W. Johnstone. The books follow the exploits of Matt Bodine and Sam Two Wolves, men from two different worlds who form an unbreakable bond.

+The Story

The Blood Bond series began publication in 1989. William W. Johnstone was already a popular author at the time, having written some of the most renowned Westerns on the literary landscape.

The Blood Bond series saw Johnstone attempt to subvert some of the common Western tropes while also keeping a lot of things the same, and most of his fans seem to think that he succeeded.

It is difficult to determine when William stopped writing the Blood Bond Series. The books were regularly published throughout the 1990s, 2000s and even the 2010s. And it would be easy for a casual fan to impute all those novels to William’s hand.

However, William died in 2004 and his death remained unconfirmed for three years for reasons that only his family and publishers know. J.A. Johnstone, William’s nephew, was finally introduced to the public in 2006, revealed to be William’s successor and the man who had continued to churn out titles under the renowned author’s name.

There were heated debates at the time about J.A’s role in the writing of the Blood Bond series, specifically with regards to when he had started writing them and whether the stories he was telling where his original creations or if he was merely following the blueprint set forth by his uncle before William died.

Publishers officially started crediting J.A. Johnstone for his writing efforts alongside William W. Johnstone on the 11th Blood Bond book.

The series tells the story of Matt Bodine and Sam Two Wolves. Matt is a white man and the son of a rancher. Sam is Native American, though it is mentioned that he is a half-breed.

The times being what they are, Matt and Sam should be enemies. At the very least, they shouldn’t have anything to do with one another. However, this white man and his Native American friend have a bond so strong they might as well be brothers.

Their story began when they were children and Matt saved Sam’s life. That placed the pair on the path to not only becoming blood brothers but also proceeding to carve out a legend in the Old West.

But before Sam and Matt became the Wandering cowboys spoken of in old wives tales, they were young men in their 20s trying to find a purpose in life. The Blood Bond series chronicles the adventures they encounter as they travel the breadth of the United States.

As often happens in most Westerns, Sam and Matt always play the reluctant hero. It doesn’t matter where they go. There’s always trouble brewing. If it isn’t gun runners and white slavers, you always have a big man with big money trying to push the little guy off his hard-earned property.

Sam and Matt do not go looking for danger. However, when they see injustices being perpetrated, they do not hesitate to jump into the fray, guns and whips blazing. By the time the dust settles, the pair realizes too late that they just fell head first into a feud of epic proportions.

The author always gives his heroes a way out. He gives them the option of simply taking their horses and moving to the next town, village, or community. But Sam and Matt are not built like that.

Generally speaking, once they start a fight, they do whatever they can to finish it.

The Blood Bond series features plenty of gun battles and explosions. However, the books are also quite slow in their pacing, with William W. Johnstone taking his time to explore the personalities, lives, and backgrounds of the characters that litter his stories.

The Blood Bond books are not straightforward Westerns. The author endeavors to tackle actual historical occurrences, working hard to insert his heroes into the history books while also keeping events relatively unchanged.

Sam is always eager to take on the evil white man, especially when he steps out of line. And Matt must stand up for the Native Americans when they come under the oppressive hand of his people.

However, sometimes Sam is forced to contend with the wrongdoings of his own people, a task that has been known to strain his relationship with Matt.

The author places special emphasis on Matt and Sam’s relationship. The pair spends a considerable portion of the series fighting. However, no matter how frayed their relationship gets, the bond between Sam and Matt never wavers.

When push comes to shove, they will die for one another.

+The Author

William Wallace Johnstone’s hold to fame has always been his diverse writing skills. The author became a published author in 1979 and the success of his first published work (The Devil’s Kiss) encouraged him to become a full-time writer one year later.

William proceeded to write nearly two hundred books in a multitude of genres from Western, to horror, and even suspense. William was 65 when he died. His nephew J.A. Johnstone was chosen to continue his legacy.

J.A was William’s assistant. He did everything from researching to typing, and even fact-checking. And the years spent retyping his uncle’s manuscripts taught the author everything he needed to know to pick up from where William W. Johnstone left off.

+Blood Bond

Matt and Sam were just children when the rancher’s son saved the half breed’s life. The incident compelled the pair to form an unbreakable bond.

Matt Bodine and Sam Two Wolves are now adults. They ride into a deserted strip of a new town, unaware that they just marched into the biggest range war in recent memory.

+Brotherhood of the Gun

Matt Bodine and Sam Two Wolves are a white man and a Native American riding into Apache Territory. The pair has its sights set on a group that has been arming the Apache whilst also taking kidnapped white children and turning them into slaves.

Along the way, Matt and Sam meeting a woman searching for her kidnapped brother and a mountain man who lost his granddaughter during an Indian raid.