Lance Horner Books In Order

Publication Order of Falconhurst Books

Publication Order of Golden Stud Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Lance Horner is a bestselling historical romance author best known for penning the Falconhurst series alongside Kyle Onstott. The novels are sensational narratives set in a sprawling slave plantation in post and pre Civil War Alabama. It follows the story of slaves and slave-owners on a plantation named Falconhurst. The first novel of the series “Mandingo” was written by Kyle Onstott in 1957 and was set in the 1830s. Horner used to work in advertising and only had one novel to his name until he met Onstott. He then went on to collaborate with the man to write several titles in the series. When Onstott died in 1966, Lance took over the reins and continued writing the series. He would go on to write. “Falconhurst Fancy,” “The Mustee,” “Heir to Falconhurst,” “Flight to Falconhurst,” and “Mistress of Falconhurst.” The series of novels are based on the bizarre legends that Onstott heard while he was growing up: tales of the sadistic abuse of slaves and slave breeding.

Lance Horner’s novels are full of authentic detail as they tell the story of the debauched life of Hammond Maxwell, who goes from youth to master of the slave plantation. He tells the story of the upside-down and savage life on a plantation dramatizing the sexual perversity, brutality, and selfishness of the white slave owners and the degradation, anger and sexual starvation of the black slaves. Some of the topics in Falconhurst nominally condemn the slave-owning class and slavery while being sympathetic to the slaves. Nonetheless, he does present the sexual subjugation, rape, and torture with an enthusiasm that would make a psychotic Klansman blush. However, no real racist would love the series given the depiction of sexual allure that often ends in consummation between Caucasian Southern females and black virile slaves. Moreover, he does tell the story of bloody retribution when the slaves revolt.

Lance Horner delivers an erotic yet violent saga which he continued to do not only in Falconhurst but in his other novels. The theme of slave breeding and the immorality of it is critiqued to a degree no other fiction author did before. They were written at just about the right time when the civil rights movement was gaining popularity and opposition in equal measure. But the taboo-busting and titillating nature of the novels and the nihilistic touch also gave the novels an edge that has made them popular right up to the present. While Horner’s novels may be deemed semi-pornographic and excessive, they were a fitting alternative to the likes of “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell which focused on the fantastical musings of motherly mammies, compassionate slave masters, and devoted field workers.

“Falconhurst Fancy” is one of Lance Horner’s best novels in the Falconhurst series. At the start of the novel, Tommy Verder is on his way to see Dovie Verder his fiancée and cousin. He stops at a roadside tavern for some rest and gets offered a virgin slave that had taken his fancy for a huge fee. But she had also been promised to Ransom Lightfoot, an endowed but trashy man who does not take kindly to the slight by the tavern owner. They are determined to ensure that the man that had bruised their ego pays for it. In the meantime, Tommy’s cousin is waiting for him to show up so that she can tell him that they are soon to be parents. When it becomes impossible to hide her ever-growing belly she decides to pin it on one of the most loathsome of her other cousins, Bart Boggs. Boggs accepts to be wed to the damsel for his own selfish reasons. However, fourteen years of marriage are not enough to mellow the boorish man and they have a terrible marriage. Tommy and Dovie’s child grows up to be an undisciplined mute that everyone calls “The Dummy.” The situation is not helped by the fact that his parents Bart and Davie barely get along. Dovie is finally forced to resort to her ingenuity to keep their plantations and family afloat. While she is not the smartest of people, she has a determination to succeed and walks a fine line trying to be a wife while doing a man’s job.

Horner’s “Heir To Falconhurst” is the story of Drum Maxwell the son of Drummage and Sophie Maxwell. He had been brought up as a white man in Reconstruction era Boston but then has to face reality when it was time to get married. While he was brought up as white and could easily pass for white, he is technically black and hence cannot get married to a rich society girl as he wanted. Unfortunately, he had admitted his heritage and thought all would be fine only for the girl to reject him. He is s a good soul and when things don’t pan out he decides to head south where he can claim his inheritance – a crumbling plantation. On his way there, he meets Clair and Narcisse Brantome a shady couple in New Orleans that are at best grifters that always need a handout from him. The honest and frank Drum hires them at Falconhurst as housekeeper and overseer. What follows is the story of the decline of the notorious plantation known for breeding slaves and its resurrection at the hands of Drum. But even as he saves the plantation, he cannot escape tradition which calls him black despite his white skin. It gets interesting when he falls in love with his sadistic overseer’s passionate mustee wife.

“Flight to Falconhurst” is one of Horner’s most popular works in the Falconhurst series. It tells the compelling and violent story of Calico a former slave from Falconhurst that had been the playmate and sometimes whipping boy for Tommy Verder, the mute and deaf heir to the plantation. When Timmy goes off to Boston to attend school, Calico joined him and when the opportunity presents itself he takes Verder’s identity and escaped. At the start of the story, he has been living in the Five Points for several years where he has been passing himself off as white and working as a pimp. Unfortunately, his luck runs out and the black spots on his back make people suspicious of his heritage. Before he can get into more trouble, he flees and heads to Alabama where he hopes to pass off himself as Tommy Verder. He is also hoping that he can inherit the plantation that rightly belonged to Tommy.

2 Responses to “Lance Horner”

1. Richard Curtis: 2 years ago

   I have read all but two of the novels. Brutally honest about how life was for African Americans during those times. Many of the same characters are throughout each novel. Masterfully believable!

   Reply
2. Lorenia Degrate: 2 years ago

   I read these books in the 1970’s and never forgot them.

   Reply