Scouting the Web

1.- A number of published and novice Western writers have finally launched the much-anticipated anthology Where Legends Ride. For Western fans, this is particularly interesting since it includes short stories by many of the authors who regularly pen novels for UK publisher Robert Hale Publishers’ Black Horse Westerns, including Lance Howard (aka Howard Hopkins), I.J. Parnham and Ben Bridges (aka David Whitehead). You might know from reading this blog that Black Horse titles are hard to come by outside of the UK. This anthology provides readers a great opportunity to see what some of its writers are all about as well as sample Western fiction from new authors.

As their press release states: “Here you'll meet brave school-teachers, plucky widows, a battered wife, a stubborn mule and several folk who are seeking redemption. You'll feel the heat of the badlands, the chill of danger and the gut-wrenching of betrayal. The stories cover a broad range, from the poignant to the humorous and offer up some pleasant surprises for any reader who has never read a ‘western’ before.”

Where Legends Ride was hatched by the lively members of the Black Horse Westerns Yahoo group. To know more about the 14 short stories that comprise this anthology as well as the men and women behind them, visit the preview section of their website.

You can purchase the book here.

2.- The Los Angeles Times recently ran a nice profile of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner.

The reissue of an obscure book by Stegner, Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil has stirred some controversy between the publisher and the author’s agent, who claims the release of this work-for-hire job for a group of oil companies does “a massive disservice” to the author’s legacy. Apparently, the edition is not Stegner’s original version but the company-sanitized text. The Los Angeles Times reports on it here and The Washington Post weighs in here. You can also read a review of the book.

Its publication coincides with the release of The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner. Edited by his son, Page Stegner, the book is said to provide an interesting glimpse at the vivid polemics between the author and some of his critics.

3.- For Western art fans, the November/December issue of Art of the West magazine as well as the December issue of the handsome Western Art Collector are out.

As I have said before, these publications are veritable catalogues of fine illustrations inspired by the West.