tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83958493122653527642024-03-14T08:59:04.015-04:00Saddlebums Western ReviewGonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-27774403386455424702008-02-03T23:38:00.000-05:002008-02-03T23:46:58.815-05:00James Reasoner<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3tQeL9vkkczpRCdUA7dl8AuitXUr5MwmvaM6kFr_Aak9loxufYCJsqg9CQL61B-gBxS1WL0eVZu57XpnjkL1I5EqKvGYZeICNmnoHLcYuL-mJvu4lY-WeWfRkYN5w0xdwD0oovo0j_cw/s1600-h/reasoner1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162981704319728242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3tQeL9vkkczpRCdUA7dl8AuitXUr5MwmvaM6kFr_Aak9loxufYCJsqg9CQL61B-gBxS1WL0eVZu57XpnjkL1I5EqKvGYZeICNmnoHLcYuL-mJvu4lY-WeWfRkYN5w0xdwD0oovo0j_cw/s320/reasoner1.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div>From the Western Writers of America:</div><br /><div><div></div><div>Longtime Western writer and WWA member <strong>James Reasoner</strong> and wife <strong>Livia</strong> lost their house and studio, and all their belongings, in a fire earlier this week. They're OK, as are their dogs and children, but got out with only their clothes they were wearing. Books, pulps, comics, everything else, gone. </div><div></div><br /><div>"This is totallyoverwhelming," James says. To help the family, Western Writers of America and Kensington Books have agreed to make sizable contributions and ask anyone who would also like to contribute to send cash donations to the WWA Executive Director's office in Albuquerque, N.M. </div><div></div><br /><div>Make the check out to <strong>Western Writers of America</strong> and put in the memo that the money is for the <strong>James Reasoner Emergency Fund</strong>. Checks should be mailed to:</div><br /><div></div><div><strong>WWA</strong></div><div><strong>MSC06 3770 </strong></div><div><strong>1 University of New Mexico </strong></div><div><strong>Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001</strong></div><div></div><br /><div>Since James and Livia also lost their sizable library, donations are also being sought to help restock their bookcases whenever they have a new home. <strong>Kim Lionetti</strong>, Livia's agent at BookEnds, has generously agreed to accept any BOOK donations and keep them until the Reasoners have a place to put them. Books should be sent to:</div><br /><div></div><div><strong>Kim Lionetti </strong></div><div><strong>BookEnds Inc.</strong></div><div><strong>136 Long Hill Road</strong></div><div><strong>Gillette, NJ 07933</strong></div><br /><div></div><div>Our thoughts and prayers are with James, Livia and family during this tryingtime. Thanks for your help.</div><br /><div></div><div><strong>Johnny D. Boggs</strong></div><div><strong>WWA Vice President</strong></div></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com185tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-6030989847367924952008-01-27T07:45:00.000-05:002008-01-27T08:39:26.629-05:00Saddlebums Interview: John D. Nesbitt<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXN6Hv3QmH1f-s3sZqffovbfy3DVnHE32i3U2g3JrKHAIQ7ihkkPIj8G6J0HALryJReEd5pvb-tBOar3B2pQPHX7rn3U3pH54xTECxD58HhhxPJu242im3BaLZKzdFYhrVFLYHrAnlu3W/s1600-h/City+News+Signing,+Cheyenne.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160148064546892194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiXN6Hv3QmH1f-s3sZqffovbfy3DVnHE32i3U2g3JrKHAIQ7ihkkPIj8G6J0HALryJReEd5pvb-tBOar3B2pQPHX7rn3U3pH54xTECxD58HhhxPJu242im3BaLZKzdFYhrVFLYHrAnlu3W/s400/City+News+Signing,+Cheyenne.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><em><a href="http://www.johndnesbitt.com/">John D. Nesbitt </a>has published fourteen novels, six short-story collections, and an impressive number of literary articles, book reviews, and poetry. He lives in Wyoming where he teaches both English and Spanish at Eastern Wyoming College, and he not only writes about the West, but he lives it and seemingly loves it.</em><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><em>His work is known for its strong sense of place, complex and believable characterization, and a prose that Roundup Magazine calls “elegantly spare.” His latest novel,</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0843958057/102-4827054-9202558?ie=UTF8&tag=readwest&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0843958057">Death at Dark Water</a><em>, is scheduled for release in February 2008 from <a href="http://www.dorchesterpub.com/">Leisure</a>.</em></div><div><br /><strong>First, I want to thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions John.<br /></strong></div><div>Thank you for the opportunity.<br /></div><br /><div><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBtkEXf6Mw01P81YSAb7RKDupzINUseKOY8niPr33bUHez8nIz4MbFXeUHDU78JZ2Gy9gYHwaM0nBJLsHh7ZyHcr7etGDAFBBHv7-bZo-KluIdVCgpl_-nBJM4fWMim4ljrDRS0TrnKuE/s1600-h/Death+at+Dark+Water.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160147523381012882" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBtkEXf6Mw01P81YSAb7RKDupzINUseKOY8niPr33bUHez8nIz4MbFXeUHDU78JZ2Gy9gYHwaM0nBJLsHh7ZyHcr7etGDAFBBHv7-bZo-KluIdVCgpl_-nBJM4fWMim4ljrDRS0TrnKuE/s320/Death+at+Dark+Water.jpg" border="0" /></a>I want to talk a little about your publishing history, what was the first novel you published? Was it a long time coming, or did you hit print pretty quickly once you decided to write it? </strong></div><div><br />My first novel was <em>One-Eyed Cowboy Wild</em>, in 1994 with Walker and Company, one of the last New York publishers to do hardcover westerns. I had written short stories for quite a while and had been getting them published for over fifteen years, but it took me quite a while to get it together to do a book-length piece of fiction. The first novel I wrote was something different; this one was the second. I had a good inspiration for the story idea, and I wrote the first draft without a great deal of angst and struggle. Once I had it ready to go, I went through quite a few dead ends (more than a year) until the editor at Walker gave me the break I needed. Her name is Jackie Johnson, a wonderful person and a great old-style editor, and she will always have a special place in my heart.</div><div><br /><strong>When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? </strong></div><br /><div>I wrote creative stuff all the way through school, but it was probably in my first or second year of college that I became conscious of wanting to do it as something more than a hobby. By the time I was in my third or fourth year of college, I knew I wanted to write and be published.<br /></div><br /><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:130%;">I am proud of all my work, but there are a few books that I think of as being high points for me, in that I felt I carried things off about as well as I could hope to do.<br /></span></div></em><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaxLFEBUHdS_TqFzR_AEyJLVye0FMxxpU7rjuy8OZqFkQHrZcIa0GpHPuKcZPT8B_G2w9vfXT2Wo31aTiAHk_LMNSQOlTMCpBgqnbYPpXc3nZr3Ln26bUQaG9EzKg6EQEq_3j9dVyRBLB/s1600-h/bhb.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160146900610754946" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaxLFEBUHdS_TqFzR_AEyJLVye0FMxxpU7rjuy8OZqFkQHrZcIa0GpHPuKcZPT8B_G2w9vfXT2Wo31aTiAHk_LMNSQOlTMCpBgqnbYPpXc3nZr3Ln26bUQaG9EzKg6EQEq_3j9dVyRBLB/s320/bhb.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>Is there a book, or a few books, that you have written and are particularly proud of?</strong><br /><br /><div>I am proud of all my work, but there are a few books that I think of as being high points for me, in that I felt I carried things off about as well as I could hope to do. My first western, <em>One-Eyed Cowboy Wild</em>, was good for a debut novel. After that, the ones I think of as high points are <em>Coyote Trail</em>, <em>For the Norden Boys</em>, <em>Black Hat Butte</em>, and <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0843955414">Lonesome Range</a></em>. Another book I am proud of, though it’s not a western novel, is my basic writing textbook, <em>Blue Book of Basic Writing</em>. It’s now in its sixth edition, and although it doesn’t have much public, it has been an ongoing work of great value to me and a source of pride.<br /></div><br /><div><strong>Most writers are voracious readers, and I’m wondering what you read for pleasure?<br /></strong></div><br /><div>For pleasure, I read westerns, mysteries, and standard British and American authors. I also read books by friends who are authors.<br /></div><br /><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:130%;">My father was a cattleman and farmer who went broke when I was very young. He had a black Stetson that fit me when I was ten or twelve, and between my family background and my schooling, I grew up with the sense that I was a western person</span></em><br /></div><br /><div><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5RB0aXpPQrCIQTWRjNlrRhxInepI0O4ucZhPWoRwcr3I4z7WA_VM-Jg4c0XRLqhLTse_pxsMcya_Kd9k8nH_Odn7FT8gcU8H4Apa703GBh7iAbC239wQl3yZwqgNcMhxlM6ScVhVKktYR/s1600-h/Blue+Book.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160145822573963634" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5RB0aXpPQrCIQTWRjNlrRhxInepI0O4ucZhPWoRwcr3I4z7WA_VM-Jg4c0XRLqhLTse_pxsMcya_Kd9k8nH_Odn7FT8gcU8H4Apa703GBh7iAbC239wQl3yZwqgNcMhxlM6ScVhVKktYR/s320/Blue+Book.jpg" border="0" /></a>Now I want to turn to the western genre specifically. What first led you to the genre?<br /></div></strong><br /><div>My father was a cattleman and farmer who went broke when I was very young. He had a black Stetson that fit me when I was ten or twelve, and between my family background and my schooling, I grew up with the sense that I was a western person. It was my heritage. I read westerns when I was young, and then when I was in college I started taking them seriously at the same time, and I ended up writing my doctoral dissertation on the classic western. All the time I was doing the work for the project, I knew I was studying technique. My first published story was a western, published in an ephemeral commercial magazine called <em>Far West</em>. My second story was a contemporary rural story intertwined with a western story, and it won a literary prize. And on and on, until I got it together to write book-length fiction.<br /></div><br /><div><strong>I enjoy reading not only traditional westerns, but also stories based in the contemporary west. You write both. Do you have a preference for the type of western story you write?</strong><br /></div><br /><div>I like both. I feel that I have greater freedom of subject matter and form in contemporary fiction, and I have a great fund of personal knowledge and experience to draw upon there as well, but writing traditional westerns is part of my writer’s identity, and I’m always happy to be working on a western. As for the type of story I write, I usually write what is called character-driven fiction, which has more emphasis on character interaction and motivation than on incident and surprise. Landscape or place usually has a significant role in my work, also. Reviewers usually cite character, detail, and prose style as my strong points.<br /></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5vfDefojE2C_gxMBdRzse8KKuFU3gydGe3mT2r0_OgAVfBO1Xqp-6aQbOoOs2yTDWAXREbvPfng4SS6NeuydcdJHA0aTjb0RLq4QRfxphKvmBulJwz8s6WmARNoV4tTQytQVMRQxyjour/s1600-h/lonesome_range.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160141815369476434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5vfDefojE2C_gxMBdRzse8KKuFU3gydGe3mT2r0_OgAVfBO1Xqp-6aQbOoOs2yTDWAXREbvPfng4SS6NeuydcdJHA0aTjb0RLq4QRfxphKvmBulJwz8s6WmARNoV4tTQytQVMRQxyjour/s320/lonesome_range.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>What are a few of the western writers who have most influenced your work?</strong><br /><br /><div>I would say Owen Wister, for his example that the western can be serious; A.B. Guthrie, Jr., for a sense of clear prose style and liberated form; and Ernest Haycox, for a sense of trying to blend thoughtful work with traditional structure.<br /></div><br /><strong>If you could bring back the work of one western writer who would it be? Is there a specific title?<br /></strong><br /><div>This is sort of a personal interest, but I would like to see the novels of Caroline Lockhart, an early twentieth-century novelist from Wyoming , reprinted. One novel has been reprinted in recent years, and I would like to see "Me—Smith” enjoy a bit of a renaissance. It is dated, as novels from 1910-1920 are, but it gives us an idea of what a woman western writer could get away with writing in 1911.</div><br /><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:130%;">I think the genre is better off with more writers now than, say, in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when the bookracks were almost entirely taken up by Louis L’Amour and the adult westerns.<br /></span></div></em><br /><div><strong>What do you think about the western genre today, and what do you think the future holds for the western story?</strong><br /></div><br /><div>As for the quality of the western genre today, I think there is still a great deal of mediocre writing (I’m thinking mainly in terms of prose style, language use, and narrative craft), just as there was in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and there is quite a bit of gratuitous bloodshed, rape, and general mayhem. On the other hand, I think the genre is better off with more writers now than, say, in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when the bookracks were almost entirely taken up by Louis L’Amour and the adult westerns. It is clear that the western genre is not as strong as it once was (through the 1960’s or so), and I believe, as do many writers, that it is not likely to regain its earlier status. On the other hand, I do not believe that the readership is a shrinking group of people who are getting older and dying. My feeling is that the western is not going to vanish but that it will maintain a low level of popularity. It is a conservative genre, in that it doesn’t change much, so I don’t expect it to change greatly in its level of literary quality.<br /></div><br /><div><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTj1rti02f2UTPLK9jjoSjO-an8lnZ1NyeyMz0gqBZ5Om94vyqzbQ-sG9k5fPSQXRfXXGIdnX9T0K4Y5ne4siG9tinPyGJYe2DP32e7TP9exwf9UUpOLPxcaHuvPc0xcEDK661fdDXrhu/s1600-h/Raven_Springs.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160140758807521602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTj1rti02f2UTPLK9jjoSjO-an8lnZ1NyeyMz0gqBZ5Om94vyqzbQ-sG9k5fPSQXRfXXGIdnX9T0K4Y5ne4siG9tinPyGJYe2DP32e7TP9exwf9UUpOLPxcaHuvPc0xcEDK661fdDXrhu/s320/Raven_Springs.jpg" border="0" /></a>I understand you teach English and Spanish at a college in Wyoming. Since you spend a good deal of your time with young people, I was wondering if you have a perspective on how we—both the western genre and literature as a whole—can be more appealing to the younger generation?</strong><br /></div><br /><div>In the students I have had in the last ten years or so, I have seen very few people who read for pleasure, and I have seen quite a few who won’t even read good literature when it is assigned. However, in the students who are coming up through grade school and high school right now, it seems as if there is a resurgence in interest in reading, thanks to many of the highly successful authors who write for young readers. Right now, the biggest rage seems to be for fantasy, and I don’t see that evolving into an interest in westerns, which aren’t nearly as glitzy. I don’t know how literature can be more appealing to the younger generation, except that it has to be clear, dramatic, and colorful.</div><div><br /><strong>Okay, now let’s get down to your current work. What is your latest</strong> <strong>novel?<br /></strong></div><div>My latest release is <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0843958049/103-8851433-1175807?ie=UTF8&tag=readwest&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0843958049">Raven Springs</a></em>, the third in a mini-series of crossover western-mysteries with a genial narrator named Jimmy Clevis. The next one scheduled for release is <em>Death at Dark Water</em>, which takes place in territorial New Mexico and has all Hispanic characters except for the Anglo protagonist. It should be out in February. </div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRUiet7lFFnOXmG4E_6cQEsMesZv19-SaxV6Vn3yfSAIrfACjIfpxQ4_U1vBtdYjHUSuSBKRICDl4ADONBCfq0I3glLxKkdLCz3psjwFSm6Fhh4ZFFHprQl8sPZSxNc6t4adAo7gLB6Eq6/s1600-h/FNB.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160140376555432242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRUiet7lFFnOXmG4E_6cQEsMesZv19-SaxV6Vn3yfSAIrfACjIfpxQ4_U1vBtdYjHUSuSBKRICDl4ADONBCfq0I3glLxKkdLCz3psjwFSm6Fhh4ZFFHprQl8sPZSxNc6t4adAo7gLB6Eq6/s320/FNB.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>Can you tell us about the novel—or any other projects—you are working on now?<br /></strong><br /><div>I just finished and mailed off yet another western, written along fairly traditional lines. Until I get a publication date and a cover, I usually don’t say much more than that. This one is under contract, though, so I don’t think I’ll jinx it by saying as much as I did. </div><br /><div><strong>I have one last question, and I must warn it is a little vague. If you could chose any project to work on, what would it be?<br /></strong></div><br /><div>I’m the kind of writer who straddles the lines—in my case, between literary and traditional (one reviewer characterized me as someone who writes literary traditional westerns, and I think that is accurate) and between historical and contemporary. I want to keep trying to write individual novels of quality, in both the genre western and the contemporary western novel. So if I had to choose one, I’d say, yeah, both.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-85536576129555276802008-01-15T20:22:00.000-05:002008-01-28T20:54:12.911-05:00Saddlebums Review: Hellfire Canyon by Max McCoy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7vpQqsu4E0CGLxJvxEXVB2Svmy12kCETYVQ2xwvIKRlrQHdZ-6ey_zI4f0fn1_NHOO5988TZR318eXs8PO60zNpEaChCAI1IC6-dNtPTzPkwcDirKSZW5FPvERRq0ZXRVze6hnUZv0fP/s1600-h/hellfire+canyon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160710834111687090" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7vpQqsu4E0CGLxJvxEXVB2Svmy12kCETYVQ2xwvIKRlrQHdZ-6ey_zI4f0fn1_NHOO5988TZR318eXs8PO60zNpEaChCAI1IC6-dNtPTzPkwcDirKSZW5FPvERRq0ZXRVze6hnUZv0fP/s400/hellfire+canyon.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>The regular readers of </em>Saddlebums <em>have probably noticed it has been a little quiet around here the past few weeks, and there is a reason. It’s not that I’m not reading, don’t enjoy a solid Western, or anything else like that. The problem is, I recently—three weeks ago—started a new job and it’s taking most of my energy right now, but things are beginning to break. I think. So bear with me—and my </em>Saddlebums<em> partner Gonzalo—while I get the new schedule down and get back to the nitty-gritty operation of a blog. </em><br /><em></em><br /><em>And to whet your appetite I have a few completed author interviews—<a href="http://www.peterbrandvold.com/">Peter Brandvold</a>, and <a href="http://www.johndnesbitt.com/">John D. Nesbitt </a>to name two—and I’m working on a few reviews as well. Until then here is a review of <a href="http://www.maxmccoy.com/">Max McCoy’</a>s</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hellfire-Canyon-Max-McCoy/dp/0786017805/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200446879&sr=8-1">Hellfire Canyon</a> <em>I wrote in April 2007 for my </em><a href="http://www.gravetapping.blogspot.com/">Gravetapping</a><em> blog. It's a terrific novel written by a versatile and very dependable author.<br /></em><br /><em>Hellfire Canyon</em> is the story of Jacob Gamble: outlaw, renegade and general hell-raiser. He is the archetypical western outlaw, with one exception: He is likable, and rather than the antagonist, he is the hero.<br /><br />The novel begins when three men trample into young Jacob’s farmhouse and demand breakfast from his mother. They are confederate soldiers with a platoon of blue bellies hot on their trail. This is the catalyst that shapes Jacob’s life—the Union soldiers burn down his home, and he discovers his father is in lockup scheduled to by hanged. Jacob and his mother set out to save his father, but instead they find themselves crossing Missouri in the company of a stranger, facing cutthroats, soldiers, the coming winter, and finally forced indoctrination into the gang of the notorious killer Alf Bolin.<br /><br /><em>Hellfire Canyon</em> is not the typical. There is violence, but there is something more—a yearning and understanding of history, legend, and even folklore. Gamble is an admitted liar, killer and thief, but he—the story is written in first person—portrays himself never as a victim, but as a survivor. Interestingly, in the opening pages of the novel he casts doubt on everything that is to come: And I won’t tell the truth. Instead, I will spin the tale that is expected—that I was forced by circumstances at the tender age of thirteen to become the youngest member of the Bolin gang.<br /><br /><em>Hellfire Canyon</em> is a campfire story. It is raw, tender, and fresh, but we are left knowing it isn’t the real story. It is the story the witness—Jacob Gamble—wants us to know, or perhaps more accurately thinks we want to know. It is more folklore and legend than anything else, and I loved every word. Ignore the horrible cover art and give <em>Hellfire Canyon</em> a try.Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com135tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-40232272302971193372008-01-07T00:48:00.000-05:002008-01-07T05:06:34.563-05:00Scouting the Web<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabKaNoPpazet9K-mesjz4xwdUfoyU69Q06KbiZsP9SUTc4sJckpX5-ntTdPUJLAD5rENiCVteuSD-gLvT4_5QmD0r-l626hq3z7dr97g3Bw2OFW7DPalKSSIMRKHgMFEsV4rP3yikKePO/s1600-h/Comanche+Moon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150721738956149298" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabKaNoPpazet9K-mesjz4xwdUfoyU69Q06KbiZsP9SUTc4sJckpX5-ntTdPUJLAD5rENiCVteuSD-gLvT4_5QmD0r-l626hq3z7dr97g3Bw2OFW7DPalKSSIMRKHgMFEsV4rP3yikKePO/s400/Comanche+Moon.jpg" border="0" /></a>■ <a href="http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/102882/comanchemoon_news.php">Saddle up</a> for the latest Lonesome Dove miniseries, Comanche Moon, starring <strong>Val Kilmer</strong>, <strong>Steve Zahn</strong> and <strong>Karl Urban</strong>. The six-hour, three-part extravaganza will air Jan. 13 on CBS. A prequel to <strong>Larry McMurtry</strong>’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLonesome-Dove-Novel-Schuster-Classics%2Fdp%2F068487122X%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1188968520%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Lonesome Dove</a>, this is the final installment in the saga. Here’s an <a href="http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/102883/karlurban_interview.php">interview</a> with actor Karl Urban.<br /><br /><br /><div>■ Two interesting book reviews from the <a href="http://vinpulp.blogspot.com/">Vintage Hardboiled Reads</a> blog: <a href="http://vinpulp.blogspot.com/2007/12/sabadilla-by-richard-jessup.html">Sabadilla</a> by <strong>Richard Jessup</strong> and <a href="http://vinpulp.blogspot.com/2007/12/appaloosa-by-robert-macleod.html">The Appaloosa</a> by <strong>Robert MacLeod</strong>.<br /><br />■ The newest issue of the Western Writers of America’s <a href="http://www.westernwriters.org/roundup.html">Roundup Magazine</a> is out and with plenty of interesting offerings. Check out <strong>Stephen Lodge</strong>’s <a href="http://www.westernwriters.org/2007DecRoundup_pg_34to35.pdf">review</a> of the 17th Annual Festival of the West in Arizona as well as its traditional book review section, <a href="http://www.westernwriters.org/2007DecRoundup_20to32.pdf">Western Bookshelf</a>, including comments on novels by <strong>Elmer Kelton</strong>, <strong>Bill Pronzini</strong>, <strong>Lauran Paine</strong>, and many others.<br /><br />■ Here’s an interesting <a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/adventure/the-thunder-riders">review</a> of The Thunder Riders by <strong>Frank Leslie</strong> (a.k.a. Peter <strong>Brandvold</strong>) from <a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/">Bookgasm</a>.<br /><br />■ <strong>Ron Fortier</strong>’s Pulp Fiction Reviews blog <a href="http://pulpfictionreviews.blogspot.com/2007/12/where-legends-ride.html">discusses</a> the new Western anthology <a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/audrey.parnhamandco/Express/express.htm">Where Legends Ride</a>, a collection of stories by new and upcoming writers as well as several authors who regularly pen novels for the UK-based <a href="http://www.halebooks.com/index.asp?TAG=&CID=">Robert Hale Publishers’ Black Horse Westerns</a>.<br /><br />■ Salon.com <a href="http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/11/27/true_grit">takes another look</a> at <strong>Charles Portis</strong>’ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTrue-Grit-Charles-Portis%2Fdp%2F1585679380%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1190782000%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">True Grit</a> on the occasion of its recent 40th anniversary.<br /><br />■ <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/200711290033">Soviet Cowboys</a>? ’Nuff said…<br /><br />■ <a href="http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2221506,00.html">The Guardian</a> on female characters in the new crop of Western films.<br /><br />■ The Chicago Tribune <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags/chi-stegnerbw15dec15,1,7219675.story?ctrack=1&cset=tru">takes a look</a> at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSelected-Letters-Wallace-Stegner%2Fdp%2F1593761686%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1196396204%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner</a>.<br /><br />■ Over the last few weeks, <a href="http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/downloads/index.html">Pulpgen</a> has posted a slate of new downloadable Western pulps, including stories by <a href="http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/list_by_author.php?page=20"><strong>Hapsburg Liebe</strong></a> and <a href="http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/list_by_author.php?page=36"><strong>Lon Williams</strong></a>. </div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-67590161706740433112007-12-26T00:18:00.000-05:002007-12-26T01:03:50.502-05:00Richard S. Wheeler: SHANE by Jack Schaefer<em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDNvef1tP0zVdWooVfEPurMaeBnDZ1XJEUnHRP4s7NGyJe0syDjXVRHDz6jZhI3AXNVRFcZ7lxrG3zU-jHZDhA2tkpppxuGcdJXlhQzA6ult8sJh8MLzNLM4vmGpcUFpFskllPPHJ3SaQ/s1600-h/Shane.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148153099405038066" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDNvef1tP0zVdWooVfEPurMaeBnDZ1XJEUnHRP4s7NGyJe0syDjXVRHDz6jZhI3AXNVRFcZ7lxrG3zU-jHZDhA2tkpppxuGcdJXlhQzA6ult8sJh8MLzNLM4vmGpcUFpFskllPPHJ3SaQ/s400/Shane.jpg" border="0" /></a>This post is the second installment in our series on Western classics. These contributions by Western master <strong>Richard S. Wheeler</strong> will provide an in-depth analysis of key works, including the circumstances of publication and the author as well as a discussion on what went into these stories and why they are now ranked among the best. Our first </em><a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/12/sea-of-grass-by-conrad-richter.html"><em>first installment in the series</em></a> <em>examined <strong>Conrad Richter</strong>’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSea-Grass-Conrad-Richter%2Fdp%2F0821410261%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1198648283%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Sea of Grass</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />.</em> <em>This week, we will take a look at <strong>Jack Schaefer</strong>'s </em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FShane-Jack-Schaefer%2Fdp%2FB000C4SWTA%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1198647771%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325"><em>Shane</em></a><em><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />.<br /></em><div><br /></div><div>Shane, by Jack Schaefer, is easily the most famous of western novels, and the one that made the most history. It was first published in 1946 as a three-part serial in Argosy Magazine, under the title, "Rider from Nowhere." Houghton Mifflin published it in book form in 1949 under the Shane title. It eventually went into seventy or more editions and sold twelve million copies (in a nation with half of today’s population). It also appeared in thirty foreign languages. It became the watershed novel that changed western fiction into men’s literature featuring the gunman hero. Its success was so phenomenal that publishers thereafter wanted gunman stories and little else.</div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>The novel is narrated by Bob Starrett, son of Joe and Marian Starrett, who are nesters in a valley of the Big Horn mountains, a day’s ride from Sheridan. The boy first spots Shane riding along the road, a person so remarkable that passing riders turn to stare at him. There is something unusual about the approaching man:<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"He would have looked frail alongside father’s square, solid bulk. But even I could read the endurance in the lines of that dark figure and the quiet power in his effortless, unthinking adjustment to every movement of the tired horse. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>"He was clean-shaven and his face was lean and hard and burned from high forehead to firm, tapering chin. His eyes seemed hooded in the shadow of the hat’s brim. He came closer and I could see that this was because the brows were drawn into a frown of fixed and habitual alertness. Beneath them the eyes were endlessly searching from side to side and forward, checking off every item in view, missing nothing. As I noticed this, a sudden chill, and I could not have told why, struck through me there in the warm and open sun."<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>As Bob gets to know Shane, he realizes the man is also lonely and apart, and there is an inner sadness in him. Joe Starrett hires Shane as a hand on Starrett’s farm, and Shane puts aside his handsome clothes and buys dungarees. Both Joe and Marian are aware that Shane is different and dangerous, and yet both welcome him. Indeed, Marian flirts with Shane, and as the story grows, so does a deep, if platonic, love between them.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There is trouble afoot in the valley. Luke Fletcher, the major landholder in the valley, wants more land to expand his cattle empire, and has tried fruitlessly to drive out the nesters, using bullying, intimidation, and open threats. Starrett, the strongest and most courageous of the nesters, refuses to budge and encourages the other nesters to resist as well. It doesn’t hurt that the stranger called Shane, who says nothing of his past or his future, is firmly committed to the Starretts.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In the daily toil, Joe Starrett and Shane become friends and rivals. In a famous scene in which the pair attempt to reduce a huge stump, they vie with each other to hack it out of the ground, each trying to prove himself the better man– worthy of the other’s esteem and also Marian’s affections.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>But this is not a story about a love triangle; it’s a story about worth. Near the end of the novel, with Shane on his way into town to defend the Starretts against a killer named Stark Wilson, Marian asks Shane whether he is plunging into deadly danger just for her.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Shane hesitated for a long, long moment. ‘No, Marian.’ His gaze seemed to widen and encompass us all, mother and the still figure of father huddled on a chair by the window, and somehow the room and the house and the whole place. Then he was looking only at mother and she was all he could see.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"‘No, Marian. Could I separate you in my mind and afterwards be a man?"</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>Shane is the smaller physically, but even more forceful than Joe, and Bob Starrett is awed by the fierce bloom of life and purpose in Shane whenever he tackles an impossible task. And the impossible tasks do come along, as Luke Fletcher hunts for ways to break Shane and the Starretts. One of the worst of these occurs in the town saloon, when five of Fletcher’s biggest brutes swarm in and nail Shane. Schaefer’s depiction of the barroom fight is one of the most brutal ever put on a page. The Fletcher men gradually overwhelm Shane, breaking a bottle over Shane’s skull and stunning him, until Joe Starrett wades in and evens the score. Starrett himself is big and tough, and no pushover, and all the hard toil of his daily farming life pays off when he mauls Fletcher’s cowboys.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Fletcher heads out of town and returns with a gunman named Stark Wilson, whose reputation Shane knows and respects. Wilson begins by picking on the easiest target, the most hotheaded nester, and kills him. After that, it becomes plain that the nesters must either flee or perish, along with their families and all they possess. Joe Starrett doesn’t want Shane’s help; he tells Shane this is his fight and he’ll deal with Wilson his own way. Shane’s response is to cold-cock Starrett and leave him in Marian’s care.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeOeO_xct9OjT_801wzAyg7z7-MhD61dGseXqJVaBt6bXMww2bjc50gI5uqnEH6SaOw4yUOnESwb4D65JDUr9eXZ9PsBS9Noq7uMv3PMr0hjOGO773u6e5ebB7SGc9pgxeVn52Kc9tlbA/s1600-h/Jack+Schaefer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148153378577912322" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeOeO_xct9OjT_801wzAyg7z7-MhD61dGseXqJVaBt6bXMww2bjc50gI5uqnEH6SaOw4yUOnESwb4D65JDUr9eXZ9PsBS9Noq7uMv3PMr0hjOGO773u6e5ebB7SGc9pgxeVn52Kc9tlbA/s400/Jack+Schaefer.jpg" border="0" /></a>The saloon gunfight is one of the most gripping written. The novel is so well known that I will spoil nothing by saying that Shane is the deadlier man, though Wilson wounds him. And Shane manages to kill the back-shooting Fletcher in the nick of time. When it is over, the wounded Shane rides quietly out of town and into the night, to the deep sorrow of Bob who is almost inconsolable. Shane soon vanishes into mystery and legend, his whereabouts unknown, just as his past is unknown. And the Starretts have their farm in the peaceful valley of Wyoming.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>This was Jack Schaefer’s first novel. He preferred in later years to write stories less mythic and more attuned to the real West. He had grown up in Cleveland, an avid reader of everything he could get his hands on, and spent much of his life as a journalist. Although he is little known, and the volume of his work is small, he surely ranks as one of this nation’s greatest novelists. </div><div></div><br /><div align="right"><strong>- Richard S. Wheeler.</strong></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-55023576597272689262007-12-19T19:13:00.000-05:002007-12-19T23:18:49.372-05:00Saddlebums Interview: Dusty Richards<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyQvbx_nOqWlwLNZ7wXo5ZfHU_Eqf-CGMX1xK1HnE-Kwkr0p71L-_l-OKxm0KKGL_SzHddoqnuwV_YjnDrwE4Qxcbq9dISJHu9np1snkMn_uyESlWtIbSkCv0w0wLrm0HrIuehph4i7pp/s1600-h/Dusty+Richards.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145900582384410402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyQvbx_nOqWlwLNZ7wXo5ZfHU_Eqf-CGMX1xK1HnE-Kwkr0p71L-_l-OKxm0KKGL_SzHddoqnuwV_YjnDrwE4Qxcbq9dISJHu9np1snkMn_uyESlWtIbSkCv0w0wLrm0HrIuehph4i7pp/s400/Dusty+Richards.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><em><a href="http://www.dustyrichards.com/">Dusty Richards </a>won his first two Spur Awards in 2007 for his novel</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Horse-Creek-Incident-Dusty-Richards/dp/0515142174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110263&sr=8-1">The Horse Creek Incident </a><em>and his short story <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Comanche-Moon-Part-1/dp/B000FP2WDI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110321&sr=1-1">“Comanche Moon”. </a>He has written more than seventy novels, and his work has been well received by readers and critics alike. His recent short story collection</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Waltzing-Tumbleweeds-Dusty-Richards/dp/097075079X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110468&sr=1-1">Waltzing with Tumbleweeds </a><em>contains several of his short stories that, according to reviewer Debbie Haskins, “keeps readers turning pages and coming back for more.”<br /><br />He is a lifelong fan of both the West and the Western story—his enthusiasm for the subject shines throughout this interview as does his kindness. Dusty’s most recent novel</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Montana-Revenge-Dusty-Richards/dp/0425217582/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110535&sr=1-1">Montana Revenge</a><em> is out in paperback from Berkley.</em><br /><br /><strong>Dusty is a terrific name for a western writer. Is it your given name, or a nickname?</strong></div><div><br />I guess I was always into Westerns. When we moved from Mesa to Phoenix I just told everyone I met my name was Dusty. I was about 14. It stuck<br /></div><div align="center"><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“I don't know a greater honor for a western writer. Spurs are the Oscars of the western book.”<br /></div></span></em><div><br /><strong>Before I get too far I want to congratulate you on the two Spur Awards you received earlier this year. You won the best paperback original category for your novel <em>The Horse Creek Incident</em> and the best short fiction of the year for your novella “Comanche Moon”.</strong> </div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div align="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lVGaZQSXlFy1IpESP8coiUE4iQGWbIJbUWwQ-yJSfAj3g0Sac5tCrXYrCcY6VmhVkyRTKooDn36Y0_LTJOL4Tm5Ny3zGFoc9OyJhfJQPmxQ0oDgHCmZm5_1QQM_wwN1QnOIZjxgGMh-N/s1600-h/Horse+Creek+incident.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145900058398400274" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lVGaZQSXlFy1IpESP8coiUE4iQGWbIJbUWwQ-yJSfAj3g0Sac5tCrXYrCcY6VmhVkyRTKooDn36Y0_LTJOL4Tm5Ny3zGFoc9OyJhfJQPmxQ0oDgHCmZm5_1QQM_wwN1QnOIZjxgGMh-N/s320/Horse+Creek+incident.jpg" border="0" /></a>I don't know a greater honor for a Western writer. Spurs are the Oscars of the Western book. I can recall going to my first Western Writers of America Convention in San Antonio over two decades ago when I was trying to break into the New York market. I met those Spur winners that year and all the old hands that I'd read. I never thought this old cowboy would ever collect one of them. I was lucky to be writing and doing what I liked and had dreamed about.<br /><br />If you asked me January first last year, did I expect to win a Spur? No. My close writer friends kept saying you'll win one. It went over my head like a jet and I had no idea or even inkling I'd have two of those lovely awards on my table at home. I have never written a book in my life, and that means under pseudonyms or my own name, that I said “Oh, well this will be a Spur.” </div><br /><div>I have studied and taught fiction writing for the last three decades. Books I have written total 76; lots of short stories and articles, but I wrote each one with one thing in mind—tell a good story the best I can.<br /><br /><strong>I want to talk a little about your publishing history, what is the first novel you published? Was it a long time coming, or did you hit print pretty quickly once you decided to write it?</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZWeDZ3eWMVee-tvMiZfamPipQnX2SY_PL_NVqiEj8zagu2A2TRfwWlUydXYLA27UxiPKZaxSieAPchdrehNQr95Fy7-UIY4bq5KpWeKdcJqGgJpMHgbA-xin_fvDe_XECufEkjE8ZNlL/s1600-h/Montana+Revenge.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145899633196637954" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZWeDZ3eWMVee-tvMiZfamPipQnX2SY_PL_NVqiEj8zagu2A2TRfwWlUydXYLA27UxiPKZaxSieAPchdrehNQr95Fy7-UIY4bq5KpWeKdcJqGgJpMHgbA-xin_fvDe_XECufEkjE8ZNlL/s320/Montana+Revenge.jpg" border="0" /></a>I always wrote “books” in long hand like <a href="http://www.zgws.org/">Zane Grey </a>did, only I never had “Dollie” to edit them. I read stacks of paperbacks and every hardback Western in the libraries. I even sat on Grey's cabin porch on the Mongollon Rim and promised his ghost I'd join him some day on the bookshelf.<br /><br />When my girls were teens they wanted me to do something with them. I told them they had <a href="http://www.louislamour.com/">Louie</a> and did not need me. In the eighties I was involved with a small publisher in Missouri. He had three books of mine and was supposed to publish them—after messing with him for two years I demanded my books back. He sent them back but he published them, and I've been looking for copies since then. There have been some show up on eBay. I had no idea for 20 years he had done that.<br /><br />Yes I wrote and I sought experts. Dr. Frank Reuter, who is a great editor, line-edited a novel [I wrote] that I thought was wonderful. There was hardly a page [without] red lines and written all over. I went home sick but I knew that if I was going to sell in New York I had to meet his standards. Book two that he did had whole pages with no marks. Reuter lived about 40 miles from me so each time I drove over after work and we'd discuss the book. Book number three he apologized and said he was so busy reading it he might not had edited as tough as the others. That was <em>Noble's Way</em>, my first sale in New York. That took a decade from me deciding I wanted to really be a writer and publish—I teach folks short cuts on that time.<br /><br /><strong>When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?<br /></strong><br />Probably in high school, but I had no idea which end to start on, and the fact I read so much didn't help me because reading books is a seamless way to learn what is inside them. Now if you want to dissect a writer read only the 3rd page—3-6-9 [and] so on. Then take colored high liters and began marking him up after that—learn internalization, narration, dialogue. Learn point of view and write a million words until your words create paintings. Basketball players who become pros shoot millions of baskets. Writers must do that—they must study poetry and simplicity; poetry is whole another deal—but there are lessons there: word images. Not a thesaurus but small words in the vocabulary of your reader. Use senses and unders<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlrl77RSgrc-uXl7PMOzqS4qUB8TS7AhVcFGMzhTaOJKhFjeM8bmkoOib2lOSvDcoWu3hsYkbiccfUEDPP0uoeYPtlt83vvub46e9JzzTvZwoRGgRJnb32KY0EYmqUpWISNtJNq9256X_/s1600-h/Natural.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145899113505595122" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlrl77RSgrc-uXl7PMOzqS4qUB8TS7AhVcFGMzhTaOJKhFjeM8bmkoOib2lOSvDcoWu3hsYkbiccfUEDPP0uoeYPtlt83vvub46e9JzzTvZwoRGgRJnb32KY0EYmqUpWISNtJNq9256X_/s320/Natural.jpg" border="0" /></a>tand body movements and facial expression. Use the seasons, the time of day, become a geographer, a plant expert, walk the ground, read the history and old newspaper accounts, diaries, and any accounts you can find. Then write what you love and it will show in the pages—they say. </div><div><br /><strong>Is there a book, or a few books, that you have written and are particularly proud of?</strong><br /><br />I wrote one contemporary book about Rodeo called <em>The Natural</em>. It was well accepted by the rodeo people. They are hard to please and they called it authentic. That gave me lots of pride. Maybe some day I'll write more when I find the right editor. The Westerns are my children. I love them all. </div><div align="center"><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“I read Cormac McCarthy—when he uses Spanish like too much salt I hate him. I don't write like him but he has a way with words that deserve the writer's attention.”</span></em><br /></div><div><br /><strong>Most writers are voracious readers, and I’m wondering what you read for pleasure? </strong><br /><br />I read <a href="http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/">Cormac McCarthy</a>—when he uses Spanish like too much salt I hate him. I don't write like him but he has a way with words that deserve the writer's attention. I won't do anything that would make my books hard to read like lack of punctuation. I write my books with a fan in the room. I want that person to see what I see. Understand what I am telling him so he goes on reading long in the night.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCyyCTRVVrmQ7TtBcuSH9vV4GnDHzk4DQWHb2uPpqtP2Xn84bkDWGpqROk53fwNl97ddaavv_oHs_T7NSya_ersy16lqZa1so95Huie3Mb1wbc3aTxUL5LFW6IjzB_1Pc_4rUCPyLCWwL6/s1600-h/Deusces+Wild.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145898748433374946" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCyyCTRVVrmQ7TtBcuSH9vV4GnDHzk4DQWHb2uPpqtP2Xn84bkDWGpqROk53fwNl97ddaavv_oHs_T7NSya_ersy16lqZa1so95Huie3Mb1wbc3aTxUL5LFW6IjzB_1Pc_4rUCPyLCWwL6/s320/Deusces+Wild.jpg" border="0" /></a>I read McMurtry, some of his books are great—some I never finish.<br /><br />I love Will Henry. I met him before he went to the big sky pasture. I tried and tried to mimic his style—no way<br /><br />Tom Lea's <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-Country-Novel-Tom-Lea/dp/0548439621/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110760&sr=1-2">Wonderful Country </a></em>stuck to me like dried oatmeal on a cereal bowl.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.elmerkelton.net/">Elmer Kelton </a>writes great books and is a good friend.<br /><br />Max Evans wrote great novellas. He's another amigo of mine and flatters me by buying my books for his friends<br /><br />I have an extensive library of historical books and I read them—my books are fiction, but I attempt to put my characters in those scenes and not cut down any trees.<br /><br />A man to watch is <a href="http://www.johndnesbitt.com/">John Nesbitt</a>. He teaches fiction writing at Torrington, Wyoming. He has a short story about Nat Champion, one of the men killed in the Wyoming range war in a collection of short stories currently on the racks from Kensington. I'd almost kill to have written that story. John also has several books from Leisure Books.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jorysherman.com/">Jory Sherman </a>[was] a great help in my struggle to get published when I was nobody. He writes with a pen that few can match.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.peterbrandvold.com/">Pete Brandvold</a>. Here is a young man that will fill the gaps of the old men.<br /><br />I have many friends I read. I hope they don't feel left out [because] I am writing this on the road.<br /><br /><strong>Now I want to turn to the western genre specifically. What first led you to the genre?</strong><br /><br />Saturday matinee with Roy, Gene, and Hoppy </div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HENH2KhXna4uZEuEuWLaiqXhp-bsLhQgo9_x-M6dcTY1LVAGZX1YUSrDB6yLumLzalmwlsgo7zn6nHHucEbbSGhc6l39fretsBpblfYBUXZgTjj40rwlZcn9YX4eTnk6StLMd4H2o7FD/s1600-h/Trail+to+cottonwood.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145898391951089362" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HENH2KhXna4uZEuEuWLaiqXhp-bsLhQgo9_x-M6dcTY1LVAGZX1YUSrDB6yLumLzalmwlsgo7zn6nHHucEbbSGhc6l39fretsBpblfYBUXZgTjj40rwlZcn9YX4eTnk6StLMd4H2o7FD/s320/Trail+to+cottonwood.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>You have written four novels—<em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Compton-Ogallala-Trail-Western/dp/0451215575/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198111160&sr=1-13">The Ogallala Trail</a></em>, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Compton-Trail-Cottonwood-Western/dp/0451220889/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198111225&sr=1-26">Trail to Cottonwood Falls</a></em>, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Compton-Abilene-Trail-Novels/dp/0451210433/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110997&sr=1-5">The </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Compton-Abilene-Trail-Novels/dp/0451210433/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198110997&sr=1-5">Abilene Trail</a></em>, and <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Compton-Trail-Smith-Traildrive/dp/0451211235/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198111100&sr=1-10">The Trail to Fort Smith</a></em>—in conjunction with the late Ralph Compton’s estate. I also should mention that your name is included on the cover. When you wrote these novels was there extra pressure to please Compton’s large fan base, or were you comfortable making these novels your own? Did you enjoy the experience?<br /></strong><br />When Dan Slater (then the editor) asked me to write some of those books, I was familiar with Ralph's books—I'd read several but instead of reading more of his I read Robert Vaughn's books in the series. I can't write like Ralph or Robert, but I saw what they had done—they'd written good Westerns about the cattle drives: a basic main menu of the west. So I began to find characters who needed to make those trips and [then] built a life for them.<br /><br />Jim Parker of Yukin, Oklahoma is a re-enactor for the Chisholm Trail and great historian. He helped me on my first one. I met him one day when I was invited to a dedication of a mile marker on the Chisholm Trail on the Express Ranch. It was a great day.<br /><br /><strong>If you could bring back the work of one Western writer who would it be? Is there a specific title?</strong><br /><br />Will Henry had a wonderful style of storytelling [that was] seeped in history and geography. </div><div align="center"><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“The west is part of our culture. It goes up and down with whims of publishers and the buying public. There use to be three networks on TV. Today there are 500 and they have diluted the entertainment mix—yes more choices, but we are all so busy making a living, or entertaining ourselves at many venues.” </span></em></div><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><div><br /></span></em><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU7uFZ4IdTuZ7Bg9GF2aLa-0-ESeAEn4_y5XkBzwdTa11yk6CneCE0InpA0BTNvaLblRz6aqw1FH-5aUFB91UzcnyLesUIe73NGTt2ckPki7y92a0N3AM-s9wbAmKkwkYfs0CvwO3CIRH/s1600-h/Comanche+Moon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145897996814098114" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU7uFZ4IdTuZ7Bg9GF2aLa-0-ESeAEn4_y5XkBzwdTa11yk6CneCE0InpA0BTNvaLblRz6aqw1FH-5aUFB91UzcnyLesUIe73NGTt2ckPki7y92a0N3AM-s9wbAmKkwkYfs0CvwO3CIRH/s320/Comanche+Moon.jpg" border="0" /></a>What do you think about the Western genre today, and what do you think the future holds for the western story?<br /></strong><br />The west is part of our culture. It goes up and down with whims of publishers and the buying public. There use to be three networks on TV. Today there are 500 and they have diluted the entertainment mix—yes more choices, but we are all so busy making a living, or entertaining ourselves at many venues. I feel that there is no better entertainment than curling up with a real book and enjoying the story—the West is there. And goodness I love to write it.<br /><br /><strong>Okay, now let's get down to your current work. What is your latest novel?</strong><br /><br />My latest novel, <em>Montana Revenge </em>will be on the rack Sept. 7th. It is a Herschel Baker novel set in Yellowstone County, Billings, Montana. It is a mystery and a new challenge. You have all the facts that Sheriff Baker has and must find the killers.<br /><br /><strong>Can you tell us about the novel—or any other projects—you are working on now?<br /></strong><br />I have a series in formation about twin brothers orphaned on the Texas frontier during the Civil War. Interestingly, I've studied identical twins, West Texas geography, vegetation, lifestyles and building structures. </div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUgPmxjBhxQFquib_VLy_Y5y-jgoSfBW8i3nzOyKjz36oQD2iKb1XlOSaO8DKTr-UKYXo2yj2uBkJL56wocdEEbfz1szO5cpYeAlSWmu-3Ax5YfDcoIWQtaUkSiZD6BqkcaQcjt2RNaY5y/s1600-h/Waltzing+with+tumbleweeds.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145897636036845234" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUgPmxjBhxQFquib_VLy_Y5y-jgoSfBW8i3nzOyKjz36oQD2iKb1XlOSaO8DKTr-UKYXo2yj2uBkJL56wocdEEbfz1szO5cpYeAlSWmu-3Ax5YfDcoIWQtaUkSiZD6BqkcaQcjt2RNaY5y/s320/Waltzing+with+tumbleweeds.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>I have one last question, and I must warn it is a little vague. If you could choose any project to work on, what would it be?<br /></strong><br />Ben, I have more of them scattered over my computer than I'll ever write.<br /><br />A series about a maverick Catholic priest in 1790 Kentucky; my agent loves it, no takers.<br /><br />The series about the Twins in Civil War times in West Texas (still in infancy).<br /><br />A series about the Texas Feuds. Doc Sonicson at the U of AZ wrote lots about Texas feuds. It is under-written, I think, in fiction. That one is being considered.<br /><br />I still have a couple completed novels in a series that publishers backed out of that I think are powerful.<br /><br /><em>P.S.</em> A collection of my published short stories called <em>Waltzing with Tumbleweeds </em>is available at <a href="http://www.awoc.com/">AWOC.com</a>. I have heard more comments on it than any other thing I have written.<br /><br />"Comanche Moon," the novella that won the short Spur, I wrote for a national magazine that publishes western serials. I felt they needed a good one. I got their guidelines and I really polished it, but when I submitted it they said they were not interested. Dan Slater asked for it on the kick off of Amazon shorts—if the magazine had taken it I might have missed the Spur. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-54227183090868203632007-12-16T23:30:00.000-05:002007-12-16T23:45:25.906-05:00Saddlebums Review: Camp Ford by Johnny D. Boggs<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_nthbR_KZfWNSSDHEsz6YptwBt2ebyjYtxFyucHYkFCpNenO4v4tU54SKIS2sih7SEcVMV5Kb10ZdIXx-NClH6hg_E_5GQ_90twFsjQ7yVWm999A8CnKm34X3YIbe_AxwQn2sd6lMbCfV/s1600-h/Camp+Ford.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144575576383659522" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_nthbR_KZfWNSSDHEsz6YptwBt2ebyjYtxFyucHYkFCpNenO4v4tU54SKIS2sih7SEcVMV5Kb10ZdIXx-NClH6hg_E_5GQ_90twFsjQ7yVWm999A8CnKm34X3YIbe_AxwQn2sd6lMbCfV/s400/Camp+Ford.jpg" border="0" /></a>Win MacNaughton is an aging—99 years old—former baseball player, umpire, and coach, who is invited to attend the 1946 World Series by The Sporting News. A reporter asks him how he thinks the two participating teams—the Red Sox and the Cardinals—compare to the best team he has ever seen. Win doesn’t hesitate, and quickly names two teams.<br /><br /><em>‘Easy’ I said. “Mr. Lincoln’s Hirelings and the Ford City Gallinippers. Played one game at Camp Ford, Texas.<br /></em><br />The reporter gave Win a confused look and walked away. He didn’t mention either of the teams in the newspaper the next day, and Win MacNaughton spends the rest of <a href="http://www.johnnydboggs.com/">Johnny D. Boggs’ </a><em>Camp Ford</em> explaining his answer. He begins his story as a boy in Rhode Island where he is introduced to the game that would shape his life. His moves with his parents down to Jacksboro, Texas, where his father gets involved with the anti-slavery movement, and then when the Civil War breaks out, his parents take him back North where, in 1863 he joins the 3rd Rhode Island Cavalry.<br /><br />It isn’t long before Win finds himself a prisoner of war at Camp Ford, Texas. And life in that place is hard, cruel, and surprisingly filled with talk and love of baseball—even the Southerners are learning the game.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Ford-Johnny-D-Boggs/dp/0843958383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197815003&sr=8-1"><em>Camp Ford</em> </a>won the Spur Award for best novel in 2005, and it is the best Western novel I have read in a long time. Mr. Boggs adroitly weaves two storylines—the aged Win MacNaughton watching the 1946 World Series in St. Louis, and Win MacNaughton as a boy growing up in a changing and violent time with the new game of baseball. The prisoner of war scenes are harsh and realistic with vivid descriptions of the place, the characters, and, most importantly, the inner thoughts of MacNaughton as he tries to survive captivity.<br /><br />The characters are richly created—they populate the novel with a sincerity and richness that is often lacking in genre works. The ideals of friendship, love, and hate are explored, and Mr. Boggs leaves just enough ambiguity in the narrative to allow the reader to judge the actions of the characters. The storyline is refreshing and original—it has just the right mixture of baseball folklore and Civil War history to satisfy both readers of historical fiction, and anyone who enjoys the sport.Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-90442178563557240752007-12-14T11:44:00.000-05:002007-12-14T12:08:48.104-05:00Movie Review: Tombstone<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFQV-hERmxT226h9cVf3s87_54A0duhM7CkdXZY-ROkAji67kg8OxyyMhWdqbZGi7gJbBsowtvcXhAwVoUHIIoM6WEeatI91S-UxRjMeQnLc70oRluHNbcILMDVaLWzDZR9Du2cmhVQBU/s1600-h/Tombstone.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143873203149279634" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFQV-hERmxT226h9cVf3s87_54A0duhM7CkdXZY-ROkAji67kg8OxyyMhWdqbZGi7gJbBsowtvcXhAwVoUHIIoM6WEeatI91S-UxRjMeQnLc70oRluHNbcILMDVaLWzDZR9Du2cmhVQBU/s400/Tombstone.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>(This is the third installment in our series of reviews on classic Westerns inspired by the Gunfight at the OK Corral. We encourage you to read the </em><a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/11/movie-review-my-darling-clementine.html"><em>first</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/12/movie-review-gunfight-at-ok-corral.html"><em>second</em></a><em> installments)</em><br /><br /><div>The third of our movies taking the gunfight at the OK Corral as their inspiration is also the latest one, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTombstone-Directors-Vista-Kurt-Russell%2Fdp%2FB00005RHGL%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1197651160%26sr%3D1-2&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Tombstone</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> from 1993, considered by many fans to be among the best western movies ever made. I’m skipping over <strong>John Sturges</strong>’ 1967 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHour-Gun-James-Garner%2Fdp%2FB0007O393O%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1197651675%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Hour of the Gun</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />. This sequel to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FGunfight-O-K-Corral-Burt-Lancaster%2Fdp%2FB00008CMR1%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1197264191%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> is a fine film and <strong>James Garner</strong> and <strong>Jason Robards</strong> are a good team as <strong>Wyatt Earp</strong> and <strong>Doc Holliday</strong>. I recommend the picture, but Sturges had already dealt with these characters and the story is actually about Earp’s vengeance killings after the fact.<br /><br />In Tombstone, <strong>Kurt Russell</strong> stars as Wyatt and <strong>Val Kilmer</strong> is Doc. Both men turn in the performances of their lives and the fact that they didn’t win Oscars is explained somewhat by all the Gumping that was going on that year. The fact that neither of them was even nominated is less understandable. Taking this praise one step further, Russell has been unofficially credited with ghost directing over half the picture when original director Kevin Jarre (who wrote the script) was fired and before credited director <strong>George P. Cosmatos</strong> came onboard.<br /><br />“Tombstone” covers the same ground as the two earlier movies, and then some. The big shootout scene comes with over an hour of running time left. The bushwhack shooting of <strong>Virgil Earp</strong> (<strong>Sam Elliott</strong>) and <strong>Morgan Earp</strong> (<strong>Bill Paxton</strong>) are still to come, followed by Wyatt’s vengeance ride as he and four friends—Holliday, <strong>Sherman McMasters</strong> (<strong>Michael Rooker</strong>), <strong>Texas Jack Vermillion</strong> (<strong>Peter Sherayko</strong>) and <strong>Turkey Creek Jack Johnson</strong> (<strong>Buck Taylor</strong>)—go after the cowboy gang.<br /><br />The movie comes closer to historical accuracy than did either of the others we’ve looked at. When the three Earps arrive with their wagons, wives, and dreams of fortune, none of the men want anything to do with maintaining law and order. Wyatt immediately runs a bullying gambler (a chunky <strong>Billy</strong> <strong>Bob Thornton</strong>) out of the Oriental Saloon and talks himself into a job as Faro dealer.<br /><br />The brothers—at least this time James isn’t portrayed as a teenager and the weak branch on the family tree; in fact, he isn’t even in town this time, joining <strong>Warren Earp</strong>, the perennially missing man, among Hollywood’s unnecessary characters—meet old acquaintance Doc Holliday on the street. Wyatt and Morgan are glad to see him. Virgil doesn’t like him, but does tolerate his presence.<br /><br />This time out the cowboys are not just thieves, rustlers and killers; they are Satan’s emmisarries on Earth. The first time we see them, they kill everyone in a wedding party, including the bride and priest. They are led by <strong>Curly Bill Brocius</strong> (<strong>Powers Booth</strong>) and <strong>Johnny Ringo</strong> (<strong>Michael Biehn</strong>) and abetted by Cochise County Sheriff <strong>Johnny Behan</strong> (<strong>Jon Tenney</strong>). <strong>Ike Clanton</strong> (<strong>Stephen Lang</strong>) is portrayed as a hanger-on and coward.<br /><br />The Earps and cowboys hate each other but manage to co-exist for over a year; and then with great power comes a great lack of responsibility. When Curly Bill drunkenly murders the town marshal, beating the rap in court, and other cowboys shoot up the town and endanger the lives of women and children, Virgil has had enough and goes to the mayor (<strong>Terry O’Quinn</strong>) and accepts the marshal’s job. Morgan follows, but Wyatt, still wanting to do nothing but make money and carry on an extramarital affair with the actress Josie Marcus (<strong>Dana Delaney</strong>) refuses to be deputized.<br /><br />He will soon change his mind.<br /><br />Tombstone blends thematic elements from the first two OK Corral movies, but they are traditional themes from the history of western fiction: the fact that sooner or later freedom will have to be exchanged for progress, and the strong bond between men, whether they be brothers or friends.<br /><br />And the friendship between Wyatt and Doc is much stronger here than we’ve seen it before. During Wyatt’s vengeance ride one of the men on the posse asks the obviously ailing Doc Holliday why he’s endangering his health by going <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEH62N_zMCvWt3EOgVhlP-hM-E12PN43SBKL0cKclrRJ6h_8KjQzBXQEBsWRrO7OTKpEFTb-VCP3AJVWj2bnH6sXpJPIahYixZ8nTxqON2VD9s38dF6xH8T4W7SyyvXrgmKQeWd26HP-rd/s1600-h/Tombstone2.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143874135157182882" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEH62N_zMCvWt3EOgVhlP-hM-E12PN43SBKL0cKclrRJ6h_8KjQzBXQEBsWRrO7OTKpEFTb-VCP3AJVWj2bnH6sXpJPIahYixZ8nTxqON2VD9s38dF6xH8T4W7SyyvXrgmKQeWd26HP-rd/s400/Tombstone2.gif" border="0" /></a>along. “Because Wyatt Earp is my friend.” “Friend?” the man says, “Hell, I got lots of friends.” “I don’t,” Doc replies.<br /><br />You breathe a sigh at the end of Tombstone and feel like what you’ve just seen should have been history, and that maybe it was. It isn’t, of course, but it comes close enough for the casual viewer. So close, in fact, that if you follow up a screening of the movie with a book about the events surrounding the gunfight, you’ll feel like you’re in familiar territory.<br /><br />And if you ever visit Tombstone, AZ, you’ll feel something like a lover of the King Arthur legends feels when visiting Tintagel Castle. You can walk through the Bird Cage Theater and the OK Corral and know just why it’s so important to print the legend.<br /><div align="right"><br /><strong>- Doug Bentin</strong></div><div align="right"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><em>(Doug writes film reviews for </em><a href="http://www.efilmcritic.com/"><em>eFilmCritic!</em></a><em> and book reviews (mostly Westerns) for </em><a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/"><em>Bookgasm</em></a><em>. His personal blog is </em><a href="http://longsaturday.blogspot.com/"><em>The Long Saturday of the Soul</em></a><em>).</em></div></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-27844491346444729162007-12-10T00:18:00.000-05:002007-12-10T00:32:26.306-05:00Movie Review: Gunfight at the OK Corral<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMF9KIDEvDZ5r8cQjaAqdUERLDCjDWeCCqYvfzEQZnHARw7X1sk5od04uu5SlWty1X29UyJGbt8ph7FcJt15UH9VTm5rEzWXNjpiMOYrQbiVkFyumcBLX23HbMjhJ4ex6fjR_77WdFTP4z/s1600-h/OK+Corral+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142212423189950962" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMF9KIDEvDZ5r8cQjaAqdUERLDCjDWeCCqYvfzEQZnHARw7X1sk5od04uu5SlWty1X29UyJGbt8ph7FcJt15UH9VTm5rEzWXNjpiMOYrQbiVkFyumcBLX23HbMjhJ4ex6fjR_77WdFTP4z/s400/OK+Corral+1.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>(This is the second installment in our series of reviews on classic Westerns inspired by the Gunfight at the OK Corral. For the first part of this series, click <a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/11/movie-review-my-darling-clementine.html">here</a>)</em><br /><br /><div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">The second of the three movies we’re looking at that chronicle the events leading up to the gunfight at the OK corral is, well, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FGunfight-O-K-Corral-Burt-Lancaster%2Fdp%2FB00008CMR1%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1197264191%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />. That makes it easy to remember. </div><br /><div align="left">Directed by John Sturges in 1957, the picture stars Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday. John Hudson, DeForest Kelley (yup, Dr. “Bones” McCoy from “Star Trek”) and Martin Millner tag along as Virgil, Morgan and James Earp. Lyle Bettger is Ike Clanton and Dennis Hopper is his little brother (son in real life) Billy. John Ireland, who played Billy Clanton in the 1946 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDarling-Clementine-Ford-Fox-Collection%2Fdp%2FB000WMA6FK%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1196053258%26sr%3D1-2&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">My Darling Clementine</a>, is Johnny Ringo. Rhonda Fleming is Laura Denbow, the gal Wyatt will love and leave behind, and Jo Van Fleet is Holliday’s sometime girlfriend (Big Nose) Kate Fisher. The script is by Leon Uris, who will later gain fame as the author of the bestsellers “Exodus,” “Topaz,” and “QB VII.”<br /><br />The movie opens with one of those terrible songs that will make your kids roll their eyes when they hear it. Sung by Frankie Laine, it’s the kind of thing Mel Brooks parodied so mercilessly in “Blazing Saddles.” There’s no way not to grin at lyrics like “If the Lord is my friend, I’ll see you at the end of the Gunfight at the OK Corral.” Once it gets revved up, though, you can tell the score is by the great Dimitri Tiomkin.<br /><br />Like the earlier “My Darling Clementine,” GOKC is a legend western that takes bits and pieces of actual western history and mixes them with pulp and romance to create a story that might look like it’s true but wouldn’t fool anyone who’d seen a 30-minute TV documentary on the affair.<br /><br />The picture opens 10 years before the events in Tombstone as lawman Wyatt Earp is chasing cattle thief Ike Clanton through Ft. Griffin, Texas. Against his better judgment, Wyatt saves Doc Holliday from a lynch mob. Back in Dodge City, Doc loses Kate to Johnny Ringo and helps Wyatt arrest Shanghai Pierce (Ted de Corsia), who really has nothing to do with the story (nor did he in real life) but has such a great western name Uris just had to use it.<br /><br />And speaking of nothing-to-do-with-it, Wyatt meets and falls in love with gambling lady Laura Denbow (the gorgeous Fleming). When he gets word from his brothers in Tombstone that they need his help, he tells the gal he loves her but he has to go to his family.<br /><br />As it is with so many western movies, friendship and loyalty among men is the central theme here. Sturges would continue to mine this vein in years to come as the director of “Last Train From Gun Hill,” “The Magnificent Seven,” and “The Great Escape.” The film admits that the civilizing influence of women is necessary, but secondary to the responsibility imposed on a man by the willing acceptance of male friendship.<br /><br />Unlike the case with “My Darling Clementine,” this movie pays at least lip service to the city/county politics at play in Tombstone. Wyatt asks for an appointed as U.S. Marshal so he will have jurisdiction over the entire county and can thus pursue the Clantons to their ranch out of town.<br /><br />Since Wyatt has been chasing Ike Clanton for years, tempers flair when the two clans of inseparable brothers clash, resulting in the ambush death of James Earp, once again played as the baby brother of the family. His murder is the catalyst that causes the big shootout.<br /><br />Douglas makes a far more believable Doc Holliday than the husky Victor Mature. We can see more clearly in this man the “too-lateness” and world-weary despair that pushes Doc into deadly situations. Our sadness at the waste of such a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiogU9mfGFE9SxBPTNHOue_CJbBum6fxzn373a2Ru6TM6fv9Dc_LOw_Ox2rj_-D0ThNWNoNMrPwBXpHduNONKYoRvEgh0pPTqZ3lLzgRQlDYkvxXb0j-uS9KQLWY2GrMLFfsC42aqXvMI-H/s1600-h/OK+Corral+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142212672298054146" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiogU9mfGFE9SxBPTNHOue_CJbBum6fxzn373a2Ru6TM6fv9Dc_LOw_Ox2rj_-D0ThNWNoNMrPwBXpHduNONKYoRvEgh0pPTqZ3lLzgRQlDYkvxXb0j-uS9KQLWY2GrMLFfsC42aqXvMI-H/s400/OK+Corral+2.jpg" border="0" /></a>person is heightened by Lancaster’s holier-than-thou reading of Earp’s character. He’s constantly lecturing Doc on the evils of drunkenness, and while Doc goes out of his way to stand by Wyatt, when the gunfight is over and Earp sees plainly that Doc is dying, he still saddles up and rides away, leaving the consumptive gunman to find his own way.<br /><br />The movie tries a little too hard to be an epic—a fault that would be noticeable in much of Sturges’ later work--but it is mostly enjoyable. Just remember that you can’t merely check your sense of history at the door—you have to lock it away in a trunk in the attic. </div><div align="right"><br /><strong>- Doug Bentin</strong></div><br /><div align="right"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><em>(Doug writes film reviews for </em><a href="http://www.efilmcritic.com/"><em>eFilmCritic!</em></a><em> and book reviews (mostly Westerns) for </em><a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/"><em>Bookgasm</em></a><em>. His personal blog is </em><a href="http://longsaturday.blogspot.com/"><em>The Long Saturday of the Soul</em></a><em>).</em></div></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-74468549038791362472007-12-06T07:58:00.000-05:002007-12-06T08:57:33.677-05:00Saddlebums Interview: Win Blevins<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmDwmALsbedGM0ANh6pvEwo-PrwoVVgY3oHtrQ-CzX8TmhtiCJQfaOxlKob8D7M5ufoDPeFHwSS40ZgUiRa8V35wazVpIwLFqqE6MpT6V2TsSUD1Rqbljfb6vaPmPqFJ9FBzRmhbRQsEmG/s1600-h/Win+Blevins.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140856765205118354" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmDwmALsbedGM0ANh6pvEwo-PrwoVVgY3oHtrQ-CzX8TmhtiCJQfaOxlKob8D7M5ufoDPeFHwSS40ZgUiRa8V35wazVpIwLFqqE6MpT6V2TsSUD1Rqbljfb6vaPmPqFJ9FBzRmhbRQsEmG/s320/Win+Blevins.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><a href="http://www.winblevins.com/">Win Blevins </a>has a passion for the West and it shows in his writing. He lives a conscious and vibrant life in the rural Southwest. His first novel,</em> Charbonneau: Man of Two Dreams<em>, was published in 1975 and since then he has produced thirteen more novels, sold five screenplays, written history, and even published a dictionary. He won the</em> Spur Award <em>for his novel</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Song-Novel-Crazy-Horse/dp/0765314975/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3">Stone Song</a><em>, and he has achieved both critical acclaim as well as a devoted readership.<br /><br />His latest novel</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Long-Winding-Road-Rendezvous/dp/0765305771/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196945518&sr=8-2">A Long and Winding Road </a><em>has recently been released in hardcover by Forge Books. The</em> Publishers Weekly <em>review reads, in part:</em> Blevins is a master of mountain man lore, and he certainly knows the beaver and buffalo hide business, as well as the politics of the region and era.<br /><div><div><br /><strong><br /><br />First, I want to thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions Win.<br /><br /></strong>You're welcome. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pyjLZ7VVW7XgPc8-zTDFbjifrnMoBKLekg3HwYcBGeIjOHkeNNZunWD7bxRDU8hDmKEkZA0nvdtgppZ5bMV_tdmY9KJaHV6PChCpvXvCZdjqYaOtUyOcC6TvXji__asVsLtRCqxnlwAC/s1600-h/A+Long+Winding.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140855910506626434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pyjLZ7VVW7XgPc8-zTDFbjifrnMoBKLekg3HwYcBGeIjOHkeNNZunWD7bxRDU8hDmKEkZA0nvdtgppZ5bMV_tdmY9KJaHV6PChCpvXvCZdjqYaOtUyOcC6TvXji__asVsLtRCqxnlwAC/s320/A+Long+Winding.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>I want to talk a little about your publishing history, what is the first novel you published? Was it a long time coming, or did you hit print pretty quickly once you decided to write it?<br /></strong><br />My first novel was CHARBONNEAU: MAN OF TWO DREAMS, way back in 1975. It was the story of the life of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacajawea. It was bad luck—the publisher went out of business a couple weeks after it was published. Still in print, though.<br /><br />My first book was two years earlier, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Your-Heart-Hawks-Mountain/dp/0765314355/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196946610&sr=1-1">GIVE YOUR HEART TO THE HAWKS: A TRIBUTE TO THE MOUNTAIN MEN</a>. It's history told in the style of fiction, like Irving Stone’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Men-Match-My-Mountains-1840-1900/dp/0785813470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196946701&sr=1-1">MEN TO MATCH MY MOUNTAINS</a>. I had a stroke of luck getting that first book published. The head of Nash Publishing, Ed Nash, heard me telling mountain man stories at a party. He asked me to turn them into a book, and I did. No struggles, no rejections, all too easy.<br /><br />It turned out that the company didn't have the money to print enough copies to fill all the orders, and that hurt the book. However, it too is still in print. Best compliment a writer can get.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">When I was a kid, my friends fantasized about being Superman. I wanted to be Clark Kent. Digging out stories and writing them for a newspaper, that sounded like fun</span></em>.<br /><br /><strong>When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?</strong><br /><br />When I was a kid, my friends fantasized about being Superman. I wanted to be Clark Kent. Digging out stories and writing them for a newspaper, that sounded like fun. I got to do that for some years.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-QRAS2lrsRB7ofpm3b0YNuGtGrMAqpX-RhyGbCupqNj6ZgRz2X3NJfq7ooHZpa-zfmN9ffqOly-9IZ6vPTeMU_XOUusP3QUhYmFP1N262W7qrE6suCFQqnDLlAao7GvyFa7oAY-bpPl7/s1600-h/Stone+Song+new+cover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140855356455845234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-QRAS2lrsRB7ofpm3b0YNuGtGrMAqpX-RhyGbCupqNj6ZgRz2X3NJfq7ooHZpa-zfmN9ffqOly-9IZ6vPTeMU_XOUusP3QUhYmFP1N262W7qrE6suCFQqnDLlAao7GvyFa7oAY-bpPl7/s320/Stone+Song+new+cover.jpg" border="0" /></a>Is there a book, or a few books, that you have written and are particularly proud of?<br /></strong><br />I love all my children. Maybe my favorite is the one that (as with children) was the most troublesome. I worked on the story of the life of Crazy Horse for twenty years. He was an infatuation and an obsession. His way of seeing Mystery became mine. When the book came out in 1995, the reception was extraordinary.<br /><br /><strong>Most writers are voracious readers, and I'm wondering what you read for pleasure?<br /></strong><br />I read mysteries and thrillers, and sometimes poetry. When I'm writing, which is always, it's difficult for me to read literature that has a superb style—the voice tries to creep into my own work. So I read for fun. And believe that fun is a splendid achievement in a novel.<br /><br />I read a lot about the West, but not many traditional, action-adventure westerns. I prefer history, journals, and novelists who are unusual. I like Ed Abbey's THE BRAVE COWBOY, John Nichols's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Milagro-Beanfield-War-Novel/dp/0805063749/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196946814&sr=1-1">THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR </a>(yes, it is a western—it's a battle over water rights), Tony Hillerman (they’re westerns as much as mysteries), Rudolfo Anaya, Scott Momaday, Wallace Stegner, Ivan Doig, Cormac McCarthy, and the historical novels of Larry McMurtry. If I was stranded in the desert with only one book about the West, I’ hope it would be Norman Maclean's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/River-through-Stories-Twenty-fifth-Anniversary/dp/0226500667/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196946873&sr=1-1">A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT</a>.<br /><br />I avoid books in the endless succession of western clichés—the cavalry saving white folks from Indians, cattlemen vs. sheepmen, trail drive stories, tales of how AMERICANS CONQUERED THE WEST or TAMED THE WILDERNESS. Some of those books are terrific. However, it's been done, and to me it's not the story of the real West—it's just self-glorification. Also, it mostly leaves out women, Mexicans, Mormons, mountain men, and any genuine look at Indian people, in short the real West.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIy_sPIkcMGVfY7B4VIbBCpXDujgjALyhVVY5i2AdjJq3zkM8njG17btkLNVXjX7uStw0sR3axm2EwsySTMkj3JJ2k_Iei9SzwhbjhYZOEAxRHwMihfTARuWCezQqVXx3H7OG-xrha5VK/s1600-h/Buffalo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140853058648341858" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIy_sPIkcMGVfY7B4VIbBCpXDujgjALyhVVY5i2AdjJq3zkM8njG17btkLNVXjX7uStw0sR3axm2EwsySTMkj3JJ2k_Iei9SzwhbjhYZOEAxRHwMihfTARuWCezQqVXx3H7OG-xrha5VK/s320/Buffalo.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>Your biography is impressive in its own right as an adventure story: You have climbed mountains, sailed, river-rafted, lost the use of your legs and then regained them. If you could, what was your most memorable adventure?</strong><br /><br />Most memorable? Well, there are two kinds—the ones that were the most fun and the ones that nearly got me killed. In the fun category—climbing Mont Blanc, my first big mountain; climbing everything I ever climbed with my two lifelong friends, Hooman Aprin and Leeds Davis; making the circuit around Annapurna in Nepal; floating the San Juan River a dozen times or more. Life-threatening? I took a fall into a crevasse on Mount Rainier and had a hard time getting out. And I froze my feet badly on Mount Jacinto near Palm Springs. Yes, Palm Springs, that's why I wasn’t expecting such a blizzard.<br /><br />I love Westerners, who are the damnedest combination of savvy, plucky, bull-headed, thoughtful, ignorant, super-educated, maddening people on the planet. Their thinking doesn't run down the tracks laid by the NEW YORK TIMES—because it's original thinking (even when bonkers).<br /><br /><strong>Now I want to turn to the Western genre specifically. What first led you to the genre?</strong><br /><br />I am fascinated by the West. I love the landscape, and try to make it the main character in every book. I love Westerners, who are the damnedest combination of savvy, plucky, bull-headed, thoughtful, ignorant, super-educated, maddening people on the planet. Their thinking doesn't run down the tracks laid by the NEW YORK TIMES—because it's original thinking (even when bonkers).<br /><br />This love affair started when I spent a summer in Colorado, camping and hiking. It blew up big when I moved to Los Angeles and spent my week ends in the local mountains and deserts. When I came to the Canyonlands of the Utah-Arizona border in 1976, my heart was captured forever. I still live here.<br /><br />Though professional writers are a rarity in my region, I feel like one maverick among many—Navajos, archeologists, artists, river rats, desert rats, a comradeship of individuality.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-swc4Qs1hPEAKF24E6qh3zPsjU-jciZWkWc6ZetYaA5cPVpeP917eEkxT3Ch3sXbP1BjkBdV9XWhXik2n5kYICxJV0gn42q7FkdEpihNiEBYJ9eimy6IGGUstZyqXTmy6K4VSru6dE9U_/s1600-h/Dancing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140852581906971986" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-swc4Qs1hPEAKF24E6qh3zPsjU-jciZWkWc6ZetYaA5cPVpeP917eEkxT3Ch3sXbP1BjkBdV9XWhXik2n5kYICxJV0gn42q7FkdEpihNiEBYJ9eimy6IGGUstZyqXTmy6K4VSru6dE9U_/s320/Dancing.jpg" border="0" /></a>Are there any Western writers who have most influenced your work?<br /></strong><br />Sure, Mark Twain, Mark Twain, and Mark Twain. He was an extraordinarily intelligent fellow who wrote stories that appealed to the entire community, not just the literati. He wrote in the language of the common man. He was a genius, and he's my hero.<br /><br />I've also been influenced greatly by the books of Bernard DeVoto, especially <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-Wide-Missouri-Bernard-DeVoto/dp/0395924979/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196946966&sr=1-1">ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Year-Decision-1846-Bernard-DeVoto/dp/0312267940/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196947042&sr=1-1">YEAR OF DECISION: 1846</a>. If you want to learn to write history, read DeVoto.<br />A director of westerns gave me something to emulate. I want to jam pack my novels with the passion and originality of Sam Peckinpah's movies. THE WILD BUNCH and RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY are masterpieces.<br /><br />I don't really have any models, though. I want to tell stories no one else has told. I'm trying to tell the biggest truth that I can see, and I have to see it for myself. I don't know whether this is a strength or a weakness.<br /><br /><strong>If you could bring back the work of one Western writer who would it be? Is there a specific title?<br /></strong><br />I'd like more attention for some living writers who are underappreciated. Max Evans captures the contemporary West beautifully, and he's almost alone in that. Loren Estleman has a prose style that seethes with life. Richard Wheeler writes quiet, thoughtful, lovely novels. Craig Leslie and Jim Fergus are first-rate.<br /><br /><strong>What do you think about the western genre today, and what do you think the future holds for the western story?<br /></strong><br />Write about the West and you'll be a pariah. Picture this: You're at a cocktail party with literary people in New York. An attractive young woman comes up and says, "What do you write?' You answer, "I write about the West." She makes her escape so fast you can feel the backdraft. She asks a nearby scribe what he writes. "Pornography," he answers. She smiles and says, "How fascinating. Tell me more."<br /><br />Believe it.<br /><br />I have no idea about the future of writing about the West. I know two things: 1) Every region of America is a first-rate subject for good writing, and in my opinion the West is the best of all, because the people are originals. 2) Good stories will always have an audience.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HlAM9scVJMW90D14STyQb91a9mjR8o8rwkpOREe7hGRGn1eQTRpLGWXaBBHdDCFN9PS9g_z3PVzHtdkSFAaWUnEWSraoZcpxWpN_MgmNkIAc3ZrAL6r7_ENNudJ_NsxrOkw_5Lqj_Tpp/s1600-h/Dictionary+of+the+West.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140851078668418354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HlAM9scVJMW90D14STyQb91a9mjR8o8rwkpOREe7hGRGn1eQTRpLGWXaBBHdDCFN9PS9g_z3PVzHtdkSFAaWUnEWSraoZcpxWpN_MgmNkIAc3ZrAL6r7_ENNudJ_NsxrOkw_5Lqj_Tpp/s320/Dictionary+of+the+West.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>You not only write Western historical novels, but you also work as an editor for a New York publisher. Does this give you a different perspective on the genre?<br /></strong><br />I recently retired as an editor—clear sailing to do nothing but write from now on. During my editing years I learned that I can't predict what will sell and what won't, and that I love working with writers.<br /><br />Different perspective? No. I'm not an ideal editor for westerns because my views about the West are personal and strongly held.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Everything I do in the West—drive, look at land forms, hike, swim a river in a life jacket, take my dog for a walk, visit ruins, listen to old-timers—<u>everything</u> finds its way into my books.<br /></span></em><br /><strong>Your work is known for its historical accuracy. What role does research play in your writing, and how—if you do—do you compromise between the story and its historical roots?</strong><br /><br />Research is a big deal for me. In the mid 70s I was lucky enough to get some movie script money and could afford to spend a couple of years soaking up Western history like a sponge. I continue to read and read and check facts and check facts.<br /><br />But that isn't the essence of research. For the Crazy Horse book I moved to Wyoming and stayed fifteen years (and am still in the rural West). I wanted to smell the air he smelled, wade the creeks he waded, make meat as he did, and so on. As it turned out, I also needed to do many sweat lodges, many vision quests, and other ceremonies. (His path is now mine; I became a pipe carrier.) The essence of research is experience, not book knowledge. If a writer hasn't been in a sweat lodge (and one celebrated Lakota hasn't), I can spot that within a couple of sentences. It destroys verisimilitude for me.<br /><br />Everything I do in the West—drive, look at land forms, hike, swim a river in a life jacket, take my dog for a walk, visit ruins, listen to old-timers—<u>everything </u>finds its way into my books.<br /><br />Yet even that kind of research only creates the world where the characters interact. Characters doing things that show who they are, and what human beings are like—that's the soul of fiction. That takes good observation of people, a nose for telling details, a sense of humor, and imagination. My novels, whether historical or contemporary, are acts of imagination in a thoroughly real world.<br /><br />Compromise? No need. Oh my, just take a walk in the history of the West, or the streets of your own Western town, and you'll find truths begging to be told. Tell the truth and tell it loud. </div><div><div><div><div><div><div align="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lf3Jb5qNg1Y4eJdNF3GA4x9-vmtebJdKXz-gwXL16JZWBlai7h0KxfVFE1PH2bO1DDLIe56Jyzqd0xoqAguLTMwz5_uSVwk9mlK0EIsFG5mVydFB9tOSB6rl0Okz-we968Sqj97cZYcc/s1600-h/Beauty+for+Ashes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140850438718291234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lf3Jb5qNg1Y4eJdNF3GA4x9-vmtebJdKXz-gwXL16JZWBlai7h0KxfVFE1PH2bO1DDLIe56Jyzqd0xoqAguLTMwz5_uSVwk9mlK0EIsFG5mVydFB9tOSB6rl0Okz-we968Sqj97cZYcc/s320/Beauty+for+Ashes.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>You have written a broad variety of western fiction—from your novel Stone Song about Crazy Horse, to your chronicles of the early trappers, to contemporary western stories like your novel ravenShadow. Is there a particular era of western history you are most interested in?</strong><br /><br />If it's Western, historical or contemporary, I'm interested. If it's a story that hasn't been told and re-told, I may write it.<br /><br />Maybe one day I'll expand that to, if it's American, I'm interested. I want to know who Americans are, from the splendid to the repulsive, and to sing it all in story form.<br /><br /><strong>Okay, now let's get down to your current work. What is your latest novel?<br /></strong><br />For the past few years I've been writing mountain man novels called the RENDEZVOUS series. They follow the life of a single mountain man from when he leaves home in the East to when he retires as a trapper and settles in California with his half-blood children.<br /><br />I wanted to write a series of stories that would show a character's growth from boy through marriage and children to the end of one kind of life; to tell the story of the great twenty years of the Rocky Mountain fur trade; to draw attention especially to the relationships (most of them very good) between the trappers and the Native people; to dramatize the difficulties of being of mixed blood in an Anglo world; and to explore some aspects of the fur trade era that are relatively unfamiliar, like the Indian slave trade.<br /><br />Four of these novels have been published (the first won the Spur Award); the next, A LONG AND WINDING ROAD, comes out in December; and the final novel, DREAMS BENEATH YOUR FEET, is due in autumn of 2008.<br /><br /><strong>Can you tell us about the novel—or any other projects—you are working on now?<br /></strong><br />I'm off on something entirely new, a series of novels we're informally calling THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD BECOME THE CHEROKEE. The books are set in the mists of pre-history, like Jean Auel's and Michael and Kathleen Gear’s. I don't know how many books will eventually comprise the series.<br /><br />This is a lot of fun. They're pre-history, but little is known about the people who would become the Cherokees. So I'm taking a hard look at the culture in the 1500s and 1600s, our earliest knowledge of it, and imagining it backwards a few thousand years. This ancient culture will feel to modern readers like fantasy—it's full of shamans who can travel to the worlds above and below, spirit animals, magic, talking buzzards, enchanted caverns, etc. I guess the term for it would pre-historical fantasy.<br /><br />Why the Cherokees? More than fifty years ago my aunts told me the family secret—we're Cherokee, and gave me some details. Since then I've had an avid curiosity about my unacknowledged ancestors. This is one way of getting to know them, and to pay tribute to them.</div><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtNX165pd__On1bzMmIUgqG6sqG0k5Ob__fL9Pe7Ob2VtethcjqK_z1bvxe9dfiG3UIvVRZ-gV09ViMOqI9UQn-4bvMbGxKV1EADFRgBHhz5NpzT-7uZUBv_VvwYU7wLjXPJX9U3PZlZQ/s1600-h/Give+Your+Heart.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140849798768164114" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtNX165pd__On1bzMmIUgqG6sqG0k5Ob__fL9Pe7Ob2VtethcjqK_z1bvxe9dfiG3UIvVRZ-gV09ViMOqI9UQn-4bvMbGxKV1EADFRgBHhz5NpzT-7uZUBv_VvwYU7wLjXPJX9U3PZlZQ/s320/Give+Your+Heart.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">I have more ideas for books than I could write in a zillion lifetimes, and I love it that way. Life is grand and nutty and glorious—I'd like to get all of that into stories</span></em>.</div><br /><strong>I have one last question, and I must warn it is a little vague. If you could chose any project to work on, what would it be?<br /></strong><br />I'd like to write poetry every day, and may soon get going on that. I'd like to write songs. I want to write a non-fiction paean to the grand country I live in. I'd like to write a couple of novels about the contemporary West in the Southwest, a zesty mixture of Anglos, Navajos, Pueblo people, Mexicans trying to make good lives around each other and in a world that is getting crazier by the day. I have more ideas for books than I could write in a zillion lifetimes, and I love it that way. Life is grand and nutty and glorious—I'd like to get all of that into stories. </div></div></div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-89345259975167871082007-12-02T23:03:00.000-05:002007-12-02T23:23:58.512-05:00THE SEA OF GRASS by Conrad Richter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKTYKP5qMRTIM9FjyzL0FyoQsdlledBxH4ViIId5pN4xpWDRLWV3jwL3oLjQo6VdwXhg50yd9KwQ9GPE7sp-JzWyHpJKx7Og5nZiFZVFxP97sOajfTujwN_FPJoLVcJorhyqLs5z2Vaoo0/s1600-r/Sea+of+Grass.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139449772573654242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiWhofc9yuDiljIqjqQ5tUGacb2nTzDY9told8qINNq8gvUl3TwNB2UtmcjlUHvVdszYw_3jP4qN-aILjcfSX0hb_BxqTy8-bCaDHuGoU_zYi_qXduuAvs5YNX6FX94cf9PwDbIAaXQ0X/s400/Sea+of+Grass.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>This post marks the first in a new series here at </em>Saddlebums<em>: an occasional piece dealing with the finest western fiction ever written. These contributions will examine the circumstances of publication, the author, and discuss what went into these stories and why they are now ranked among the best. Richard S. Wheeler prepared the first in the series, and it examines Conrad Richter’s</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Grass-Conrad-Richter/dp/0821410261/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196621096&sr=8-1">The Sea of Grass</a><em>.</em><br /><div><br /><em>Richard S. Wheeler is the dean of the modern western story. His novels are tender, tough, critical, and original—he has tackled expansive historical dramas, such as </em><a href="http://www.blogger.com/:%20http://www.amazon.com/Aftershocks-Richard-S-Wheeler/dp/059539020X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196620098&sr=1-1">Aftershocks</a><em>, a masterful portrayal of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; biographical novels like</em> Trouble in Tombstone<em>; mining camp stories, such as his </em>Spur<em> winning novel </em>Vengeance Valley<em>. He is also the author of the well-received</em> Barnaby Skye <em>series—the most recent title in the series is</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Canyon-Bones-Skyes-West/dp/0765351730/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196620271&sr=1-1">The Canyon of Bones</a><em>—and his recently released autobiography, </em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Novelist-Softcover-Richard-Wheeler/dp/0865345635/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196619840&sr=8-22">An Accidental Novelist</a><em>, has been praised by readers and writers alike.<br /><br /></em><em>The Sea of Grass</em>, by Conrad Richter, first appeared as a Saturday Evening Post serial in 1936, and was published by Alfred Knopf in 1937. It is still in print, from the <a href="http://www.ohioswallow.com/">University of Ohio Press</a>. The novel might be called a traditional cattleman vs. nester story, but it is much more. It is narrated by young Hal Brewton, nephew of the story’s central figure, Jim Brewton, who runs cattle on a vast sea of grass near Salt Fork, which is probably in Texas but could be in New Mexico.<br /></div><div><br />Jim Brewton’s enormous range is almost all public land; he owns only the water holes, and that makes him vulnerable to the nesters wanting to plow the lush grassland and plant crops, even though the land is arid. The opening lines of the novel introduce us to its theme:<br /></div><br /><div><em>That lusty pioneer blood is tamed now, broken and gelded like the wild horse and the frontier settlement. And I think that I shall never see it flowing through human veins again as it did in my Uncle Jim Brewton, riding a lathered horse across his shaggy range or standing in his massive ranch house, bare of furniture as a garret, and holding together his empire of grass and cattle by the fire in his eyes.<br /></em></div><br /><div><em>The fire in his eyes</em>. There is the heart of the novel. At the beginning, with the arrival of Brewton’s mail-order bride Lutie, we discover a horde of nesters waiting to swarm over Brewton’s ranch. And supporting them is the federal attorney, and later judge, Brice Chamberlain, who sympathizes with the humble. Lutie does, too. She furiously tries to civilize the obdurate Brewton, adding graces to his home, bringing a son and daughter into the family, and taking him to Mass on Sundays, but there is no taming old Jim.<br /></div><br /><div>Eventually, she has a third child, a blond boy, as blond as Brice Chamberlain is blond, and soon after that she leaves Brewton, and her whereabouts are unknown for years. But Chamberlain remains in Salt Fork, calls in the army to defend the nesters, and soon the nesters are plowing up Brewton’s range. After a trial, when Chamberlain asks Brewton why his men ran off a nester named Boggs, Brewton has a surprising reply: "He was not run off because he wanted to settle those hundred-sixty acres but because of what he wanted to do with the land."<br /></div><br /><div>He goes on to say he has some charity for the nester. "But–"and his voice began to ring in the small, hushed courtroom, "when that nester picks country like my big vega, that’s more than seven thousand feet above the sea, when he wants to plow it up to support his family where there isn’t enough rain for crops to grow, where he only kills the grass that will grow, where he starves for water and feeds his family by killing my beef and becomes a man without respect to himself and a miserable menace to the territory, then I have neither sympathy nor charity!"<br /></div><br /><div>As the novel progresses, we learn that Brewton was right. At first, during a wet cycle, the nesters prosper, their crops bloom, and their life seems assured. But with the coming of a dry cycle, their hopes collapse and they flee, leaving a ruined grassland behind them.<br /><br />The novel was written long before publishers narrowed the traditional western to men’s literature that resolves conflict through violence. And while there is some violence in the story, it is offstage and muted. More surprising was the veiled but unmistakable adultery theme in the novel, handled delicately for the Saturday Evening Post readership. Old Jim Brewton remains as obdurate and flinty as ever as he ages, and late in the novel it appears that he was defeated by his rival and enemy, Brice Chamberlain, after all. But then one day Lutie mysteriously reappears, as passionate and willful as ever, begins once again to civilize the old ranchhouse, and takes up residence as though she had never left. And not only does Brewton welcome her, he is triumphant, for her return marks the final defeat and disgrace of Chamberlain– but I will leave it to the reader to interpret the surprising conclusion.<br /></div><br /><div>Conrad Richter’s prose is lyrical and draws us into a world scarcely imagined by modern people. But even more of an asset is his gift of characterization. Lutie and Jim Brewton are as vivid as any characters ever set on a page. Brewton is harsh, rigid, and yet filled with his own code of honor, which he lives by at great cost to himself. Lutie is a visionary, wanting to better the world, not only the world of the settlers, but Brewton’s cruel world, and she sets out to do it in the face of his obdurate resistance. Brice Chamberlain, on the other hand, is an idealist and reformer– with a heart of clay. He’s not man enough to stand up to Brewton after stealing Brewton’s wife (he deserts her at the train station when she is leaving Brewton for him), and lives out his life knowing he is the lesser man.<br /></div><br /><div>Richter went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for another frontier novel, <em>The Town</em>. He had grown up in Pennsylvania, but spent much of his life in the place he loved most, New Mexico.<br /><em>The Sea of Grass</em> is at or near the top of most lists ranking the greatest westerns.<br /></div><br /><div>—Richard S. Wheeler</div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com80tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-79406795712263249352007-11-30T00:00:00.000-05:002007-11-29T23:34:16.551-05:00Scouting the Web<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFyJQ6qwC0bCcgJH9Pq0M7-SPhqcVKdwJX5aT-Lfpz_UYdJ6oR4LYAvS2UYqry98553kvRg_6pLUtOQAma3WpTgVqvCMa9oyxYdonttZwURbcNJ8fOqREqIDYZBYH7JuDdHEPWJDlTfdkW/s1600-r/Express+Westerns+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138483646915553346" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXhFV3f0DUxODvsDcRHBq6AYc6fz6B-0hmke08rtYA5hnaHozY8E-Cy54BiPeeF4XnnbkTGancZI86XNwZ6pTp4MO9G6CvxFHxJt_3hiVNo_soQRh5G_cPq8Rleis8mC4y_tzhNoK3Nnl/s400/Express+Westerns+2.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>1.-</strong> A number of published and novice Western writers have finally launched the much-anticipated anthology <a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/audrey.parnhamandco/Express/express.htm">Where Legends Ride</a>. For Western fans, this is particularly interesting since it includes short stories by many of the authors who regularly pen novels for UK publisher <a href="http://www.halebooks.com/index.asp?TAG=&CID=">Robert Hale Publishers’ Black Horse Westerns</a>, including <a href="http://www.howardhopkins.com/"><strong>Lance Howard</strong></a> (aka <strong>Howard Hopkins</strong>), <a href="http://www.ijparnham.co.uk/favicon.ico"><strong>I.J. Parnham</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.benbridges.co.uk/"><strong>Ben Bridges</strong></a> (aka <strong>David Whitehead</strong>). 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.<br /><br /><div>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.”<br /><br /></div><div><div><div>Where Legends Ride was hatched by the lively members of the <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blackhorsewesterns">Black Horse Westerns Yahoo group</a>. To know more about the 14 short stories that comprise this anthology as well as the men and women behind them, visit the <a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/audrey.parnhamandco/Express/Previews.htm">preview</a> section of their website.<br /><br />You can purchase the book <a href="http://stores.lulu.com/expresswesterns">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBU7RoGC9pNlLw-a1DxCPN_ASoMpLTTA6vL50MLur2tfunZX-Ny0K7qgCkMhXgLloMCJR0326nR040CN74wDyta2corUymPbVwyDowe32W5amk6JMu-m8wgzDENcZ4hxJYphsGjZ31lvIB/s1600-r/Letters+Stegner.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138484080707250258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWih84haGpDZDUp8RKHIDZdVCyo9Tsu2iuaMulgsqeDF9PZxTxwAbGrEP8QyfneDJjzvn1Y_PUD2PBQGnSknKesL628pryx4GWyDM8GQwvYmSVMD9wZ09qslOi5rTiJuDKimeF-k5fngcf/s200/Letters+Stegner.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>2.-</strong> The Los Angeles Times recently ran a nice <a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-stegner24nov24,0,5823697.story?coll=la-books-headlines">profile</a> of Pulitzer Prize-winning author <strong>Wallace Stegner</strong>.<br /><br />The reissue of an obscure book by Stegner, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDiscovery-Search-Arabian-Wallace-Stegner%2Fdp%2F0970115741%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1196396303%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> 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 <a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-stegnerside24nov24,0,3116155.story?coll=la-books-headlines">here</a> and The Washington Post weighs in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112802404.html?hpid=sec-artsliving">here</a>. You can also read a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-owchar18nov18,0,680795.story?coll=la-books-headlines">review</a> of the book.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2eIYAqcvfmFilRJGRlRNG18LG3FiYoWiT-udd3QRk5q5Bs4NVmoLzh_mr3zLoUBIyxYLERcRJneVhZfq8QDbgVLukiUVNpy3HWewHS67vEEQAV8_Eeyjjv8BktGIT6GD6_nvPStnAHO7/s1600-r/Western+Art+Collector.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138484338405288034" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuP_OhRuMnNJMrub9xzLGzTpkQlsRTzPa37knXlrdGY7nSsYSPwg2gNHLceJ5ZF365ccmzHq4lYfdiPw9kAbGL52XVQtU2Sp145JjtOmbrMh5aMcXXv7j2QplBuI7jprachZ4JhmB10VES/s200/Western+Art+Collector.jpg" border="0" /></a>Its publication coincides with the release of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSelected-Letters-Wallace-Stegner%2Fdp%2F1593761686%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1196396204%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />. Edited by his son, <strong>Page Stegner</strong>, the book is said to provide <a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-reynolds18nov18,0,6055992.story?coll=la-books-headlines">an interesting glimpse</a> at the vivid polemics between the author and some of his critics.<br /><br /><strong>3.-</strong> For Western art fans, the November/December issue of <a href="http://www.aotw.com/">Art of the West</a> magazine as well as the December issue of the handsome <a href="http://www.westernartcollector.com/index.php">Western Art Collector</a> are out. </div><div></div><br /><div>As I have said before, these publications are veritable catalogues of fine illustrations inspired by the West. </div></div></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-17393962974325027962007-11-25T16:42:00.000-05:002007-11-26T00:13:15.048-05:00Movie Review: My Darling Clementine<em>(This past October 26 signaled the anniversary of the legendary </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral"><em>Gunfight at the OK Corral</em></a><em>. The episode has inspired numerous works of literature and, most notably, films. In the first installment of a series, <strong>Doug Bentin</strong> will take a look at some of the movies that have recreated this interesting chapter in the history of the West. </em><br /><br /><em>Doug writes film reviews for </em><a href="http://www.efilmcritic.com/"><em>eFilmCritic!</em></a><em> and book reviews (mostly Westerns) for the most indispensable website </em><a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/"><em>Bookgasm</em></a><em>. His personal blog is </em><a href="http://longsaturday.blogspot.com/"><em>The Long Saturday of the Soul</em></a><em> <strong>- Saddlebums</strong>).</em><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyz-9GADju58CIJ5OT5uvXeQAZZPU18aYM-Fs9IxSb4Ty6-LtkjrN4CSbwRZAeubxaKgyt-iLBDHhrtIHPG9kW4wmy8NN_rLtJfhht3VBSH0rqwi8rzXltT0FvZjq_BiubywVmmtoNfW8/s1600-h/My-Darling-Clementine-.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137009287722051618" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyz-9GADju58CIJ5OT5uvXeQAZZPU18aYM-Fs9IxSb4Ty6-LtkjrN4CSbwRZAeubxaKgyt-iLBDHhrtIHPG9kW4wmy8NN_rLtJfhht3VBSH0rqwi8rzXltT0FvZjq_BiubywVmmtoNfW8/s400/My-Darling-Clementine-.jpg" border="0" /></a>With Oct. 26 marking the anniversary of the Gunfight at the OK Corral—which is surely one of the half-dozen most iconic incidents in the history of the American West—I thought we might take a look at three easily accessible movies that were inspired by the famous shootout.<br /><br />The oldest of the three is <strong>John Ford</strong>’s classic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDarling-Clementine-Ford-Fox-Collection%2Fdp%2FB000WMA6FK%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1196053258%26sr%3D1-2&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">My Darling Clementine</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> (1946).<br /><br />It seems to me that there are three varieties of Western fiction: realistic, romantic, and legendary. None is superior to the others and which one plays best with you depends on what you’re in the mood for at the time. MDC is definitely legendary, drawing as it does on actual historical events, even though tossing its ingredients into the blender of Hollywood and working with the smoothed-out results.<br /><br /><strong>Henry Fonda</strong> is Wyatt Earp. He and brothers Virgil (<strong>Tim Holt</strong>), Morgan (<strong>Ward Bond</strong>) and James (an uncredited <strong>Don Garner</strong>) are just passing through Tombstone, AZ, on their way to California with a herd of cattle. One night Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan ride into town and James is left behind to watch the herd. He is murdered in the rain and the cattle are rustled.<br /><br />James is presented as the baby of the family, a mere 18, when in fact he was seven years Wyatt’s senior and didn’t die until 1926. Additionally, there was no herd and all four brothers had been living in Tombstone since at least 1879. James was the only brother not involved in the gunfight and in the movie his death is used as the motivating factor for Wyatt to pin on the marshal’s badge and rid the town of the evil, thieving, rustling, murdering Clanton gang.<br /><br />It’s in town that Wyatt meets the gambler Doc Holliday (<strong>Victor Mature</strong>, giving one of his best performances, although he is a bit husky to suffer from tuberculosis). This is not the first time Holliday has appeared in a John Ford Western, but the most famous time he was called “Hatfield” in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FStagecoach-Two-Disc-Special-Claire-Trevor%2Fdp%2FB000F0UUJ6%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1196053638%26sr%3D1-2&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Stagecoach</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> and played by the much more physically believable <strong>John Carradine</strong>.<br /><br />Romantic complications ensue when a lady friend of Doc’s from long ago and far away shows up unexpectedly. Clementine Carter (<strong>Cathy Downs</strong>) has been following Doc deeper into the west as he’s been trying to avoid her. His motive is to release her from the pain of watching his disease waste him away. He’s taken up with a dance hall gal named Chihuahua (<strong>Linda Darnell</strong>). Her profession and ethnicity are indicative of just how far Doc Holliday, that fine surgeon and southern gentleman, has fallen. That symbolism is as faulty as turning a dentist into a surgeon.<br /><br />As Doc runs away from Clementine, Wyatt moves toward her. Fonda was always good at portraying the hesitant man in affairs of the heart, too respectful of good women to make the first move, so Wyatt’s sort-of courtship sails slowly. It doesn’t really get under weigh until Doc removes a stray bullet from Chihuahua and reclaims some of his old pride, at which point Clementine seems more willing to let him go. Wyatt is as puzzled by her attitude as we are. He leans on the bar and asks the whiskey-server, “Mac, you ever been in love?” to which Mac replies, “No, I been a bartender all my life.”<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOCkpVXMF6W3dEP-tZtpi3n_lltxGGYXL1HT4VfDo8g38brUYDEvoCqH3h3GRp39_cQzdvewG0Q5V_CAzshVU-X6hpzADzBqFHjq04QI_OXF1Fu2sh6HiamrCNYL0_Ii3lTR7JP97hzjej/s1600-h/Clementine+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137010000686622770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOCkpVXMF6W3dEP-tZtpi3n_lltxGGYXL1HT4VfDo8g38brUYDEvoCqH3h3GRp39_cQzdvewG0Q5V_CAzshVU-X6hpzADzBqFHjq04QI_OXF1Fu2sh6HiamrCNYL0_Ii3lTR7JP97hzjej/s320/Clementine+2.jpg" border="0" /></a>The action part of the story heats up when one of gang leader Ike Clanton’s (<strong>Walter Brennan</strong>) sons is killed and Ike and the rest of his brood come into town to wrap up their feud with the Earps.<br /><br />Even if you can’t keep the Earp brothers straight in your mind and have no idea that one called James wasn’t killed by rustlers, you know the movie is going south historically speaking when you see on James’ headstone that he was killed in 1882—a year after the famous gunfight took place.<br /><br />Nothing is made of the tinder-box politics of Tombstone in the early 1880s. Many historians believe that at the root of the conflict was a scramble for economic dominance, much as was the case in the Lincoln Co. War.<br /><br />But this movie isn’t trying to be historically accurate. It’s a movie about the Wild West being tamed. Cattle trails give way to churches. When Doc performs his surgery, he uses tables pushed together in the saloon, so the bar becomes a hospital. Doc is the sophisticated man racing toward death just as Wyatt is the rough neck turning to civilization. Only one of them will reach his goal.<br /><br />My Darling Clementine is one of those westerns that use a sand grain of historical truth around which to grow a pearl of western legend. If historical inaccuracies drive you nuts, and you can’t appreciate a movie just for the purity of its movie-ness, you might have a hard time with this one. Otherwise, it’s a classic. Enjoy.Saddle Bumshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13629262143584217133noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-19144756618527233692007-11-21T11:12:00.000-05:002007-11-21T13:59:01.989-05:00Forthcoming Westerns: December 2007<em>It’s a holiday weekend here in the United States, so I’m posting December’s upcoming Western releases a little early this month. The list, while not quite as impressive as the last few months, is pretty darn good. We have the usual suspects—a new</em> Longarm, Gunsmith, Trailsman<em>, and </em>Slocum<em>—and we also have a new Western from literary writer Thomas Eidson, and the plot—see below for the synopsis—sounds pretty good.<br /><br />Leisure Books is releasing Tim Champlin’s latest novel,</em> Devil's Domain<em>, The Penguin Group is releasing a new Ralph Compton novel written by David Robbins—the same guy who writes </em>Wilderness<em>—as well as a new </em>Vigilante<em> novel by Jory Sherman, and there are six new Black Horse Westerns scheduled for release in the U.K.<br /><br />I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. And maybe I’ll see you in the Western section in the local bookstore. Happy reading.<br /></em><br /><strong>Synopsis for <em>Devil's Domain</em></strong>: <div><div><div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUI6MVDT_qkvegTz0Nowe2LfVUfWBCr-sMOIKKVvO1K7eej7CLinwSirMpxWHysYve7MiaX5P0v2MIY0qIQJCbfZ05tZhYZ8-dhOwLhWPhFls8AU2BLj195WF2RokrrNBMzQnjehYBij1v/s1600-h/Devils+Domain.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135331075899028722" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUI6MVDT_qkvegTz0Nowe2LfVUfWBCr-sMOIKKVvO1K7eej7CLinwSirMpxWHysYve7MiaX5P0v2MIY0qIQJCbfZ05tZhYZ8-dhOwLhWPhFls8AU2BLj195WF2RokrrNBMzQnjehYBij1v/s320/Devils+Domain.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">There was a reason people called Andersonville Prison hell on earth. With more than thirty thousand Union soldiers held captive in the worst conditions possible, death and disease were daily visitors. If scurvy or starvation didn’t kill them, the guards would. Sergeant John Mulroy knows he’ll die if he doesn’t find some way to escape. Problem is, even if he does get out, his closest ally suffers bouts of madness and just may murder him anyway…. </div></span></em><br /><div><strong>November 27th</strong><br /><br /><em>Devil's Domain</em> by Tim Champlin<br /><em>Wilderness #54: Pure of Heart </em>by David Thompson<br /><em>Shower of Gold</em> by Zane Grey<br /><em>The Soldier’s Way</em> by Dane Coolidge<br /><br /><strong>December 4th</strong><br /><br /><em>Ralph Compton’s Blood Duel </em>by Ralph Compton & David Robbins<br /><em>St. Agnes’ Stand</em> by Thomas Eidson<br /><em>The Trailsman #314: North Country Cutthroats</em> by Jon Sharpe<br /><em>The Vigilante: Santa Fe Showdown</em> by Jory Sherman<br /><em>Preacher’s / Fury of the Mountain Man</em> by William W. Johnstone<br /><em>Rampage of the Mountain Man</em> by William W. Johnstone<br /><br /><strong>Synopsis for <em>St. Agnes’ Stand</em></strong>: </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMRzHPdqOD5IwSquNYW5hCQUiJbFxEpMqsEOz3kVVUi_vrIbH-bVQY0EOcQ_mLXDug3IIt4OfaWpTh150rKniykdbmDtecJZ0xPLmpE_4t3Yk4WYqHj2eNaztiBlalvqkvVa8yvoi2GYNe/s1600-h/St+Agnes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135330813906023650" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMRzHPdqOD5IwSquNYW5hCQUiJbFxEpMqsEOz3kVVUi_vrIbH-bVQY0EOcQ_mLXDug3IIt4OfaWpTh150rKniykdbmDtecJZ0xPLmpE_4t3Yk4WYqHj2eNaztiBlalvqkvVa8yvoi2GYNe/s320/St+Agnes.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">July 1858: Nat Swanson, a bullet in his leg and bone-weary, flees across the New Mexico desert from a vengeful posse. Back in west Texas, he killed a man over a woman whose name he never knew, and now he’s on the run to California, his only hope for a new life the ranch deed in his pocket.<br /><br />In a dry riverbed, Nat spots two overturned wagons surrounded by Apaches. The only sign of a survivor is his quick glimpse of an old woman’s face–a face that forces a stark decision. Nat can ride on and save himself, or stay and try to save the stranded and doomed party. Sister St. Agnes, huddled between the wagons with her fellow nuns and the orphans in their care, somehow knows that God will answer her prayers and send a savior to deliver them from evil.As death shadows the dusty arroyo, the forsaken canyon becomes a place of destiny where a courageous nun and an embattled man confront their fates together.<br /></span></em><br /><strong>December 12th</strong></div><div><br /><em>Doubtful Canon</em> by Johnny D. Boggs<br /><em>Outlaws from Afar</em> by Max Brand<br /><br /><strong>December 15th</strong></div><div align="left"><br /><em>The Shopkeeper</em> by James D. Best<br /><br /><strong>Synopsis for <em>The Gunsmith #313: Wildfire</em></strong>:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-k-X4U39pUcoMNvgfPb2lVGX6VSYvV3bfhWdFMQdH5Te-qqpQljzTUIfsSKOZ_O0jtTgVN0XqMvvxLunCgqGou6vPGoSgcywfauk61UHZZv0XbH_-EIrhq65L6tM047SZNRZSA2yrzI9O/s1600-h/Gunsmith+313.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135330066581714130" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-k-X4U39pUcoMNvgfPb2lVGX6VSYvV3bfhWdFMQdH5Te-qqpQljzTUIfsSKOZ_O0jtTgVN0XqMvvxLunCgqGou6vPGoSgcywfauk61UHZZv0XbH_-EIrhq65L6tM047SZNRZSA2yrzI9O/s320/Gunsmith+313.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">After a posse mistakes Clint Adams for a murdering pyromaniac who's scorched a path from Texas to New Mexico, he joins them on their hunt for the match-happy madman.</span></em><br /><br /><strong>December 18th</strong></div><div><br /><em>The Gunsmith #313: Wildfire</em> by J.R. Roberts<br /><em>Longarm #350: Longarm and the Hangtree Vengeance</em> by Tabor Evans<br /><em>Slocum #347: Slocum’s Four Brides</em> by Jake Logan<br /><br /><strong>December 24th</strong></div><div><br /><em>The Flying Wagon</em> by Ian Parnham<br /><em>Lone Survivor</em> by V.S. Meszaros<br /><br /><strong>December 26th</strong></div><div><br /><em>The Horses: The Journey of Jim Glass</em> by Bill Brooks<br /><br /><strong>December 30th</strong></div><div><br /><em>Barbary Coast Gundown</em> by James Gordon White<br /><em>Find Madigan!</em> By Hank J. Kirby<br /><em>Justice for Crockett</em> by Dale Graham<br /><em>The Legend and the Man</em> by Ben Nicholas<br /><em>The Modoc Kid</em> by Mark Bannerman<br /><em>The Night Riders</em> by Matt Laidlaw<br /><em>Outcasts of Rebel Creek</em> by Frank Bonham & Bill Pronzini<br /><em>Sharpshooters and the Rainman</em> by Ron Watkins<br /><em>Twisted Bars</em> by Max Brand<br /><em>Wyoming Showdown</em> by Jack Edwardes<br /><br /><strong>Synopsis of <em>The Bull Chop</em></strong>:</div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIZuJR2D0rzU0QyAIVBFUMKD9nrVsJyNX6KplwFxfRg8FI14RY-nlCh8y4-zEpqHUjb8cQ26EnNeJJVd3tN3hyphenhyphenvr-3DHflm9OJpP-YmvoIDejwxOAtsybC9jS6agh_xlKxPNu-1yngkHW/s1600-h/Bull+Chop.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135329710099428546" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIZuJR2D0rzU0QyAIVBFUMKD9nrVsJyNX6KplwFxfRg8FI14RY-nlCh8y4-zEpqHUjb8cQ26EnNeJJVd3tN3hyphenhyphenvr-3DHflm9OJpP-YmvoIDejwxOAtsybC9jS6agh_xlKxPNu-1yngkHW/s320/Bull+Chop.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Jude Linsey is a young man who is content to live off his rich father's allowance. He ekes out the money in and out of Spooner's Drift by gambling, or fishing and hunting beaver in the high creeks of Shell Mountain. Then the town's bank gets robbed, and Jude is suddenly aware there's a chance to redeem himself with his family and friends. But the deceitful Sheriff Ingram Bere has to be considered: a man with a covetous eye and more than a lawful interest in Jude's welfare. To mull over his predicament, Jude takes to the timberline with his saddle-broke roan. But events change, and Jude has little choice but to pit his wits and guns against Bart and Dooley Susans' gang of hard-nosed, desperate killers.<br /></span></em><br /><strong><em>Black Horse Westerns</em></strong><br /><br /><strong>December 31st</strong><br /><br /><em>Manhunt in Quemado</em> by Daniel Rockfern<br /><em>Desolation Pass</em> by Lance Howard<br /><em>Hammer of God</em> by Phillip McCormac<br /><em>The Bull Chop</em> by Abe Dancer<br /><em>Wilde Country</em> by Tyler Hatch<br /><em>Judge Parker's Lawmen</em> by Elliot Conway</div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-1742431123193471832007-11-19T12:11:00.000-05:002007-11-19T16:39:16.167-05:00Saddlebums Review: Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-Range-Mysteries/dp/0312358040/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195508202&sr=8-1"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134601528459162770" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimk5UbYEjW_AZP5HtldQf0Ow2w0drtJ27i1lHtAj5-UC7Vc-A43oWrD-uJZi-1zTp_V4nBn_dO16uejQJzqvabGgGJ4bebToZn9dY716OyuDsmW9ymvoA_Hmb_DvuHELGqLVSSMGqTF7hz/s400/Holmes+on+the+Range.jpg" border="0" /><em>Holmes on the Range</em></a> is a little different from the usual fare here at <em>Saddlebums</em>—it fits in quite nicely, but it is unique in that it is a Sherlock Holmes-type whodunit that is set in the Western United States of the 1890s. Big Red and Old Red are brothers who earn their livings the hard way. They do it from the back of a horse, but that doesn’t stop Old Red from admiring the work of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which he studies evenings in the bunkhouse from the pages of <em>The Strand</em>. His younger brother, Big Red, reads them aloud because Old Red isn't lettered.<br /><br />When the two take a job on a ranch in Montana they figure everything will be usual—long hours, poor pay, and barely edible food. When the ranch accountant turns up dead Old Red decides it’s time to employ his mentor’s—Sherlock Holmes—tested technique of detection. He sets out to investigate the death, but things tense-up as bodies are added to the casualty list, and then the ranch threatens to explode, figuratively, when the English owners show up unannounced. It doesn’t help matters that the local cannibal, Hungry Bob, is roaming the territory making everyone a little uneasy.<br /><br /><em>Holmes on the Range</em> is a perfect mixture of Western lore and British mystery. Mr Hockensmith deftly combines two genres in a unique and unusual manner to create an intelligent and humorous story that will be enjoyed by fans of both genres. It is narrated by Big Red—the lettered brother—who admirably fills the role of Dr Watson. His voice is strong, funny as hell, and lucid in its descriptions of both the land and the characters that occupy it. The opening lines read:<br /><br /><em>There are two things you can’t escape out here in the West: dust and death. They sort of swirl together in the wind, and a fellow never knows when a fresh gust is going to blow one or the other right in his face. So while I’m yet a young man, I’ve already laid eyes on every manner of demise you could put a name to. I’ve seen folks drowned, shot, stabbed, starved, frozen, poisoned, hung, crushed, gored by steers, dragged by horses, bitten by snakes, and carried off by an assortment of illnesses with which I could fill the rest of this book and another besides.<br /><br />So it’s quite a compliment I bestow when I say that the remains we came across the day after the big storm were the most frightful I’d ever seen.<br /><br /></em>The dialogue is sharp. The diction and idioms of the time period are captured well: <em>He could still be south of here somewhere, runnin’ free or flat as frying pan</em>. The characters are, put simply, characters. They have unique traits and names—Uly, Spider, Swede, Tall John, Swivel-Eye, Anytime, and Crazymouth. And the mystery is top-notch: I didn’t guess the murderer, or the motive, until late in the game.<br /><br /><em>Holmes on the Range</em> is one of the better novels I have read this year. It is different, compelling, and humorous without being silly. I was hooked from the opening sentence, and <a href="http://stevehockensmith.typepad.com/steve_hockensmiths_blog/">Steve Hockensmith</a> not only delivered on this early promise, but he exceeded my expectations. This is a novel that should be read by anyone who loves a mystery, a western, or just a good, well-written tale.Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-87531517335256672412007-11-16T00:16:00.000-05:002007-11-17T10:16:23.188-05:00Scouting the Web<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwDgIbkfKRjX5no1tHZNveJm_IsTz03lVEGJWESHaoVJXe6dTvqyqvaBy9-cjHcsZpGCpFBlsn6B1GYoHtZvtG0WCtTqQ9ku-m63hpLUizIsSxeHNczw0Qga4TRjtFMsudRKBP1RVmeOr/s1600-h/Texas+Timber+War.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133304234184157186" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwDgIbkfKRjX5no1tHZNveJm_IsTz03lVEGJWESHaoVJXe6dTvqyqvaBy9-cjHcsZpGCpFBlsn6B1GYoHtZvtG0WCtTqQ9ku-m63hpLUizIsSxeHNczw0Qga4TRjtFMsudRKBP1RVmeOr/s320/Texas+Timber+War.jpg" border="0" /></a>■ Western scribe <strong>Jim Griffin</strong>’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBig-Bend-Death-Trap-Havlicek%2Fdp%2F1931079056%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1195181562%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Big Bend Death Trap</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, the latest novel in the Texas Ranger Cody Havlicek series, gets a glowing review at <a href="http://www.ropeandwire.com/MainPages/MyPlace.html">Rope and Wire</a> (scroll down). <div><br /></div><div>■ <strong>James Reasoner</strong> has published a new pseudonymous novel in The Trailsman series: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTrailsman-313-Texas-Timber-War%2Fdp%2F0451222601%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1195185951%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Texas Timber War</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />.<br /><br />■ A new issue of <strong>Chap O’Keefe</strong>’s <a href="http://www.blackhorsewesterns.com/">Black Horse Extra</a> is online, featuring an article on Black Horse Westerns author <strong>Brian Parvin</strong>, a.k.a. <strong>Dan Claymaker</strong>, <strong>Jack Reason</strong> and <strong>Luther Chance</strong>. You will also find a very interesting piece on writing, focused on the creative process behind O’Keefe’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPeace-Any-Price-Chap-OKeefe%2Fdp%2F070908269X%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1191557439%26sr%3D1-5&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Peace at Any Price</a>, which we reviewed <a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/10/saddlebums-review-peace-at-any-price-by.html">here</a>. This issue includes the traditional news roundup section Hoofprints and a list of upcoming BHW releases.<br /><br />■ <a href="http://neglectedbooks.com/">Neglected Books</a> is a very interesting website where you can find more information and reviews of rare and out of print books, including Westerns such as <a href="http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=97">Winds of Morning</a> by <strong>H.L. Davis</strong> and <a href="http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=38">Strange Conquest</a> by <strong>Alfred Neumann</strong>.<br /><br />■ The excellent <a href="http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/recent.php">Online Pulps</a> site has a number of new <a href="http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/recent.php">downloads</a>, including a short story from the August 1957 issue of Real Western Stories: The Dancing Trees by <strong>Lon Williams</strong>, starring his character Lee Winters. The synopsis reads: “<em>Deputy Marshal Winters had been called upon to assist lovely damsels in distress before - but never a damsel like this, and never in this kind of distress!</em>”<br /><br />■ A new anthology containing ten lost mystery stories by Western writer extraordinaire <strong>Max Brand</strong>: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FMasquerade-Crime-Stories-Max-Brand%2Fdp%2F1932009612%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1195186256%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Masquerade</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />. You can read more about it <a href="http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~jkimura/whatsnew0711.html#masquerade">here</a>.<br /><br />■ This might be old news, but it’s still worth noting. The <a href="http://www.westernwriters.org/2008_convention.htm">2008 Western Writers of America (WWA) Convention</a> will take place June 10-14, 2008 at the Chaparral Suites in Scottsdale, Arizona.<br /><br />■ Speaking of the WWA, a new issue of <a href="http://www.westernwriters.org/roundup.html">Roundup Magazine</a> is out. You can see some of its contents <a href="http://www.westernwriters.org/roundup.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMNUPwl7TtxBcwnGyIwws1FfoQWSp_xlr-72_w9EAZhfLaJaouJ5F7I7vbD3qX8BsnRZRLgHOMnKNDfBDmbw7qJJH07-MxTPXA2aPFBVeV0ZnCbwn1Ebekv-EbMRl87BM-i8uEbfzuSNnU/s1600-h/NYT.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133303478269913074" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMNUPwl7TtxBcwnGyIwws1FfoQWSp_xlr-72_w9EAZhfLaJaouJ5F7I7vbD3qX8BsnRZRLgHOMnKNDfBDmbw7qJJH07-MxTPXA2aPFBVeV0ZnCbwn1Ebekv-EbMRl87BM-i8uEbfzuSNnU/s320/NYT.jpg" border="0" /></a>■ The New York Times Magazine has an all-Western films issue, with an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11west-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin">overview of the genre</a> by film critic <strong>A.O. Scott</strong> and comments on movies such as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11stone.html">The Search Party</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11smiley.html?ref=magazine">Broken Arrow </a>and <strong>Robert Altman</strong>’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11lethem.html">McCabe and Mrs. Miller</a> (the latter by <strong>Jonathan Lethem</strong>). There’s also a short aside on actor <strong>Daniel Day-Lewis</strong>’ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11daylewislist.html?ref=magazine">All-Time Top Westerns</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Robert B. Parker</strong> writes an interesting <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11lives-t.html?ref=magazine">column</a> on the film version of his novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAppaloosa-Robert-B-Parker%2Fdp%2F0425204324%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1195187881%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Appaloosa</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, scheduled for release next year. Finally, there's pieces on on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11schatz.html?ref=magazine">how Westerns shaped the business of filmmaking</a>; the selling of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11wwln-consumed-t.html?ref=magazine">"Wild West" myth</a> from <strong>Buffalo Bill Cody</strong> to Hollywood; the beautiful marriage of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11wwln-medium-t.html?ref=magazine">Westerns and hi-def DVDs</a>; an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11wwln-Q4-t.html?ref=magazine">interview</a> with historian <strong>Patricia Limerick</strong>, author of the revisionist history of the West, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLegacy-Conquest-Unbroken-Past-American%2Fdp%2F0393304973%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1195189632%26sr%3D1-2&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Legacy of Conquest</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11wwln-lede-t.html?ref=magazine">the figure of the outlaw</a> in Westerns; and the curious comic and soon-to-be-movie <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11wwln-cowboys-t.html?ref=magazine">Cowboys & Aliens</a>, a trailer of which you can see <a href="http://www.cowboysandaliens.net/trailer.html">here</a>. </div><br /><br /><div>And here's a video with some pretty cool film clips on <a href="http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=d6c6fd957e00a31a57e9fd12c6f7fb3be35cfa2b">American Character and the Western</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>All in all, a very comprehensive take on Hollywood Westerns. And with that, I'm out of here. Have a great weekend.</div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-42900475059231086562007-11-12T00:23:00.000-05:002007-11-12T23:19:32.419-05:00Saddlebums Review: Longarm and the Golden Eagle Shoot-Out<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFuOGeJ7yn-0zk0vwjOXbgUkqZHpTDFMQEvGi-oCvWPHvSIzySanalBFlUXAHwgGcreIAbuO_3IatbeQD7K-ZieM6I7nl0a1mx5WzBOWO4sS5zc6k7wVpPSiMilxY0kM7JIS3sGWAcCm3n/s1600-h/Longarm.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131820657212982258" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFuOGeJ7yn-0zk0vwjOXbgUkqZHpTDFMQEvGi-oCvWPHvSIzySanalBFlUXAHwgGcreIAbuO_3IatbeQD7K-ZieM6I7nl0a1mx5WzBOWO4sS5zc6k7wVpPSiMilxY0kM7JIS3sGWAcCm3n/s400/Longarm.jpg" border="0" /></a>Many writers of so-called “adult Westerns” – typically, serial novels in which the main character not only exhibits his prowess with a gun but also his skills in bed, the latter scenes depicted with varying degrees of graphicness – have often said that, in terms of plot, their books are nothing more than traditional Westerns with a few almost arbitrarily added sex episodes to satisfy the “adult” part of the equation. Given how many of the authors who write under house names such as <strong>Tabor Evans</strong> for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longarm">Longarm</a> series or <strong>Jake Logan</strong> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slocum_(westerns)">Slocum</a> are also accomplished scribes who publish “non-adult” books under their own name, you could reasonably expect some of these novels to exhibit at least a modicum of quality if.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLongarm-Giant-26-Golden-Shoot-Out%2Fdp%2F0515143588%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194843515%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Longarm and the Golden Eagle Shoot-Out</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> is one of those installments that falls on the “better” side of the spectrum as opposed to the clichéd raunchiness you find in the worst adult Westerns. Like the good Longarms, it delivers a well-written story with tight plotting and plenty of action. Oh, and there’s sex scenes too. Actually, there are probably more of those than usual since this is a “giant edition” episode, which means it boasts a larger page count (250 pages) than the typical series installment (180 pages).<br /><br />The explanation for all this probably lies in the fact that this particular Longarm was written by <strong>James Reasoner</strong>. Like many of his Westerns, this novel is heavy on the mystery, each plot twist unveiling a further secret involving its colorful cast of characters. The story opens with Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long, a.k.a. Longarm, in Wichita, following the trail of seasoned criminal Felix Gaunt. In spite of having killed over a dozen men in gunfights, Gaunt has only come to the attention of the U.S. government recently, when he attempted to sell diseased cattle to an Indian agency in Wyoming. Busted by a federal employee, the criminal shot him dead and is now on the run.<br /><br />The stage is set for a typical Longarm manhunt but just when you think you know in which direction the story is going, the author introduces a number of parallel plots. One of these involves Raider, a former Pinkerton operative who also happens to be one of the main characters in the discontinued Doc and Raider series of adult Westerns formerly published by Playboy Press and subsequently by Berkley. Raider is now a blacksmith trying to settle down in Arkansas. Although he has been unsuccessful in finding a woman, he has no intention of going back to his action-filled past behind. As is to be expected, another plot thread involves Raider’s former associate, Doc Weatherbee, who is also retired from the Pinkerton agency and is presently working at his well-to-do brother’s bank in Boston.<br /><br />Their stories converge in a shooting contest in West Texas, the initiative of big-time rancher Edmund Corrigan. The bored millionaire has decided to find out who is the fastest draw in the West. The prize is a life-sized gold statue of an eagle and if that doesn’t attract enough contestants, the potential of unlimited bragging rights and a larger than life reputation is a srtrong enough magnet for all sorts of miscreants and adventurers. Suffice is to say that neither Longarm nor Raider nor Doc are interested in the trophy nor the glory and yet all three descend on Corrigan’s ranch for reasons of their own.<br /><br />The author’s taut pacing and solid characterizations do the rest in what is one of the more enjoyable of the recent Longarms. His trademark humor likewise adds a welcome lightheartedness to the story, differentiating it from the insufferable nature of straightforward contemporary “adult” or “erotic” fiction. Take, for example, his depiction of one Chastity Doolittle, whose name “<em>was a condition with which she hadn’t been familiar in a good many years, and when it came to messing a round with men, she didn’t do little; she did a lot</em>.”<br /><br />Although “giant” novels seem a good idea if only for the fact that you get more pages for a slightly higher price, I am unsure whether this plays well to the series' strengths, one of which is the compact nature of its stories. At times it seems that this novel could have ended a couple of pages earlier and that the protracted chase that that takes place in its final chapters was added more to make this a “giant” edition than to satisfy plot requirements. Similarly, the abrupt introductions of and allusions to characters from other Longarm aventures – namely, the giant edition <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLongarm-Giant-25-Outlaw-Empress%2Fdp%2F0515142352%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194850656%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Longarm and the Outlaw Empress</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> which was also authored by Reasoner – might confuse readers who are not familiar with them and were expecting a standalone title.<br /><br />If there’s anything I could complain about this thoroughly entertaining novel, it is how the back cover could have been mentioned that Raider and Doc would be featured in the story. Probably not many people remember or even know them, but readers who are familiar with the genre would have certainly appreciated it.Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-5577142857646848762007-11-06T21:33:00.000-05:002007-11-07T08:24:38.836-05:00Saddlebums Interview: Leah Hultenschmidt & Don D'Auria of Leisure Books<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiCFsZCwaehGPJHluVm4kU3zta0vTwN5nmzOSqXuHusOecAoa1NFWLHEuB2Z2DsAoTAwoiVcPHTf2lSLSohtdFesU2U39L7HzwMuemjR_9a-QN46D_JWgkykuzbi61YMAZnSsGFqRnBAtT/s1600-h/don+and+leah.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129881743237832194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiCFsZCwaehGPJHluVm4kU3zta0vTwN5nmzOSqXuHusOecAoa1NFWLHEuB2Z2DsAoTAwoiVcPHTf2lSLSohtdFesU2U39L7HzwMuemjR_9a-QN46D_JWgkykuzbi61YMAZnSsGFqRnBAtT/s400/don+and+leah.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><em>I have been reading</em> <a href="http://www.dorchesterpub.com/">Leisure Books</a><em>—everything from Western to Thriller to Horror—for more years than I would like to admit and when I talked Leah Hultenschmidt and Don D’Auria into an interview I was more than excited.<br /><br /></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfVdqji-6N4P2UKWlXZ0TheoOJExhmex7Lj8b2EVZu1g-3_efV6EJ3QZrNqhnSPYMgirUx_u3J0xZLJXAlOby4oHZuo3OaC4viRdnZiPX2BqkAccNFgo09EdGScffHCmQRQxoxzsZ8tfJ/s1600-h/Money+Gun.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129880708150713842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfVdqji-6N4P2UKWlXZ0TheoOJExhmex7Lj8b2EVZu1g-3_efV6EJ3QZrNqhnSPYMgirUx_u3J0xZLJXAlOby4oHZuo3OaC4viRdnZiPX2BqkAccNFgo09EdGScffHCmQRQxoxzsZ8tfJ/s400/Money+Gun.jpg" border="0" /></a>Leisure<em> is one of the shining examples of a New York publisher that is successfully producing and marketing Westerns. </em>Leisure’s <em>Western line includes a broad array of reprints—writers like Louis L’Amour, Zane Grey, Max Brand, Lauran Paine, Wayne D. Overholser—as well as a good mixture of new writers—Robert J. Randisi, John D. Nesbitt, Tim Champlin, Cotton Smith, Johnny D. Boggs. The </em>Lesiure<em> line can be found in most major bookstores, grocery stores, department stores, and online--its website is one of the better publisher websites around with a simple and easy to use navigation system that not only features recent and new titles, but also previews coming titles.<br /><br /></em>Don D’Auria <em>is Executive Editor at</em> Leisure Books<em>, where he acquires and edits Horror and Thrillers, and oversees the Western line. Prior to working at </em>Leisure<em>, Don was an editor at </em>Bantam<em>, where he edited Westerns and Action/Adventure, and at </em>Doubleday<em>, where he edited the hardcover</em> Double D Western <em>line. His authors include <a href="http://www.cottonsmithbooks.com/">Cotton Smith</a>, <a href="http://www.johndnesbitt.com/">John D. Nesbitt</a>, Kent Conwell, <a href="http://www.paulbagdon.com/">Paul Bagdon</a>, Andrew J. Fenady, Robert J. Randisi, <a href="http://www.louislamour.com/">Louis L’Amour</a>, <a href="http://www.zgws.org/">Zane Grey</a>, and Will Henry, among others.<br /><br /></em>Leah Hultenschmidt <em>has been with </em>Leisure<em> for seven years. Before she began editing Westerns, she headed the company’s publicity department. Leah also acquires and edits in the Romance genre. Her authors include <a href="http://maxbrand-faust.com/">Max Brand</a>, Wayne D. and Stephen Overholser, David Thompson, <a href="http://www.johnnydboggs.com/">Johnny D. Boggs</a>, Loren Zane Grey, Fred Grove, Lauran Paine, <a href="http://www.mikekearby.com/">Mike Kearby </a>and many others.<br /><br /></em>Dorchester Publishing <em>is the parent company of</em> Leisure Books <em>and the oldest independent mass-market publisher in North America. More information on the book club can be found at </em><a href="http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/BookClub.cfm" target="_blank"><em>http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/BookClub.cfm</em></a><em>. Their submission guidelines are posted at </em><a href="http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SubmissionGuidlines.cfm" target="_blank"><em>http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SubmissionGuidlines.cfm</em></a><em>. To sign up for a newsletter announcing their latest releases, visit </em><a href="http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/Promo.cfm" target="_blank"><em>http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/Promo.cfm</em></a><em>. </em><br /></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div align="left"><em><br /></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVFiXTpXCRXdpkb7Fdr8qQ2fIzBYzRdRVSOsQEVjGUchj0Oof67OUgX0b8Gmy2WKskLRuCQjx8SqjvBfgdTUNeYWkGnm6WK78g4WeHwrlJpZgeLu418Hajn2zR89XONclcCLWAzS7o2TcT/s1600-h/Camp+Ford.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129879870632091074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVFiXTpXCRXdpkb7Fdr8qQ2fIzBYzRdRVSOsQEVjGUchj0Oof67OUgX0b8Gmy2WKskLRuCQjx8SqjvBfgdTUNeYWkGnm6WK78g4WeHwrlJpZgeLu418Hajn2zR89XONclcCLWAzS7o2TcT/s400/Camp+Ford.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>This is a unique interview for me—to speak to the decision makers, at least editorially, of a New York publishing house—and I would like to start with a few business-type questions as related to the Western genre. <em>Leisure Books</em> publishes four western novels each month, and I’m curious how the acquisition process works?<br /></strong><br />Don D’Auria (DD): I handle mostly original manuscripts, as opposed to reprints, so for me the process usually begins with a query letter, in which an author or agent briefly describes the ms and asks if they can send it in. The next step is simply me reading the manuscript and deciding if I want to make an offer for it. For authors I’ve worked with before, I can often base my decision on just a proposal or synopsis, since I’ll already know their writing style and I can trust them to write a good novel.<br /><br />Leah Hultenschmidt (LH): With the exception of David Thompson’s <em>Wilderness</em> series, my acquisitions are all reprints. It’s a pretty simple process, really. The author (or agent) sends me a copy of the book, and if I think it fits well with our line and have room in the schedule for it, I’ll call up and make an offer.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“For authors who have a history with us, the decision to buy more titles is primarily based on previous sales—if the author continues to sell, we’ll keep publishing his books. For authors we’ve never published before, it mostly comes down to whether I like the story and the writing.”<br /></span></em><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbJIdBeDl13FcDeeIQZHZZKIz_eMG0C48AqHEih8CE767wD-z0cxCl3NH9O1rDYmCQxPRMtMJAcVH0SK0Lnf5INmdazvkHBXhsPgpfXsLAMk3GptofkrqQaHESR74xJdUwr6AiY3Z-Abx/s1600-h/Stephen+Overholser.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129879286516538786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbJIdBeDl13FcDeeIQZHZZKIz_eMG0C48AqHEih8CE767wD-z0cxCl3NH9O1rDYmCQxPRMtMJAcVH0SK0Lnf5INmdazvkHBXhsPgpfXsLAMk3GptofkrqQaHESR74xJdUwr6AiY3Z-Abx/s400/Stephen+Overholser.jpg" border="0" /></a>How do you decide which older titles to bring back as reprints, and which original novels to publish? Do you always publish the same ratio of reprints to original novels, or does it change from month to month?<br /></strong><br />DD: There are a number of different factors that help me decide whether or not I want to publish an original manuscript, but the primary one, of course, is the quality of the writing and the storytelling. Also, I’d prefer to buy a book from an author who I think will continue to write excellent westerns in the future. This way I can work to help build a track record for the author and help establish a career, instead of just buying the one book then having to start all over again with another author.<br /><br />LH: We prefer to reprint books that have never before been in paperback, although we have done some titles that originally came out as paperbacks but have been out of print for more than 10-15 years. For authors who have a history with us, the decision to buy more titles is primarily based on previous sales—if the author continues to sell, we’ll keep publishing his books. For authors we’ve never published before, it mostly comes down to whether I like the story and the writing. It also helps to have quotes or awards to help readers decide to take a chance on an author they might not have heard of.<br /><br />The ratio of originals to reprints does vary month to month, depending on whether we have a Wilderness book scheduled or high-profile classic reprints by authors like Louis L’Amour, Zane Grey, or Will Henry. </div><div align="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFSwOfhBdUg2klrQjgHFE1VENjWhUqiQGXdGN0dZ9lX5bJ7BQVnUaLnoTeB4rxZUJ7SDmruEZ4pppS7wg_BUMVHzkvexlYKzx7fIlkTPcno__TcYULwRrkMveu2sKBlbO5RoGAWxY6hIH/s1600-h/Paul+Bagdon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129878972983926162" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFSwOfhBdUg2klrQjgHFE1VENjWhUqiQGXdGN0dZ9lX5bJ7BQVnUaLnoTeB4rxZUJ7SDmruEZ4pppS7wg_BUMVHzkvexlYKzx7fIlkTPcno__TcYULwRrkMveu2sKBlbO5RoGAWxY6hIH/s400/Paul+Bagdon.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>Many readers, myself included, are in the dark as to how the editorial process works. What is the typical path of a novel from the time you purchase it, to when it is actually distributed to bookstores and dealers?<br /></strong><br />LH: It typically takes about 9-12 months to get a manuscript turned into a book. Work on the cover starts about 9-10 months before the pub date so our sales reps can get out there and sell the book to stores about 5 months prior to its release. All the editorial work needs to be done about 7 months before pub, which allows time for copyediting, typsetting, proofreading and printing. The schedule can vary a bit from book to book, but that’s the general timeline. Right now, I’m editing for April 2008, writing cover copy for June 2008, planning covers for July 2008 and buying books for Fall 2008.<br /><br /><strong>Every Western published by <em>Leisure </em>has an insert that can be torn out and returned by readers to join a “book club”—the reader will then receive every new Western novel published by<em> Leisure</em> at a discount. My question, as a route of distribution, what portion of total sales do these direct sales represent?<br /></strong><br />LH: The book club is definitely a nice boon for sales. And for readers—especially when you can get 4 books a month for $16.00. The total percentage of sales, though, really varies by book. The number of book club members stays pretty steady, but the print runs for each title differ quite a bit. The book club can account for as much as 30% of sales, sometimes as little as 2%. Sometimes it can be the difference between a book making a profit and losing money, but again, it really depends on the individual book.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“What may be a successful number for one title could be a disappointment for another. We don’t hold Louis L’Amour and a first-time author to the same standards.” </span></em></div><div align="left"><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimXK6iomSBtPDNc5yJKt_A1PEBBB9cgWnKYvhKKk9ZH4afZJpLgINdhejz9ENhAQJNoK2BIEEbV0dnBvlNP7c-yjywLmwTk0o74Ns8rBKLuqpcV3MBVRGI34Hfm5XOULGTGjIWgMHb9aOA/s1600-h/Will+Henry.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129878590731836802" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimXK6iomSBtPDNc5yJKt_A1PEBBB9cgWnKYvhKKk9ZH4afZJpLgINdhejz9ENhAQJNoK2BIEEbV0dnBvlNP7c-yjywLmwTk0o74Ns8rBKLuqpcV3MBVRGI34Hfm5XOULGTGjIWgMHb9aOA/s400/Will+Henry.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>How many copies does a Western novel need to sell before it can be considered a success? How many copies does the average western novel sell? Is there a significant difference in sales between the reprints and the original titles you publish?<br /></strong><br />LH: Again, this varies by book. What may be a successful number for one title could be a disappointment for another. We don’t hold Louis L’Amour and a first-time author to the same standards. The most important number for us is how many copies sold in relation to how many were shipped out to bookstores.<br /><br /><strong>What are some of your best-selling authors and titles?<br /></strong><br />DD: I don’t think it will surprise anyone that Louis L’Amour is our best-selling author, since he’s one of the best-selling authors in the world. Not far behind him, though, is another all-time classic author, Zane Grey. I think these two authors, along with Max Brand, have a popularity that transcends the Western genre. Our restored edition of Grey’s <em>Riders of Purple Sage</em> is one of our best-selling titles, partly because it’s read by people who wouldn’t ordinarily pick up a Western.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“It’s certainly harder to get our titles into stores in the same numbers that we used to. As you say, the chains, like B&N and Borders, are cutting back on a number of their less profitable genres, and sadly one of those genres is the western.”<br /></span></em><br /><strong>The Western sections in most large bookstores have been shrinking over the past decade or so, how difficult is it to get your books on the shelves in places likes Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other retailers?<br /></strong><br />DD: It’s certainly harder to get our titles into stores in the same numbers that we used to. As you say, the chains, like B&N and Borders, are cutting back on a number of their less profitable genres, and sadly one of those genres is the western. But wholesalers and distributors too are ordering lower numbers of the western titles that they carry, simply because they don’t feel they can turn around and sell them to stores. In our case, though, we’re working very hard to get our books out there into the marketplace, including alternative outlets like drug stores and supermarkets, to pick up some of the slack. </div><div align="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxGvp5aJ_3QQtN5d8XRJl5p8KS94c6iqPy8IhZga1LH2E0mBn3wqC3eu7l6H9XNgsB4i1ZEry2sAnGNHHjXPX9t6Nk-nnAisNK_AJsjoxLA6kzI_MBAINxzi87Xy1Il8CboBWjmWz4aCsT/s1600-h/John+Nesbitt.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129878092515630434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxGvp5aJ_3QQtN5d8XRJl5p8KS94c6iqPy8IhZga1LH2E0mBn3wqC3eu7l6H9XNgsB4i1ZEry2sAnGNHHjXPX9t6Nk-nnAisNK_AJsjoxLA6kzI_MBAINxzi87Xy1Il8CboBWjmWz4aCsT/s400/John+Nesbitt.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>There has been a significant amount of talk on the Internet about the decline of the Western genre, and many place a significant portion of the blame on mainstream publishing houses for this decline. Proponents of this idea claim that publishers have failed to properly distribute their Westerns, put unattractive and unreflective artwork—of the actual story contained in the book—and basically have given up on a genre not because it is unprofitable, but not profitable enough. What do you think of these arguments? Is there some truth in them, or—from the perspective of an editor—are there other more driving reasons for the decline of the genre?<br /></strong><br />DD: Well, Leisure has definitely not given up on the Western genre or cut back in any way. We still publish as many titles every month as we ever did, and it’s still one of our more profitable lines. But in defense of the other houses that have cut back, it’s a simple fact that the readership for Westerns isn’t as large as it once was, and the bookstores and distributors aren’t buying as many as they once did. So Westerns may not sell as many books as other genres, and they may not make the publisher as much money as other genres. Even the largest publisher only has a fixed number of books they can publish every year, so it shouldn’t be that surprising that the publisher will choose to publish the books that will earn them the most money. From a purely business perspective, if you can choose between two books to publish, I think you can see the logic behind choosing the one that will sell better. But I think what’s at the bottom of the decline isn’t that publishers are publishing fewer Westerns, it’s that fewer readers seem to be buying the Westerns that are published. As I say, we still publish as many Westerns as we ever did, so we’re putting the books out there. Unfortunately, they just aren’t selling as many copies as they did even ten years ago. And those lower numbers are enough to convince some publishers to switch to more profitable lines. For us, though, even though the numbers are down a little, we’re still doing fine.<br /><br /><strong>As a follow-up to the previous question, many writers and readers point to your Western line as proof that a New York publishing house can operate in the genre successfully. How has <em>Leisure</em> been able to gain and maintain its measurable success with its Western line? Why have you succeeded where so many others have failed in recent years?<br /></strong><br />LH: I think we have a number of advantages. As mentioned above, our book club is one. Also, in addition to the chain bookstores, a lot of our books are distributed in places like Wal-Mart, grocery stores and drug stores, which have been very supportive of the genre. Plus, other houses are publishing fewer Westerns, which gives us more of a marketshare. In certain stores, Leisure has accounted for up to 75% of the Westerns on the shelf. </div><div align="left"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUstkCdVLJk3NJI7T2tFlRWoI4oDrs7WeqNXWHFUoYKmmPSiBEku23UeZw6K0bvJkAWnnWhOhLhF8NYpgfdSrFhjzMIBamnQxrZjnEd33QTlTyKrIvy3lB_bLBrnJXQa8KIFNlf4TVC5JN/s1600-h/Open+Range.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129877671608835410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUstkCdVLJk3NJI7T2tFlRWoI4oDrs7WeqNXWHFUoYKmmPSiBEku23UeZw6K0bvJkAWnnWhOhLhF8NYpgfdSrFhjzMIBamnQxrZjnEd33QTlTyKrIvy3lB_bLBrnJXQa8KIFNlf4TVC5JN/s400/Open+Range.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“The impact is there, but it’s not huge. It’s a question of translating success in one medium to another. Not all the people who watch a Western movie will go out and buy a Western book.”<br /><br /></span></em><strong>Every few years the Western is reborn on the screen—both big and small. A few examples are: HBO’s Deadwood, and Kevin Costner’s big screen adaptation of Lauran Paine’s novel The Open Range Men. Do these big-budget wide-audience happenings have a significant affect on Western novel sales?<br /></strong><br />DD: The impact is there, but it’s not huge. It’s a question of translating success in one medium to another. Not all the people who watch a Western movie will go out and buy a Western book. But whenever there’s a high-profile Western movie or TV show, it helps broaden awareness of the genre as a whole. And the effect is cumulative. One movie won’t do it, but once audiences have seen enough Western movies or TV shows that they enjoy, that’s when they decide that the like Westerns in general and start looking around for books.<br /><br />LH: As Don said, one movie probably won’t have an impact on an entire genre. But it can have a dramatic effect on an individual title if there’s a tie-in involved, like with Open Range.<br /><br /><strong>Now I want to ask you a few questions about the genre itself. Do you have one, or a few, favorite western writers?<br /></strong><br />DD: I love the current breed of western authors who are bringing a new approach to the western, or writing traditional westerns with a slightly different twist. That would be most of the current authors on the Leisure list, I suppose. But one of my all-time favorites has always been Will Henry. He’s hard to beat. </div><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wt9j7DmxyIA61bYMlkap3dYL-ZnhiErYZdIyEyECJWuQ3EFMwvji7P3WtkY1bHdBYpMxMjbK8OCZLYiLm-OlJ8WxlXp4X8FmvzrPsAsBZkNr8xYx2rJZ-aZviKDRgzYMrVORAcWe10MA/s1600-h/Zane+Grey.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129877285061778754" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wt9j7DmxyIA61bYMlkap3dYL-ZnhiErYZdIyEyECJWuQ3EFMwvji7P3WtkY1bHdBYpMxMjbK8OCZLYiLm-OlJ8WxlXp4X8FmvzrPsAsBZkNr8xYx2rJZ-aZviKDRgzYMrVORAcWe10MA/s400/Zane+Grey.jpg" border="0" /></a>LH: I obviously like all of the authors I work with. But in addition to those, I’ve always enjoyed Larry McMurtry’s storytelling and characterization.<br /><br /><strong>I have one last question, and I must warn it is a little vague. If you could choose any project to work on—as an editor or writer—what would it be?<br /></strong><br />DD: A couple years ago I would have said publishing <em>Riders of Purple Sage</em> in its original, uncut version, but now we’ve done that. So now I’d have to say publishing Jesse James’ autobiography. Imagine the stories he could have told. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-26740813059645939382007-11-05T09:24:00.001-05:002007-11-05T09:28:03.318-05:00Saddlebums Review: Wilderness #53: The Rising Storm by David Thompson<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEina_Eh4P1m0IWXpenRYrxDKcS9v6bRmFAx95Lu0iZ1uHnZ8AoYQxgLLRjIFb7nv3EdV83TkmyvlNxE6dHJnpMYWfOQ5oYf8ghj-FBjolhYFR0sxZrEf22-xuI6ymgAuaLtPDxvS1K1W7yn/s1600-h/Wilderness+53.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129362786634423602" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEina_Eh4P1m0IWXpenRYrxDKcS9v6bRmFAx95Lu0iZ1uHnZ8AoYQxgLLRjIFb7nv3EdV83TkmyvlNxE6dHJnpMYWfOQ5oYf8ghj-FBjolhYFR0sxZrEf22-xuI6ymgAuaLtPDxvS1K1W7yn/s400/Wilderness+53.jpg" border="0" /></a>Simon and Felicity Ward have built a home in the wilderness. They have the first functioning farm in the territory, and they—along with their young son Peter—are truly happy. It hasn’t been easy, but Simon’s hard work in the fields along with the seeds they brought from Boston are slowly overcoming the short growing season and their homestead is the envy of the territory.<br /><br />Simon is a kind man, one who would rather nurture the land than cause damage to another person, and while he is making a living in the wilderness he is still something of a greenhorn. When a British Lord claims the Ward’s valley for himself, the family has little choice but to leave everything they have built, or fight. While the Ward’s are out numbered, their odds improve when a young man named Zach King makes himself known.<br /><br />Zach is the son of the famous mountain man Nate King—the lead character in David Thompson’s <em>Wilderness</em> series who has only a limited role in this title—and he is known around the country as a fellow who likes to fight. When he hears the Ward’s story he immediately volunteers to deal with the problem, and take care of it he does—he faces down a small British army, a sadistic girl, and the British Lord himself.<br /><br /><em>Wilderness #53: The Rising Storm</em> is the first title in the series I have read, and it wasn’t disappointing. It is a twist on the traditional western—it is set closer to 1830 than 1880. It is all action, and will appeal to anyone who enjoys the standard fare of competent, fast paced storytelling that defines most series writing. It has limited character development, and an abundance of light-hearted violence, but the story is fun and what it lacks in originality it makes up for in pure adventure entertainment. If you like this kind of fiction you should enjoy <em>The Rising Storm.</em>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-41112832573821213342007-11-02T13:12:00.000-04:002007-11-04T00:05:40.917-04:00Scouting the WebA jam packed Scouting the Web this week:<br /><div><br /><div><div>■ Prolific (and a Saddlebums favorite) writer <strong>James Reasoner</strong> has launched his <a href="http://www.jamesreasoner.net/">new website</a>. The <a href="http://www.jamesreasoner.net/Bibliography.html">list of books</a> he’s written is worth the price of admission alone, even though he states there are several other titles he’s contractually obligated not to claim to have authored.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5uU8s-Q0uYM5Er2lqo5gDqtJHCcL9ysesIjPY4N5rqdQPJtFHKJxG6m-JktDInkpI9iWWAFQLdauUpsUjizzT6XV3cLthwgXpbhZK0BiiW3u4I-TPNahfmasHMoY_ae5TFSyu1K_y-Wz/s1600-h/Shalom.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128294175845059074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5uU8s-Q0uYM5Er2lqo5gDqtJHCcL9ysesIjPY4N5rqdQPJtFHKJxG6m-JktDInkpI9iWWAFQLdauUpsUjizzT6XV3cLthwgXpbhZK0BiiW3u4I-TPNahfmasHMoY_ae5TFSyu1K_y-Wz/s320/Shalom.jpg" border="0" /></a>■ <strong>Michael Katz</strong>, author of the critically acclaimed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FShalom-Range-Michael-S-Katz%2Fdp%2F1932045694%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194024386%26sr%3D8-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Shalom on the Range</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, will be kicking off his book signing tour in the Northeast. Described by <strong>Johnny D. Boggs</strong> as “<em>Louis L’Amour meets Jerry Seinfeld</em>,” his novel was published earlier this year. These are the first three dates, where he will not only talk about the book but also all things Western:<br /><br />Barnes & Noble-Jenkintown, PA • <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = SKYPE /><skype:span onmouseup="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'0',true,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_injection" oncontextmenu="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'0','sms=0');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmousedown="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,2,'0',true,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="softomate_highlight_0" onmouseover="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'0',true,16,'');" title="Call this phone number in United States of America with Skype: +12158865366" onclick="javascript:doRunCMD('call','0',null,0);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,0,'0',true,16,'');" durex="677" context="215-886-5366"><skype:span onmouseup="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',1,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_imgA" onmousedown="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',2,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="skype_tb_droppart_0" onmouseover="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',1,1,16);" title="Change country code ..." style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\DOCUME~1\Gonzalo\LOCALS~1\Temp\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\inactive_a.compat.flex.w16.gif)" onclick="javascript:doHandleChdial(this,1,'0',1);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',0,1,16);"><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgFlag" id="skype_tb_img_f0" style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\DOCUME~1\Gonzalo\LOCALS~1\Temp\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\famfamfam/US.gif)"></skype:span></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgS" id="skype_tb_img_s0"></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_injectionIn" id="skype_tb_text0"><skype:span class="skype_tb_innerText" id="skype_tb_innerText0">215-886-5366</skype:span></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgR" id="skype_tb_img_r0"></skype:span></skype:span><br />Saturday November 17, 2007 @ 2:00-4:00 p.m.<br /><br />Barnes & Noble-Princeton, NJ • <skype:span onmouseup="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'1',true,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_injection" oncontextmenu="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'1','sms=0');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmousedown="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,2,'1',true,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="softomate_highlight_1" onmouseover="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'1',true,16,'');" title="Call this phone number in United States of America with Skype: +16098979250" onclick="javascript:doRunCMD('call','1',null,0);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,0,'1',true,16,'');" durex="677" context="609-897-9250"><skype:span onmouseup="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',1,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_imgA" onmousedown="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',2,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="skype_tb_droppart_1" onmouseover="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',1,1,16);" title="Change country code ..." style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\DOCUME~1\Gonzalo\LOCALS~1\Temp\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\inactive_a.compat.flex.w16.gif)" onclick="javascript:doHandleChdial(this,1,'1',1);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',0,1,16);"><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgFlag" id="skype_tb_img_f1" style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\DOCUME~1\Gonzalo\LOCALS~1\Temp\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\famfamfam/US.gif)"></skype:span></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgS" id="skype_tb_img_s1"></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_injectionIn" id="skype_tb_text1"><skype:span class="skype_tb_innerText" id="skype_tb_innerText1">609-897-9250</skype:span></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgR" id="skype_tb_img_r1"></skype:span></skype:span><br />Tuesday November 27, 2007 @ 7:00-9:00 p.m.<br /><br />Barnes & Noble-Exton, PA • <skype:span onmouseup="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'2',true,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_injection" oncontextmenu="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'2','sms=0');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmousedown="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,2,'2',true,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="softomate_highlight_2" onmouseover="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'2',true,16,'');" title="Call this phone number in United States of America with Skype: +16105240103" onclick="javascript:doRunCMD('call','2',null,0);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,0,'2',true,16,'');" durex="677" context="610-524-0103"><skype:span onmouseup="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'2',1,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_imgA" onmousedown="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'2',2,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="skype_tb_droppart_2" onmouseover="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'2',1,1,16);" title="Change country code ..." style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\DOCUME~1\Gonzalo\LOCALS~1\Temp\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\inactive_a.compat.flex.w16.gif)" onclick="javascript:doHandleChdial(this,1,'2',1);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'2',0,1,16);"><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgFlag" id="skype_tb_img_f2" style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\DOCUME~1\Gonzalo\LOCALS~1\Temp\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\famfamfam/US.gif)"></skype:span></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgS" id="skype_tb_img_s2"></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_injectionIn" id="skype_tb_text2"><skype:span class="skype_tb_innerText" id="skype_tb_innerText2">610-524-0103</skype:span></skype:span><skype:span class="skype_tb_imgR" id="skype_tb_img_r2"></skype:span></skype:span><br />Thursday November 29 @ 7:00-9:00 p.m.<br /><br />If you happen to live in the area, we encourage you to drop by and say “howdy” to Mr. Katz. While you are at it, you can also check out his recent article on the present and future of the Western genre at <a href="http://www.jewreview.net/article.php?id=1652">Jew Review</a>.<br /><br />■ <a href="http://www.ropeandwire.com/FullInterviews/Lee_Pierce.html">Rope and Wire</a> has a new interview with Black Horse Westerns author <strong>Lee Pierce</strong> (hat tip to <strong>Jim Griffin</strong> for pointing us to that link).<br /><br />■ New articles by <strong>Larry McMurtry</strong>: One on the film version of <strong>Cormac McCarthy</strong>’s <em>No Country for Old Men</em> in <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/62310">Newsweek</a> and another one on photographer <strong>Diane Keaton</strong> from <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20778">The New York Review of Books</a>.<br /><br />■ <a href="http://popcornjunkies.insidepulse.com/articles/71190/2007/10/15/swinging-for-the-fences--sergio-leone.html">Popcorn Junkies</a> has a list of favorite <strong>Sergio Leone</strong> films. </div><div></div><br /><div>■ The latest issue of <a href="http://www.truewestmagazine.com/">True West</a> magazine is out with an <a href="http://www.truewestmagazine.com/archives/westerns/2007/western-idolatry_curse_1112_07.htm">article</a> on Brad Pitt and Jesse James that’s also online and a history of Western comics exclusively available in the print edition.<br /><br />■ The newest issue of <a href="http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west">Wild West</a> magazine is also out. You can check its table of contents <a href="http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west/10577301.html">here</a> as well as a very interesting <a href="http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west/10573736.html?featured=y&c=y">historical article</a> on the railroad war over the Rock Island Railroad in Oklahoma. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Qsznwy7KHd3j2Qho9DUn2lsXwQY5FxWRQdXumRriN0xzku5mUEEzHNsaQasfOuBo9PDHhE-dcXIneWDIVhhJp9M2pQXcaWv9lJJum7i4T6NylXGqAdEcDi-5yPc6Vh97ntJIf24wYdBC/s1600-h/Fuller.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128297014818441746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Qsznwy7KHd3j2Qho9DUn2lsXwQY5FxWRQdXumRriN0xzku5mUEEzHNsaQasfOuBo9PDHhE-dcXIneWDIVhhJp9M2pQXcaWv9lJJum7i4T6NylXGqAdEcDi-5yPc6Vh97ntJIf24wYdBC/s320/Fuller.jpg" border="0" /></a>■ The Criterion Collection, a distributor of quality films famed for its handsome collectors editions DVDs, has just put out <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FEclipse-Samuel-Arizona-Criterion-Collection%2Fdp%2FB000QXDFS0%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1194024548%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The First Films of Samuel Fuller</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, a box set that includes two excellent Westerns: <em>The Baron of Arizona</em>, in which <strong>Vincent Price</strong> portrays legendary swindler <strong>James Addison Reavis</strong>, and <em>I Shot Jesse James</em>, his directorial debut on the life of <strong>Robert Ford</strong>. Watching it makes for an interesting contrast with the more recent <strong>Brad Pitt</strong> film, <em>The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford</em>.<br /><br /></div><div>■ The Washington Post’s book blog, <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/2007/10/a_short_stack_of_books_on_how.html">Short Stack</a>, has a list of favorite novels about the settling of the West, including usual suspects plus an out-of-left-field pick in <strong>Karen Fisher</strong>’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSudden-Country-Novel-Karen-Fisher%2Fdp%2F0812973437%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194025857%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">A Sudden Country</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />. </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>■ <strong>John Wayne</strong>’s <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHondo-Special-Collectors-John-Wayne%2Fdp%2FB000ANVPP6%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1194025104%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Hondo</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /></em> will be screened in its original the <a href="http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.10.26a.html">3D format</a>.<br /><br />■ Writer <strong>Tim McGuire</strong> (recently <a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/10/saddlebums-interview-tim-mcguire.html">interviewed</a> by Saddlebums) has been contracted by Berkley to publish a new novel, Texas Cowboys, scheduled for release in late 2009. According to the author, the story is a continuation of his Rance Cash Texas series, albeit “<em>with a grittier taste to reflect Abilene, Kansas in 1871. The story takes place there with the likes of J. B. Hickok, Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin, Ben Thompson, Luke Short, and a host of others names and events</em>.” </div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>■ <a href="http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17313">High Country News</a> brings us another article on the state of Westerns with some curious morsels. According to its author, one of the possible reasons for the genre’s sales decline is that “<em>readers finally got sick of all those backward portrayals of women and Native Americans, and the romanticized views of frontier life</em>.” I wonder if she’s read writers like <strong>Richard S. Wheeler</strong>, whose works easily disprove that assertion.<br /><br />After a protracted discussion on ways to reinvigorate Westerns, she concludes: “<em>For if we know the myths, we can practice what Western historian Patricia Limerick likes to call “myth management,” in which the frontier values of individualism and persistence are corralled into the service of shockingly modern causes like, say, energy efficiency. The Cowboy Way, like it or not, lives on. We might as well give it a job to do</em>.” Huh?<br /><br />The article is nonetheless very interesting (albeit short) and mostly focuses on <strong>Steve Hockensmith</strong>’s novels and the <strong>Russell Davis</strong>-edited anthology <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLost-Trails-Louis-LAmour%2Fdp%2F0786018240%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194024983%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Lost Trails</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> (hat tip for the link to the <a href="http://westernsfortoday.blogspot.com/">Westerns for Today</a> blog).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1G16ezeE4Lh6H5aRxADSbQ6ydOLXTBbWOAUa-2uojwvOc5lLOlF2-p3Kj4tOtTtAgvg1V6XyzCWaIzz2j_TxpP2MiAnn9zb8kTdTl2bR77PYX3PerdBvWOQyEbsgZ5QyEVeaNX6rzqGe/s1600-h/east+border.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128297826567260706" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1G16ezeE4Lh6H5aRxADSbQ6ydOLXTBbWOAUa-2uojwvOc5lLOlF2-p3Kj4tOtTtAgvg1V6XyzCWaIzz2j_TxpP2MiAnn9zb8kTdTl2bR77PYX3PerdBvWOQyEbsgZ5QyEVeaNX6rzqGe/s320/east+border.jpg" border="0" /></a>■ Two great reviews at Bookgasm: The first is written by fellow Saddlebums contributor <strong>Doug Bentin</strong> and tackles Johnny D. Boggs’ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBorder-Leisure-Western-Johnny-Boggs%2Fdp%2F0843957298%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194025349%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">East of the Border</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, set during the year <strong>Buffalo Bill Cody</strong>, <strong>Texas Jack Omohundro</strong> and <strong>Wild Bill Hickok</strong> traveled together in a stage play (click <a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/westerns/east-of-the-border">here</a>). The second is for the horror Western novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBlood-Rider-Mark-J-Tarrant%2Fdp%2F0979886201%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194025736%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Blood Rider</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> by <strong>Mark Tarrant</strong> (click <a href="http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/horror/the-blood-rider">here</a>).<br /><br />■ Speaking of horror Westerns, this is an <a href="http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/2007/10/western-halloween.html">interview</a> with <strong>Robert Tinnell</strong>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWicked-West-1-Todd-Livingston%2Fdp%2F1582404143%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1194025211%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Wicked West</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> graphic novels.<br /><br />Here’s an interesting snippet:<br /><br />“<strong><em>Q: People who like westerns really seem to love them, but compared to other popular genres, those fans seem relatively few in number. How much of that would you chalk up to simple differences in taste, and how much to stereotypes about the genre putting off people who might otherwise enjoy it? I confess, I myself haven't given it much of a chance; I think one reason is that the stereotypical images suggest a very narrow genre, for which much depth and variety aren't even really possible. What's wrong about that superficial impression, and what would I find if I looked beyond it? What would you say is the core appeal--the one that inspires such enthusiasm in fans--and why don't more people get it? What do you think non-fans would find most surprising if they began to explore the genre in earnest? </em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><br /><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div></div><div><strong>A:</strong> <em>One of the reasons that I think the western is so appealing is that it represents a lot of stuff happening on frontiers or borders. And border country is usually dramatic country - be it where cultures meet and clash or where differing terrains meet and likewise clash. Beyond that, in America, I think, perhaps not so much now as maybe forty years ago, people gravitated to the westerns because they felt it represented a time when an individual really stood a chance to make it - though that was probably a much more idealized notion than reality. And back then, of course, you had folks for whom the Wild West still existed in their childhoods so you had a nostalgia factor.</em></div><div><em></em></div><br /><div><em>My guess is that Europeans have different reasons for finding the Western so appealing. I think that European filmmakers certainly found much to rhapsodise over in the American western landscape. And in the eyes of those filmmakers they could blow apart the sanitized American myths of the good guy in the wide hat - think of all the Leone pictures.</em></div><div><em></em></div><br /><div><em>I'm always delighted at the reaction that I get from people who aren't familiar with the great movie westerns. My daughter - at the age of 7 - freaked over ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST - refused to go to bed. She just devoured it. And she loves RED RIVER. I taught a class recently and made my students aware of the John Ford westerns and they were blown away by the visuals and, funny enough, seemed quite taken with the moral compass of the film - the sense of honor. </em></div><div><em></em></div><br /><div><em>At heart, the vast expanses of the west and the struggles against man and nature that are part and parcel of the western in film, novels or comics, allows for a lot of character study and existential pondering. Maybe not in your average Roy Rogers flick - but for sure in a great Ford or Leone or Peckinpah picture.</em>” </div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>■ And finally, the <a href="http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/10/polling-time.html">poll</a> results are in. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FMagnificent-Seven-Elmer-Bernstein%2Fdp%2FB0001MZ81S%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dmusic%26qid%3D1191344039%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Magnificent Seven</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> by <strong>Elmer Bernstein </strong>is, hands down, the most popular Western soundtrack among Saddlebums readers. </div></div></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-70526038596187353232007-10-31T00:00:00.000-04:002007-10-31T09:38:29.525-04:00Saddlebums Interview: Randy Denmon<em>Writer/engineer Randy Denmon is a lifelong resident of Monroe, Louisiana. Prior to publication, his first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLawless-Frontier-Pinnacle-Western%2Fdp%2F0786018348%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1193635559%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Lawless Frontier</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, was a finalist of the National Writers Association’s annual novel contest. After being picked up by Kensington, the title was eventually shortlisted for </em><em>the 2007 Spur for Best Original Paperback Novel. </em><em>Seven-time Spur Award winner <strong>Elmer Kelton </strong>called The Lawless Frontier an "impressive debut" whereas National Book Award laureate <strong>Tim O'Brien </strong>hailed it as "well-written and engrossing." </em><br /><br /><em>The author, a US Army veteran of the Gulf War, has also written two more novels that are presently awaiting publication. One of them tells the story of two </em><em>Texas Rangers during the Mexican-American War while his third novel deals with a Marine in Central America </em><em>during the interwar years. </em><br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6ijF1yT7jV0Ui8mMvsSlsFEPG_B766zCpKd-J6peBZgQRMjvOsdh2zH8CiwoX-3JjIB7-gRQNt5qG0keFUR8yVE6ZxvZSywVBPZQlq31U6oq_rk-CwjUiIwpJqRzXoZSCzp7Hh8j22py/s1600-h/Randy+Denmon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127318732937562530" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6ijF1yT7jV0Ui8mMvsSlsFEPG_B766zCpKd-J6peBZgQRMjvOsdh2zH8CiwoX-3JjIB7-gRQNt5qG0keFUR8yVE6ZxvZSywVBPZQlq31U6oq_rk-CwjUiIwpJqRzXoZSCzp7Hh8j22py/s320/Randy+Denmon.jpg" border="0" /></a>Did you ever write or publish anything before The Lawless Frontier ?<br /></strong><br />The Lawless Frontier was my first novel, no publications prior. It started out as a collection of short stories that I eventually turned into a novel.<br /><br /><strong>What led you to start writing fiction in the first place? Why did you choose a Western or historical novel if you will to make your debut?</strong><br /><br />The Lawless Frontier started out as historical fiction. That was the intent anyway. It was eventually turned into a western because the editor at Kensington, Gary Goldstein, liked the story, but wanted to publish it in the western genre. I was then required to make the appropriate changes to have the novel conform. I guess you could say that the publishing industry and market turned my first book into a western. But it turned out fine.<br /><br /><strong>Can you cite any authors as influences or inspiration for your work? What authors are you presently reading? How about writers in the Western genre?</strong><br /><br />There’s so many, I don’t know where to start. With some writers, I really like their stories, but not their styles, with others, it’s just the opposite. For a good combination of both, I’d say <strong>Elmore Leonard</strong>.<br /><br /><p align="left"><strong>The writing in your novel is very polished and showcases a self-assured prose that is not always usual for authors making their debut. Did you place lot of emphasis on crafting the perfect sentence or were you more concerned with your writing being serviceable to the fast-paced nature of The Lawless Frontier?</strong><br /><br />Don’t think I’ve ever crafted a sentence, at least not from conception, but I do try to be bold – put the words down exactly as they flow from the mind, sometimes with a lot of disregard for the grammar rules. Terse, with a lot of quick stop and starts is always good for me. Though, I do find myself going back and cleaning up a lot of sentences after the fact. </p><p align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"I try to go out of my way to depict this and point out the parallels and ironies with the past. Much of what has happened in the past is relevant and parallel to things today: current problems and concerns, both on a grand scale or on the personal level."</span></em></strong> </p><p align="left"><strong>How much research into the history of the Mexican Revolution went into your novel? Does research play a large role in your writing?<br /></strong><br />I do a lot of research, and the research does aid in the writing. It gives me ideas about what to put on paper that will correctly reflect the time and setting. The first person narratives from a certain time and place are the best. They tell me what the people were actually doing, thinking, worrying about, etc. I always seem to pick up ideas from these. </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLeGXKhBRD46myRFzeGQGQTn74TYhrpU7elx4tEpY-zzcVtOyXhfIxq1N9c4wAZNKdh22Vx5u5sAGuHoIfaqXokSDz34zh9mgWyWfG_RJBybMf9pmwNj2cw9b2WHiXOWykUw_Js_Blv9Y/s1600-h/Lawless+Frontier+2.jpg"></a><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8fjF53CF5TogB0oI-7tMIx95woJsiDx4IIf7D3xUP66IV922VLJFRBlcQ8pLguyjo3LU1DPuV-S-6Pmsc7cJyJnnRZjv8fTdayq3k5kMPFoyTYFVMxk6qJ7N9yUiNwTzVAVl-tNDAbcWM/s1600-h/Lawless+Frontier.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127335152597535202" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8fjF53CF5TogB0oI-7tMIx95woJsiDx4IIf7D3xUP66IV922VLJFRBlcQ8pLguyjo3LU1DPuV-S-6Pmsc7cJyJnnRZjv8fTdayq3k5kMPFoyTYFVMxk6qJ7N9yUiNwTzVAVl-tNDAbcWM/s400/Lawless+Frontier.jpg" border="0" /></a>Throughout your novel, characters like Stewart Cook make comments about foreign entanglements and life in countries with politically volatile situations. What led you to write about Americans caught in the middle of the Mexican Revolution? Did you consciously set out to draw some parallels between that historical episode and current events?</strong><br /><br /><p align="left">I lived in Mexico at one time and have always been fascinated with the place. It is, like America, a land of contradictions, good and bad. This is true with all of us also. </p><p align="left">I try to go out of my way to depict this and point out the parallels and ironies with the past. Much of what has happened in the past is relevant and parallel to things today: current problems and concerns, both on a grand scale or on the personal level. </p><p align="left"></p><br /><p align="left"><strong>Could you describe the critical reception that your first novel garnered? How about National Book Award winner Tim O’Brien’s words of praise for the novel? After all, it is pretty unusual to see a so-called mainstream author raving about genre fiction. </strong></p><p align="left">All of the awards and accolades are just great. They are one of the few bonuses you receive in this business that is much more work than rewards. For me, they’ve seemed to motivate me as well as provide me with some satisfaction that my work is being enjoyed. </p><p>Tim O'Brien is a great guy. I met him at a writers' event in San Angelo, Texas. It [is] a conference they have there every year that Elmer Kelton is a part of. I talked to Tim about the book and other things. [H]e agreed to read the book and give me a blurb if he liked it, which he followed through on. </p><p align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"I’ve (...) learned that publishers are not in the business for awards and acclaim, but to make a profit. They would rather publish something that is bad that sells than vice versa. Actually, if [I] had any advice to aspiring writers it would [be] to grasp this concept and not fight it – which we all have a tendency to do."</span></em></strong> </p><p><strong>The Lawless Frontier is being ostensibly marketed as a Western. Did you have any say in this? Did you come up with the title and/or have any say about the cover illustration? This is not to say there is anything wrong with either, but I am asking you this in view of how many good novels (such as yours) are often overlooked by critics and even the public at large because they happen to be associated with a non-mainstream genre such as Westerns, mysteries, etc.</strong><br /><br />As I mentioned before, I had no say in the fact that the novel was marketed as a western; no say in the title or cover. No say in the marketing at all. I would have liked to have had a more mainstream title and cover. But I was essentially told it would be marketed as a western. In today’s climate and marketplace, first novelists have little clout, and they generally have to do as the publishers request if they want to get into print. I have learned since that it is easier to get genre fiction from lesser known writers into bookstores – probably why the publishers take the routes they do. I’ve also learned that publishers are not in the business for awards and acclaim, but to make a profit. They would rather publish something that is bad that sells than vice versa. Actually, if [I] had any advice to aspiring writers it would [be] to grasp this concept and not fight it – which we all have a tendency to do. </p><p><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFME5WCK6D3XsEVVt3KyCX5YIoCBOKXywXdR9vTnXRrfP1cf68aHA6jz3hstXdh-BJB8P1VTYyXxBqbtRFqN5xGmWYvhWJjbtA9Rz52z12_MsyKJFx8MyzsHfBumH5jllH9pHXb2ZLRD_/s1600-h/Lawless+Frontier.jpg"></a>Every few years or so there is talk about Westerns making a comeback, comments that usually revolve around the success of TV productions such as Deadwood or recent films like 3:10 to Yuma. What is your assessment of the present state of Westerns and, more specifically, Western fiction?</strong><br /><br />Westerns are definitely making a comeback, both on screen and in print. The national sales numbers are in an upward trend, and many more bookstores have plans to create western sections. I’ve been lucky in this regard – hitting the market at the right time. And only recently, The Lawless Frontier was optioned for a movie by a Hollywood production company. There’s probably a 50 percent chance it will get made in some form. I have my fingers crossed.</p><p><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFME5WCK6D3XsEVVt3KyCX5YIoCBOKXywXdR9vTnXRrfP1cf68aHA6jz3hstXdh-BJB8P1VTYyXxBqbtRFqN5xGmWYvhWJjbtA9Rz52z12_MsyKJFx8MyzsHfBumH5jllH9pHXb2ZLRD_/s1600-h/Lawless+Frontier.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJkcqHVTQvYEhhCu5OyYbbQm8Pux8Dtj9ZJ6doDIczgiKF_UkNSNDgTrQlXCW1sjNWD69uW5wlqhbsUgvI_0RmWCHKLHyXuOqjA3YZaBa5irpLjPbNyAhpF3B6CeZdI5MuauGYYvEpxnI6/s1600-h/Lawless+Frontier+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127335350166030834" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJkcqHVTQvYEhhCu5OyYbbQm8Pux8Dtj9ZJ6doDIczgiKF_UkNSNDgTrQlXCW1sjNWD69uW5wlqhbsUgvI_0RmWCHKLHyXuOqjA3YZaBa5irpLjPbNyAhpF3B6CeZdI5MuauGYYvEpxnI6/s320/Lawless+Frontier+2.jpg" border="0" /></a>Is your second book also a historical novel? Could you tell us more about it and also when will it go out on sale?<br /></strong><br />My second book is about two Texas Rangers fighting in the Texas Revolution and Mexican American War. In some ways, it’s similar to The Lawless Frontier, at least in its attempt point out many of the ironies of the past and their relevance to today. The publisher is still working on the title and publication date. Hopefully, sometime next year. I’m still not getting much say in the title, but it probably will be The Savage Breed or Legions of Vengeance. I’m hoping for the latter.<br /><br /><strong>Are you planning to write more novels featuring the characters from The Lawless Frontier? Are you planning to keep on writing Westerns or historical novels or do you see your writing going in other directions in the future?</strong><br /><br />No more stories based on The Lawless Frontier, but my third book, now complete, is about the Marines fighting in Central American during the 1930s. I’m going to hold out to have this published as mainstream fiction – I hope. I’ll probably always only write historical stuff. It’s what I like, but I certainly plan to write more westerns, hopefully more contemporary westerns like what I consider The Lawless Frontier. </p>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-84281972777410951982007-10-29T01:24:00.000-04:002007-10-29T12:13:29.828-04:00Saddlebums Review: The Lawless Frontier<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5x1oZOtmNDH_JZJp7OXXGfLpS_UCeS4HzjSW3RaZIiNnIsKVpQwqSk901MNHOjMsFRvnkOWMim8Iv_btTcAWbV8uEXZaTj0N7BxPAGWliUkWyzGPgB82Pas28xIEPlALcCkL9Gk3G-FY7/s1600-h/Lawless+Frontier.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126626040612063618" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5x1oZOtmNDH_JZJp7OXXGfLpS_UCeS4HzjSW3RaZIiNnIsKVpQwqSk901MNHOjMsFRvnkOWMim8Iv_btTcAWbV8uEXZaTj0N7BxPAGWliUkWyzGPgB82Pas28xIEPlALcCkL9Gk3G-FY7/s400/Lawless+Frontier.jpg" border="0" /></a>Louisiana writer <strong>Randy Denmon</strong> surprised many members of the Western community when apparently out of the blue his debut title <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLawless-Frontier-Pinnacle-Western%2Fdp%2F0786018348%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1193635559%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Lawless Frontier</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" /> was short listed for the 2007 Spur Award for Best Original Paperback Novel. The book is indeed rare given how it reads like the effort of an experienced author, exhibiting the taut prose that is characteristic of some of the best traditional Westerns along with a story of breadth and resounding scope.<br /><div><br />Set during the Mexican Revolution, The Lawless Frontier pits two U.S. war veterans and partners-in-arms of the Spanish-American War into the heart of the bloody conflict south of the border. The taciturn, half Mexican, half Texan attorney Stewart Cook asks his former comrade Myles Adams, now a liaison officer for the U.S. War Department, to accompany him to Mexico for a most fateful mission: rescue his romantic interest Alexia García and her family before the rebel troops of Pancho Villa ravage her hometown. The enterprise’s prospects for success pale compared to the chance that the two men will make it out alive. And yet, before one thinks he is faced with the typical Western yarn where the adventurers beat insurmountable odds and outshoot every bandit in sight, Denmon starts to weave a far more ambitious tale.<br /><br />Adams and Cook are the unwitting witnesses of a vicious strife in a foreign yet neighboring land. Through their eyes the reader sees the plight of refugees leaving their towns before they are pillaged as anarchy encroaches the country. Through their interaction with other characters, Denmon also alludes to the Wilson administration’s hesitancy to intervene in the conflict, reflecting on the nature of foreign entanglements and drawing interesting parallels between past and present.<br /><br />Although they have experienced war fighting in the Philippines and both of them are skilled soldiers, Adams and Cook are not the larger than life individuals you would expect in a novel with this title and presentation (<em>allow me a little digression here, but this is yet another commentary on how publishers stubbornly insist on marketing Westerns as if they were assembly line products, clichéd titles and derivative cover illustrations included. For more on this, check out our interview with Randy Denmon on Wednesday</em>).<br /><br />In spite of his inexpressive nature, Stewart is often scared and feels doubts about the success of the mission. He has yet to express Alexia his feelings for her and yet he is marching across Mexico in a time and place where being an American is not only unpopular but dangerous. Myles, on the other hand, is a happy-go-lucky character who nevertheless excels at leading men through perilous situations. The rapport between Cook and Adams is reminiscent of that between <strong>Larry McMurtry</strong>’s Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae as their complementary personalities help them march on.<br /><br />If I could mention a minor quibble with the novel, it is one that in all likelihood is more the responsibility of its editors than of the author himself. As in many other Western novels, its use of Spanish is at times erratic and grammatically incorrect, something that while not critical to the story still undermines its authenticity. To witness, the references to the “Santa Catarina” river near Monterrey as the “Santo Catarina” river (p. 162) or the unlikely choice of name for one of Alexia’s sisters: “Alijondra” (nonexistent as far as I know) instead of the more plausible “Alejandra.”<br /><br />The Lawless Frontier is a solid first effort that, not unfairly, has earned accolades from a Western great like <strong>Elmer Kelton</strong> as well as National Book Award winner <strong>Tim O’Brien</strong>. Although it is uncertain whether Denmon will continue writing Westerns (or novels that could conceivably be marketed as such) he is a writer that merits close attention. </div><div></div><br /><div>(<em>Watch out for a Saddlebums interview with Randy Denmon on Wednesday)</em></div>Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-48478613281614968362007-10-26T16:50:00.000-04:002007-10-27T23:46:53.655-04:00Forthcoming Westerns: November 2007<strong>Update</strong>: Thanks to a tip from loyal reader and exellent writer Chap O'Keefe, I've added four <em>Black Horse Westerns </em>that will be released on November 30th--scroll down and take a look.<br /><br />Also, my list of November releases doesn't include any Large Print editions, and there are several scheduled. I have chosen not to include them because they are difficult to find in bookstores and usually reprints of titles that have previously been released, but truthfully it is more that these lists take a surprising amount of time to compile, and the LP editions would make the process even longer. If there are publishers or writers who want to see a large print edition included on this list please send me an email before the 15th of each month and I will be happy to include it / them. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNWu_de1g9h4ed0urhahB9Uigqjsp2MwgupMM-s8QqKJZPJJVE0vRUWNTnV62E0OKWnYaoeZhn66oBpaNDq3b7fPfbAANwzZSQBtiHke3j8o7UJFEVHJdL5xHZCE7SJYao3rPYgJcTjcD/s1600-h/45+caliber.jpg"></a><br />The western selection in October was terrific, and while November’s list isn’t quite as large, or as varied, it is still pretty darn good. We have a total of 24 novels coming out—they represent a mixture of new and old, and paperback and hardcover. There is also a large release—19 titles—of western audio books from Brilliance and Five Star. The bulk of the titles are the work of Max Brand, but the list also includes other classic western writers such as T.T. Flynn, Les Savage, Jr., T.V. Olsen, Lewis B. Patten, and several others.<br /><br /><div><div><div><div><div>I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween, and I hope to see you at the bookstore.<br /></div><div><strong><br />October 30th</strong></div><div><br /></div><div><em>Bronc Man</em> by Paul Bagdon<br /><em>Dogs of the Captain</em> by Max Brand<br /><em>The Trail of Whitened Skulls</em> by Tom W. Blackburn<br /><em>Walk Proud, Stand Tall</em> by Johnny D. Boggs<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Cxn7Fv_MMPHb8zX_sbm-SIrUL-fxzniS2KTHeNWovyjedaLycy4So28bqlMzuaN9xF-0lcxS5goVlMqEujhicX0g5RzuK16lIjWNcoBS7tEW7unEJpws6b4LwyJ8EndhIwnj2oTfIcgo/s1600-h/Walk+Proud.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125754838012124290" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Cxn7Fv_MMPHb8zX_sbm-SIrUL-fxzniS2KTHeNWovyjedaLycy4So28bqlMzuaN9xF-0lcxS5goVlMqEujhicX0g5RzuK16lIjWNcoBS7tEW7unEJpws6b4LwyJ8EndhIwnj2oTfIcgo/s320/Walk+Proud.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div>Synopsis of Johnny D. Boggs’ <em>Walk Proud, Stand Tall</em>:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>“Back in his prime, Lin Garrett was a legend as a lawman. The story of how he captured outlaw Ollie Sinclair was a favorite in Arizona Territory. But Lin hung up his badge long ago and now spends his days at a county home for the aged. His days are peaceful—until he gets word Sinclair has formed a new gang and pulled off a daring train robbery. The local lawmen are at a loss, but Lin knows just how his old nemesis thinks. And he’s out to prove no matter how many years have passed, he can still take down his man.”<br /></em><br /></span></div><div><strong>November 1st</strong><br /><br /><em>The Argonauts of North Liberty</em> by Bret Harte<br /><em>The Spirit of the Border</em> by Zane Grey</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>November 4th</strong><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><em>.45-Caliber Deathtrap</em> by Peter Brandvold<br /><em>Ricochet</em> by Thom Nicholson<br /><em>The Trailsman: #313 Texas Timber War</em> by Jon Sharpe</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>November 6th<br /></strong></div><div><br /></div><div><em>Honor of the Mountain Man / Preacher’s Fortune</em> by William W. Johnstone<br /><em>The Town Called Fury: Judgement Day</em> by William W. Johnstone<br /><em>Smonk</em> by Tom Franklin<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>November 13th</strong><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><em>Ranger’s Law: A Lone Star Saga</em> by Elmer Kelton<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>November 14th<br /></strong></div><div><br /></div><div><em>Crucifixion River</em> by Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller </div><div><em>Man from Durango</em> by Lauren Paine </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipRC9tkX_5YDayjnsjilSS0q7NNqW_aTlU-2QZZ6gllFJqwqWcSPI_x2RJj6HcAV-6WT75TYU1RvCAUUjoGZjO380VGOpCWxwlwBc5jhqrrpXmPRZ0y1d6STF-S_z3lknjIAGTYODtDypb/s1600-h/Come+Sundown.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125753863054548066" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipRC9tkX_5YDayjnsjilSS0q7NNqW_aTlU-2QZZ6gllFJqwqWcSPI_x2RJj6HcAV-6WT75TYU1RvCAUUjoGZjO380VGOpCWxwlwBc5jhqrrpXmPRZ0y1d6STF-S_z3lknjIAGTYODtDypb/s320/Come+Sundown.jpg" border="0" /></a>Synopsis from Mike Blakely’s <em>Come Sundown</em>:<br /></div><div><em><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">“Reluctant hero, Honore Greenwood, has a knack for embroiling himself in the most violen conflicts of the Southern Plains. Known as Plenty Man to the Comanches, Honore serves as ransom negotiator for captives among the Indians. As if his life wasn't in danger enough, Honore has offered his services to the New Mexico Volunteers in the Civil War. But as Honore's luck would have it, he's in the same unit as Luther Sheffield, a man whose grudge against Greenwood knows no boundaries, even though they are fighting on the same side.” </span></em><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>November 27th</strong></div><div><br /><em>Come Sundown</em> by Mike Blakely<br /><em>The Gunsmith: #312 Under a Turquoise Sky</em> by J.R. Roberts<br /><em>A Long and Winding Road</em> by Win Blevins<br /><em>Longarm: #349 Longarm and the Colorado Manhunt</em> by Tabor EvansS<br /><em>Slocum Giant: Slocum and the Celestial Bones</em> by Jake Logan<br /><em>Slocum: #346 Slocum’s Revenge Trail</em> by Jake Logan<br /><br />Synopsis of H.H. Cody’s <em>Redemption in Inferno</em>: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTrrHug3KBg-JSIDrSz79uLiRFLwGgSrVhqEMRi6oN0iLKZjGzjiI5wpiF22gZjxPQEqUdmTmvJezTZRPKXA0o3MT7fckOJNl8q5fyIcEMAvRK-RVS0FwHH3y2KhC_ZghdSOm_i-ykA_Y/s1600-h/Redemption+in+Inferno.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125753137205075010" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTrrHug3KBg-JSIDrSz79uLiRFLwGgSrVhqEMRi6oN0iLKZjGzjiI5wpiF22gZjxPQEqUdmTmvJezTZRPKXA0o3MT7fckOJNl8q5fyIcEMAvRK-RVS0FwHH3y2KhC_ZghdSOm_i-ykA_Y/s320/Redemption+in+Inferno.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“Lew Faulds got himself talked into taking the job of deputy sheriff in the town of Blind Bend by his two-timing sweetheart. However, he had no idea the job would get him into so much trouble. A set of outlaws came to town and killed the sheriff. Then they put a hunk of lead into Lew's hand, figuring they'd crippled him. Scared, Lew ran, only to meet up with a stranger who helped him out. Now the pair went hunting the outlaws and caught up with them in the town of Inferno. Would they survive the showdown and would Lew regain his self respect?”</span></em></div><div><br /><div><strong><em>Black Horse Westerns</em></strong><br /></div><br /><div><strong>November 30th</strong><br /></div><br /><div><em>The Bounty Killers</em> by Owen G. Irons<br /><em>Dead Man's Journey </em>by Frank Roderus<br /><em>Killer's Kingdom </em>by Greg Mitchell<br /><em>Peace at Any Price </em>by Chap O'Keefe<br /><em>Redemption in Inferno</em> by H.H. Cody<br /><em>Running Crooked </em>by Corba Sunman </div><br /><div><strong><em>Audio Books from </em>Brilliance<em> and</em> Five Star</strong><br /></div><br /><div><strong>November 28th</strong><br /></div><br /><div><em>The Bells of San Fillipo</em> by Max Brand</div><div><em>The Chains of Sarai Stone</em> by Cynthia Hasselhoff<br /><em>Deadly Pursuit</em> by T.V. Olsen<br /><em>Fire at Spider Rock</em> by Les Savage, Jr.<br /><em>In Alaska with Shipwreck Kelly</em> by Dan Cushman<br /><em>The Last Campaign</em> by Tim Champlin<br /><em>Night of the Comanche Moon</em> by T.T. Flynn<br /><em>Outlaws All</em> by Max Brand<br /><em>Ronicky Doone’s Reward</em> by Max Brand<br /><em>Ronicky Doone’s Treasure</em> by Max Brand<br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzlZwdwjop6iMihiKd6I-5MupDspZhFK-xFlRgg0MilUM0q2iYYYP6rI2zcRJ6nGzbTAlChAffPDmdyytwxCdus5A-7HtXSzEfvbxPaSQT_VjJzIn4PIY_pQhzXoSsaCmLJ0PtMOy2j8a/s1600-h/Last+Campaign.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125752153657564194" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzlZwdwjop6iMihiKd6I-5MupDspZhFK-xFlRgg0MilUM0q2iYYYP6rI2zcRJ6nGzbTAlChAffPDmdyytwxCdus5A-7HtXSzEfvbxPaSQT_VjJzIn4PIY_pQhzXoSsaCmLJ0PtMOy2j8a/s320/Last+Campaign.jpg" border="0" /></a>Synopsis for Tim Champlin’s <em>The Last Campaign</em>:<br /></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>“It's 1886 and General George Crook is holding a peace conference with the last wild band of Apache renegades and their chief, Geronimo. Will the Apaches really lay down their arms and go peacefully to Arizona? Everything seems to be going according to plan until Geronimo disappears into the night with a small band of warriors . . .”</em></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><div><em><br />Sixteen in Nome</em> by Max Brand</div><div><em>Soldier in Buckskin</em> by Ray Hogan</div><div><em>Speedy</em> by Max Brand</div><div><em>Tears of the Heart</em> by Lauran Paine</div><div><em>Timbal Gulch Trail</em> by Max Brand</div><div><em>Tincup in the Storm Country </em>by Lewis B. Patten</div><div><em>Trouble in Timberline</em> by Max Brand</div><div><em>The White Chip</em> by Nelson Nye</div><div><em>The White Wolf</em> by Max Brand</div></div></div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-85420127835554847932007-10-22T19:59:00.000-04:002007-10-22T20:31:09.889-04:00Saddlebums Interview: Ed Gorman<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQg9h13vYE9YX3PWzm506mECh2m-7-0iWIMogS4Vhr1kSeQ2VA0Mbw4MNtKTkBoM4uNN1szn-874oVKi0tSQe6P49cbCqq1jxjmuCp5rtzDqIZeYzqBGWswNw-lvtyjKd9jBew5uOmK9C/s1600-h/Ed+Gorman.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124320442348738418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQg9h13vYE9YX3PWzm506mECh2m-7-0iWIMogS4Vhr1kSeQ2VA0Mbw4MNtKTkBoM4uNN1szn-874oVKi0tSQe6P49cbCqq1jxjmuCp5rtzDqIZeYzqBGWswNw-lvtyjKd9jBew5uOmK9C/s400/Ed+Gorman.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div><div><div><em><a href="http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/">Ed Gorman </a>has been writing professionally since 1983, when</em> St. Martin’s Press <em>purchased his novel</em> Rough Cut<em>. Since then he has proven to be one of the most reliable and prolific writers—I use the word prolific in a positive sense—working. He has published novels in several different genres, including mystery, suspense, science fiction, horror, and western.<br /><br />Mr. Gorman has been nominated for several writing awards, and he won the</em> Spur Award <em>in 1993 for his short story</em> “The Face.” <em>He has been called “the poet of dark suspense” by</em> Bloomsbury Review<em>, and “a master storyteller” by the</em> Dallas Morning News<em>. I have been an avid reader of his work for several years, and no matter what Ed Gorman chooses to write, you can count on one thing: it will be very entertaining.<br /><br />He lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with his wife, writer Carol Gorman.<br /></em><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9CcwChfmzu-RscHlcNPwFETqiPzTvM70oas81BkQG1Shety6CW2d4vHmVMPcRumyLnS_Vd6YCq6uG3YBoXPXKcYi9tsb39vsSyZYZ9x7PIDFCXBgVo4PtBX2E4ngwLcOqd-cLkIHYxf_/s1600-h/Different+Kinds+of+Dead.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124320244780242786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9CcwChfmzu-RscHlcNPwFETqiPzTvM70oas81BkQG1Shety6CW2d4vHmVMPcRumyLnS_Vd6YCq6uG3YBoXPXKcYi9tsb39vsSyZYZ9x7PIDFCXBgVo4PtBX2E4ngwLcOqd-cLkIHYxf_/s320/Different+Kinds+of+Dead.gif" border="0" /></a>I have been reading your work—everything from westerns to mysteries to horror and science fiction, and I’m impressed with its overall diversity. My question, is there a specific genre you most prefer to work in?<br /></strong><br />Mystery and suspense, I suppose. But I’ve worked in horror and science fiction with great pleasure.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“I could never come close to finishing a novel until I met Max Allan Collins who gave me two great pieces of advice—look at each chapter as a story and never look back until you’ve finished the book.” </span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jovY6k2SZrZLFZklx1ZMI0xp2qrFuXuhDI_21s7d_9tBDnGDNfT6tBLmnScgAkWWiYQ1rGv6X9sFbUn-lo9QTkIdIsECIi78G1twfHGsixcOBqx1dTK7UpjG7YfHEoV-sEXYKm28Ah7g/s1600-h/Cage+of+Night.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124319548995540818" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jovY6k2SZrZLFZklx1ZMI0xp2qrFuXuhDI_21s7d_9tBDnGDNfT6tBLmnScgAkWWiYQ1rGv6X9sFbUn-lo9QTkIdIsECIi78G1twfHGsixcOBqx1dTK7UpjG7YfHEoV-sEXYKm28Ah7g/s320/Cage+of+Night.gif" border="0" /></a><strong>I want to talk a little about your publishing history, what is the first novel you published? Was it a long time coming, or did you hit print pretty quickly once you decided to write it?<br /><br /></strong>I wrote a lot of stuff for men’s magazines in the Sixties and Seventies. I could never come close to finishing a novel until I met <a href="http://www.maxallancollins.com/">Max Allan Collins </a>who gave me two great pieces of advice—look at each chapter as a story and never look back until you’ve finished the book. Then worry about revisions. I finished <em>Rough Cut</em> and shopped it around. Agents felt that the narrator was more psychotic than the villain. I sent it to <em>St. Martin’s Press</em> where it was fished out of slush and bought. This was 1983.<br /><br /><strong>When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?<br /></strong><br />Probably around age eight. The nuns fed me Jack London and I discovered Ray Bradbury on my own. After reading those guys I never faltered in wanting to be a published writer.<br /><br /><strong>It is my understanding that you have written several novels under house names, mostly in <em>The Trailsman </em>series. When you write under a house name do you approach it differently than your other work?<br /></strong><br />I do the best work I can on every project.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDQGuZu79gKUexavje6yvqCGCopZs3gDX4NmU3tzMQWAlfaTb9ygSQbBzzaBEMF_18R-FDbAoU-hEGHhRV8eB116XWdZWhu20NYjwPZ70kQX2T3V86v25xAv4VgUibumDpFxiqWqa8W4q/s1600-h/Lynched.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124318870390708034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDQGuZu79gKUexavje6yvqCGCopZs3gDX4NmU3tzMQWAlfaTb9ygSQbBzzaBEMF_18R-FDbAoU-hEGHhRV8eB116XWdZWhu20NYjwPZ70kQX2T3V86v25xAv4VgUibumDpFxiqWqa8W4q/s320/Lynched.jpg" border="0" /></a>Most of your western fiction is non-traditional. You seem to use many of the same elements as one would find in a mystery novel. Your Noah Ford character from the Cavalry Man novels has more in common with a modern mystery protagonist than he does with the traditional western outsider. Is this an effort to move away from the traditional western, or simply expand the definition of what a western is? Do you think these novels would be more popular if they were marketed as a western mystery rather than a traditional western?<br /></strong><br />I think you have to find a special angle to sell crossover books. <a href="http://stevehockensmith.typepad.com/">Steve Hockensmith </a>with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-Range-Mysteries/dp/0312358040/ref=sr_1_1/002-6540426-9075200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193099042&sr=8-1"><em>Holmes On The Range</em> </a>brought something fresh and exciting to the crossover and has been very successful for doing so.<br /><br /><strong>Is there a book, or a few books, that you have written and are particularly proud of?<br /></strong><br />My favorites are <em>The Autumn Dead</em>, <em>Blood Moon</em>, <em>The Night Remembers</em>, and <em>Cage of Night</em> in suspense; <em>Wolf Moon</em> and <em>Ghost Town</em> in westerns.<br /><br /><strong>Most writers are voracious readers, and I’m wondering what you read for pleasure?<br /></strong><br />On my nightstand presently I have the <em>Collected Short Stories</em> of William Faulkner, <em>Ten Stories from Detective Aces</em> pulp magazine, a history of the Homefront during World War Two and a huge volume of the original <em>Jonah Hex</em> comic book stories by Michael Fleischer. </div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGPbl03hXMZtKlOBjVzChLpEv2KJJV0SdXP7Ag9zrnfQlBB3jfKSQ4lN_UuvHfFoOQCaI1MTyKFEKBss2mZCPO8jJmV2Ft29NG9pIY8ap3fFGe9ZLIRgmpi3VOMj512mvdkQeKz_8iyOU/s1600-h/Fools+Rush+In.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124317925497902898" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGPbl03hXMZtKlOBjVzChLpEv2KJJV0SdXP7Ag9zrnfQlBB3jfKSQ4lN_UuvHfFoOQCaI1MTyKFEKBss2mZCPO8jJmV2Ft29NG9pIY8ap3fFGe9ZLIRgmpi3VOMj512mvdkQeKz_8iyOU/s320/Fools+Rush+In.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">“Mine is the last generation that really grew up on westerns. I saw them in the theaters and on television and I read them in comic books and paperbacks.”<br /></span></em><br /><strong>Now I want to turn to the western genre specifically. What first led you to the genre?</strong><br /><br />Mine is the last generation that really grew up on westerns. I saw them in the theaters and on television and I read them in comic books and paperbacks. Writing them came naturally. I owe Bob Randisi a lot for first getting me published as a writer.<br /><br /><strong>What are a few of the western writers who have most influenced your work?<br /></strong><br />Max Brand, <a href="http://www.elmoreleonard.com/">Elmore Leonard</a>, <a href="http://www.lorenestleman.com/">Loren D. Estleman</a>, Clifton Adams, Dorothy Johnson would be a few of them.<br /><br /><strong>If you could bring back the work of one western writer who would it be? Is there a specific title?<br /></strong><br />I’d bring back six or seven of the best Clifton Adams novels.<br /><br /><strong>You also write mysteries, and it seems there has been—both historically as well as today—a significant amount of authors who do good work in both genres. Do you think there is a relationship between the mystery and the western that promotes this crossover, or is it simply the economics of professional writing?<br /></strong><br />Again, I think it’s generational. You don’t find many—or any that I can think of—of the Thirty-somethings writing westerns and mysteries today. Loren is the last of the breed. He’s in his Forties I think. And he’s one of the all-time best, too.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFP-tk7fcrq06od2McoKew5PNuI6aTOb0dnvVavlF3eXhyphenhyphen42vzYQM6aN4r2t3YpytS0o-bdftFHs-L2osgDb2WYnHUZqjUgvQsrPPBX9x4puU7ZZKqXhkUlaEXE6GzZIpXSCuxGzako13/s1600-h/Doom+Weapon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124317199648429858" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFP-tk7fcrq06od2McoKew5PNuI6aTOb0dnvVavlF3eXhyphenhyphen42vzYQM6aN4r2t3YpytS0o-bdftFHs-L2osgDb2WYnHUZqjUgvQsrPPBX9x4puU7ZZKqXhkUlaEXE6GzZIpXSCuxGzako13/s320/Doom+Weapon.jpg" border="0" /></a>The mystery genre is thriving, but many believe the western is in decline. What do you think about the western genre today, and what do you think the future holds for the western story?<br /></strong><br />I’ve been asked this a couple of times. I wish I had some wisdom on the subject. But I don’t. To me cops replaced cowboys.<br /><br /><strong>Okay, now lets get down to your current work. What is your latest novel?<br /></strong><br />My current novel is <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fools-Rush-Mccain-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/1933648325/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6540426-9075200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193099139&sr=1-1">Fools Rush In</a></em>. This is my take on how small town Iowa responded to the Civil Rights movement of the early Sixties. I have another novel called <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cavalry-Man-Doom-Weapon/dp/0060734868/ref=sr_1_1/002-6540426-9075200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193099196&sr=1-1">Doom Weapon</a></em>, the last in my <em>Cavalry Man</em> series coming in paperback from HarperCollins. It’s probably out now though I haven’t seen a copy. In the spring I have a St. Martin’s novel called <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Dogs-Ed-Gorman/dp/0312367848/ref=sr_1_1/002-6540426-9075200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193099241&sr=1-1">Sleeping Dogs</a></em>, a political whodunit. I used to write speeches for congressman. Lots of anger in this book.<br /><br /><strong>Can you tell us about the novel—or any other projects—you are working on now?<br /></strong><br />My next novel will be in the suspense realm. I never talk about work in progress.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1wdyW0_5kWIEQ8ASM9IAUAv1r1E2Z7AHCmhKUu0jCXxcoFGLsbGibK-hMBqv5K6Ec3J0bzc6aMdVpamD0PzP4G1f61wbQOT3TmdwBLkEZH-SywQiU2bvAY4JT7QSe9tDrW0kQHkuvoUl/s1600-h/Sleeping+Dogs.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124316727202027282" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1wdyW0_5kWIEQ8ASM9IAUAv1r1E2Z7AHCmhKUu0jCXxcoFGLsbGibK-hMBqv5K6Ec3J0bzc6aMdVpamD0PzP4G1f61wbQOT3TmdwBLkEZH-SywQiU2bvAY4JT7QSe9tDrW0kQHkuvoUl/s320/Sleeping+Dogs.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>I have one last question, and I must warn it is a little vague. If you could chose any project to work on, what would it be?<br /></strong><br />That’s a good question and you know, I have no idea. My best stuff seems to have just happened without much planning on my part. I wrote three or four novels that were part of a Big Plan to increase the size of my audience. I think they were adequate, one of them I like, but somehow they weren’t as much fun to do as the work that somehow seems to get done on its own.</div></div></div></div></div>Ben Bouldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16024782701164448300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8395849312265352764.post-84527154595979407762007-10-17T05:28:00.000-04:002007-10-17T06:56:05.299-04:00Saddlebums Interview: Tim McGuire<em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB79qu4fG_u6kB7bQm_cnTuXJ8HXbtLKoA3NnMjLv2vuSLFdAD1gmxGLwFVsHMIpX0vnrAcvPsIzaIr3tYoQTvmFbJZZpFsOii98Xzt3Lz-D-eZ2Tu35t1E6UHfxbu1b1wtDG4lC0pftxK/s1600-h/mcgu_tim.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122138397913963314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB79qu4fG_u6kB7bQm_cnTuXJ8HXbtLKoA3NnMjLv2vuSLFdAD1gmxGLwFVsHMIpX0vnrAcvPsIzaIr3tYoQTvmFbJZZpFsOii98Xzt3Lz-D-eZ2Tu35t1E6UHfxbu1b1wtDG4lC0pftxK/s400/mcgu_tim.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a>Illinois-born and Texas-raised </em><a href="http://www.timmcguire.com/"><em><b>Tim McGuire</b></em></a><em> has always had a fascination with history. He aptly translates it into his novels, action-filled yet character-centered stories that have earned him the accolades of Western greats such as <strong>Loren D. Estleman</strong> and <strong>Larry McMurtry</strong>.</em><br /><br /><em>Mr. McGuire presently</em> <em>resides in Grand Prairie Texas. His next novel, Texas Cowboys, is scheduled to release from Berkley in late 2009.</em><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>What led you to start writing in the Western genre?</strong><br /><br />As I've posted on my website and in other interviews, I am a product of the '60s where the Western was as common as the current "reality" shows. My mother loved Westerns and before cable TV, that's what was always in syndication. My father was a history buff, especially Civil War era, so I absorbed his love for the study and developed in my mind just what a character I would dream to be. That, and a lot of respect for history put together The Rainmaker. The character and subsequent plots developed into a series swirling around in my head.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-X8SrPA1jfJWO88vvGQt-962KODcuTO05Y2Azt3Z3_IZyRS5X-1C0vXAjjg1J3tW2YBaeopLSM9bD-Vt7YbNBOwj_w5gCv_jnApsDPnF5ABSa7qaEP1lzJDSKpsZcVnSk0s2IAsU9waiz/s1600-h/texas+pride.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122052605942225666" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-X8SrPA1jfJWO88vvGQt-962KODcuTO05Y2Azt3Z3_IZyRS5X-1C0vXAjjg1J3tW2YBaeopLSM9bD-Vt7YbNBOwj_w5gCv_jnApsDPnF5ABSa7qaEP1lzJDSKpsZcVnSk0s2IAsU9waiz/s320/texas+pride.jpg" border="0" /></a>You have written two series of books with regular characters: The Rainmaker novels and the Texas trilogy with Rance Cash. While the aforementioned Clay Cole, a.k.a. "The Rainmaker" is a rugged, tough, no-nonsense character, Cash's depiction is more lighthearted, him being a gambler rather than a gunslinger and his troubles often leading to comic situations. Was this shift from a gritty traditional Western novel to one that incorporates more humor a deliberate one?</strong><br /><br />I didn't want to create the same character and call him by a different name. In the Texas series, I started the storyline ten years earlier when the West was just a rumor to those in the East. Rance Cash is intended as a less than deadly serious fellow to follow with a bit of spicy behavior to his way. Les and Jody were meant as the focal point, but Rance was the one that kept you reading. I tried to think as a gambler must have thought in a game of cards and of life. He's not as cruel as those in accurate history, but I've tried to present him as a fortune seeker which is the prime motivation of most of those flowing west.<br /><div align="center"><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"I do believe that a well told story has a place for every interest"</span></em></strong> </div><div align="left"><br /><strong>Can you tell us more about the </strong><a href="http://www.timmcguire.com/pollpage.htm"><strong>campaign to "Save The Rainmaker"</strong></a><strong>?</strong><br /><br />I was trying to test the waters as it were to measure just what type of support I had to continue the series to the last four books. At current, I am still counting. It's understandable publishers measure success in copies sold. Although I have been pleasantly gratified with the personal responses I have received through my guestbook, more numbers are needed to the left of the decimal point to make publishers notice.<br /><br /><strong>You have been described by Loren Estleman as a "traditional Western" writer. Do you agree with that assertion? Have you ever thought about trying your hand at other type of stories such as historical novels or even other genres?</strong><br /><br />Let me first say, Loren was incredibily generous with his praise. That said, I am a fan of a well told story and am actively seeking to expand into other genres. I am a particular fan of the thriller genre in which I have a few projects brewing. As a far as a lecture on history in novel form, I don't feel qualified to write that sort as a form of entertainment which a novel should be.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwEhdjmgxPwgcpggsEdEkqEsdi39Fbr-fDABosMfLptV2eVgKr91539_chJo3Ksi7NS0kA5VdYTaqANM-B4WnTyLTBfjVXA7E-ZqDO0sFWdTQcjyypXcAlp0Yikg9TrLbIXfxCeY6PDEC/s1600-h/Danger+Ridge.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122136774416325394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwEhdjmgxPwgcpggsEdEkqEsdi39Fbr-fDABosMfLptV2eVgKr91539_chJo3Ksi7NS0kA5VdYTaqANM-B4WnTyLTBfjVXA7E-ZqDO0sFWdTQcjyypXcAlp0Yikg9TrLbIXfxCeY6PDEC/s320/Danger+Ridge.jpg" border="0" /></a></strong><strong>Many of your books include a blurb from Larry McMurtry that I think describes your novels perfectly: "<em>Tim McGuire writes a good western, the story fast-paced, the characters vividly drawn</em>." Was he referring to any particular novel of yours?</strong><br /><br />Mr. McMurtry was also very gracious to lend his name to my works and I have always sent him a copy of every book in which it appears. I am confident his comment is aimed at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDanger-Ridge-Tim-McGuire%2Fdp%2F0843944102%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1192590057%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Danger Ridge</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />, my first novel. How I am confident of that will remain between he and I.<br /><br /><strong>What are your thoughts about the present state of the Western genre and what do you think the future holds for the Western story?</strong><br /><br />In regard to the present Western novel in printed novel form, I'm afraid to say that the future is not VERY bright, but there is hope. First, reading novels in general is a fading medium due to the lack of free time required. Reading takes time. Watching is much easier which is why the success of most novels is amplified by the parlay to film.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7FZ3OFB0mbbEO8VVAxa9KVF7_1imoFqgaMDTkAwLzhaTaqYdSEHA89N3LnBhxhgtrR5AN1VHvKN__NbdbunZMCho8CpHMmKpfbZNiW0xWk9CeQKB6C7znQitMviaqO3EX0LKgEMcLpmj/s1600-h/manhuntcover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122051811373275874" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7FZ3OFB0mbbEO8VVAxa9KVF7_1imoFqgaMDTkAwLzhaTaqYdSEHA89N3LnBhxhgtrR5AN1VHvKN__NbdbunZMCho8CpHMmKpfbZNiW0xWk9CeQKB6C7znQitMviaqO3EX0LKgEMcLpmj/s320/manhuntcover.jpg" border="0" /></a>I do believe that a well told story has a place for every interest. Look at the upcoming films and the original printed works they are based on. However, I do feel there is a stigma to overcome. Most people that I have asked what they read respond that they read everything - except Westerns, which their grandfather/uncle/dad/or other older relative used to always read. When I ask what they like in a story, they respond intrigue, suspense, and a little romance. Younger readers appear attracted to fantasy, where their minds can wander.<br /><br />The accurate truth is that the historical west was a fantasy to those whom observed it first hand. Imagine the landscapes of Western Montana or Southern Arizona seen for the first time. Describe that in detail, and then develop characters who resonate to the current reader and there is hope for the genre. I've been contacted by more than one person whom told me they seldom or never read a Western but felt compelled to tell me how much they enjoyed the story. See my guestbook and archive page.<br /><br /><strong>Most writers are voracious readers and you are probably not the exception. What do you read for pleasure?</strong><br /><br />I must confess, I read mostly nonfiction for research. I seldom read fiction for two reasons. One, I don't want to be tempted to copy another style and, two, if I have time to read, I have time to write.<br /><br /></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">"Imagine the landscapes of Western Montana or Southern Arizona seen for the first time. Describe that in detail, and then develop characters who resonate to the current reader and there is hope for the genre"</span></strong></em></div><br /><strong>Do you have any writing influences? How about influences in the Western genre?</strong><br /><br />I don't have a writer that I follow for the reasons above. I did greatly enjoy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTrue-Grit-Charles-Portis%2Fdp%2F1585679380%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1192591543%26sr%3D1-1&tag=saddlwesterev-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">True Grit</a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=saddlwesterev-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" border="0" />.<br /><br /><strong>Are there any Western writers you would like to see back in print?</strong><br /><br />Most of those names are still in print. I'm not sure of the stories meantfor readers of the '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s will sell well in today's market.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-kkZBjTwDQirsoNlMd81DuTlACukJrsbmRUsvLAa5h57FEXcJfd5V5Ay5gEEmZxbBXkCi8C6_vnrKSLEVkzJgSbFBbwQ2T6dM4hfHiKBTO55eC2WQdcXBhaWz2Dp43nRZdNvyJ034sG3/s1600-h/Barbary.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122051064048966338" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-kkZBjTwDQirsoNlMd81DuTlACukJrsbmRUsvLAa5h57FEXcJfd5V5Ay5gEEmZxbBXkCi8C6_vnrKSLEVkzJgSbFBbwQ2T6dM4hfHiKBTO55eC2WQdcXBhaWz2Dp43nRZdNvyJ034sG3/s320/Barbary.jpg" border="0" /></a>Are you writing anything right now? Can you tell us more about any other projects you are currently involved with?</strong><br /><br />I have a few irons in the fire. I am presenting a continuation of the Clay Cole series. Also, I have project which continues the Texas series in the progress of the set timeline and may include a familiar character in his early years as well as a few famous names. Also, I have heard from the film world in California.<br /><br /><strong>What is the greatest satisfaction of your writing career? Is there anything else you still feel you need to accomplish?</strong><br /><br />My greatest feeling of accomplishment is knowing my stories are well received from those whom I've heard from. As far as yet to accomplish, I want to get all the stories in my head onto a printed page, both comtemporary and historical, mystery, humor, raw life and poignant moments.Gonzalo Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04947145087511918151noreply@blogger.com9