True West Magazine's best westerns of 2015

Has the great Madam western novel been written? If so, tell me so I can read it. If not, someone make it so.

"For the most part, the best westerns are those that omit, or minimize, the origin stories. John Wayne made any number of westerns where it was understood that he was tough old cuss, tending to fat, but we rarely dwelled on how he learned to shoot or why he walked that way. Clint Eastwood made a bunch of films where he was just a scruffy guy who could outdraw anybody and walk away with a squint, and that’s all we knew. There were a couple of others like The Outlaw Josey Wales where his background was provided in record time and High Plains Drifter where it remained an ambiguous mystery, and only one, Unforgiven, where it was a large part of the point. There are any number of films where we first meet the protagonist as he’s riding across the desert, and already know that he’s a guy whose adventures we’re here to see, without learning about every single trauma that shaped him." -- Adam-Troy Castro

Why 'Ravenous' Is the Greatest Cannibal Western Ever

An interesting conversation about westerns and whether a genre can actually die.

Winnette verifies what I suspected (and said here) about Haint's Stay. Namely that its influences were film and that he didn't/doesn't read much in the genre:

"Haints Stay was more intentionally built from movies than novels or experiences, though I’m pretty sure all the movies I watched were based on books or short stories — something that is notably common in the Western. I was interested in the stage dressing of the Western. But I didn’t let myself read many Westerns, though I wanted to. If they influenced Haints Stay, it was through gauzy layers of interpretation or my own bad memory." -- Colin Winnette

Bone Tomahawk Trailer

"The West for me is a haunted place. There are these mythic ghosts everywhere you go. I don’t know of a region that buys its own bullshit more so than the American West does. I went last night to a reading by a major figure in literature of the American West, who described the “settling of the American West” as starting in 1849—and I’m like, Uh, buddy when you’re doing all your walks out in nature did you ever find an arrowhead? Apparently it’s still okay for major figures to pretend that indigenous cultures didn’t exist. The way we talk about the California drought has like all the baggage of rugged individualism and Western exceptionalism all over it." -- Claire Vaye Watkins

Death of the western

Here's a death of the western theory I haven't heard before:

"The excesses and financial disaster of 1980’s Heaven’s Gate had nearly killed the Western."

Death of the western - random thoughts

The reasons why the western was popular (and is enduring) is many fold (birth of the American Myth for example) and the reasons why the genre died are many. Not the least of which is that it resisted an accurate view of the west, ignored the diversity of the west, and catered to a white, American, male audience (and was filtered through that view point). By the time the revisionist history books of the 1970's came out that showed a more accurate representation of the west and, more perhaps more importantly, the effect of those books were felt in fiction in the 1980's, it was too late for a course correction.

Also, in the 50's and 60's the ideal representative of the explorer moved away from the settler (ie: cowboys) and moved towards the astronaut. The western started to decline, science fiction started to climb. Maybe its a coincidence, maybe not.

Damn near every time a new, good looking western comes out someone writes a piece about whether the western is making a comeback.  It's not the old days of tons of movie westerns and won't ever be again (do we really want it to be?). A list of the top ten westerns from the last decade is easy to compile because there were only 10 westerns made, you just have to decide how to order them (sarcasm). Jokey bullshitting aside this Christmas looks to be a one good for western fans with two high profile western films coming out. Take a look at the trailers and let me know what you think.

If Laird Barron wrote a western

"Have you ever thought about writing a Western novel, with no horror or science fiction elements? I’ve considered writing in many genres. My grandfather was a failed novelist. Westerns were his favorite. If I do it, and I just might, it would be a sprawling epic in the spirit of Leone and Peckinpah, full of bloody revenge, heaving bosoms, and men who love gold and horses and guns and come to bad ends. And there’d be something fucking weird going on in the periphery. Sorry."

"When I run up against that 'How can you, a mere woman, write Westerns?' attitude, I mention that in my youth I owned a number of horses, did some trail riding in Colorado and Wyoming, and once worked as a shill to a horse trader in Kansas. I don't go into details about the trail riding being connected with a stay at a dude ranch, or the job with the horse trader only lasting a couple of weeks (he got arrested)." -- Lee Hoffman

"Long before Louis L'Amour, Max Brand, or Zane Grey thought about swinging up into a saddle, women were blazing a trail for the Western story. Even prior to 1902 with Owen Wister’s The Virginian which is widely respected as the novel that put the genre on the map, female authors were far ahead on the drive."

Some interesting items learned from reading non-fiction western material recently.

-Ernest Haycox rented a writing office in downtown Portland so that he would go to work everyday as if writing were a regular job.

-The slicks had an editorial policy to not portray Native Americans "sensitively or compassionately".

-When Jack Schaefer submitted Shane to Argosy Magazine it was his first fiction that he had written. He was such a novice that he sent them the original and didn't keep a copy for himself.

westerns as crime fiction in a historical setting

I'm familiar with the idea that westerns are just "crime fiction in a historical setting" (a comment left on my DSD post and one I've heard before). It's true, but only partially and to an extent. A lot of the westerns in the 50s and 60s for example were hardboiled westerns that fits the above idea but there is much more to the genre, and other modes and story types are available. My current opinion is that picaresque westerns serve the genre best for example.

July western reads

The Log of a Cowboy by Andy Adams (1903) - Andy Adams was actually a cowboy for many years. He didn't like the romanticizing of the West that was, and remains, prevalent. He advocated for a more realistic depiction of the west and his fiction demonstrated that philosophy. The Log of a Cowboy is his best known work and it succeeds in the author's goal. It is a cattle drive novel, written by cattle man, about a cattle drive, written in a direct style that contains a lot of details about driving cattle. It's a dry novel that is important to the formation of the genre that is both interesting at times and boring as hell at times. It's also a novel that was published in 1901 so there is some, shall we say, un-PC language used. Recommended. Ish. (In the public domain so is available for free online)

The Sea of Grass by Conrad Richter (1936) - This is a novel about one of a few central topics that western fiction deals with, the cattle baron and cattle man vs. the settler. The Sea of Grass is a western written before the boom horse-opera westerns and the rise of the hard-boiled westerns of the 50's and 60's so it has a different feel to it. It's a lusty, melodramatic novel with big characters making bold statements. It's an entertaining, if dated, novel. Side note: I did find the love interest to be a character potentially worth further exploration in another story. She leaves her husband, children and lover behind for a better live in the big city. I wanted to get into her head as it could have been interesting, but Richter never delves into it. Recommended.

The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones by Henry Neider (1956) - The Authentic Death is the fictional re-telling of the life of Billy the Kid reset in California. It's told in sparse impressionistic language that emphasizes the mythic while also trying, at times, to balance the reality. When people talk of modern revisionist westerns they often forget that revisionist westerns aren't anything new. This is an original take on the genre and a book that does not deserve to be out of print. Side note: This is the earliest usage that I have found, by far, of the word "fuck" in a western. If there is an earlier novel that uses it chime in below. Highly Recommended.

The Hell Bent Kid by Charles O Locke (1957) - I really liked this one. It has a tragic story whose ending is locked in place pretty early on but never feels redundant or, interestingly given the year it was written, gives fully into it's potential noir impulses. This novel also serves its characters well by isolating them, and bringing them into a stark clarity. Highly Recommended.

Tragg's Choice by Clifton Adams (1969) - I have conflicting reactions about this book. I enjoyed the hell out of it but also found it frustrating. The focus here is on a small group of characters with conflicting and overlapping motivations, so it's interesting to see how it all shakes out when the time comes for battle lines to be drawn. But some of the motivations could have been mined deeper. With passages like this Adams shows his comfort in classic noir territory (which he also wrote around the same time):

"When it was over Morrasey stood panting, the heavy .45, still smoking, dangling carelessly in his hand. Well, he thought with a bleakness that was just bearable, that's that. And then he waited for something to happen. He wasn't sure what he expected, but for the past several hours, which had seemed like an eternity, the point to his whole existence, and the hope of rest for Delly, had been centered in the act of killing Omar Jessup."

But nothing changed. Jessup was dead, but so was Delly. And then, slowly but with a fearful thoroughness, it came to him. It was never going to change. No matter what he did, it was never going to change."

       
Recommended

Tripwire by Brian Garfield (1973): Tripwire is an action filled revenge story as the protag is screwed out of his part of a big score and goes after the men who left him for dead. Tripwire moves a long at a fast clip before setting up the big finale. Of note is that the protagonist is a black man, something not too often seen in westerns. This one is a lot of fun. Recommended.

The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout (1975) - Swarthout should be having a mini-renaissance with the recent success of The Homesman, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Shame really as he's a hell of a writer. The Shootist was made into a notable western because it was John Wayne's last role before he died. This is the story of a renowned killer who finds out he has cancer and a short time to live. When news gets out he's got a lot to contended with as the dark side of the town emerges and everyone wants a piece of him and his legacy. This is a psychologically dark novel that delves deep into a dying gunfighter's mind and last days. Highly Recommended.

Haxan by Kenneth Mark Hoover (2014) - A weird western where the "weird" elements are played very subtly (arguably too subtly). I enjoyed this novel but also have some nits to pick. Namely that the first person narration doesn't do the main female character any favors. She is shown to be a capable woman, who loves the protag, and has a vested interest in seeing the primary case solved. I would have liked to see her be more central to the action instead of being confined to the hotel. The second book in the series was just released and I look forward to checking it out. Recommended.

I also read the following short stories in June. When I finish the anthology/collection I'll offer my thoughts on it as a whole.

"A Man Called Horse" - Dorothy M Johnson (1949)
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" - Dorothy M Johnson (1953)
"Lost Sister" - Dorothy M Johnson (1957)

From the collection Westward the Women an Anthology of Western Stories
by Women edited by Vicki Piekarski:

"On the Divide" by Willa Cather (1896)
"The Last Antelope" by Mary Austin (1909)

From the anthology The Best of the West edited by Joe Lansdale:

"At Yuma Crossing" - Brian Garfield (1986)
"Take a Left at Bertram" by Chad Oliver

From the collection Western Stories: A Chronological Anthology edited
by John Tuska:

"Hank's Woman" - Owen Wister (1892)

Four types of westerns

Read a piece that suggests that Westerns can be divided into four major categories: traditional Westerns, anti-Westerns, elegiac Westerns and experimental Westerns. Together, these four categories reveal not only common themes but also the extent of the diversity of Western movies, especially since 1960.

"But the western as a literary form left us with another legacy. No other region of the nation produced a comparable genre of formulaic, relentlessly aggrandizing whitewash--and it has stigmatized all subsequent writers from (and those writing about) this part of the country. To say one is a "western writer," or that this is a "western story," is to automatically raise a doubt as to its long-term merit as literature."

Half-baked article that starts off making a false assumption, that Stephen King is the father of the weird western.

Random thought

I had been thinking the modern western had, as a kind of crossroads, the fiction of Andy Adams and Zane Grey at the start of the 20th century. One representing the notion of realism and the other a more romanticized notion of the west. The latter won out. But this goes back even further, at least to the fiction of Caroline M Kirkland and James Fenimore Cooper, both of whom represented the same ideas and again the more romanticized notion won out. Be curious to see if it goes back even further. Imagine a world where Andy Adams became hugely successful and Zane Grey did not.

"...it would seem that Wister's personal values constantly interfered with his objective to describe the West and its people as they really were. Romance and marriage in his novels, as in some of his stories, serve only to emasculate his cowboys, to make them docile Easterners concerned more with personal ambition, accumulation of wealth, and achieving what by Eastern standards could only be considered social standing, rather than luxuriating in their freedom, the openness and emptiness of the land, and the West's utter disregard for family background. To make his cowboy's acceptable heroes to himself, as well as to his Eastern readers, Wister felt compelled to imbue them with his own distinctly patrician values. For this reason his stories cannot be said to depict truthfully the contrasts and real conflicts between the East and West of his time and Western readers of his stories have always tended to scoff at what he was presenting as the reality of Western life.

"Wister in his political philosophy was a progressive and what has come to be termed a social Darwinist....He believed in a natural aristocracy, a survival of the fittest -- the fittest being those who measured up best to the elective affinities of his own value system. ...Yet privately (and this is wht his journals are so illuminating), he lamented the sloth which he felt the West induced in people, and it was his ultimate rejection of the real West that brought about his disillusionment with it and his refusal, after 1911, ever to return there."

More on The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones

The Neglected Books Page has a page for The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones

Neider started out with the intent of writing a fictional account of the life of Billy the Kid, and his title pays tribute to Sheriff Pat Garrett’s own book, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid. But despite a long visit to New Mexico, during which he tracked down and interviewed a few of the surviving witnesses from Billy’s time, Neider was stuck until he decided to shift the setting to the central California coast and Baja Mexico, and cut any strong ties to the historical Billy.

First western to use "fuck"?

Reading a western from 1956, The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones by Charles Neider, and one character says "fuck you" to another.

This seems pretty early to me.

Does anyone know when the first F-bomb was used in a western? Could this be a contender?

The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones was filmed as One-Eyed Jacks in 1961 (starring Marlon Brando), was also published under the title Guns Up, Was last reissued was 1993, and is currently out of print.

Quick thoughts on June's western reads

.44 by H.A. DeRosso (1953) - It's easy to see why so many crime folks recommend this one. It's basically a classic, mid-20th century noir dressed up as a western. It can be a little tough to continue buying the protag's continued staying in the town but, recognized as the noir that it is, this is an easy enough hurdle to cross and the doomed ride becomes fun in it's own way. Recommended

The Searchers by Alan LeMay (1954) - This is one of those books that is hard to talk about without mentioning the movie. If you put the race issue aside for a moment, I've always thought the movie had its problems. Part of that is that Ethan (Amos in the book) dominates the movie so much. The book is told in a tight 3rd person pov from Martin's perspective, so the Mart character in the book is a far better character, with a lot of nice character growth, and worth the price admission alone. There's also some scenes that are gripping. One in particular is Amos and Mart trapped in a gulch by a blizzard for 60 hours. Just a fantastic scene. Is Ethan/Amos racist? and Is The Searchers racist? are two questions that have surrounded the movie for years. Is The Searchers (book) and it's author racist? I'm punting and will say that is thoughts for another day. Highly Recommended.

Death of a Gunfighter by Lewis B Patten (1955) - Good book that deals effectively with the idea of the aged gunfighter and his place in society as it progresses. In this case the town gave the gunfighter the Sheriff job to clean up the town, and then told him he could keep it for as long as he wanted since he did such a good job. Now they want him out, and he doesn't want to go. Patten explores both sides of this issue and swings the reader's loyalties from one side to the other. Recommended. 

Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer (1963) - Schaefer's Shane always gets the praise but Monte Walsh may be the better book (I read Shane year's ago and will be re-reading it this summer). Schaefer wrote some short stories about Monte Walsh that were then collected together and tied up together as the novel Monte Walsh. So the novel has a very episodic feel. Monte Walsh is an intimate epic, where one man's life represents the entire old west. Not only is the book a rousing story and very moving at times but Schaefer can actually write, so Monte Walsh utilizes a number of different literary techniques and modes by which to tell the story. Monte Walsh is an unheralded great American novel. Highly Recommended.

Gospel of the Bullet by Chris Leek (2014)
Gunmen by Timothy Friend (2015) - Straight forward westerns. My only observation of note (not a criticism) is that they both feel like the beginnings of larger stories rather than full stop stories. Maybe the authors will revisit these stories and characters at a later date. Recommended

Paradise Sky by Joe Lansdale (2015) - Lansdale's tribute to the black cowboys that rode in the west. This is a big old Texas yarn that is at times funny, harrowing, moving, goofy. Recommended.

Pig Iron by David James Keaton (2015) - What the hell is Pig Iron? Part absurdist western, part goof, part homage to western movies, part fleshing out of a Marty Robbins song. Sure, all of that and more. Some part of Pig Iron work better then others but it is a highly imaginative, highly original, highly fantastical western that is, at its best, a lot of fun. Recommended (but may not be for everyone).

Haints Stay by Colin Winnette (2015) - Haints Stay is a dark, moody, modern, revisionist western that is tonally related to the Sisters Brothers. Chances are if you liked The Sisters Brothers you'll be inclined to like this one too. One of the problems with revisionist westerns post Blood Meridian is that they all think that they are the first one to try and turn the genre on it's head. Revisionist westerns continue to trickle out, a couple a year or one every couple of years, and each occurrence is treated as if it's the best thing since...well... the last time it was done. And I say this as someone who likes a good revisionist western (which, btw, first started getting published as far back as the 50's). Recommended.

Possible film reference in Haint's Stay

Currently reading Haints Stay by Colin Winnette, a new release western from Two Dollar Radio. So far I would say it is tonally related to the Sisters Brothers, if you liked it you'll be inclined to like this one too. We'll see what the second half brings.

There is an explicit reference to The Searchers at one point and less explicitly True Grit soon after (any character, regardless of how minor, named Cogburn, in a western, has to be a True Grit reference, right?). There are possibly other references that I'm not picking up on. Does make me wonder my usual question after reading a modern western, does the author read westerns? If so, which do they like.

Westerns read in June

Here are the westerns that I read in June:

Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer
The Searchers by Alan LeMay
Paradise Sky by Joe Lansdale
Gunmen by Timothy Friend
Pig Iron by David James Keaton
Gospel of the Bullet by Chris Leek
Haints Stay by Colin Winnette
Death of a Gunfighter by Lewis B Patten
.44 by H.A. DeRosso

Thoughts on the western pt. 1 - What is the canon of western novels?

...or mapping a cannon and creating a reading map in three steps.

I realized a while ago that I've seen more westerns then I have read. So, I've got 40 yeas of western movies and TV shows under my belt but not as many books. I wanted to correct that so I've been trying to read more westerns. This will be the first in an irregular series on my thoughts and observations of the genre.

My initial wave of western genre purchases was scattershot, I started picking up cheap used western paperbacks at thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, etc. about a year or so ago. Here's most of my small, but growing, collection of westerns (and some non-fiction western stuff).

The next step is more focused. I wanted to know what the canon was. Regardless of one's opinion of a canon, they can be a useful tool. A way to see what books are considered the best, the most influential, the most popular.

After doing some research it seems that the following books would work as a small canon for the western genre (they are presented in order of release).

The Virginian (1902)
Rider of the Purple Sage (1912)
Sea of Grass (1936)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1940)
The Big Sky (1947)
Shane (1949)
Hondo (1953)
Hombre (1961)
Little Big Man (1964)
True Grit (1968)
The Time It Never Rained (1973)
The Shootist (1975)
Lonesome Dove (1985)
Blood Meridian (1985)
The Sisters Brothers (2011)

Turns out I've read some of these, have some others on my TBR, and I'll have to get copies of some of the others. I look forward to exploring these books to see what they have to offer.

The western genre arguably has what amounts to a codified canon. A couple of time over the years the organization The Western Writers of America has polled its members to determine the best works and authors in the 20th century. The results can be found here.

One of the things that strikes me about my cobbled together list and The Western Writers of America list is a couple of possible omissions. Two authors and two books. The authors are Luke Short and H.A. DeRosso. Short is a writer that a lot of people love and DeRosso is lesser known. The books are Deadwood by Pete Dexter and Warlock by Oakley Hall. I'm still doing a lot of reading so I can't yet say for sure if they are actual omissions or not.

The third step is relying on personal recommendations. Those books that people love. That blew their hair back. That may not appear on lists like the ones above.

Heath's Lowrance's favorite westerns
James Reasoner's favorite western writers
George Pelecanos' favorite westerns
Lee Goldberg's favorite western authors
The Five Most Important Cowboy Novels Ever
10 novels that show how wild the West really was
Top 10 Western Books

What is the canon of western fiction? Do you agree with my cobbled together list? How about the broader list compiled by The Western Writers of America? What are your favorites that maybe aren't listed here? What books should I add to my tbr?

Possible future topics:

-The canon's exclusion of more daring and experimental books.

-The possible effect of the popularity of cinema on the western book. Which results in people seeing more westerns then reading.

-Variants like acid westerns, surreal westerns, weird westerns. If/how they fit into the genre. Did they come about as a result of the ubiquity of western movies?