|
The novel of the homestead cabin writes itself. It was a prologue of possibilities, of quails and tarantulas and Joshua tree groves and sunshine. Since then, its chapters, experienced at a 2,500-mile distance, waver between comedy and tragedy and tearjerker, with the love of my life, the cabin, being both beautiful and ugly, stoic and needy, a magnet . . . → Read More: Enter My House Justified; or, Skirmish at the Old Homestead Cabin  To Hell or the Pecos, by Patrick Dearen, is a fast-paced western that had me flipping the virtual pages on my iPad as fast as my finger could swipe. (Oh, I was riding a bucking bronco at the time, and shooting at bandits to save a rancher’s daughter. Just so you know I’m not a total . . . → Read More: Galloping To Hell or the Pecos; or, One Bucko’s Review of a Novel of Pursuit, Redemption, and River Crossings  4 comments  Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly  american west, cowboy code, Horsehead Crossing, novel writing, Patrick Dearen, Pecos River, Pecos River fiction, Texas A&M University Press, texas fiction, to Hell or the Pecos, western novels, westerns, writing novels is great I type these very words on land I recently purchased. “Land” is the glint in the eyes of Glenn Ford in Cimarron. The glow on the faces of pioneers racing their wagons to stake their claim. It was both a glow and a glint in my heart for a year and a half–and I couldn’t stand . . . → Read More: Home on the Range; or, Prologue–Getting Western in a Homestead Cabin Writing a novel is hard work. Writing a good western can be even more daunting: westerns, which tend to have plotlines so well traveled you can drive a wagon train through them, nonetheless require historical specificity and a protagonist who typifies rugged individuality—laconic and gimlet-eyed from the start or in a dude-to-hero arc. So whenever I read . . . → Read More: Writing the High Country; or, Author Larry Bjornson on His Western, Wide Open 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Uncategorized, Wrangling a Novel abilene 1871, american west, essential western plots, larry bjornson, novel writing, Western, western themes, wide open, wild bill hickok, wild west, writing a western novel I get two questions every day as I ride the high country writing a novel (don’t ask about progress, please), as I work hard (thank you, all the editors I work for–if I could, I would buy you all cayuses), and as I look for awesome land to purchase out west for my own little rancheroo . . . → Read More: On the Fringe; or, Wearing the West 6 comments Buckaroo Gear, Reach for the Skies!, The Good the Bad the Fugly american west, calamity jane in fringe, cowboy hero, fringe jacket, fringe through the ages, Gary cooper, I need to finish that darn novel, neil young in fringe, reach for the skies, silver-screen western hero, western cowboy costume, western wear The West has something for everyone on Valentine’s Day… For the breast-loving bucko or buckarette (but be respectful–Hannie Caulder is primed for vengeance)
Raquel Welch in Hannie Caulder, 1971
For the beefcake-loving buckarette or bucko (but if you want him to do anything but pose, he’ll have to put . . . → Read More: How the Western Heart Is Won; or, Happy Valentine’s Day in Cowboylands Westerns = Greek drama. And shut up, Aeschylus is so not rolling in his grave. He’d have appreciated the golden-boy good looks of John Wayne in John Ford’s Stagecoach and the film’s subtle yet sharp critique on so-called civilized society–the stagecoach journey as a vehicle for a development of a humane community that cannot survive in . . . → Read More: Men Will Be Men and Women Will Be Women; or, The Sexual Frontier of Epic Westerns 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowboys Gone Wrong, Cowgirl Mythos, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, State of the Union 2011, The Good the Bad the Fugly american west, cimarron, cowboylands, epic westerns, essential western plots, silver-screen western hero, western cliches, western genre, western men, western movies, western themes, western women, westerns, wild west The stirring, swelling strains of Cimarron (1960), directed by Anthony Mann, music by Franz Waxman, make me want to chop wood and haul water and ride fast horses over wide plains and watch over cattle in the cold moonlight night and sweep a woman into my arms. It’s that insidious. This score would trick anyone into becoming . . . → Read More: Music and the Western; or, The New West’s Bittersweet Lesson 4 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Movie Quotes, Reach for the Skies!, State of the Union 2011, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Uncategorized american west, cimarron, cowboylands, franz Waxman westerns, god's gonna cut you down, johnny cash true grit, peasall sisters true grit, true grit, true grit trailer, western movies, western scores, western soundtrack, westerns, where no one stand alone, wild west Cimarron!!! Cimarron!!!! The woodwinds and brass crescendo, a chorus of voices swells in epic awesomeness. And “epic” is the target word in 1960′s Cimarron, directed by Anthony Mann et al, a frontier saga that swells with its own importance from the opening credits. Full disclosure: I have not yet completed watching this film. Why? Because I have . . . → Read More: Following the Soundtrack of Dreams; or, Franz Waxman’s Cimarron 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowboys Gone Wrong, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Movie Quotes, The Good the Bad the Fugly american west, cimarron, cowboy hero, franz waxman, franz Waxman westerns, glenn ford, maria schell, oklahoma land rush, soundtracks gone wrong, western cliches, western movies, western soundtracks, westerns, wild west Writers are badasses. They have to be. The stereotype of a writer is a coffee-shop-writing fop in a cravat not needing to cling to a 9-to-5 job, but honestly, to get images to incarnate as black-and-white correctly spelled prose between a front and back cover with ISBN number, and read and critiqued and/or praised by more . . . → Read More: Of Western Writing and Dreaming; or, William Post’s The Mystery of Table Mountain 4 comments Cowboy Mythos, Origins and Originals, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Wild Western Web american west, Cowboy Mythos, james raymond, mystery of table mountain, novel writing, western book reviews, western reviews, wild west, william post, writing novels is great |
|
|
|
Copyright © 2013 CowboyLands - All Rights Reserved;
Web Design by LaFemmmeGeek |
||
Recent Comments