What the f**k is Yee Haw?

Pic from Joanne Walpole - click image

Great that Waterstones have started stocking westerns and the Black Horse titles in particular, but the book selling chain decided they wouldn't have a western section and instead started a new one - Yee Haw!

Not sure how I feel about that. It's great to see the books given such prominence in what is a chain of  major book stores, but does the category, "Yee Haw" sound rather ridiculous? What does everyone else think?

Thoughts on writing a western

The following article is reworked from a piece I wrote for the Archive back in 2009.

"One of the most vapid and infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood film producer." ...Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany 1929

"The western remains, I suppose, America's distinctive contribution to the film."...Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Show April 1963

Geographically and historically the concept of "The West" is very loosely defined, when associated with the literary and film genre of the western. With the possible exception of the Eastern Seaboard almost every part of the USA had been called "The West" at some stage in the country's history.

The federal government defines "The West" as including the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. But from the movies and books both Kansas and Nebraska can be added. And maybe Hawaii and Washington should be removed. The West of popular imagination usually contains those areas associated with the final frontiers of American settlement - anything West of the Mississippi River. An area associated with cowboys, Indians, outlaws and lone lawmen.

Amongst the earliest western literature with artistic merit were the works of James Fennimore Cooper, his most famous works being 1826's Last of the Mohicans - though by the true definition of the genre none of the author's works are strictly westerns. The books were set in colonial America and featured the British rule and true westerns are set in independent America.

EZC Judson, writing under the pen name Ned Buntline was an early writer of traditional westerns. He earned himself the nickname of, 'Father of the Dime Novel' and turned Buffalo Bill into a figure of mythic proportions. However the first western with the classic ingredients was Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902, which largely invented the guidelines that western writers still follow today.

The names Louis L'amour and Zane Grey have dominated the genre for many years and still do to some extent. But an early European champion of the genre was Karl May with his popular Shatterhand books. He wrote over 60 books but Shatterhand is his most famous character. Indeed Shatterhand was revived by B.J. Holmes in a series of books for the successful UK western house, Black Horse Westerns.

The cinema has always had a love affair with the western and during the silent era there were many hundreds of westerns made. Most of these have been lost to history but there are still some prime examples of early westerns to be sought out by fans.

Some of the most important silent westerns that still exist and can be found on DVD or in many cases for free download from archive.org include: The Iron Horse (1924) directed by John Ford
The Covered Wagon (1923) directed by James Cruze
Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) directed by D W Griffith

In cinematic terms there is little doubt that the Golden Age of the western took place between the years 1940 - 1970. There were many classics before and since but during these years there was never a time when most major studios didn't have at least one western in production.

During the Fifties and Sixties in particular the western also dominated the small screen with many western TV series being aired. Among the most well known are:
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
The Big Country
The Virginian
The Rifleman
Have Gun will Travel
Wyatt Earp
Wanted Dead or Alive

The modern era has also seen many classics of the genre, both on the screen and between the covers - Lonesome Dove, Sons of Texas, Blood Meridian, Tombstone, The Unforgiven to name but a few.

The Western truly is THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE. Kevin Costner is working on a new western, there are remakes in the works of both  Butch and Sundance and The Big Valley. American greats like Dusty Richards and Larry McMurtry continue to write quality western works. And America can also lay claim to Corman McCarthy who may not write western in the tarditional sense, certainly carries the spirit of the western in his work. British western house, Black Horse Westerns are continuing to bring out new western fiction written by writers from all over the world. Among these you will find such loved writers as Lance Howard, B. J. Holmes, Ben Bridges, Jack Giles,Nik Morton, Mathew P. Mayo, Chap O'Keefe and Jim Lawless - And that's not to mention old Jack Martin but I'm too modest to name him; self publicising hack that he is.This is just a small selection of the writers producing all new traditional westerns under The Black Horse banner. To list them all would take up a post in itself. And I may try that one day.

The western provides a form of escapism, a comfort zone that is becoming more and more important in the frantic world we live in today. There is an endearing quality in taking the imaginative leap to a time long gone and finding that the issues facing people were remarkably similar to those we face on a daily basis, it is inspiring to read about people facing up to life's trials and tribulations and standing resolute against anything thrown at them.


The western as a literary genre had its golden age sometime around the middle of the last century and indeed the writers of that period are still widely read today - L'amour, Zane Grey. But to find the roots of the genre you have to travel further back, much further - in fact to the Old West itself when hack writers were mythologising the West even as it was going on around them.





And we continue to mythologise the West and we will forever more. I like to think that in my own small way I have added to the myth of the West with my own novels, and maybe I've learned something since Tarnished Star was first published back in 2009 and maybe some of my tips listed below will prove useful to anyone wanting to write a western.

SO WHERE DO I START ? Research is very important in the westerns. You must get the details right, particularly with guns and location. I've often been enjoying a book and then I notice some mistake the writer has made and it drags me out of the story. Even minor mistakes can ruin a story. However the aspiring western writer should take heart in the fact that mostly everyone knows what the west would have looked like. This makes the writers' job that much easier and with the advent of the internet any required information is usually only a few key-strokes away.

THE ACTUAL WRITING. There is no one way to do this. Some writers like to rush through the first draft and then take care of structure, style and plot problems in the re-write. Others are more cautious and will plod along, revising as they go and when that first draft comes out it needs very little tweaking. I hop between both camps but I do like to keep the story moving along, to give it pace and I actually look forward to the revising once the first draft is complete. For me the first draft is a necessary evil and getting it out of the way is all important.


CHARACTERS. It is good characterisation that can turn a good story into a great one. Try and put yourself in your characters mindset and think what you would do in a given situation, however it is important to put modern inhibitions aside. You would have been a very different person had you been alive in the 1880's. Perhaps the single most helpful piece of advice for creating characters is READ, READ AND READ. Only by studying the work of writers you admire can you ever hope to understand the process involved in creating realistic people to populate what is after all an outlandish fictional landscape.

STOP PROCRASTINATING AND GET DOWN TO IT. The biggest thing is to stop talking about it and get on with it, as difficult as it can be to find time in our hectic lives it is important to be stubborn and get down to the actual writing. You must make time - no matter what- or your creation will always be a pipe dream. Remember it is no different writing a western to any other form of genre fiction and the tools used will always be the same. Behind every successful (define successful as professionally published)writer is a person who was pig headed enough to get on with writing no matter what was going on around them.

THE BEST ADVICE. And here it is, the best advice anyone can give someone wanting to write for a living, anyone wanting to hone their craft and create readable prose. It's nothing mythical. no arcane knowledge belonging to a select few. It is this - READ. Read everything you can get your hands on, devour every western that comes your way. Pay attention to the accepted masters of the genre and read classic as well as modern westerns. Look at what contemporary authors are doing with the genre. Just because the lone gunfighter is becoming a cliché doesn't mean you should forsake him or even her as the case may be. There are certain conventions the western fan demands and only by being familiar to the genre can the writer hope to recognise what these are.

So get writing, you've an arduous trail ahead of you but with stamina and a self belief as wide as the prairies you can do it.

My third western novel, The Ballad of Delta Rose will be published this coming July by Black Horse Westerns is available for pre-order now - CLICK HERE. Pre-ordering is the best way to ensure your copy and no monies will be deducted from accounts until the book is ready to be shipped.

The large print, trade paperback of my first western, The Tarnished Star will be published next month and is also available for pre-order - Click Here

The Wild West weren't like that

I've been taking part in an interesting debate on historical accuracy in westerns and does it matter, on the Black Horse Western Forum - anyone wanting interesting debate should join Here. Anyone can join but you'll need a free Yahoo account.

It's led me to wonder how important is it to be historically accurate?

In my own westerns I am mindful of getting the location, guns, clothing etc spot on but the wild west of my books owes more to the west of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood than the true historical west. In my west Billy the Kid lived to be an old man, Arkansas Smith was the quickest draw there ever was and Gary Dobbs is a wandering hack who pens popular dime novels full of lies. The books are written to entertain and I'm very conscious of creating a universe that is fantasy but at the same time feels real enough to convince.

In Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West - When Harmonica climbs down the ladder, only to meet Frank at the other end of a '45, we see that the ladder is electro-welded to the wagon and the steps are also electro-welded to the legs of the ladder - rather lousy welding seams, too! The movie takes place around 1870. Electro-welding started during the '90s, but the method got practicable only in the 1920s – and began to be commonly used in the late '30s when the great navies (except for the Royal Navy) started to use the method for their first-line ships. The great leap forward came during WW2, when Liberty ships and many other vessels were electro-welded.

In High Noon - After Gary Cooper writes his last will and testament, he puts it into an envelope and licks it shut. Those kind of envelopes were invented about thirty years after the film takes place.

In Tombstone - In the scene just before the fight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt is talking to his brothers and Doc on the porch of the sheriff's office. There is an American flag flying behind him with 50 stars on it when in fact there were only 38 stars on the flag in 1881.

A level of accuracy is, I suppose essential - for instance using a gun that wasn't invented until 1900 in an 1880 set western would be a no no. Maybe most readers wouldn't notice but there would always be someone who would know their guns and for them that would ruin the story. But no matter how well you research errors can crop up - for instance in the first draft of Arkansas Smith I had a character mention powdered milk many years before it had been invented. Thankfully the editor picked up on that and I was able to change the piece. Now I would never have known that and I feel I have a wealth of knowledge on the old west, as any writer of westerns must have. So it wouldn't have ruined the story for me were I reading it but someone would have noticed. The result that person would have been dragged out of the story by the error and would have a problem suspending disbelief further.

In The Shootist - The opening montage depicting Books's past exploits mentions a Colt .45 and shows a single action Colt revolver being fired. The date indicated on the screen is 1871. This revolver was not manufactured until 1873.

In The Alamo - The movie's opening scene manages to get wrong almost every historical detail except the names. Sam Houston was never in San Antonio with Colonels Neill, Travis, and Bowie. Then-governor Henry Smith - not General Houston - made Travis a colonel (in December). Bowie did a lot of drinking and carousing, but that never caused him to be demoted or to lose a command. Bowie did marry into the Mexican aristocracy, and he acquired a lot of land, but it would have been ridiculous for Travis to therefore doubt his loyalty to the rebellion. Bowie was one of the rebellion's best-known firebrands and had just taken San Antonio from the Mexicans.

So in the final analysis how important is historical accuracy in a western?

Pretty darn important, I guess.

Western X

Thanks to Bobby Nash ( he takes part in the weekend Black Horse celebration here on the Archive, you know )for bringing this to my attention - Western X, billed as an online drama like you've never seen before. I enjoyed this and will be following each episode.Check out the adventures of the Man with no Memory HERE

Western X Trailer from CAZADOR PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

Western Snippets

* In the movie Jeremiah Johnson, Robert Redford faced a never ending stream of Crow attackers after avenging himself on the Crow who killed his wife - the reality was somewhat different. John Johnson did indeed go into the mountains and married a Flathead who was killed by Crows while he was off hunting. He discovered that his wife had been pregnant because he found little bones within her animal gnawed body when he returned several months after the event. Johnson swore to kill as many Crow as he could and eat their liver - which he did and for 15 years he managed 247 kills. He only stopped when he came across a monument the Crow had built to the monstrosity of his acts. Johnson returned to civilisation and became a sheriff in Wyoming.


* Doris Day was the picture of sweetness as Calamity Jane but it reality Martha Jane Canary was anything but. She could shoot, swear and brawl with any man and for a time was a hooker for the army. She was always chewing tobacco which made her teeth a stained sepia and her hair was a tangled mess.


* Theodore Roosevelt said in a speech in 1886 - I do not go as far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians. But I believe nine out of every ten are and I shouldn't like to enquire too closely into the case of the tenth.

* Before his famous last Stand Custer said - the Seventh can handle anything it meets

WILD WEST MONDAY - SHOOTING YOUR WAY

The countdown has begun

2nd November 2009

This time in association with BHE Books we'll be running details of a cash prize competition revolving around Chap O'Keefe's popular Misfit Lil. And if you have bought a copy, or intend to, of the excellent Misfit Lil Cheats the Hangrope then hang onto your email recipet as you'll need it to enter the BHE competition. And if you want some free instant Chap O'Keefe western adventure then check out a full western novel in E-Book form in the sidebar of this blog. It's listed in the right hand sidebar and is in four parts - called The Sheriff and the Widow it's a full length novel that offers a great western story for nothing. Now that can't
be bad.


And for anyone interested in a western novel in the traditional style then check out my best-selling début, The Tarnished Star still available, with free worldwide delivery HERE. The book is going second-hand on Ebay for upwards of £15 but why bother when you can get a brand new hard cover for £9.20 GBP with delivery anywhere free. It's been constantly in print since June and is proving the western sales sensation of the year. Go get it folks.

It's the book that critics are saying, 'Is the best book I've ever had for propping up my table leg.'

So if you've got a wonky table or maybe fancy a good read you really can't be without The Tarnished Star by Jack Martin

And for the entirety of October The Archive will be posting nothing but western related posts to get you all in the mood for the next Wild West Monday. We've got interviews, film and book reviews, historical features and maybe the odd drunken cowboy. In the meantime if you haven't signed our petition then please do so HERE and let's push our beloved genre back into the limelight.

And keep your eyes peeled here and on other blogs for more Wild West Monday news - this time it's gonna' be bigger than ever.

Saddle up and let's ride for - THE WESTERN: THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE

100 BEST WESTERNS - NOT!

THE WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA, a non-profit organisation set up in the 1950's to promote the work of western writers everywhere. The membership is made up of over six hundred professional writers and last year they polled their members for the movies they consider the best ever. This month True West Magazine published the list and whilst all lists of this nature are bound to be contentious there do seem to be some off choices in the WMA 100 Best Western Movies of all time.

At the top spot we have Shane which would not be my choice for the best western ever, though I would most certainly place it in the top ten. My own choice for number one is The Searchers which comes in at number three, below High Noon and Shane. OK the merits between Shane and The Searchers can be argued but there's no way that High Noon is a better movie than The Searchers.

At positions four and five are Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and Dances with Wolves - both fine movie but better than The Wild Bunch, which comes in at number 6 and Red River at 7. I think not.

The highest rated Eastwood western is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at number 12 - the Unforgiven clocks in at number 16 while the Outlaw Josey Wales is at number 18. The fact that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is higher rated than Unforgiven is arguable and to be honest I sometimes feel that way myself. But each of these three movies should be higher up the list. They are certainly better westerns than Open Range at number 1o.

One particular absurdity is that the original 3-10 to Yuma comes in at 32 while the inferior re-make is rated at 23. I mean opinions differ but that's insane. The re-make was a good solid western but I wouldn't put it in the top 50 while the original certainly deserves a better placing.

The list also includes modern westerns - No Country for Old Men, The Misfits and Hud - the inclusion of these films has angered some fans but whilst I'm OK with including contemporary west movies I do find it absurd that they've ignored Cogan's Bluff which is far more deserving to be called a western.

The full list is posted below - what do you think?

The WMA are now polling for the best western TV series - it seems a certain thing that their bizarre choices will probably include The Dukes of Hazard and Little House on the Prairie.

WWA Top 100 Westerns

    1. Shane

    2. High Noon

    3. The Searchers

    4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

    5. Dances with Wolves

    6. The Wild Bunch

    7. Red River

    8. Tombstone

    9. The Magnificent Seven

    10. Open Range

    11. Treasure of the Sierra Madre

    12. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    13. True Grit

    14. The Shootist

    15. Stagecoach (1939)

    16. Unforgiven

    17. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

    18. The Outlaw Josey Wales

    19. Ride the High Country

    20. Jeremiah Johnson

    21. The Cowboys

    22. My Darling Clementine

    23. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

    24. Rio Bravo

    25. The Ox-Bow Incident

    26. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

    27. Lonely are the Brave

    28. Will Penny

    29. Hud

    30. Winchester '73

    31. Little Big Man

    32. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)

    33. The Grey Fox

    34. The Alamo (1960)

    35. Silverado

    36. Ulzana's Raid

    37. Once upon a Time in the West

    38. Rio Grande

    39. The Rounders

    40. The Big Country

    41. The Hi-Lo Country

    42. Duel in the Sun

    43. Fort Apache

    44. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

    45. The Last Picture Show

    46. The Grapes of Wrath

    47. Bad Day at Black Rock

    48. The Long Riders

    49. The Tall T

    50. Cat Ballou

    51. Tumbleweeds

    52. The Iron Horse

    53. Man of the West

    54. Seven Men from Now

    55. The Big Trail

    56. Three Godfathers

    57. Hell's Hinges

    58. The Wind (1928)

    59. The Westerner

    60. Support Your Local Sheriff

    61. They Died with Their Boots On

    62. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

    63. The Professionals

    64. The Cheyenne Social Club

    65. El Dorado

    66. Thunderheart

    67. The Virginian (1929)

    68. A Man Called Horse

    69. Hombre

    70. Barbarosa

    71. Chisum

    72. The Big Sky

    73. Young Guns

    74. Destry Rides Again

    75. Junior Bonner

    76. Angel and the Badman

    77. Warlock

    78. The Misfits

    79. No Country for Old Men

    80. Monte Walsh

    81. Four Faces West

    82. The Naked Spur

    83. The Gunfighter

    84. High Plains Drifter

    85. Devil's Doorway

    86. Law and Order (1932)

    87. Coroner Creek

    88. Valdez is Coming

    89. Hondo

    90. The Man from Laramie

    91. The Unforgiven (1960)

    92. Broken Arrow

    93. Bend of the River

    94. Giant

    95. Blazing Saddles

    96. The Culpepper Cattle Company

    97. Three Bad Men

    98. Pursued

    99. McCabe and Mrs. Miller

    100. The Great Train Robbery (1903)