Sherlock Holmes and the Queen of Diamonds, a pastiche by David Whitehead and Steve Hayes, two writers well known to the Archive, is now available as a low price Kindle eBook and it's well worth reading and will appeal to not only fans of Sherlock Holmes but anyone who likes a well written, no nonsense action adventure with a cerebral leaning.
I found it interesting that the authors chose to write this Holmes book in third person, rather than the more usual first person from Watson's POV - After all Conan Doyle used the first person with Watson narrating the story for most of his Holmes adventures. True he did use the third person a couple of times, as well as having Holmes narrating a couple himself but these are oddities and don't stand up there with the best of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures. I asked author David Whitehead why he opted for the third person and he told me that he wrote the novel from an un-produced movie script written by Steve Hayes and that the third person narrative style was the only way to tell the story. After all there are sections of the story that neither Holmes, nor Watson witness. And of course using the third person means that the author(s) don't have to slavishly try to recreate Conan Doyle's own style, which is often a failing with Sherlock Holmes stories by other hands.
The story starts off feeling very much like a traditional Conan Doyle Holmes adventure but there is a major twist around the half way point that I just didn't see coming, and from that point onwards the feel of the book changes and it becomes a roller-coaster action adventure - think Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes but with more substance. The Holmes of this book is very much the deductive genius we know and love but Watson seems often to be a rather useless appendage, likely due to the third person narrative and of course that the main thrust of the story is not the relationship between Holmes and Watson, something intrinsic to the Conan Doyle stories, but rather the relationship between Holmes and a brash American, whose identity I'll leave the reader to discover for themselves.
That said this does indeed feel like a Sherlock Holmes adventure and I was hooked after the first few pages. If you like Sherlock Holmes then you'll enjoy this, but the book will also appeal to those who enjoy a damn good adventure - the kind of book that used to fill the paperback rack in years gone by.
Quite excellent...a story that can quite cleverly fit into the canon without causing any major ripples.
A Coffin for Santa Rosa Steve Hayes Black Horse Westerns First published 2009
Author Steve Hayes was previously interviewed by The Archive in Jan 2010 - A Coffin for Santa Rosa was his third Black Horse title, and like his previous two westerns it is a cracking read, expertly written but then given the author's background as a TV writer in the US, often contributing stories to some of our best remembered shows How the West Was Won and High Chaparral to name but two, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Steve's even collaborated with the great Sam Peckinpah.
Perhaps it is due to the skills learnt in episodic television (the need to tell an entire story on a limited canvas) that gives this book such effortless pacing. And it is paced well - right from the first page I was hooked and kept turning pages until the early hours. In fact I read this book in one sitting, unable to put it down until I'd turned the last page. I'm in awe of Steve Hayes and if my own westerns are even half as good as this guy then I'll be one happy chappie.
It's an off-beat plot - Gabriel Moonlight promises Ingrid Bjorkman that he will see to it that she is buried next to her husband in Santa Rosa. It is the dying woman's wish but knowing that Gabriel is wanted in New Mexico she makes him promise that he will hire a Pinkerton to deliver her mortal remains. However Gabriel decides to take the body himself and together with the woman's daughter, Raven he sets off on what will be a hazardous journey.
Steve came to novel writing after a lifetime spent writing for film and TV - he can name drop like no-one else, but then who could blame him when he counted Louis L'amour, Errol Flynn and Alan Ladd among his personal friends? I've not doubt though that had Steve started writing novels a few decades earlier he would have been up there with the likes of L'amour and Elmer Kelton - A Coffin for Santa Rosa is that good, as good as anything published in the western field.
The Western is not dead. I say this with total assurance because I have just read a Western that has rekindled my faith in a genre the critics have attempted to flog to death with their incessant negativism. It’s true the Western has had its high and lows, but this is natural for a genre so fraught with the very essence of the American experience.
The book I’m referring to is Packing Iron by Steve Hayes and it’s published by Robert Hale in London as part of their famed Black Horse Western series. For those unfamiliar with the Black Horse Westerns, they appear monthly and are generally lending library titles with a small print run. They have a devoted and passionate following among readers and writers alike, and in recent years the Internet has made acquiring titles a tad easier. The stable of Black Horse writers include many British, Australian, and American writers (men and woman) devoted to the thrill-a-moment action story that made Louis L’Amour a household name.
These writers are not getting rich; they are writing these books because they love the genre and they love to write. The books all run no more than 45,000 words and are packaged as small hardbacks with classic pulp-style illustrated covers. Certain titles, such as Haunted Pass by Lance Howard, command premium prices from collectors. It’s not uncommon for titles to go out of print within a few weeks because of the high demand and low print run. The stories are all noted for their attention to detail, fast pace and solid action scenes. Some occasionally rise above the traditional, entertaining oater. This brings us to Steve Hayes.
Steve is no rookie; he’s enjoyed a fantastic career as a screenwriter and novelist. Now he’s turned his attention to Westerns. It’s not necessary that you read his previous Western, Gun for Revenge, although that fine book does introduce the central character in Packing Iron. Gabriel Moonlight is one of the more refreshing characters to appear in decades. He is the heart and soul of Packing Iron. A third Gabriel Moonlight novel, A Coffin for Santa Rosa, is forthcoming.
Steve isn’t a writer to waste words. His style is concise but each paragraph is loaded with more description and insight than you’ll find anywhere. This is a writer that cares about his story. Caring is a rare commodity among writers these days. While Packing Iron fulfills its obligation to be a traditional Western on one hand, on the other it’s unconventional simply because it’s so good.
With Packing Iron part of Gabriel Moonlight’s history is told in flashback, but Hayes is more concerned about Gabriel’s immediate plight. Wounded in a shootout, he is rescued by a young girl named Raven and her mother, a young widow named Ingrid Bjorkman. Raven is not your usual teenage girl. She had rescued a black stallion from an injury and hand-fed it water until the horse recovered.
Raven has a knack for handling horses. She’s also impetuous and highly intelligent. The heart of Packing Iron involves Gabriel’s growing fondness for Raven and her mother. His slow recovery from a near fatal wound offers him plenty of time to get to know them. But Gabriel has unfinished business, and there are men hunting him. To say more about the plot would be an injustice to the author. I leave it to inquisitive readers to discover Gabriel’s story on their own.
What distinguishes Packing Iron from other Westerns is the emotional investment Hayes offers his readers. As the story builds, it became impossible for me not to care about Raven and Gabriel. I soon forgot this book was even a Western. Naturally, Steve Hayes doesn’t let his readers down. Those requiring gunplay will find it, but the real heart of Packing Iron are the splendid characters.
In his introduction to his 1921 novel, To the Last Man, Zane Grey wrote: “Romance is another name for idealism; and I contend that life without ideals is not worth living.” I recalled those words as I read Packing Iron because Gabriel Moonlight lives by his own code of honor. Moonlight is the literary descendent of Zane Grey’s Lassiter from Riders of the Purple Sage or Buck Duane from The Lone Star Ranger.
It’s this attention to detail and, again, this compassion that Steve Hayes infuses into his narrative that elevates the book above the usual fare. Hayes has written a novel that outshines anything you’ll find among Dorchester Publishing’s monthly offerings, and Signet hasn’t published a notable Western in decades. The New York publishers have lost the footrace when it comes to Westerns, but the Brits at Robert Hale Publishers have kept it alive. Novels like Packing Iron are precisely why the Black Horse Westerns are prized by collectors.
I was fortunate to read an advance copy of Packing Iron. Hayes is a superb storyteller, with masterful pacing and plotting, strong characters, and swift action; his novels belong on a shelf with Louis L’Amour and Jack Schaefer. Given that the demand for Black Horse Westerns is growing, I suspect copies of Packing Iron will be scarcer than hen’s teeth upon publication. I recommend ordering it the moment it’s available, either through Robert Hale’s website or at Amazon.com (UK).
No, the Western isn’t dead. It’s in the hands of Steve Hayes and Robert Hale Publishers, and may they ride a long and fruitful trail for all of us to follow.
The latest issue of Black Horse Extra - dated September to November is almost ready to go and will be made live soon HERE.
The issue is another packed feast of Black Horse and western related information - I have seen the new issue and I can tell you it's as good as ever, essential reading for any western fan. There's an interview with Steve Hayes who was also recently featured on The Archive and big news about Chap O'Keefe's latest venture - putting affordable paperback westerns back into the public consciousness. The first title from BHE Books is Misfit Lil cheats the hangrope and you'll get full details in Mr O'Keefe's article in the latest Black Horse Extra webzine. Keith also tells me that there is a 10% discount that will expire on the 5th August - so go to LULU to buy the book and enter the coupon code (all CAPS) KHCHAPMANATCLEARDOTNETDOTNZPTZO to benefit for this saving which is, strictly speaking, for friends of the author but Keith maintains that all Archive readers and Western fans are friends. The book is also available on Amazon, Book Depository etc so compare prices before purchase - remember the special coupon code is redeemable only at LULU.
But wait there's more - The latest Black Horse Extra also features the regular news section, Hoofprints and a rare interview with Paul Lederer who writes Black Horse Westerns under the name of Owen G. Irons as well as Logan Winters. The issue is rounded off with an article by Greg Mitchell that will prove as useful to writers as it is to readers.
All in all another great issue that will go live any day now.
In comparison to the adventures they put on the page, most writers live a sedentary life, not so for writer, actor and filmmaker Steve Hayes - British born as Ivan Hayes he arrived in the USA in 1949 and made straight for Hollywood. He became an actor, changing his name to Steve Hayes (Ivan, no doubt, sounding a bit too commie for the times) on the suggestion of his close friend, Steve Reeves, and worked at MGM, Warner, Paramount, Columbia, RKO and Samuel Goldwyn Mayer as well as network television and radio.
Steve has in his time counted Errol Flynn, Lana Turner, Tyrone Powers, Marilyn Monroe, Alan Ladd and Clark Cable among his personal friends. His recollections of times spent with these golden stars are detailed in his two volume memoirs, Googies: Coffee Shop to the Stars.
Steve currently lived in California where he writes novels and screenplays - he can draw detail for his all action Black Horse Westerns from the fact that he has, in his eventful life, explored the Amazon, took part in the Cuban Revolution, trekked in both the Himalayas and Tibet and been involved in many escapades that would make your hair turn grey.
Here's a snippet from an Amazon review of Steve's memoirs:
"For a decade Steve supported himself as an actor, manager of the Googies
coffeeshop adjacent to Schwab’s Pharmacy, and by taking jobs as they were
offered. Along the way he met and often befriended many of Hollywood’s popular
stars. His insight into these personalities goes against the grain of what
you’ll normally encounter in books where the allure relates directly to the geek
fan base salivating for more celebrity gossip. What Steve Hayes has accomplished
is the creation of a memoir lacking in egotism and animosity. What I appreciate
is this man’s honesty when talking about his successes and failures, and his
unabashed look back at an era he knew was ending even as he experienced it.
There is an underlying tone of sadness, but without being maudlin. I was
particularly taken by his sensitivity when talking about his marriages,
girlfriends and friendship with the stars he encountered. For example, his view
on Clark Gable is right on, and ultimately heartbreaking. Ditto with Flynn, Ladd
and others. "
So where does one start interviewing a man like Steve Hayes. I started off by asking him if he was a hellraiser himself in his younger days? After all he hung around with all these hard drinking, hard living stars.
"No, despite having a great adventurous life and being in wars and revolutions (Congoand Cuban), I never considered myself a hellraiser. I was never much of a drinker. I was always with heavy drinkers (Flynn, and others like him) and usually ended up looking after them so had to be sober. Also, I can handle one drink. But two drinks brings out the violence in me. It can be directed at anyone, including friends, so long long ago I stopped any drinking sprees as it always landed me in trouble or jail.
However, I was constantly fighting because as a young man – 16-40 – I was extraordinarily good looking (the beautiful or pretty boy type not ruggedly handsome) and was extremely defensive and sensitive about it. I had lots of blonde hair, blue eyes and was/am 6’ 2” and with my British accent was a mark for older gay men. In Hollywood and around the world I was constantly being hit on. My older sister, being a ballerina, had lots of gay friends and from my teens I was always ready to fight to prove I wasn’t like that.
As for Errol Flynn, I was a house guest of his for a while and hung out with him. We used to go to all the big Hollywood nightclubs (Ciro’s, Mocambo, Earl Carroll’s, Cocoanut Grove, etc) together and have a great time. But since he was an alcoholic, and I was his pal, I felt obligated to keep him out of trouble – which, by the way, he usually didn’t initiate; it just came to him – and to get him back home in one piece. I did the same thing for several other big stars like Sterling Hayden and Ty Power. That kept me on my toes and usually sober.
I went out with Ava Gardner and Lana Turner on occasion, and was a friend of Marilyn Monroe’s (we spent time together during her wild relationship with DiMaggio) and I would have one drink during dinner; but again, because of my innate violence, seldom had more than one drink. Not sure where that violence stems from; if you met me you’d never dream it existed. But all my wives saw it frequently whenever I was challenged in some way. And all made a point of telling me to stay sober. Today, I am loved by my wife, Robbin (she’s 29 years my junior) and her partygoer buds because I am the official designated driver!!
I knew Bob Mitchum, but I was not a “friend.” Our paths didn’t cross that often. When I arrived in Hollywood in 1949 he had recently been arrested for pot smoking (1948, I think) and because I knew Lila Leeds, who was with Bob the night he got arrested, I met him several times. He was a good guy and always treated me, and most everyone else, well. Most of the stars at that time drank and smoked heavily. So it wasn’t that unusual. Flynn was not a good drunk; had a tendency to be mean and troublesome. Sober, which he seldom was, he was a delight. I had lunch recently with one of his daughters, Rory, and she and I grumbled about how the world always loved Flynn being a hellraiser but as we both knew, he also was a great father and a homebody who loved peace and quiet and loved to write more than anything.
The guy who I did occasionally let my hair down with was Rory Calhoun – who was a hellraiser and loved the women. He was also a bow and arrow hunter. He, myself, and our mutual buddy Guy Madison often went hunting together – sometimes with Howard Hill, the famous archer who taught Flynn how to shoot. We’d go to Catalina or in the High Sierras to hunt and on occasion to Santa Cruz Island to hunt wild boar."
Steve also took part in the Cuban revolution. I asked him about this.
"When Castro first started the revolution he had most of the world on his side – including many people in the US government. He was
considered a Robin Hood trying to get rid of the Sheriff of Nottingham (the dictator, Batista). I decided to go fight alongside him and left Hollywood in Feb 1958, I think it was. I also intended to write a Cuban version of For Whom the Bell Tolls – which is why I went and saw Hemingway at his finca outside Havana before going to see Castro. I had lunch with Hemingway (he left Cuba shortly afterward and went to Ketchum, Idaho where he soon died), who warned me not to get mixed up in the fight. He didn’t trust Castro, or his brother, and as it turned out he was right. I trekked through the Sierra Maestra mountains for several days, trying to find the rebels, and eventually word reached Fidel and he sent some of his men to round me up and bring me to him. I told him what I wanted to do and he wasn’t that thrilled to have me around – and Raul and Che were even less thrilled. I think they would have shot me, rather than risk my being a spy, but Castro knew a dead Englishman (I had not yet become a naturalized American) would not help his cause. I was blindfolded and led back to Holguin. From there I met two Australian newspaper writers who had interviewed Castro’s former military advisor, William Morgan, an American army deserter who was fighting a sort of Second Front in the Escambray Mtns in central Cuba. I used their name to meet Morgan and he agreed to let me join them. But after a raid on a sugar mill, and some unpleasant butchering of Batista soldiers in surrounding villages, I realized these guys were like Quantrill’s Raiders after the Civil War, out for themselves – and took off for Havana. While there I did bump into Flynn and Beverly Aadland, his teenage girlfriend, while they were filming a dreadful movie called Cuban Rebel Girls. Flynn was debauched and barely remembered me. (Back in Hollywood in ’59 I spent time with him again at the famous Garden of Allah hotel on the Sunset Strip – and he was a pathetic drunk by then. He died shortly afterward while trying to sell his yacht in Seattle.) I wrote the novel, calling it “The Wrong Revolution,” but no one would touch it. By then Castro was hated by the US and no one wanted to be associated with him."
Enough spills and thrills for one man but Steve was no stranger to an unconvetional life and he even worked as a private investigator. I prompted him to spill the beans on this period of his eventful life,
"In 1954-59 while the manager of Googie’s, I worked occasionally for Fred Otash, an ex-cop Hollywood cop turned PI. He became famous for his mo vie star cases. He cleaned up after Monroe was found dead. I and another detective, Norman Placey, who used to take photos for the gossip mag, Confidential, worked about a dozen cases for Freddy. The most famous was the one involving Michael Rennie and Anita Eckberg. We caught them screwing and when it hit the mags, it caused no end of grief. I think he was still married then. I hated the job and as my writing progressed, I gave up PI work. I found it sleazy."
These days Steve's main efforts are put into his novels, despite the fact that screenwriting can prove much more profitable. I asked him about his novels.
"I write novels only because I enjoy the challenge. I can make five times more writing a 30-minute animation than a novel. And the latter take only a weekend to write. But nothing beats the concision and beauty of a well-written, well-structured novel. If you read any of my work (I have 2 new BHWs coming out this year as well as another western, Viva Gringo! and a PI novel called A Woman to Die For, published by BearManor Media) you’ll see the style is very succinct and understated. I learned that from doing short shorts (one page short stories) for the slicks. Can’t remember if it was Look or Colliers that always pushed them, but whichever it was they were extremely difficult to do. Any idiot can write a story when the page count is unlimited. To make sense and create characters on one page – whew! I also learned to write short, as they say, writing scripts for episodic TV. An hour had to be 54-56 pages with commercial breaks; a thirty minute drama, 24 pages. So every word counted."
So is it the novels that give Steve the most enjoyment?
" Which do I enjoy writing most? I like all writing. It is why I am here and when I’m not writing, I’m pretty much thinking about writing. When I was writing episodic TV (age prevents that now as there is great discrimination in TV, where the producers are often in their 20s), I’d often write on three series at once. I’ve always gotten up about 3am to write, and I’d work on one show till before lunch; one show till before dinner, and one show after dinner. Maybe that’s why I’ve been married so many times!!!!!"
The Archive is a big classic Hollywood fan and will all these big names going about I am feeling rather starstruck. I asked Steve what John Wayne was like.
" I did not know John Wayne.He was one of the few big stars I didn’t know.I met him twice.Once when I auditioned for a minor role on one of his movies (a stinker with Betty Bacall, can’t recall the name) and another time when Louis L’Amour, who was a good friend, introduced me to him.Both times Wayne was really friendly.No stuck up star was he.I would have loved to have been on one of his movies with Ford, though; man, that must have been a doozy. "
As a screenwriter, Steve worked on many of the classic TV westerns. I asked him if he has any anecdotes for Archive readers.
"I worked on High Chaparral but unfortunately, the script ran into character problems (network interference) and did not get past the second draft stage.
Don’t know if you know, but you used to go pitch three ideas to the story editor; if he liked one he’d tell you to write a treatment (for which you were paid).If he liked that, you went to first draft (for which you were paid).If they liked that, you did second draft and occasionally a final “polish.”That meant you got all the money, whatever the WGA scale was, and it usually made it on the air.But you could be cut off any time and only be paid for what you wrote.
I knew a couple of the cast (Gilbert Roland; and Henry Darrow in particular) who came into Googie’s, but never had much contact with the show.So no anecdotes.
Gunsmoke, when I came aboard, was being produced by John Mantley, who I got to know very well on that show and others.Ron Bishop, Bill Kelley (both of whom I co-wrote with for a spell) and Paul Savage (I think Cal Clements, too) were among the writers then.We used to have a blast toward the end of the afternoon, most of the writers getting together for drinks and tall tales.A lot of pranks were played, all in good fun.I was never taken too seriously because I was still doing modeling occasionally and was, to quote Jim Arness (whom I later wrote for on How the West Was Won), “Prettier than goddamn Miss Kitty!”)It was a bit irksome, but I knew it was said in good fun – and besides, Arness was six five and weighed 250!And was the star, so what was I going to do pout or belt him?I don’t think so.One amusing incident happened late one day: Kelley hired a stripper to sneak into Arness’ trailer while all of us stood around watching to see what would happen.We heard Jim protesting and telling her to leave (he thought she was a fan), then she stripped and he came running out and we all took pictures of him in his long johns.He wasn’t as amused as we’d hoped; and Mantley warned everyone to cut it out or else.(Jim had a bad limp and to move quickly was not easy for him)
HTWWW was a mini-series, with each episode two hours, so the writers were pretty serious about their work – including Ron and me.We wrote three episodes, two of which were filmed – The Enemy and The Gunfighter – and one of them won us the Buckle Award (a beautiful buckle that I still have).Jim Arness once invited everyone to his home in San Clemente (he lived next to Richard Nixon’s Western White House).And folks in general were friendly and we all got along.Very few pranks and drinking didn’t start until shooting was over.
I co-wrote with Sam Peckinpaugh one espisode for The Westerner, starring Brian Keith.Sam was a wild ass and drank like a maniac.(I still email one of his relatives).He was pals with Lee Marvin, another huge drinker, and I once tried to teach both of them how to shoot a bow and arrow and Lee, bombed out of his skull, almost shot one of the extras.Sam thought it was funny and wanted me to shoot an apple off one of the girl’s heads – a no, no, if there ever was one.He got pissed at me when I refused, and threw the script out.I was enraged and we almost got to blows but the crew pulled us apart.Obviously, I did not work for Sam again.But I knew Lee well from his early days (I drove him out to Malibu when he starred in the cheapo Shack Out on 101, written and produced by my pal Eddie Dein and Millie Dein) and he promised to get me work on his next movie.Never materialized, but that’s because Lee probably work up next day, and once sober never remembered promising
me."
With such a wealth of experience in the western genre I wonder what Steve feels the future holds for the oaters.
"I sense it will survive.I hear they’re going to do a remake of Butch and Sundance (Travolta and Cruise), and other westerns are slated.But will it ever be as big as in the 60s?Never.There was a time when Warners had six western Tv series going at once, and Louis was selling 20,000 books a month!"
What future project does this remarkable man have up his sleeve?
"I have countless projects always going on at once.I still write all day, seven days a week.I’m considering writing the last book of my BHW Gabriel Moonlight series (so far it’s a trilogy, but I always knew there was a fourth book needed); I’ve been asked to write a screenplay for an indie producer (my wife and I – Sixgold Productions -- exec produced a small film called God’s Ears three years back and someone who saw it called me and wondered if I would be interested in writing something for him); and I have a PI series for TV that would translate well into paperbacks; BHW David Whitehead and I are co-writing several books as we speak, one is already in print called “Feral”; and finally I have finished a play called Wife Five which a director is interested in.My wife and I met her two weeks ago at a writer’s house in Malibu.She had read my Edgar Allen Poe play and liked it and then liked this comedy.No money in plays – unless it reaches Broadway but it’s still great fun to write them and see your words actually performed."
And so interview over I realise I have enough material for several more features on this remarkable man. Steve's own website can be found HERE. The website features details of all his books and where they can be purchased. His westerns are exceptional and Hollywood fans will love both volumes of his memoirs.
Coming this week on The Archive an interview with Steve Hayes Hollywood actor, Black Horse Western writer, film and TV producer, film and TV writer, freedom fighter and all round remarkable guy.
"Despite having a great adventurous life and being in wars and revolutions (Congo and Cuban), I never considered myself a hellraiser. I was never much of a drinker. I was always with heavy drinkers (Flynn, and others like him) and usually ended up looking after them so had to be sober. Also, I can handle one drink. But two drinks brings out the violence in me. It can be directed at anyone, including friends, so long long ago I stopped any drinking sprees as it always landed me in trouble or jail"
This interview is going to blow you all away - THIS WEEK ON THE ARCHIVE
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