tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34346023147567305502024-03-17T20:03:26.682-07:00Buddies in the SaddleThe frontier West in history, myth, film, and popular fictionRon Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.comBlogger1178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-52543836067763898672015-04-26T07:44:00.000-07:002015-04-26T07:44:21.638-07:00The Cowboy Rides Away<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>by David Cranmer </i><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xk_xpyiVhpUaTCH_EH1JFvryj-eMObkMmr6f_HOzfFPaeiLyrqBFFc5IPblotFaOCIoaHp9mVT0vNWIjRUG_su1at7-i7W7q6OeoSxwKXK25HymzD5fejC-lNrJkV5-peyBxTlXnt5vK/s1600/west-valley-weather-front-2-16mar11+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xk_xpyiVhpUaTCH_EH1JFvryj-eMObkMmr6f_HOzfFPaeiLyrqBFFc5IPblotFaOCIoaHp9mVT0vNWIjRUG_su1at7-i7W7q6OeoSxwKXK25HymzD5fejC-lNrJkV5-peyBxTlXnt5vK/s1600/west-valley-weather-front-2-16mar11+copy.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo taken by Ron Scheer, March 2011.</td></tr>
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<br />
On April 11, 2015, Ron Scheer passed away after a long battle with cancer. Lynda—who Ron referred to as his life mate—said, "A blessing to know that he has flown high--like the hawk Anne recently watched in the desert, wheeling and turning on the wind--away from pain and struggle." I know I can speak for our online community in saying that we send our deepest condolences to his wife Lynda and children Anne and Jeremy.<br />
<br />
Ron and I never met face to face. Our friendship was one born in the blogosphere. A comment left on his post here and a response left on mine elsewhere. That quid pro quo that often goes nowhere but sometimes crosses the transom into something quite special. Our bond began over five years ago when I immediately recognized characteristics in Ron that I respected, and my admiration for him only grew as the years went along. <br />
<br />
What first stands out to any visitor to Buddies in the Saddle (BITS) is this blogger is a very gifted writer. I know we call them posts, articles, etc., but in Ron's hands these often became mini-masterpieces—layered essays deepening one's knowledge of a particular subject and leaving the reader eager to learn more about these passionate interests. And Ron wasn't just enthusiastic about Westerns, he also had an overflowing fountain of knowledge in art, photography, jazz, noir, foreign films, poetry, and literature from all corners, Old West lingo, current events, social justice, science fiction, and the list goes on. You know a top wordsmith when they can instill a thirst in you for a topic you hadn't previously thought you cared about—he had that natural, enviable ability. <br />
<br />
Ron and I collaborated on several projects, starting when I asked if he'd be interested in writing a few words for a hardboiled anthology I was editing, and he penned the masterful introduction with the same zeal and perception he brought to his other work. But his first love in writing, clearly, was for the American Old West, so when Ron approached me about publishing his own essays dedicated to the early frontier authors and their novels, I was thrilled to do so. <i>How the West Was Written</i> was published in two volumes, with Spur Award-winning author Richard S. Wheeler saying, "I believe this will be the standard work on early western fiction." Without a doubt, it's Ron's knowledgeable, comprehensive voice we want to hear recalling those early days on the range. These are not dry academic missives, but, instead, a storyteller sitting around a campfire, thumbing his Stetson high up on his forehead, and connecting us to a fascinating history.<br />
<br />
Continuing on this writing path leads us to the depth of a remarkable human being. In his blogging when he confronts death's first unwelcomed appearance, not only does Ron's courageous grit shine through but so does his ability to compose poetic prose while reflecting on his own mortality. In just one of many profound BITS entries, this from April 13, 2014, after he has lamented the state of endless wars, he takes solace in a treasured pastime, reading, "where killing and death are transformed into words on the page and real blood is not shed." He then adds: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In literature, the dead do not fall into an Eternal Silence, as do those who have actually lived and breathed. Gravestones do not mark the resting place of a lifetime of memories, locked away forever. Lives lived in literature remain at least partly open to us, unforgotten. I think of Joyce as getting at something like this in "The Dead." Spending a holiday evening with a gathering of people, all of them now dead and gone, we are touched by them, their loneliness and sorrows, their heart-breaking memories, their isolation, weaknesses, and failures, their bravery. Yet somehow the words on the page keep them from being forever snuffed out. At least some part of them is still remembered.</blockquote>
<br />
A man who writes with such vision is drawing from a deep reserve. Perhaps, an indicator—a signpost on the trail, if you will—to the origin of this wellspring can be traced, in part, to a lifetime of dedication and service to others. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLYOoyIZ1569iYRI7oBBNvjsT6L5oaV6axHxiEwrlBfz1GDKFE6xSAYfsBLFx4WFpiZOtmGZL16DFx9Uu8z08e_8ciloOzBUmO4hN3yXEtk4mOrAqhkA1_ATPD0mdxb9TIS0aklgf8eHX/s1600/Ron-LyndaScheer_PalmSprings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLYOoyIZ1569iYRI7oBBNvjsT6L5oaV6axHxiEwrlBfz1GDKFE6xSAYfsBLFx4WFpiZOtmGZL16DFx9Uu8z08e_8ciloOzBUmO4hN3yXEtk4mOrAqhkA1_ATPD0mdxb9TIS0aklgf8eHX/s1600/Ron-LyndaScheer_PalmSprings.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lynda and Ron in Palm Springs.</td></tr>
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<br />
Ron's M.A. and Ph.D. were from UCLA (and Lynda notes it's ironic he ended up at its arch rival USC to teach writing from 2000 until he retired around 2012). His first job was at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania where he taught composition and was excited about working a Head Start program for disadvantaged first-year students. As Lynda told me, there is a noticeable pattern of committed service running through Ron's career-from spending a college summer volunteering at the Behrhorst Clinic in Guatemala to coaching writing students in Watts, an area that had been, at the time, devastated by the 1965 "riots." It was also at Mansfield (1969-1983) where he discovered a life-long passion for film and developed an insight that we would eventually enjoy here at BITS. In 1983, he went on to post-graduate work at Carnegie Mellon, then left teaching to work at the advertising agency Siegel & Gale in NYC where he directed the language simplification projects for the agency's New York, London, and Los Angeles offices. Ten years later, he returned to teaching at USC until he retired.<br />
<br />
This is a soul who left us far too soon, and we feel cheated and robbed by his absence. However, I'm reminded of the Greek poet Pindar who advised us not to aspire to immortal life "but exhaust the limits of the possible." I take stock knowing Ron's life was lived to the fullest. And in what became his twilight, he turned to blogging at BITS and writing and found a new outlet for his enthusiasm and creativity. Once again, Lynda opens a window for us:<br />
<br />
"His world expanded as he dug into frontier fiction and met you all. After he retired from teaching, your community became a huge part of his life, a part that inspired him and engaged his most incredible mind. I believe that, by the time he got too sick to write, he felt fulfilled and validated."<br />
<br />
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Ron, you were a wonderful, compassionate friend to us. A rapport started in cyberspace, true, but one that manifested itself into genuine, affectionate friendships. We will always picture you sporting that cowboy hat under which beamed that wide, inviting smile saying hello.<br />
<br />
In many of the Western stories we admire, the cowboy rides away as the sun sets over the mountains with the child running after and left wondering why the hero has gone so soon. We, too, feel that way, but we're grateful that you left so much of your heart with us. We will stoke the fire you set, savor the words you left, and take comfort in your undying spirit.<br />
<br />
You once handed me a beautiful sentiment that I will never forget. Now, I'm returning these cherished words to you, where they belong, dear friend:<br />
<br />
"When they ask me if I knew any truly honorable men, I will tell them about you." <br />
<br />
Rest in peace, buddy.<br />
<br /></div>
Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-31651870502523701222015-02-28T16:31:00.000-08:002015-02-28T16:31:19.762-08:00Fathers and sons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7QzNOIOzNY0nC6qwu7T2DkhCjVdITyOiaNIyM8PcN3_nGa2ghYEUZfb4SLjp7LL7KDk8hbZj_FpUoOV2HRsZmJaGGHbz0GMX4GO922ozyz4Vl3IGuBLXsUBRug9WbMRMhvdRpUiEvQF1/s1600/0226151140+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7QzNOIOzNY0nC6qwu7T2DkhCjVdITyOiaNIyM8PcN3_nGa2ghYEUZfb4SLjp7LL7KDk8hbZj_FpUoOV2HRsZmJaGGHbz0GMX4GO922ozyz4Vl3IGuBLXsUBRug9WbMRMhvdRpUiEvQF1/s1600/0226151140+copy.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New haircut</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Oliver Sacks revealed in a </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">New York Times</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> essay recently that he is
dying of liver cancer and that he plans to devote the time he has left only to
those things that enrich his life: reading, writing, and the companionship of
friends; no more nightly news; but disconnecting from the world. Such as it is.
And trusting the intelligence and resolve of the next generation to address its
problems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I share this point of view with the exception that I would ask for
one more thing to enrich what’s left of my time here. I would like to be
reconciled to my son, just turned 44, Jeremy lives across the continent from
me; we have been out of touch for years now. All I have of him are a few photos
and some memories, Of memories, the sweetest are of his boyhood. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like this one:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I recall his excitement when he bought me a tie at someone’s
yard sale and ran to show it to me. I</span></div>
kept that tie for years, never forgetting
that day. He was born on a bright winter day following a stormy night with
thunder in the hills around a small town in northern Pennsylvania.<span style="font-family: inherit;">I remember
also the stormy look on his face as the nurse brought him out to us to see for
the first time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Storminess would turn out to be the character of much of his
adolescence, which is when the rift between us seemed to begin. He was a gifted
student and tested into the gifted programs in his schools. He loved the gifted
summer programs at the college where I taught. I think they made him feel not
so isolated and bereft of the friendship of others like himself. Brave,
courageous, generous, and big-hearted, he ventured into the Balkans during that
war and its aftermath to lend his hand to reconstruction and peacekeeping
efforts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I often think I could’ve been a better father to him. For
better or worse, I tried to bring him up as I had been taught, To be resilient,
self-sufficient, self-protective and, I’m sad to say, often emotionally
detached, I recognize his isolation today as originating in me, handed down
from my own father and family background. As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised
if Jeremy has a lot of issues with me which I would not </span>disagree with<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But I’m hoping
that he reads this and understands how much I miss him and care about him. A while ago, I wanted to jump on a plane and show up at
his door and say, “What’s up? Don’t you know that I love you?” Unsure of myself
and my impulsiveness I thought better of it .I wish now I had done it. Too long now, and too proud, I’ve been trusting him to make
that a wish of his own. </span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-11566168623457668492015-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:002015-02-26T06:00:05.714-08:00Luke Allan, Blue Peter: “Half-Breed” (1921)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Mixed_blood_Fur_trader_1870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Mixed_blood_Fur_trader_1870.jpg" height="320" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Métis fur trader, 1870</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Blue Pete, a Métis cattle rustler who leaves a gang of horse and cattle
thieves to work as an informant for the North-West Mounted Police, first
appeared in 1921 in a short story in </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Western
Story Magazine</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Canadian-born writer William Lacey Amy (later to be known
as Luke Allan). That same year, the character appeared in </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Blue Peter: “Half-Breed,” </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">the first of a long series of Blue Pete
novels, published in both London and New York, the last of which saw print in 1954.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Blue Peter</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> is a love/crime
fiction story set on the Canadian frontier, where the North-West Mounted Police
are stationed at Medicine Hat <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
maintain law and order. Their main problem is a gang of horse and cattle
thieves fearlessly operating along the international border with the U.S. and using
the Cypress Hills, a rough patch of wooded terrain in southern Saskatchewan , to hide out </span></span>(cf. Jackson Hole, Wyoming)<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Plot.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> As the story
begins, Blue Peter parts company with the gang in an exchange of gunfire, meets up with a young <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Police_Fort_Walsh_1878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Police_Fort_Walsh_1878.jpg" height="320" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>North-West Mounted Police Fort Walsh, 1878</i></td></tr>
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Mountie, Constable Mahon, and is persuaded to work as an
informant, sharing what he knows of the Hills and how they are used by the thieves
to hide stolen stock; infiltrating the cowboys who work for ranchers on the
open prairie, he reports any questionable behavior to the chief inspector at
NWMP headquarters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As it turns out, one family, the Stantons, are actively in cahoots with the gang. Caught in the act, two brothers, Jim and Joe Stanton, kill each other
rather than allow themselves to be taken by the Mounties. Their sister, Mira,
has been an accomplice in their thieving activities. She is an all-western
girl, skilled as a rider and roper, pretty and independent-minded, embarrassed
only by her lack of education and refinement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mahon, who has a girlfriend of his own, befriends Mira and helps her with
the book-learning she desires. Meanwhile, grief-stricken at the loss of her
brothers, Mira warms to him but holds him culpable for their deaths. In a fit
of melodrama, she shoots and kills three of her four wolfhounds. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Romance. </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Blue Peter
then comes to her rescue, offering her his cave in the Hills for shelter and
his own companionship for solace. Standing trial for cattle theft, Mira is
found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison. As she is being transported
there by train and under guard, Blue Peter comes again to her rescue, and they
are pursued on horseback by Mounties across the prairie. After the two are run
aground, Mira surrenders herself to save Blue Peter, now a wanted man, from
arrest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back at the cave, he waits mournfully through the winter for her
release from prison. At last,
with the coming of spring they are reunited.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Adventure.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> The latter
part of the story is devoted to the capture of the gang, as exchanges of
gunfire result in Mahon’s (now Sgt. Mahon) being wounded and the arrest and/or
death of the rustlers. Blue Peter is also a casualty, shot as he saves Mahon’s
life. At the end of the novel, there is reason to believe that Blue Peter’s wounds
are mortal and once his body is found, Mira vows to bury him there in the Hills
he loved. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For his part, Mahon has a granite monument carved as a memorial to the
“half-breed” who was his friend. So the novel has this melancholy and sentimental
ending. But like a modern-day TV series with a season finale lacking finality, Blue Peter and Mira live on to reappear
for another adventure in a sequel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Return
of Blue Pete </i>published in 1922.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The accuracy in the portrayal of Blue Pete is debatable especially in
comparison with Frederic Remington’s mixed-blood title character in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Sundown Leflare </i>(1899), who speaks in
broken, French-inflected English, and possesses no particular moral character. Physically
strong and a creature well adapted to the natural world, Blue Pete has no
faults. He is decent to the core, loyal, tenderhearted and willing to take a
risk to help a friend. Outside of James Fenimore Cooper we do not find his
likes in American frontier fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Blue Peter:
“Half-Breed,” </span></i>is currently available online at <a href="https://archive.org/details/bluepetehalfbree00allauoft">Internet Archive</a> and in
ebook format at <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blue-pete-half-breed-luke-allan/1103323160">Barnes&Noble</a>.For more of Friday's Forgotten Books click on over to <a href="http://pattinase.blogspot.com/">Patti Abbott's blog</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><script>!function(d,s,id){var
js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further
reading/viewing:</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/01/william-lacey-amy-blue-wolf-1913.html">BITS review of William Lacey Amy, </a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/01/william-lacey-amy-blue-wolf-1913.html">The Blue Wolf</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2011/08/frederic-remington-sundown-leflare-1899.html" style="font-family: inherit;">BITS review of Frederic Remington, </a><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2011/08/frederic-remington-sundown-leflare-1899.html">Sundown Leflare</a></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blowing my own horn: </b>For an in-depth, two-volume survey of early writers of frontier fiction, read <i>How the West Was Written</i> (to <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol.html">obtain a copy, click here</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits:</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">new short
stories<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-74631463100844014412015-02-22T15:14:00.000-08:002015-02-24T00:54:45.290-08:00Meds again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpRdf5_hKykoC6WQMjbxSSp1GsiOpPIt-5JKmnOYy-0xcz4h-UGs4gSKsmlusXASYaYkvLNgQBGs61P2TVfX0Ao4gUjBohkfXqnifXwxlZTsCpKGknNvH7aCtbtbQLSxghFzbhjfO21iy/s1600/since-1941-13feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpRdf5_hKykoC6WQMjbxSSp1GsiOpPIt-5JKmnOYy-0xcz4h-UGs4gSKsmlusXASYaYkvLNgQBGs61P2TVfX0Ao4gUjBohkfXqnifXwxlZTsCpKGknNvH7aCtbtbQLSxghFzbhjfO21iy/s1600/since-1941-13feb15.jpg" height="291" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel like Hunter Thompson
in the opening pages of </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> –waiting for the drugs to kick in. I look at the pill bottles
collecting on the dining room table and wonder at the mix of pharmaceuticals
circling in my bloodstream. Thursday of this week I was at the UCLA Medical
Center getting another infusion of Avastin and an adjustment to my intake of
drugs and supplements – this time, more steroids and more antidepressants. All
to deal with an undertow of counter-productive moods, lethargy, and general
grumpiness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lately, I’ve also been made aware of a lot of anger that comes out
as I struggle with losses of strength, coordination, and equilibrium, (I am
covered in scratches and Band-Aids from the last spill I took while out on a
morning stroll in the desert a few days ago. Because I bruise easily now I also
bear a striking display of purple blotches from wrist to elbow.)</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also discouraging has been a
hoarseness that is a side effect of the infusions. By the afternoon, my voice
is not much more than a loud whisper, which seems to confuse the dictation
software I use for blog and e-mail writing. The results I get after carefully
enunciated sentences are often unintelligible, with weird homonyms and
fractured spelling. An up-dosage of Zoloft is supposed to help me regain my
sense of humor about a lot of this. Meanwhile, instead of weaning me off
steroids an up dosage of them is supposed to help me recover the energy level
needed to do more than drag through the day in a confused state of mind.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xX00s1ay8CrQ_-z1sLvBI6t_fmyySsmPnkFDy0h0MBegVJb9lYHt4cADHIIDp5c6inrvqInCHmNdJOUVWEaW1-csXPXe-rXE7ecp_k3ydCQDxy41B22MrUXPeqqMjxS2ZNJ6cuJSYLS5/s1600/downsized_0220151028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xX00s1ay8CrQ_-z1sLvBI6t_fmyySsmPnkFDy0h0MBegVJb9lYHt4cADHIIDp5c6inrvqInCHmNdJOUVWEaW1-csXPXe-rXE7ecp_k3ydCQDxy41B22MrUXPeqqMjxS2ZNJ6cuJSYLS5/s1600/downsized_0220151028.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scene of the spill</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cancer has given me a new
appreciation for the subtlety of how the brain works while I fumble with water
faucets or step into underwear, as I explained last week. I realize, for
instance, how much I have relied on autopilot to do familiar tasks, like
closing a door <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i></b> I have walked through it and not <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">before</i></b>; To perform an
act, I have only needed to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intend</i></b> to do it, and muscles would
spring into action. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Likewise, I have used the sense of touch in my fingers to “see”
what I’m doing while, say, transferring dishes from the dishwasher to the cupboard.
I rarely needed to watch to get it right. A nurse recently confirmed this while
putting an IV into my arm and explaining that she finds the right spot on a
vein by “feel” rather than trusting her eye, Having lost the ability to see
with my benumbed fingers, I knew exactly what she meant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Another issue: </b>the
painstaking process of dictating a draft for a blog post and finding and
correcting all the typos has made me wonder whether I can expect to continue
blogging, I don’t relish the prospect of having to give it up. Reading, writing,
and blogging have pretty much kept me going over the past months, and being
able to blog about this damn cancer has also been a release and an outlet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A
blogger friend recently posted a tribute to my “tenacity” as I deal with all
this, and I can only wish it were true. My outbursts of anger and infantile
impatience (best expressed as “I want what I want when I want it”) say otherwise. But I will say
this much: Cleaning up one’s act should not wait until this late in life. It
takes more than meds and meditation to do the job. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRmQQh6PntxR2DgtwwIxfcpy1bB06iLnea30c09ihDPfacS3oXyo9VxqwA68kIAT8MDTxeszRtkI7TLIFzfGfs_3DyOsYmKGgx-P18Ma8ASQrO1DDZ0WYaGOQRuibIHCkTgO2tsEAGdYP/s1600/I-10-19feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRmQQh6PntxR2DgtwwIxfcpy1bB06iLnea30c09ihDPfacS3oXyo9VxqwA68kIAT8MDTxeszRtkI7TLIFzfGfs_3DyOsYmKGgx-P18Ma8ASQrO1DDZ0WYaGOQRuibIHCkTgO2tsEAGdYP/s1600/I-10-19feb15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I-10 homebound</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, we are talking of
dropping out of the UCLA drug trial because the four hours each way of
stop-and-go traffic on the freeway makes for a hellish day on the road and
staying in a hotel overnight to avoid it is an extra expense with no guarantee
that appointments will occur as scheduled so we can successfully miss the worst
traffic. (LA traffic is so bad it’s criminal; I await the day it comes to a
complete stop, and people will be forced to abandon their cars and walk.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As it
turns out, the drug trial group I’m in receives treatment already FDA approved
and can be administered at the Cancer Center in Palm Springs which is only 20
minutes away from home and doesn’t require hiring a dogsitter while we are gone.
Making the switch back to my former oncologist there, if possible, is beginning
to look like a no-brainer (an unfortunate phrase in my case, but apt, given how
little I have made use of common sense in my short life.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So it goes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #262626;">I’m closing again with a jazz video, this time by
Brazilian artists </span><span style="color: #262626;">João
Bosco, Ivan Lins and Gonzalo Rubalcaba </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">performing </span><span style="color: #262626;">a joyous version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s classic </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">”Águas de Março</span><span style="color: #262626;"> (“Waters of March”) from a
concert in 2000. Listen, as usual, for the music of the spheres.</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S-mxmXFNEa0" width="420"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<font face="inherit">Keith Jarrett Trio, “Bye Bye Blackbird,” Tokyo, 1993<o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<font face="inherit"><iframe width="560"
height="315"
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ki7zLTmckng"
frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>P</b></span></o:p><b style="color: #262626; font-family: inherit;">reviously: </b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/02/knickers-and-twists.html">Knickers and twists</a></span></div>
</div>
Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-3979917695040148442015-02-18T06:00:00.000-08:002015-02-18T09:28:20.351-08:00Nik Morton, Spanish Eye <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga01pJnclvx364o0KFdORCeOlCfxBHToiTEnrnN_wJ_jiHJ95Ull5spU2HL6MnEQIp5An6ToCLZB9oWdxNBg68EAzpu51oNc2_n-DsY38w_dbi1MhKlp4ADE6Gsgy9FU380rhM2cKRHJPG/s1600/spanish+eye-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga01pJnclvx364o0KFdORCeOlCfxBHToiTEnrnN_wJ_jiHJ95Ull5spU2HL6MnEQIp5An6ToCLZB9oWdxNBg68EAzpu51oNc2_n-DsY38w_dbi1MhKlp4ADE6Gsgy9FU380rhM2cKRHJPG/s1600/spanish+eye-cover.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know Nik Morton more as a
writer of westerns. His </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Bullets For a
Ballot</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/03/nik-morton-bullets-for-ballot.html">was reviewed here a while ago</a>. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Spanish
Eye </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is something else.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nik is one of those Brits who left the dark, rainy North for the sunny
south coast of Spain, which is where this collection of 22 stories, featuring
private investigator Leon Cazador, takes place.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Henning Mankell and other writers of euro crime fiction, Morton
shares what he’s come to know about crime and the criminal element in Spain, though
never painting it as dark as writers of the Scandi-noir school. Against a
background of social conditions in modern-day Spain, it’s petty crime mostly,
systemic graft, and fraud that find their way to Cazador’s attention. Meanwhile,
the menace of organized crime and mafia elements lurks in the shadows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></o:p></div>
<a name='more'></a>Cazador<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is a multilingual fellow, his parentage both British and
Spanish. As in Mankell, <i>et al</i>., you learn plenty about social ills that would
make prime fodder for investigative reporting in the major newspapers, while in
the tourist and expat destinations along the Mediterranean coast where Morton’s
stories take place they remain mostly invisible except to long-time residents
and the police, who seem always ready to make an arrest given timely tipoffs
from </span>Cazador<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiauWEF2560ViC3aiYkXpZlmBrvFr2YVzrJTqm8SvFn7a8k2Oho4XWJhVx2RQfwvd5kN93_6xcRjzO5HulAtG3TOWfqykE0UCfls0K6Sqeh-ABq3c-AyrW5G5egrYIZ_ZU0Z3_J_bUtp-qp/s1600/2o-de-mayo-plaza-+500w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiauWEF2560ViC3aiYkXpZlmBrvFr2YVzrJTqm8SvFn7a8k2Oho4XWJhVx2RQfwvd5kN93_6xcRjzO5HulAtG3TOWfqykE0UCfls0K6Sqeh-ABq3c-AyrW5G5egrYIZ_ZU0Z3_J_bUtp-qp/s1600/2o-de-mayo-plaza-+500w.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cafe culture, Madrid; photo by Ron Scheer</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All offenders, regardless of the seriousness of their crimes are
characterized by him as ”the ungodly”—a very Catholic point of view appropriate
to a country with a history of extremes, from the Inquisition to Franco’s
fascist regime, the latter of which gets frequent mention as Morton’s stories
touch on memories of the Civil War. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">A recent resident (for part of a summer) of Madrid, who came to enjoy that city’s laid-back culture, I felt some pleasant déjà vu in the world of Morton’s stories which are peopled by the men and women I observed there on the leafy avenidas, in the busy neighborhood plazas, and among the fountains in the parks.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjia6UfEl3bahHcT_FvLTAfqnORXLKaV8NQdufNlrL6JggTjRIUBuxIM_PYE9xqy9FUIj_M4rXLKnLx2tfpvQwxK8HDiM9PlC3a9UXhptcrcWpkmAqjXrZWxDRxRjeftFMxBrYFsswa9bcd/s1600/nik-morton-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjia6UfEl3bahHcT_FvLTAfqnORXLKaV8NQdufNlrL6JggTjRIUBuxIM_PYE9xqy9FUIj_M4rXLKnLx2tfpvQwxK8HDiM9PlC3a9UXhptcrcWpkmAqjXrZWxDRxRjeftFMxBrYFsswa9bcd/s1600/nik-morton-photo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Nik Morton</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The stories are often clever in their conception and execution. Reading them you get to enjoying Cazador's congenial, wise company. There is some reassurance knowing that while he may risk getting into trouble with lawbreakers, he is well armed and practiced in the martial arts.<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spanish Eye</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> is currently available in print and ebook formats at </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Eye-Nik-Morton/dp/1909841315/buddiesin-20/" style="font-family: inherit;">amazon</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spanish-eye-nik-morton/1101709811" style="font-family: inherit;">Barnes&Noble</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">,</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Luke Allan, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blue Peter: “Half-Breed” </i>(1920)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-10726869451594688502015-02-15T14:16:00.000-08:002015-02-15T14:16:49.261-08:00Knickers and twists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkulDO-4aL9XGywmFB7eOU9Y5BVRoaVWPf0YQ6nwc9Zbdtz5gedy9jkpKS9lH6YW7hq0W_LNEZM6jyjipHPi_jkXsKDfkBuW6CEEMLmObrXNtF6c-QaoIyZcrPsGZjBko81BKh-nvQ7YaV/s1600/dmv-13feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkulDO-4aL9XGywmFB7eOU9Y5BVRoaVWPf0YQ6nwc9Zbdtz5gedy9jkpKS9lH6YW7hq0W_LNEZM6jyjipHPi_jkXsKDfkBuW6CEEMLmObrXNtF6c-QaoIyZcrPsGZjBko81BKh-nvQ7YaV/s1600/dmv-13feb15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>DMV</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today’s post may be short. We
have guests coming to celebrate a friend’s becoming recently a U.S. citizen.
Fortunately, my wife has the energy required of entertaining. I have been in a
fog all week; at one point I was standing in a parking lot staring blankly
ahead with not a thought anywhere between my ears, which, ironically, is the
nearest I get to meditation in the crowded thoroughfare of neural activity that
is my usual level of awareness. I assume it is the meds I’m getting as a
participant in the drug trial at UCLA.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The highlight of the week, if you care to call it that, was
going to the DMV in Palm Springs to get a new photo ID now that my California
license is expired. It all went fairly smoothly, as I had made an appointment
online and needed to wait only two weeks for it. My wife simply drove me to the
front door and dropped me off. The place was crowded and there was a pervasive
air of nervous expectancy, which must be true of DMVs everywhere.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MOi38vJG56abjcQRJ2g7QUWIvtL0V-Z77BhqN8sY2P1CpP88AuSa3NCQ01mL5XOgiXtpZrACNI18nuk5_gudYSxKWl7Tp3bxJMWYMqS327Q-GLwC4t739wqBZ3xacMl8-qqZNngqBMXf/s1600/gate-in+patio-13feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MOi38vJG56abjcQRJ2g7QUWIvtL0V-Z77BhqN8sY2P1CpP88AuSa3NCQ01mL5XOgiXtpZrACNI18nuk5_gudYSxKWl7Tp3bxJMWYMqS327Q-GLwC4t739wqBZ3xacMl8-qqZNngqBMXf/s1600/gate-in+patio-13feb15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A gate is hung in the patio for bougainvillea</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Braced for an ordeal, I was
met instead by smiling, friendly employees, one of them, Mindy, who, bless her
heart, offered to pray for me—though wearing a cancer skullcap probably gets me
more sympathy than the average person. I managed to get upbraided by only one
of </span>the staff,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> who saw me texting on my cell phone as I waited to have my photo
taken. Where someone could be using a cell phone to get help on an exam,
there’s a rule against that. That error in judgment basically put me at the
back of the line for a while and, when I complained, earned me a lecture about
waiting my turn. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Afterwards, thanks to the mental fog I’ve been in, I
discovered that I had left my shoulder bag there, and we had to make a return
trip across town to retrieve it, Meanwhile, my wife, exhibiting the patience of
a saint, and worried that I’m losing my marbles, was wondering aloud about how
to help me do a better job of remembering<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>simple things</span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;">like closing the front door behind me when I step outside
for something (we have a dog, alert to any opportunity to venture out on
her own to chase cats or consort with coyotes). Or like putting on a T-shirt or sweatpants without a maddening
struggle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJ_7Y5HRN_srZwk9Fk2VAd6FCrHPmgsjlC2XUD4Yct18IG2lfXsX-WOOa62C8l_6xlWuqZcM2bqnHEjHLrcqG8IfxE38zp1h4tcwhrlQwUF0d_ZdvyxClePJ-lrrJVNy9unPad5_JWIZE/s1600/copper-tibetan-bracelet-9feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJ_7Y5HRN_srZwk9Fk2VAd6FCrHPmgsjlC2XUD4Yct18IG2lfXsX-WOOa62C8l_6xlWuqZcM2bqnHEjHLrcqG8IfxE38zp1h4tcwhrlQwUF0d_ZdvyxClePJ-lrrJVNy9unPad5_JWIZE/s1600/copper-tibetan-bracelet-9feb15.jpg" height="291" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A copper bracelet from Tibet arrives</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have discovered that what
maddens me most is how I turn everything I do into a test, when I hate tests,
and hate failing them, which means that if I have to sit down to dress myself, I’m angry that I can’t do it standing up as I used to. So much stress and
aggravation I create for myself because I’m trying to prove that I’m still the
Ron I was before cancer. I can literally get my knickers in a twist trying to
step into my underwear without getting them front to back, inside out, or both
feet down the same leg opening. Which, if I muster the mood can turn into a
laugh worthy of Laurel and Hardy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
only then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not to mention the countless
times during an ordinary day I am reminded of how much the sense of touch in my left hand has
been impaired so that merely turning the pages of a book or holding a newspaper
is a frustrating challenge, and I can angrily lament the loss of an ability as
simple as spreading peanut butter and jelly onto slices of bread without (a)
covering my fingers with one or the other (b) forgetting that the lid I just
unscrewed from a</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">jar is still in my
hand, (c) taking more than one plate from the stack in the cupboard to put my
sandwich on and (d) failing </span>to hold<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the plate level as
I leave the kitchen so the sandwich doesn’t slide off onto the floor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Westbound at sunset</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Still, the hardest thing is not being hard on myself for failing this test of
dexterity. It being Sunday morning, I now need to fill my pill dispenser for
the week, a job my wife has to help me with because I can get so stupefyingly
confused. Thankfully, one of </span>my prescriptions<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is for an anti-depressant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so it goes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m closing again with a jazz video, this time by
Brazilian pianist and singer, Eliane Elias. This one is a rousing version of
the classic “Chega de Saudade,” from a concert in Marseille in 2009. Listen, as
usual, for the music of the spheres.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m1ZWKanqrsQ" width="560"></iframe><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone with a </span>favorite of their own, let me know.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Previously:</b> <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/02/busy-busy-busy.html">Busy, busy, busy</a></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-72828288285960473792015-02-12T12:00:00.000-08:002015-02-21T15:54:36.770-08:00Guy Vanderhaeghe, A Good Man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOchAOiH3bExrE4eTgTWA6RvZBEkW-W-ITPgH9x1MRElxGwjOSWRJqbdPuYh985xs4ni7VxBB06o8DhPFyPRr0ZB2KQOGwWXExqXGLSs3mcA26v_AHZ1xOpfcHoohLzLCQ_eTJqK52MYSk/s1600/a-good-man-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOchAOiH3bExrE4eTgTWA6RvZBEkW-W-ITPgH9x1MRElxGwjOSWRJqbdPuYh985xs4ni7VxBB06o8DhPFyPRr0ZB2KQOGwWXExqXGLSs3mcA26v_AHZ1xOpfcHoohLzLCQ_eTJqK52MYSk/s1600/a-good-man-cover.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wanted to like this novel more
than I did. For its length (464 pages), it promises somewhat more than it
delivers. I had the same reaction to the author’s </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Last Crossing</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2013/08/guy-vanderhaeghe-last-crossing.html">reviewed here a while ago</a>). There are a lot of
ideas and food for thought in this novel about character, friendship, responsibility,
Native Americans, the frontier, and U.S.-Canadian relations. But in the end
it’s hard to say what it all adds up to. You can puzzle if you like over the
title. Who among the novel’s male characters is the “good man”? Is there one at
all?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Set in the late 1870s, partly in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan where
Fort Walsh was headquarters for the North-West Mounted Police; but mostly in
the frontier settlement of Fort Benton, Montana, on the upper Missouri River, the
action takes place in the aftermath of Custer’s defeat at the Little Bighorn
and settlers of the sparsely populated prairie live in terror of the Sioux and
other tribes who seem to be organizing under the leadership of Sitting Bull to rid
the West of whites altogether.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidnXzYaTmOkLQ50h2hWw_W069VmNTCRSVB4sD1z5PLy05zZ4gky-J2bDrhKsxigjxhQ_hyOKZ54WfrQoxafF4AYE48C6RAqbdQB3Jmwd4BKb2WhlhCzVxu8S2ITcJhUbgU13zQ6U3mSdSa/s1600/Police_Fort_Walsh_1878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidnXzYaTmOkLQ50h2hWw_W069VmNTCRSVB4sD1z5PLy05zZ4gky-J2bDrhKsxigjxhQ_hyOKZ54WfrQoxafF4AYE48C6RAqbdQB3Jmwd4BKb2WhlhCzVxu8S2ITcJhUbgU13zQ6U3mSdSa/s1600/Police_Fort_Walsh_1878.jpg" height="320" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Police, Fort Walsh, 1878</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Characters.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> We meet four
characters whose lives and fortunes become the central focus of the novel. Three
are men: Major Walsh, the commanding officer of the NWMP at Fort Walsh; Wesley
Case, a former Mountie, who has left the Force to take up ranching near Fort Benton;
and Michael Dunne, an informant and thug-for-hire, who works in the interest of
Fenian-Irish efforts to gain independence from Britain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fourth character is Ada Tarr, an independent-minded widow in whom both Case
and Dunne take a romantic interest. Each of the two men has a shadowy past reaching
back to the Battle of Ridgeway in 1866 when armed Irish-Americans invaded
Ontario and successfully engaged Canadian troops. This rocky episode of
Canadian-U.S. relations is reflected in the frontier
West in the cross-border disturbance caused by Sitting Bull’s flight to Canada for
protection from the U.S. Army. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07JIQM6oCkJEO8G7vZ6lj6yd5WS5Kgn6WhifDPCioeZOU4MMmOwHSMJueY4ey2Y82AXYF4Beu8H3AxRwzmr5qUizxbrehAKjrHbZ0HAp4uJ5F5RjRgRduatvNnhhNFcuvhBW9pZYXFLON/s1600/En-chief-sitting-bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07JIQM6oCkJEO8G7vZ6lj6yd5WS5Kgn6WhifDPCioeZOU4MMmOwHSMJueY4ey2Y82AXYF4Beu8H3AxRwzmr5qUizxbrehAKjrHbZ0HAp4uJ5F5RjRgRduatvNnhhNFcuvhBW9pZYXFLON/s1600/En-chief-sitting-bull.jpg" height="320" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chief Sitting Bull</i></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There, as refugees, the Sioux seek sanctuary in Queen Victoria’s North
American dominion and receive a mixed welcome. The Canadian government is not interested
in making their stay more than temporary and declines to provide them with food
and shelter, an obligation Canada sees as rightly belonging to the U.S. The
Americans, meanwhile, are glad to have the Indians off their hands. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Plot.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Against this
backdrop of international relations, we get the personal stories of the four
central characters. Michael Dunne is hired as a bodyguard for Ada Tarr, whose
lawyer husband believes himself threatened by an unhappy former client. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Her polite
kindness to Dunne leads him to fantasize about her as a soul mate, destined,
when her husband dies, to be his bride. Fierce is his chagrin when he learns
that she has fallen in love with Case instead. In the case of Major Walsh, there’s
another meeting of hearts as he becomes enamored of the charismatic Sitting Bull
(who gets my vote for the “good man” of the book’s title).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMHhMua5RiKqXVK5dYKOldErqIGT8NiWQVeUlfUL4J4PYD5XLj3SZPDvw6m1h9vkhq77HhcSBUsvnmLINwUaSsHc33j98O7A8aKXJd-a0NnxIXFArKjWYCt13Abyr__gqMTGpr33nnf4p/s1600/Battle_of_Ridgeway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMHhMua5RiKqXVK5dYKOldErqIGT8NiWQVeUlfUL4J4PYD5XLj3SZPDvw6m1h9vkhq77HhcSBUsvnmLINwUaSsHc33j98O7A8aKXJd-a0NnxIXFArKjWYCt13Abyr__gqMTGpr33nnf4p/s1600/Battle_of_Ridgeway.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Battle of Ridgeway</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Storytelling.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> You launch
into such a fat novel hoping the story it has to tell will keep you turning
pages, and though Vanderhaeghe’s objective is more in the way of literary than genre
fiction, the novel does not stint on stories. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Most of them are back stories
sometimes arranged along a long, disjointed narrative thread, as when
Vanderhaeghe parcels out fragments of a story about Case and an acquaintance
from school days, a domineering and feckless coward, Pudge Wilson, who casts a
dark shadow over the novel long before we learn the reason why. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Wrapping up.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Readers of
historical fiction will appreciate how Vanderhaeghe brings to life the frontier
world his characters inhabit. The imagery used to depict Fort Benton is raw and
unforgettable. You also appreciate how effectively historical figures are
introduced into the novel’s fictionalized accounts of actual events.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The narrative wears thin, however, in the final chapters, where
Vanderhaeghe falls back on familiar conventions to whip some excitement into a
climax that seems to go flat for lack of imagination. Beginnings are easy;
endings are hard, I know. But this one seems hurried and flat. It leaves you
wishing for something less pat and more conclusive—like who is supposed to be
the “good man” of the title. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">A Good Man</span></i> is currently
available in print, audio, and ebook formats at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Good-Man-Guy-Vanderhaeghe-ebook/dp/B006X1IOSA/buddiesin-20/">amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gone-mo-hayder/1100313713/">Barnes&Noble</a>, and
<a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Guy+Vanderhaeghe&sts=t&tn=a+good+man">AbeBooks</a>. For more of Friday’s Forgotten Books, click on over to <a href="http://pattinase.blogspot.com/">Patti Abbott’sblog</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Blowing my own
horn: </span></b>For an in-depth, two-volume survey of early writers of frontier fiction,
read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How the West Was Written</i> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol.html">to obtain a copy, click here</a>).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further
reading/viewing: <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2013/08/guy-vanderhaeghe-last-crossing.html">BITS review of Vanderhaeghe’s <i>The Last Crossing</i></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/12/alice-harriman-man-of-two-countries-1910.html" style="font-family: inherit;">BITS review of Alice Harriman, <i>A Man of Two Countries</i> (1910)</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Luke Allan, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blue Peter: “Half-Breed”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span></span></div>
</div>
Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-13550970763944759142015-02-11T12:01:00.000-08:002015-02-11T12:01:57.613-08:00Richard Wheeler’s blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQQJS6RA3B34VMHIzy07Q86ABl7KEK-cRDqI_VWVtAdO9jPQpQYdnpA6su1kJxR2sWzO6xR2GGtYc6P7vEX-tJKmiN03G0pyJ3t0Xuw-V93gVLcwgXcikP-RpSgrSABWdHFMM8C3mbEEi/s1600/wheeler-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQQJS6RA3B34VMHIzy07Q86ABl7KEK-cRDqI_VWVtAdO9jPQpQYdnpA6su1kJxR2sWzO6xR2GGtYc6P7vEX-tJKmiN03G0pyJ3t0Xuw-V93gVLcwgXcikP-RpSgrSABWdHFMM8C3mbEEi/s1600/wheeler-photo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Richard S. Wheeler</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I have been meaning to mention that Richard Wheeler has begun blogging
again after a long hiatus. His most recent news is that the Western Writers of America is honoring him with induction to the <a href="http://westernwriters.org/hall-of-fame/">WWA Hall of Fame</a> at their next
meeting in Texas. After several Spur Awards, he
was already chosen in 2001 for that organization's <a href="http://westernwriters.org/the-owen-wister-award/">Lifetime Achievement Award, named for Owen Wister.</a></div>
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A man who has characterized himself at his previous blog as a
“curmudgeon,” Wheeler can be counted on for sometimes prickly opinions on a wide
range of subjects: the current state of the traditional western; the proliferatrion of creative
writing programs; and author input to book cover design. Informative is his story of his own long-running <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=barnaby+skye+novels&sprefix=barnaby+skye%2Cstripbooks%2C304">Barnaby Skye series</a>. His book reviews are generous in their
praise for thoughtful writing. He can also be revealing in disclosures of his personal
life, his health and state of mind, looking both back and forward at a long and productive writing career.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizFj3mDZpH6ItaJft629kc1ItBdaPjTfjy-V_3P-EBABDBaq-rCQjDieASah8Br8TjbRtaupO7HrgYtAMTuLuGOt9P2L4FD_Adt6iTOcua7Bv2Z5MTpQopdNarRfpslxohbpnqgJCv6ee7/s1600/51O-cqfovIL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizFj3mDZpH6ItaJft629kc1ItBdaPjTfjy-V_3P-EBABDBaq-rCQjDieASah8Br8TjbRtaupO7HrgYtAMTuLuGOt9P2L4FD_Adt6iTOcua7Bv2Z5MTpQopdNarRfpslxohbpnqgJCv6ee7/s1600/51O-cqfovIL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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I have admired Wheeler’s historical fiction from my first encounter with
it in his retelling of the Battle of Little Bighorn and the controversial role
played that day by Major Reno, a commanding officer who, while under fire, failed to
come to the aid of Custer and his company. That novel, <i>An Obituary for Major Reno (</i><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-obituary-for-major-reno.html">reviewed here</a><i>)</i> is a wonderfully told and moving account
of a complicated man living and dying in largely unearned public disgrace for
which the narrator, a newspaperman, finds in his heart the capacity to forgive. </div>
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There is that theme in much of Wheeler’s fiction—compassion felt and expressed
for individuals, despite their failures and shortcomings, or plain bad luck, as
in his novel of Lewis and Clark, <i>Eclipse</i> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2013/08/richard-s-wheeler-eclipse-novel-of.html">reviewed here, with an interview</a>).</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I had the good fortune to meet Richard Wheeler at a Book Festival in Missoula,
Montana, a few years ago. I remember him as a gracefully tall man, almost
diffident, and hardly the irascible curmudgeon he can be as a blogger.
There he read from a detective novel he’d recently published set in 1940s
Milwaukee, an enjoyable departure for him and his fans (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2011/05/axel-brand-dead-genius.html">reviewed here</a>). </div>
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I encourage readers, and especially writers of frontier fiction, <a href="http://wheelertitles.blogspot.com/">to “follow” his blog, Wheeler's World</a>. Whether
or not you always agree with him, a visit to his pages provides plenty of food
for thought and useful advice—from a seasoned Hall-of-Famer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Guy
Vanderhaeghe, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Good Man<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-6238049446635272832015-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:002015-02-10T10:34:03.541-08:00Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser (1988)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06191).jpg/458px-Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06191).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06191).jpg/458px-Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06191).jpg" height="320" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thelonious Monk, 1947</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This 90-minute documentary about jazz great Thelonious Monk began as a
one-hour film for German television in the 1960s by filmmakers Christian and
Michael Blackwood who followed Monk on and offstage for six months around New
York, Atlanta, and Europe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Their footage
waited 20 years before finding producers, including Clint Eastwood, with budget
to expand the film to feature-length. It was released in 1988, after Monk’s
death in 1982.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shooting in black and white, the Blackwoods capture the look and feel of
cinema vérité- style documentary, being developed and refined at the time by
the likes of Richard Leacock and D. A. Pennebaker (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monterey Pop</i>, 1966).</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Illuminating are the close-ups of Monk’s hands
on the keyboard as he plays and the physicality of his performance, revealing a
creative vehemence that seems at times at risk of reducing his Steinway to
splinters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We also see him as a composer conveying to his sometimes bewildered band
the intricacies of a complex chord progression, while reluctant to give them specific
answers to their questions. At moments, in his seemingly playful erratic
behavior we see early signs of what may have become the mental illness that
brought his career to an end. Watching the film is like opening a time capsule
of the bebop era, and the music is wonderful. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Thelonious Monk:
Straight No Chaser</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> is currently available for viewing on YouTube.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D9udeWOjjls" width="420"></iframe><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><script>!function(d,s,id){var
js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For more of Tuesday's Overlooked movies, click on over to <a href="http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/">Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom</a>.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further
reading/viewing:</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk:_Straight,_No_Chaser">More about the making of the film</a></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Guy
Vanderhaeghe, </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A Good Man</span></i></div>
</div>
Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-40782007554257938552015-02-08T15:06:00.000-08:002015-02-11T12:14:43.960-08:00Busy, busy, busy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZUG_Tk1cWMuuFMax3X2vObH__2nwR5EHwUsjYDyzxQKqd0_0WNa_hwDUMfEW-nTujfgmb3mfdYO4wbjALpKfxtMazCofAehZuS44J0f1CAwb0bxRHBp2rm6_SUEqbNsZB_AvBhXhob-ML/s1600/2-jets-morning+sky-5feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZUG_Tk1cWMuuFMax3X2vObH__2nwR5EHwUsjYDyzxQKqd0_0WNa_hwDUMfEW-nTujfgmb3mfdYO4wbjALpKfxtMazCofAehZuS44J0f1CAwb0bxRHBp2rm6_SUEqbNsZB_AvBhXhob-ML/s1600/2-jets-morning+sky-5feb15.jpg" height="291" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two jets eastbound, morning sky</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Saturday</b>. I tune into <a href="http://youtu.be/qqVSzqSRaT8">“deep sleep” music on YouTube</a> as I write this in an effort to quiet my mind, which runs off in all directions, determined to be busy, busy, busy. An hour of meditation goes by in its own kind of hurry this morning, while my attention was drawn to the refrigerator running in the kitchen and birds singing their morning tunes outside, slowing the mental race down a little, but hardly enough it seems to make a difference. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The lesson of meditation is that
it is so hard for an ordinary human to simply be still, not constantly and
intensely on alert to every passing thought and distraction. Someone once
defined information as “any difference that makes a difference.” That’s my
brain on autopilot.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thursday my neighbor Annette drove me to LA and home again
for a check-in with the drug trial nurse, lab work, and a 30-minute infusion of
Avastin. It was my first time in an infusion center, where maybe 20 or more patients
in various conditions of “functionality” sat in chairs or lay on beds, hooked
up to IVs. Not exactly oppressively institutional and hospital like, but close
to it. Patients were distributed two to a cubical in a long room hardly wider
than a corridor in a suburban high school, while across from them were the nurses’ stations at what could
have been an airline ticket counter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9WMKZgZO7tnnff1P6DP1ctFzUbvMyP95IGoCJKThouO_9zj_E94ZM3lNtMxrEvBD11lJcpt4jVqFu7jioTPMFMVxQguwxS18TGtRIO7qozBU9GHy2XMJx5nTRcBD91hYeeZpKIFTiaww/s1600/infusion+center-5feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9WMKZgZO7tnnff1P6DP1ctFzUbvMyP95IGoCJKThouO_9zj_E94ZM3lNtMxrEvBD11lJcpt4jVqFu7jioTPMFMVxQguwxS18TGtRIO7qozBU9GHy2XMJx5nTRcBD91hYeeZpKIFTiaww/s1600/infusion+center-5feb15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Infusion Center</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My nurse was a peach, with a cheerful London accent. A dark,
shrunken man lay under a blanket next to me, wearing a facemask (common here
with the risk of flu), mostly asleep while a noisy Jerry Springer show played
on a personal TV beside him. I read my Kindle and got cans of cold juice and,
just before I left, a free lunch of a chicken salad sandwich, corn chips, and a chocolate
chip cookie. Then it was back into traffic and the slow freeway crawl out of
the city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Got home in time to say goodbye to my daughter Anne who was
on her way to the airport for the redeye that would take her back to New Jersey
after about 10 days with us. She is a great cook and during her time here I
gained 5 pounds. I’ll not forget the chocolate mousse she made, which was, to
use a phrase we don’t use around here anymore, “to die for.” Oatmeal cookies
were also made. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of all, I will miss her presence in the house and her
laughter. Her last night here we watched a favorite movie of hers, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bread and Tulips</i>, about a married woman
who gets separated from her family while on vacation and decides to spend some
time in Venice before returning home to be a housewife again. It’s a great
feel-good movie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImwON4JiDECOzW__TgJm5GA9KgpdmCW6hBBqLgtFgTaHHZVn29xpbcjOU7W-gkESVNwV-eTEFk0zJewxpUHJ_rH7bZBRSWzJaNT2QtsqVj5nlOWhB9Eov2AjEZPc11yB0jf4n7w-P4tub/s1600/desert+walk-16jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImwON4JiDECOzW__TgJm5GA9KgpdmCW6hBBqLgtFgTaHHZVn29xpbcjOU7W-gkESVNwV-eTEFk0zJewxpUHJ_rH7bZBRSWzJaNT2QtsqVj5nlOWhB9Eov2AjEZPc11yB0jf4n7w-P4tub/s1600/desert+walk-16jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Desert walk </span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a jump in topic. But an achievement of mine this
week was to unfriend a couple on Facebook who have been annoying me. Actually, I’d
like to say there are some I’d like to “unfamily” if I could. But before I do,
I have to acknowledge my several cousins, aunts, and an honorary sister, whose
occasional e-mail and texts have been just what I needed—news of their lives in
all their wonderful variety, with their good wishes and heartfelt
thoughtfulness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The news is not always good; cancer, and other illnesses lurk
in the shadows. A cousin I grew up with swaps texts with me about the ups and
downs of our health. Just this week another cousin wrote to tell me that her
husband, another cancer patient, has died. Even bad news can sometimes have the
effect of good news when it draws us together in a meeting of hearts, while the
alternative, being alone with our losses and burdens, would be too much to bear. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, yeah, I hereby let go of the few who, despite their God-fearing best intentions, don’t
or can’t grasp that or put it into practice. I don’t have the time, patience, or goodwill anymore
to wait for them to figure out what a pain they make of themselves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile (get ready for the irony), I struggle with this shortcoming in
myself, as I find it difficult to respond in kind to the lengthy and deeply
personal e-mails from an Internet acquaintance who found me through my blog and
reads these Sunday posts. He tells me of the challenges in his own life as he
struggles almost single-handedly with a debilitating physical condition. I
would like to be more than I am for him, but (and this is no excuse), I am
humbled and chastened instead by my own limits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2l92qq4j2eye-HQDWvJQS2zDvhRBcsbOHuCghBRMdtVspbce9mZQ1cdJgDK0C0h4rjIh_pwHs2Vk1230avnHFd5jqJAprc-Djjgm47VciDur1rEDuBfoMZmk3atjMgpGwP07SdU7JRGHD/s1600/over-the-wall-4feb15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2l92qq4j2eye-HQDWvJQS2zDvhRBcsbOHuCghBRMdtVspbce9mZQ1cdJgDK0C0h4rjIh_pwHs2Vk1230avnHFd5jqJAprc-Djjgm47VciDur1rEDuBfoMZmk3atjMgpGwP07SdU7JRGHD/s1600/over-the-wall-4feb15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">San Jacinto, view over the wall</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday.</b> It’s the
meds, I think, that make me tired and crabby. With dawn’s early light, I can
mouth the words “Thank you for another day,” but my heart isn’t in it. Gratitude
has to catch me by surprise, as when walking the dog this morning, we are
greeted by a small fluttering butterfly that darts from the cassia bushes, now in
full bloom, and lights near us on the ground, folding its wings together in
slow-motion, demonstrating nicely how to find and relax into stillness. I would
love to be able to do that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I realize how tense and grim I’ve been this morning as I sit
at the table reading a funny piece in a magazine about a man in midlife
learning to drive a car in New York City. My wife says she so liked hearing my
laughter that I should write a thank you to the author. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubKF1AgC7KYaEhWRA6Xn3-plFyRZ8_JfkN8lpMkaeexFpMqd7duCqzIk1gWe172KbDyYJNbdoWtLPN3BQWcTEBW2F7Mm-FKueBYXxDDmg3SuHr9vASFELsongl-TGHp975cWqv84DKOrv/s1600/san-jacinto-in-rainclouds-30jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubKF1AgC7KYaEhWRA6Xn3-plFyRZ8_JfkN8lpMkaeexFpMqd7duCqzIk1gWe172KbDyYJNbdoWtLPN3BQWcTEBW2F7Mm-FKueBYXxDDmg3SuHr9vASFELsongl-TGHp975cWqv84DKOrv/s1600/san-jacinto-in-rainclouds-30jan15.jpg" height="266" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rain and snow on the mountains</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile, I have acquired a blue handicapped badge to hang on the mirror inside our car. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Since I’m able
to walk, although a bit erratically at times, I don’t really need it for
myself, but it lets me out of the UCLA Medical Center garage for $5 instead of
$12. A drawback, however, is a new awareness of the world as it’s inhabited by other
drivers, many of them without blue badges or plates, who leave their cars in
handicapped parking anyway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ll wrap up with a Zen koan for the week. I’ve been mulling
over it for a while and have not yet settled on its meaning for me: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
burn the books in my bag. But verses written in my guts cannot be forgotten.</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Someone also once said, commenting on a biblical passage, that we are born with the law of love written on our hearts. I believe both are
saying something about learning to trust one’s intuition, the unconscious
working mind that expresses our nature and deserves our trust. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can say that I know what it is to live a life of self-distrust,
thanks to my religious upbringing and its doctrine of Original Sin. This notion
is meant to account for our resistance to being governed by Divine Law, which
is written for our guidance, edification, and I would say mystification in the
so-called Good Book. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Exactly good for what you might ask when you see its
effect on some people’s uncharitable behavior. How radically defiant to burn all
those spiritual self-help books, including the ones we are taught to hold
sacred, and to be guided instead by what is written within. At this late date it’s been
too many years of self-imposed darkness for me to read what’s there. I may have
to just shut up and listen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so it goes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m closing again with a jazz video, this time by a favorite
pianist, Oscar Peterson </span></span><span style="color: #262626;">and </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: inherit;">his quartet, with guitarist Joe Pass. This one from a
concert in Tokyo in 1987. Listen for the music of the spheres.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dsaKeNM0KSw" width="560"></iframe><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone with another favorite, let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Previously:</b> <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/02/one-year.html">One Year</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-78785251841258351322015-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:002015-02-04T13:08:23.506-08:00More magazine adverts from 1907<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/McCluresCoverJan1901.jpg/334px-McCluresCoverJan1901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/McCluresCoverJan1901.jpg/334px-McCluresCoverJan1901.jpg" height="320" width="222" /></a></div>
Since <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/adverts-from-mcclures-magazine-1907.html">the set of these I posted last week</a> was a big hit with readers, I'm adding some more. The <i>McClure's </i>cover at the right is from 1901, a wintery scene with washed out colors and clouds of steam and smoke lifted by a wind against a gray sky.<br />
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I like that the illustration is divided into three parts, with utility poles to the right and left and straight power lines connecting them across the top. A study in verticals and horizontals that frames a snow-covered field and gives a chilly effect.<br />
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It occurs to me that <i>The New Yorker</i> continues this tradition of cover art today, while being full of similar content underwritten by full page ads. Big difference in the newsstand price, though. Ten cents vs. $7.99.<br />
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<b>Here they are. </b>Most interesting to me is the suspenseful drama portrayed in the Smith & Wesson ad. Then, for pure whimsy there's the ad for phonograph records, with the silhouette of a madcap dancer (be sure to read the copy for this one, too.)<br />
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Older readers here may recognize the Pullman porter serving up Cream of Wheat. Note also that Welch's Grape Juice is being sold as a health drink and that Kellogg's Corn Flakes cost more west of the Rockies.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Blowing my own
horn: </span></b>For an in-depth, two-volume survey of early writers of frontier fiction, read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How the West Was Written</i> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol.html">to obtain a copy, click here</a>).</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Google Books<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Guy Vanderhaeghe,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Good Man<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-30809456380411330262015-02-01T16:07:00.001-08:002015-02-01T20:13:49.153-08:00One year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwsU9gFYcbKNCTXf4AH7UpnSwbSM64-aeALUzcnXsKnvmjOu-RePnbGD1M2xPLGE28FuNvJXPJM_bIcstZjQlWQiAEY8Aw3ELIDlFFE5ALKf96-YG43al0tXaR4JItXhNmVumaPpnNt-T/s1600/rain-27jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwsU9gFYcbKNCTXf4AH7UpnSwbSM64-aeALUzcnXsKnvmjOu-RePnbGD1M2xPLGE28FuNvJXPJM_bIcstZjQlWQiAEY8Aw3ELIDlFFE5ALKf96-YG43al0tXaR4JItXhNmVumaPpnNt-T/s1600/rain-27jan15.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rain on the prickly pear</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today marks an anniversary of sorts. A year ago I was just
out of surgery, most of a malignant tumor removed from my brain, I was yet to
meet the oncologists who would get me started on chemo and radiation.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mostly I was amazed that I felt few effects
from having my cranium cracked open, my gray matter invaded by a team of
neurosurgeons I hardly knew, then stapled back together, soon to be sent back
home.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My memories of that time are marked by the sound of cactus
wrens outside my bedroom, chattering away each morning as I welcomed the new
day, sometimes after an endless night of dreadful dreams and sleeplessness. I
read Anne Lamott’s little book about three kinds of prayer (thanks, help, wow),
which made me both laugh and cry. And I marveled at the flowering plants sent
by a family friend. Here we were alive together.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1HUHleNVVRLcnz3dALMceLavZoTHre8Ta_6EsC7T7BAFvZrEjUcoEuBGIxYpZZmC9QAGbo1XO9KX__tBCQZjkJB8VRJF0O-9Qh54XerEUqaioPfP630f4YdfNrJIjBJlIiP_5tRfYGRm/s1600/desert-walk-wintery-day-29jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1HUHleNVVRLcnz3dALMceLavZoTHre8Ta_6EsC7T7BAFvZrEjUcoEuBGIxYpZZmC9QAGbo1XO9KX__tBCQZjkJB8VRJF0O-9Qh54XerEUqaioPfP630f4YdfNrJIjBJlIiP_5tRfYGRm/s1600/desert-walk-wintery-day-29jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Desert walk, wintery sky</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the year that has passed, I have stepped through a
variety of unexpected portals that have left me not a lot wiser, though less
easily surprised. As one example, I had become not a very strong advocate of
prayer (characterizing it glibly as “talking to someone who isn’t there”), but
as friends, family, even strangers offered to pray for me, I couldn’t say no thank
you – partly out of a wish not to seem churlish, partly because I felt it could
do no harm. In time, I realized there is something to what is called the power of
prayer. It shows up in the practice of empathy—which has benefits all around.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cancer plays a couple of tricks on you. It makes you super
aware of yourself. What is that odd bruise on my leg? Why are the scratches on my
hand taking so long to heal? Is my unsteady sense of balance getting worse? It can also make
you super aware of others who are obviously struggling with ill health and ill
fortune—whether you read about them in the news or see them on the street. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-xUitypWezYSmEGYoK89ISC7Fli1TQai-tcwwc_alwdfA8wvp7V87UODyKmUKG1pgqPeWbMoEjTo4D7RDxt14PozMErYOYlfLApczA9bYnU8E8hptmxsa48e4jF-3zIic3kILbbod1VQ/s1600/eye-out-for-coyotes-16jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-xUitypWezYSmEGYoK89ISC7Fli1TQai-tcwwc_alwdfA8wvp7V87UODyKmUKG1pgqPeWbMoEjTo4D7RDxt14PozMErYOYlfLApczA9bYnU8E8hptmxsa48e4jF-3zIic3kILbbod1VQ/s1600/eye-out-for-coyotes-16jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Eye out for coyotes</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At some point I realized that everybody, whether it’s
obvious or not, feels or has felt or is soon to feel real pain—over which they
may have no control. The people around me going through checkout at Vons won’t
know that I am looking at them this way, but it transforms them for me into
human beings, not just obstacles in my way or less than perfect members of the
human race. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is so obvious I don’t know how I lived 73 years without
getting it. I used to think of myself as a pretty empathic guy. Maybe even
better than others at imagining myself in their shoes. Turns out empathy is
about other things. For one thing, it helps banish the isolation and
loneliness that illness brings by offering a simple mental leap that connects
one with others, and you begin to see how illness does not make a person special. We’re all in this together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Empathy, when practiced as a form of prayer (“Thy will be
done on this one, but I’m living in hope right now for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">x, </i>who is really hurting—as you well know—and what everyone wants for
them is some relief and healing”) gives me something to do when faced with my own
powerlessness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlb9tv7fK5iN9f7lRvyv8Byb_D0sPRZ2KRE6dVlseh-oYujzrrRkBMZW0rn2ibzG6ga72NnuCS4SYnW6fjDNYFjhiMHMkW9ohGMSKjwNEAOAYuHw70r70Snmuwga8DqBBzF3876yVfHqHa/s1600/sunset-25jan15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlb9tv7fK5iN9f7lRvyv8Byb_D0sPRZ2KRE6dVlseh-oYujzrrRkBMZW0rn2ibzG6ga72NnuCS4SYnW6fjDNYFjhiMHMkW9ohGMSKjwNEAOAYuHw70r70Snmuwga8DqBBzF3876yVfHqHa/s1600/sunset-25jan15.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sunset from my daughter's plane</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In connection with this subject, you won’t hear me speak
much of God, because I don’t know Who/What that word means beyond being a
placeholder for what is beyond anyone's understanding. On that score, I continue to subscribe to
the belief that those who know don’t say and those who say don’t know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At the same time I will give consideration to the insights
of others. Here metaphors come in handy, as do wordless experiences like
stepping outside at night under a desert sky to be awestruck by the display of
moon and stars. Or to listen to music that convinces me it embodies the living
playful spirit of the Universe—the music of the spheres.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My daughter has been here this week, and her presence
lightens my days. What intelligence, cleverness, thoughtfulness, and laughter wrapped up in one
human being. And after a week of clouds and drizzle, welcome sunshine has returned
before she is booked to return to the snow-covered East.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so it goes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m closing again with a jazz video suggested by the one
qualified and well-loved musician in our family. This one for jazz-rock fusion lovers,
“Lingus,” by Snarky Puppy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L_XJ_s5IsQc" width="560"></iframe><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone with another favorite, let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Previously:</b><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/soup.html"> Soup</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-80256887330419584302015-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-29T06:00:03.237-08:00Elmer Kelton, Texas Showdown<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrB3ykOF9PeiFyPX7hjSh_jrsBgEO9DCVkZ_hYtFMno73scxlBGLjsjsA8s0fV1NVxRA4hsjSlDBU9R3vw6FRFWs_c_WW-TxCREnakwTu1FQvkgFHG31RsEMGabiK0koK839bCbWIGSsi/s1600/texas-showdown-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrB3ykOF9PeiFyPX7hjSh_jrsBgEO9DCVkZ_hYtFMno73scxlBGLjsjsA8s0fV1NVxRA4hsjSlDBU9R3vw6FRFWs_c_WW-TxCREnakwTu1FQvkgFHG31RsEMGabiK0koK839bCbWIGSsi/s1600/texas-showdown-cover.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This book is actually two short novels by Elmer Kelton, first published
in the 1960s and reissued under one title by Forge in 2007. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Pecos Crossing,</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> originally titled </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Horsehead Crossing</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1963), appeared
under Kelton’s own name, while </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Shotgun</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">,
originally titled </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Shotgun Settlement</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1969),
was published under a house pseudonym, Alex Hawk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">First off, Elmer Kelton is one of my top-10 favorite western writers. He
wrote with a strong sense of history and an informed awareness of the West
Texas terrain, its flora and fauna, and its weather. I find it easy to believe
in his characters. They are not just convenient types but possess an emotional
depth that makes them three-dimensional.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I would say he achieves this by conceiving of them as ordinary people
who get themselves into all-too-human predicaments that force them into making
choices. And these in turn drive a plot that is both inevitable and often
unpredictable. As in his novel </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Other
Men’s Horses</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (</span><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/09/elmer-kelton-other-mens-horses.html" style="font-family: inherit;">reviewed here a while ago</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">), his central characters are
fundamentally decent people up against dangerously determined men ready to lie, thieve, and kill.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3-eKKjXA_HBMzTvVEOJryPdIYnH6w8ppy-6pQED_A95Q7SAlBmnt3JIIHx3Luq7URIKvXs9eb7uIQbKie_ZJvRxdRxpVGVoNnoxXTfB76UoTSSy_Llxua-Qtj0j_TMKDU14PNrIFeVQw/s1600/horsehead-crossing-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3-eKKjXA_HBMzTvVEOJryPdIYnH6w8ppy-6pQED_A95Q7SAlBmnt3JIIHx3Luq7URIKvXs9eb7uIQbKie_ZJvRxdRxpVGVoNnoxXTfB76UoTSSy_Llxua-Qtj0j_TMKDU14PNrIFeVQw/s1600/horsehead-crossing-cover.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">His women are strong-willed and resourceful. Romance plays a role in
both novels in this volume, as a young man falls in love with a girl who complicates matters as he follows his heart, though at the risk of losing his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Often, a pivotal character is a lawman who has learned how to wield
authority with a firm but easy hand and has earned the respect of others by exercising a strong sense of
fair play, even when upholding the law puts him on the unpopular side of a
dispute. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One other thing. While there is a kill-or-be-killed element in </span>Kelton’s<span style="font-family: inherit;"> fictional West, and men carry and use firearms, there is not an assumption that
the reader is a gun enthusiast who needs to know the make, model, and caliber
of every weapon that shows up in the narrative. It’s probably just me, but this
habit of western writers today immediately draws attention to itself--like a fetish. For this reader,
it comes across as too much information and disturbs rather than reinforces the
illusion of a credible scene.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Pecos Crossing.</i></b> The
central characters in this exciting yarn are two young cowboys who stop a stage
to collect unpaid wages from one of the passengers. In the resulting confusion,
a woman is accidentally shot dead. Her husband, a retired Ranger, then tracks
down the boys to take revenge for her death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fleeing westward, the two come upon a young woman and her father, who is
dying of TB. One of the cowboys, Johnny Fristo, wants to help them. His
partner, who is chiefly responsible for the trouble the two are in, disagrees. Fristo,
with a stronger sense of decency, prevails, though they lose time and the
Ranger eventually catches up with them at a crossing on the otherwise
treacherous Pecos River. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU9TzPL8i-2zjXVApvbM0UFum_yauMQGv6aI6Jqn5aPBtDDisIJ9tzR0Gs0C_Y5UzEqvuAybyNVk-0tZmnxWomWvlusSML66PK_84oAVEOVHN1zbiv1rX8m5gAfZkxWJk1M-q3CGQJe3K/s1600/145+Alex+Hawk+(Elmer%2BKelton)%2BShotgun%2BSettlement%2BPaperback%2BLibrary069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU9TzPL8i-2zjXVApvbM0UFum_yauMQGv6aI6Jqn5aPBtDDisIJ9tzR0Gs0C_Y5UzEqvuAybyNVk-0tZmnxWomWvlusSML66PK_84oAVEOVHN1zbiv1rX8m5gAfZkxWJk1M-q3CGQJe3K/s1600/145+Alex+Hawk+(Elmer%2BKelton)%2BShotgun%2BSettlement%2BPaperback%2BLibrary069.jpg" height="320" width="190" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like <i>Other Men’s Horses</i>, the
story unfolds as a series of adventures encountered while traveling across a
rough and mostly unsettled frontier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Shotgun. </i></b>The characters in this novel are drawn
from the more usual stock of recognizable types that appear in westerns: the
big ranch owner, his sons, a problematic neighboring rancher, his daughter, and
a cunningly vicious villain who wants both men’s ranches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Blair Bishop is the cattleman who, over a </span>lifetime,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> has acquired a vast acreage. At the
novel’s start, his main problem is a long drought that is drying up the water
supply for his herds and leaving them with little grass to feed on. There has been
an invasion of the thirsty cattle of his neighbor, Clarence Cass, and they are
being driven back where they came from. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Relations between the two ranchers are further complicated by the fact
that Bishop’s son, Allan, and Cass’s daughter, Jessie, make no secret of having
fallen in love and intend to run off together if Bishop doesn’t give them his
blessing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Enter the villain of the story, Macy Modock, with a ten-year grievance
against Bishop, who once had him sent to the pen for some wrongdoing. Having
served his time, Modock hires a gunman and a shady lawyer to put the squeeze on
Bishop by claiming legal ownership of parts of his ranch. Strengthening his hand,
Modock lures Cass into his scheme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vEotniHBMow1VXwjJkd69TNInxuaCU5UmHRQ4sAh-bwN4JSgSfNLn4sTjgrQFWluxeQKT-yCj7fKSYcNG7vp1JSG_nlDlYo8ML_Rhi4NogZgRQK0xHThA9L1qfFqkF_ND6t5nO9qZ3K7/s1600/elmer-kelton_600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vEotniHBMow1VXwjJkd69TNInxuaCU5UmHRQ4sAh-bwN4JSgSfNLn4sTjgrQFWluxeQKT-yCj7fKSYcNG7vp1JSG_nlDlYo8ML_Rhi4NogZgRQK0xHThA9L1qfFqkF_ND6t5nO9qZ3K7/s1600/elmer-kelton_600.jpg" height="200" width="175" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Elmer Kelton</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a long and suspenseful conclusion, Jessie is holed up in a barn,
bravely exchanging shots with Modock, while Allan lies unconscious beside her.
Like the young women in <i>Pecos Crossing</i>
and <i>Other Men’s Horses</i>, she is a credit
to her gender.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Wrapping up. </b><i>Texas Showdown</i> is currently available in print and ebook
formats at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Showdown-Two-Novels-ebook/dp/B004BDOSSC/buddiesin-20/">amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/texas-showdown-elmer-kelton/1100353925">Barnes&Noble</a>, and <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=elmer+kelton&sts=t&tn=texas+showdown">AbeBooks</a>. For more of Friday’s
Forgotten Books, click on over to <a href="http://pattinase.blogspot.com/">Patti Abbott’s blog</a>.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><script>!function(d,s,id){var
js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="font-family: inherit;">Blowing my own
horn: </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">For an in-depth, two-volume survey of early writers of frontier fiction,
read </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">How the West Was Written</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (</span><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol.html" style="font-family: inherit;">to obtain a copy, click here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further
reading/viewing:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">BITS reviews of Elmer Kelton novels<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/09/elmer-kelton-other-mens-horses.html">Other Men’s Horses</a></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/06/elmer-kelton-day-cowboys-quit.html">The Day the Cowboys Quit</a></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Image credits:
</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Author photo, truewestentertainment.org</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Horsehead Crossing</i> cover, amazon.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Shotgun Settlement</i> cover, billcrider.blogspot.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coming up: </b>TBD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-40766370901880534632015-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-27T06:00:05.376-08:00Adverts from McClure’s Magazine (1907)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXoGrq9ypGYUz6RGm2VfakPYdI39l-LFZ9_Opb1xc-csN2w5aoa1MC2PoHu0AnEuhG4uMnDXdw6euj9yxCIaSUOnMeczQdcWV4o30bIq-36kmMHvR0FUpxHgAiwYhmrXbKAmuKun_A9xO/s1600/mcclures_190108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXoGrq9ypGYUz6RGm2VfakPYdI39l-LFZ9_Opb1xc-csN2w5aoa1MC2PoHu0AnEuhG4uMnDXdw6euj9yxCIaSUOnMeczQdcWV4o30bIq-36kmMHvR0FUpxHgAiwYhmrXbKAmuKun_A9xO/s1600/mcclures_190108.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every work of fiction tells us something about the audience and the
times it was written for. Today, however, we may have trouble picturing the
readers of early frontier fiction. For many of us, they were the parents of
our grandparents—or even their parents—adults before the end of the 19th
century, dependent on a horse-drawn technology and an agrarian economy.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From the movies and TV, we know what the Old West itself is supposed to
have looked like, but it’s harder to imagine that period of time around 1900 when frontier fiction emerged as a </span>genre</span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;">though they were clamorous years, as the Gilded Age dissolved into the
Progressive Era (imagine the white-haired Mark Twain morphing into Rough Rider Teddy
Roosevelt).</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Time and tide in America can often be told by its history of
consumerism, and that is tellingly recorded in the advertisements captured and
preserved in print. BITS looks today at the full-page ads to be found in the
pages of </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">McClure’s Magazine </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">during
the year 1907. In the imagery and persuasive wording, we see much of the
popular culture into which the creative energies of writers like Owen Wister
and Zane Grey were projected and found their audience. It’s a different world, while
at the same time fundamentally similar to our own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Shamelsss
plug: </span></b>For an in-depth survey of early writers of frontier fiction, read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How the West Was Written</i>. Two volumes are
now available. Find out more here: <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/04/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol-1.html">Vol. 1 (1880-1906)</a>, <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol.html">Vol. 2 (1907-1915)</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Image credits:
</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Google Books</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elmer Kelton, <i>Texas Showdown</i></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-38562445737281547582015-01-25T12:31:00.001-08:002015-01-26T10:02:07.254-08:00Soup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbfHd0j5qwJxxvpKATbQ4tpJL6RcvOtwqvvbJ0sIIM8xVxHBlck4x3C_Q0iVlWjST2Ap2F8Id4CoW4TuVZHH6xiZ9VKV77ecN7JcOvZjcJwL1XHsT0bYHLOgi-UTmvypQ5KZ0CvWSuGum/s1600/birds01-20jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbfHd0j5qwJxxvpKATbQ4tpJL6RcvOtwqvvbJ0sIIM8xVxHBlck4x3C_Q0iVlWjST2Ap2F8Id4CoW4TuVZHH6xiZ9VKV77ecN7JcOvZjcJwL1XHsT0bYHLOgi-UTmvypQ5KZ0CvWSuGum/s1600/birds01-20jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Aerial ballet (more pics below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Turns out the dread I felt about my first infusion as I
started into the drug trial at UCLA was unnecessary. Though the procedure
lasted 90 minutes, it was mostly a nonevent. Dripped into my bloodstream by way
of an IV was not chemo but something called a monoclonal antibody (Avastin),
developed to restrict blood flow to tumors and discourage them from growing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Already approved by the FDA for treatment of cancer, it has
been shown to be effective after 6 months in 45% of cases like my own. So while
the odds are roughly the same as the flip of a coin, they’re not actually that
bad when you consider the alternative. Other trial participants, randomly
selected as I was, receive the test drug(s), so they will fare better or worse
than me—hopefully better, for the sake of all concerned, current and future.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2G_86dSZzasDA2xvFtQpvc639SsQ8VQTT67t56GE5V662-aF9eGUGzih9JEa-DIbM19mV99j71wPQFzphuKgWwolfM5m8qmbUSOx4hKd3a1AnEEAW0LlUIGkbc6qAZMWxi8VU23yhrOUO/s1600/birds02-20jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2G_86dSZzasDA2xvFtQpvc639SsQ8VQTT67t56GE5V662-aF9eGUGzih9JEa-DIbM19mV99j71wPQFzphuKgWwolfM5m8qmbUSOx4hKd3a1AnEEAW0LlUIGkbc6qAZMWxi8VU23yhrOUO/s1600/birds02-20jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have had to make a mental adjustment to all this. My
self-obsessed reptilian brain would prefer receiving the new drugs, if there’s
any chance they would improve my odds of survival. But then I consider the
trade-offs. For one thing, I can’t know if that would be the case. For another,
as a participant in a trial that will be reviewed by the FDA, I get a more intensely
thorough level of care.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the meantime, there’s the matter of side effects. With
the Avastin, blood pressure shoots up, and there’s risk of bleeding and blood
clots. Curiously, one also develops hoarseness, which for me has already started. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, soft spoken as I am, I’ll be hearing folks asking me to “say that again, a
little louder” or just plain “could you speak up?” For all that I’m happy to
trade off the chemo-induced nausea, loss of appetite and taste. I can enjoy
meals again, including my own cooking, and live with the other risks, as I do
those of being in a car accident, badly shaken by an earthquake, or obliterated
by an asteroid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My friend and neighbor, Annette, who happens by my good
fortune to be an RN, drove me there and helped shepherd me through the day, starting
with yet another MRI (I’ve lost count of them and despite all the noise you’re
subjected to, I can easily drift off to sleep during one). The infusion took
place in a basement room of the Research Center, where I was interviewed by a super-professional
nurse practitioner, who logged into my records a 73-year medical history from
tonsillectomy to brain surgery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGa19vGEFibdzAQm0G6erCFROfoBJVX-ry2DZ_6hM3iCFZ5t77jZot3LrMkLv3sWGsIU-9HfY2VWg_H6ZzJVH-K6Br_Rn6dmjE4l4rnCLTZblpqklFHFvLT0Jdye3dGTbHXboAu5OiBOI/s1600/birds03-20jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGa19vGEFibdzAQm0G6erCFROfoBJVX-ry2DZ_6hM3iCFZ5t77jZot3LrMkLv3sWGsIU-9HfY2VWg_H6ZzJVH-K6Br_Rn6dmjE4l4rnCLTZblpqklFHFvLT0Jdye3dGTbHXboAu5OiBOI/s1600/birds03-20jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She put me through some physical paces and, discovering some
weakness on my left side and loss of hearing in my left ear, declared me 90%
“functional.” Again, not bad for someone who has never been all that functional
generally. I return in two weeks for more labs and another infusion. Until then,
I keep a log of blood pressure readings and observed side effects, reporting
anything out of the ordinary by email or pager. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a side note here, I had with me a pillow, in the event I
needed one. You never know. A family friend in Pennsylvania (and retired nurse)
sent me a pair of pillowslips made from a cowboy-themed pattern, which arrived
the day before the trip into LA. Of course, I used one for my pillow. When I
mentioned that I’d also considered wearing a cowboy hat for the day, I was told
that it would be required attire on my next visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, the world continues to turn. If I’m up before
sunrise, I can go outside with a cup of coffee and watch a daily aerial ballet
of pigeons who swoop and swirl overhead (see photos). Their performance evokes
a degree of awe, as it shows a kind of intelligence not given to most humans.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
don’t know how they know to turn as a group in mid-air. There doesn’t seem to
be a leader. What keeps them from scattering in different directions? For all I
know it could be love. (Cue in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjloX_EvYiI">Captain and Tennille, “Love Will Keep UsTogether.”</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3aCOx6ME7jtkOrgFkgkDaTZ9axTqCEAf1NGnLdpzH9H_PLqENrUmf53uGZblkAAEntCmVpMgxncgEY6P1fJryuQZjHvGeAwmjYdzA2lQWTQfKdjJINL2T0AzXfM2qHK-gc_I9CjEnUs2M/s1600/birds04-20jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3aCOx6ME7jtkOrgFkgkDaTZ9axTqCEAf1NGnLdpzH9H_PLqENrUmf53uGZblkAAEntCmVpMgxncgEY6P1fJryuQZjHvGeAwmjYdzA2lQWTQfKdjJINL2T0AzXfM2qHK-gc_I9CjEnUs2M/s1600/birds04-20jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Somehow there’s another trick of theirs I can’t quite
account for. With each pass overhead, there’s likely to be a different number
of them. Do a count in each pic, and it’s seldom the same. I suspect
they get a good chuckle in dumbfounding me with this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The days go by, and I try to remember to make each the best
possible, given my 90% functionality. One day from the past week was especially
memorable. After meditating for a good long while, I spent a couple hours in
the kitchen chopping up vegetables for a big pot of soup, using homemade stock
and chicken.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a mild morning, and I opened the window, enjoying the
outdoors ambience as I worked and thinking of all the people in my life,
especially those coping with illness and the many who have offered me their
best wishes, blessings, and prayers. My version, I guess of chicken soup for
the soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so it goes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #262626;">I’m closing again with a jazz video. This one simply a
musical jewel from 1961 by the Oliver Nelson Septet called “Stolen Moments.”</span>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone with another favorite, let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Previously:</b> <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/uneasy-alliance.html">Uneasy alliance</a></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-68037980298528063942015-01-23T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-23T06:00:04.194-08:00Geoff Dyer, But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOj28BMKEHGasgh5GdMCKD_6d3Z2EIgvJHNiy9_937vYrVMSxCzmhuIeJ8QSr2pmIEqSQn3mzM9XUZrcjATuTWf_-Ml_sJc8kuFncq6aqJBAYizvE3KShqSAQK1vF6nuJ8Y_ZKMqphr9oO/s1600/761819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOj28BMKEHGasgh5GdMCKD_6d3Z2EIgvJHNiy9_937vYrVMSxCzmhuIeJ8QSr2pmIEqSQn3mzM9XUZrcjATuTWf_-Ml_sJc8kuFncq6aqJBAYizvE3KShqSAQK1vF6nuJ8Y_ZKMqphr9oO/s1600/761819.jpg" height="320" width="203" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess you’d call this creative nonfiction. A former colleague
recommended this book to me after reading some of my thoughts on the
life-affirming and health-inducing aspects of listening to jazz as I deal with
a visitation of brain cancer. The great irony is that the joyous practice of
improvisation in smoky clubs of the bebop era was so virulently
self-destructive for its musicians.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Dyer’s evocative and impressionistic character sketches of several of
its iconic figures (Lester Young, Bud Powell, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Ben
Webster, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus) we witness mostly downward
trajectories, as drugs, prison, racism, alcoholism, mental illness, and
violence take their toll. Whether or not you think of them as survivors, you
come to understand that the music they invented and played was an act of
defiance and subversion in the face of demons both internal and external.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></o:p></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Ben_Webster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Ben_Webster.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ben Webster, 1943</i></td></tr>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don’t want this to sound over dramatized. Dyer immerses the reader in
an imagined subjective world of each musician, and that world is seldom as
harrowing as it appears from outside. Like some, Lester Young floats in the
isolation of an alcohol haze, never quite sure if he is living or already dead.
Thelonious Monk glories in an ongoing rage against fellow musicians and the
instrument he plays. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, some escape to Europe, where they find an
appreciative audience and are granted a reprieve from the vestiges of Jim Crow
discrimination. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">If anyone fares badly in the book, it is Chet Baker, who is portrayed
musically as someone whose seductiveness as a performer was always in the form
of promises he never kept—a self-absorption that verged on coitus </span>interruptus<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dyer
bases his book on biographical and historical accounts, but is more interested
in impressions than facts. The end result is a cross between dream and
documentary. While representing jazz composition and performance as driven by
the effort to capture evanescent and transcendent moods (think of Duke Ellington’s
“Mood Indigo”), Dyer’s lucidly clear prose is a wonder of poetic expression.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06271).jpg/471px-Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06271).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06271).jpg/471px-Thelonious_Monk%2C_Minton's_Playhouse%2C_New_York%2C_N.Y.%2C_ca._Sept._1947_(William_P._Gottlieb_06271).jpg" height="320" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thelonious Monk, 1947</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He closes the book with a stimulating essay on mid-century jazz, with an
overview of the wave of high-profile jazz musicians who followed in the decades
since (e.g., Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett), while illuminating some of the key issues
that have animated the discourse of musicologists who have never lost their
love for the genre. There is also a discography and a lengthy bibliography.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>But Beautiful</i> is currently
available in print and ebook formats at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/But-Beautiful-Geoff-Dyer-ebook/dp/B00KP86AJM/buddiesin-20/">amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/but-beautiful-geoff-dyer/1102792637">Barnes&Noble</a>, and <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=geoff+Dyer&sts=t&tn=But+Beautiful">AbeBooks</a>. For more of Friday's Forgotten Books, click on over to Patti <a href="http://pattinase.blogspot.com/">Abbott's blog</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><script>!function(d,s,id){var
js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits:
</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikimedia Commons</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coming up: </b>Magazine
adverts, <i>McClure’s </i>(1907)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-81391720848831275282015-01-21T15:43:00.000-08:002015-01-21T21:08:30.078-08:00Now available: How the West Was Written, Vol. 2 (1907-1915)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkS3xjqePhvIJ2DVX39vvCLGvcVl6gA34hcf79suIEYouTWcjrtHRRs-KJE0Kup9IVz9cF2gLGh9ZFn4ByzZi6niSCtG9OyFL6pRO9BrwRmI4ORAonaNK92tFdueojYWSY__D_9n70KLG/s1600/914oGXET+OL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkS3xjqePhvIJ2DVX39vvCLGvcVl6gA34hcf79suIEYouTWcjrtHRRs-KJE0Kup9IVz9cF2gLGh9ZFn4ByzZi6niSCtG9OyFL6pRO9BrwRmI4ORAonaNK92tFdueojYWSY__D_9n70KLG/s1600/914oGXET+OL._SL1500_.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">David Cranmer over at Beat to a Pulp Press has just announced publication of Vol. 2 of my book series, <i>How the West Was Written. </i>It continues the chronology of western writers that began</span> in the first volume <span style="font-family: inherit;">with Mary Hallock Foote's </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Led-Horse Claim</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1883)</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Here is a short description of the new </span>volume from its introduction:<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">During the years
1907–1915, frontier fiction boomed with new writers, and the success of Owen
Wister’s </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Virginian</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (1902) began to make itself felt in their work. That
novel had made the bestseller lists for two years running. With the continued
popularity of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, and the appearance of one-reeler
westerns on movie screens, many featuring the adventures of Bronco Billy
Anderson, the cowboy hero was becoming an established mythic figure in the
public imagination. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">New writers </span>capitalizing on this interest begin to emerge in numbers and include <span style="font-family: inherit;">Zane Grey, Dane Coolidge, Charles Alden Seltzer, William MacLeod Raine, and Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Fans of cowboy westerns will find this book's <o:p></o:p></span>discussion of these storytellers of particular interest.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, for writers of
popular fiction, the frontier was also a subject for exploring ideas drawn from
current public discourse—ideas about character and villainy, women’s rights,
romance and marriage, democracy and government, capitalism, race and social boundaries,
and the West itself. With each new publication, they participated as well in an
ongoing forum for how to write about the West and how to tell western stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Taken together,
the chapters of this book describe for modern-day readers and writers the
origins of frontier fiction and the rich legacy it has left us as a genre. It
is also a portal into the past, for it offers a history of ideas as preserved
in popular culture of a century ago that continues to claim an audience today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Currently available </b>at amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-West-Was-Written-1907-1915-ebook/dp/B00SGEV9P2/">for kindle</a> and in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-West-Was-Written-1907-1915/dp/0990591697/">paperback</a>. Also in paper at <a href="https://www.createspace.com/5248600">Createspace</a>. Order both volumes <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=how+the+west+was+written">from amazon here</a>.</span></o:p><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-39462109143548029422015-01-20T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-20T06:00:10.182-08:00Illustrators of early frontier fiction:Frank E. Schoonover<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Frank_Earle_Schoonover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Frank_Earle_Schoonover.jpg" height="320" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Frank E. Schoonover</i></td></tr>
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Born in New Jersey, Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972) was a painter and illustrator, who studied with influential American artist Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. A creator of more than 2,000 book and magazine illustrations over most of a century, he helped to organize what is now the Delaware Art Museum.<br />
<br />
Schoonover's work ranged from illustrations for Clarence E. Mulford's <i>Bar-20</i> westerns to pirate tales (<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackbeard_in_Smoke_and_Flame.jpg">click here</a>) and science fiction/fantasy by Edgar Rice Burroughs (<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Princess_of_Mars_large.jpg">click here</a>). Below are examples of his illustrations for frontier fiction appearing in books and magazines, 1905-1918.<br />
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Lawrence Mott, <i>Jules of the Great Heart</i> (1905)<br />
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<br />
Jack London, <i>White Fang, Outing Magazine </i>(1906)<br />
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<br />
<br />
Clarence E. Mulford, "Bar-20 Range Yarns," <i>Outing Magazine </i>(1906)<br />
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Lawrence Mott, <i>The White Darkness </i>(1907)<br />
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John G. Neihardt, <i>The Lonesome Trail </i>(1907)<br />
<i><br /></i>
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<i>Century Magazine </i>(1910)<br />
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Charles Alden Seltzer, <i>The Range Boss </i>(1916)<br />
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"Runaway Horses," <i>American Magazine </i>(1914)<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Runaway_Horses_by_Frank_Schoonover%2C_published_in_American_Magazine%2C_Novembert_1914%2C_p._21_-_New_Britain_Museum_of_American_Art_-_DSC08998.JPG/640px-Runaway_Horses_by_Frank_Schoonover%2C_published_in_American_Magazine%2C_Novembert_1914%2C_p._21_-_New_Britain_Museum_of_American_Art_-_DSC08998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Runaway_Horses_by_Frank_Schoonover%2C_published_in_American_Magazine%2C_Novembert_1914%2C_p._21_-_New_Britain_Museum_of_American_Art_-_DSC08998.JPG/640px-Runaway_Horses_by_Frank_Schoonover%2C_published_in_American_Magazine%2C_Novembert_1914%2C_p._21_-_New_Britain_Museum_of_American_Art_-_DSC08998.JPG" /></a></div>
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G. W. Ogden, <i>The Rustler of Wind River </i>(1917)<br />
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B. M. Bower, <i>Cabin Fever </i>(1918)<br />
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<b style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: inherit;">Coming soon: </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Volume 2 of an in-depth survey of early writers of frontier fiction, <i>How the West Was Written</i> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/04/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol-1.html">to obtain a copy of Vol. 1, click here</a>).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further
reading/viewing :</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Illustrators of frontier fiction<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/12/illustrators-of-early-frontier-fiction.html">N. C. Wyeth</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/illustrators-of-early-frontier-fiction.html">J. N. Marchand</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/12/illustrators-of-early-frontier-fiction_30.html">Maynard Dixon</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/illustrators-of-frontier-fiction-w.html">W. Herbert Dunton</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Image credits: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Google Books</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming up: </span></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">TBD</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span> </div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-70052076251272643472015-01-18T11:35:00.000-08:002015-01-18T11:35:14.338-08:00Uneasy alliance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjggHdmkgYAjJ60Tr_NDjZcyYpONR1BSLChm1Wj6t1AnIaCB31gbl74RnjqRBBdjNVoW2enA50h2HcVAZw5InxwdnyhyNE7mtvNlqNKZix_zdhV0rMVi2hWM0rmVytvgJOneJrQqJchtI/s1600/sunrise-18jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjggHdmkgYAjJ60Tr_NDjZcyYpONR1BSLChm1Wj6t1AnIaCB31gbl74RnjqRBBdjNVoW2enA50h2HcVAZw5InxwdnyhyNE7mtvNlqNKZix_zdhV0rMVi2hWM0rmVytvgJOneJrQqJchtI/s1600/sunrise-18jan15.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Another day</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So now I am officially lending my body to medical science.
Last week we made a trek to the neurooncology department at the UCLA Medical
Center in Los Angeles, and I signed onto a drug trial, which may or may not
halt the progress of the tumors in my brain, but there isn’t much in the way of
an alternative. The oncologist was not in favor of more radiation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s an uneasy alliance between me and Big Pharma. It will
require trips to LA every 2 weeks for long infusions, and the list of possible
side effects is daunting, ranging from nausea to death itself. But there’s a
chance we will both profit in some way from this gamble. Whatever the outcome,
there will be something to be learned for others in the future. Because it’s
important for me to feel useful, this is one way to be doing that.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3GN-vw76CyxJ6iIexUoYHuih-gyryLMD_KhUuDp40WoNflV28q6usNG4oW-sgCAyR4IV2dFFz36IlvqXWu1WC7Mf8ysuxvX2lB64VMqD0JAY08-s6RvAzvVpfYlm_s4-R4ytRuR7h6_9/s1600/half-moon-and-morning-clouds-13jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3GN-vw76CyxJ6iIexUoYHuih-gyryLMD_KhUuDp40WoNflV28q6usNG4oW-sgCAyR4IV2dFFz36IlvqXWu1WC7Mf8ysuxvX2lB64VMqD0JAY08-s6RvAzvVpfYlm_s4-R4ytRuR7h6_9/s1600/half-moon-and-morning-clouds-13jan15.jpg" height="290" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Half moon and morning clouds</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A good friend from the neighborhood drove us and our dog
into the city, 3-4 hours each way (my backside is still complaining) because we
got stuck in the crawl of both morning and evening commuters, even while we
were able to take advantage of car pool lanes. Could be just me and my
unreliable memory, but LA traffic seems worse than ever. We also have ourselves
partly to blame, having stopped for a leisurely lunch of fish and chips at The King’s
Head in Santa Monica before heading home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so I (we) pass through yet another portal on this other
journey. Cancer is a bum deal. There’s no question of that. And you feel
yourself in a secret fellowship with anyone else in the same boat. Your heart
goes out to them and those who love them. And you hate yourself for the envy
you feel when people proudly announce that they are cancer survivors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the midst of all my uncertainties, it’s not
the uncertainties themselves that produce the occasional dark cloud on the
horizon. I have to keep reminding myself that there’s nothing certain about
them. Even my oncologist has held out the remote possibility (and a very
unscientific one at that) of a “miracle.” I can let myself rejoice in the
recovery of others with the awareness that I may one day join their grateful
ranks. A long shot at this point, but who am I to say?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwPr5K-IGMlCojlucNWJQkGE_Uwa6O2lOTvkdvcpYWE-6cxzV0MIlk4R0NdwmcsGUnA6kGaKxGRB-8LsQPA8OAseW160kjXr-UTQZ_rjjlSD4CRtznbpRDueS_IQaTEA993JrpBGEYPsf/s1600/backyard-brims-with-midday-sun-16jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwPr5K-IGMlCojlucNWJQkGE_Uwa6O2lOTvkdvcpYWE-6cxzV0MIlk4R0NdwmcsGUnA6kGaKxGRB-8LsQPA8OAseW160kjXr-UTQZ_rjjlSD4CRtznbpRDueS_IQaTEA993JrpBGEYPsf/s1600/backyard-brims-with-midday-sun-16jan15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Backyard brims with sunshine at mid-day</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The quality of the time that remains to me, even as I write
this, has little to do with certainty or uncertainty. If I have a prayer each
morning as I recognize my surprised face in the bathroom mirror (besides
“thanks for another day”), I ask only for the help to make it the best one
possible. I don’t mean winning the lottery, but that I don’t blow the
opportunity to just be alive to the glorious present.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I write paragraphs like the one above with no small degree
of temerity. Speaking like I do, I know that all this can be taken much too
seriously. I don’t have an inside track on the Truth of Anything. After being
taught at an impressionable age that what there is to be known of Truth is
Absolute, I’ve come around to believing that Truth is not such a stern
Taskmaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not exactly relative
either, but more like a Lover, luring us with whatever image of itself is most
seductive. That’s next to heresy, I know, and maybe the less said along those lines
the better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Still, cancer has this way of entertaining heresies. It has
some even believing in miracles. One of them is without doubt the miracle of
friendship. The offers of friends to help out with driving, pet care, and
overnight stays, and the emails full of thoughtful and warmly generous good
wishes strike a surge of gratitude in me that is as good as any medicine,
pharmaceuticals notwithstanding, though I won’t downplay the contribution of a
low dose daily of Zoloft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZQ34NWWLR7zsIjSb_lgV4GoWtvtsKYnSH9mobN9firHmRaJCPpwakfDKH0mcIGD0d5sbu5NNHGAGd5gV3nRJ97T27VJ1oAQ8S654iTyr6n0BBFmSqq4sVKIzxEah4c5ERarZ4ltKuDIF/s1600/zoe-in-bed-16jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZQ34NWWLR7zsIjSb_lgV4GoWtvtsKYnSH9mobN9firHmRaJCPpwakfDKH0mcIGD0d5sbu5NNHGAGd5gV3nRJ97T27VJ1oAQ8S654iTyr6n0BBFmSqq4sVKIzxEah4c5ERarZ4ltKuDIF/s1600/zoe-in-bed-16jan15.jpg" height="291" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Zoe joins me for nap time </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, my days include meditation, walks in the desert,
some cooking (most recently, a big pot of chicken vegetable soup; a
co-production with my wife), blogging, answering email, reading (currently <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But Beautiful</i>, a book about jazz; next
up, Saul Bellow’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Augie March, </i>for
another good friend who asked me to review it), amusing the dog, napping,
watching crime dramas on Netflix (currently <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Fall</i>), and finishing the draft of another book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A to Izzard: a glossary of frontier fiction</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My wife, I must add, is gradually recovering after a fall
that broke her left arm in December. She can drive around town again, and I
ride shotgun, going into the post office and the shops, while she waits in the
parking lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so life goes on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #262626;">I’m closing again with a video. This a sweet one by guitarist
Earl Klugh called “This Time.”</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #262626;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/n7fF_eRYM5k" width="420"></iframe></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Previously:</b> <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/bump-in-road.html">Bump in the Road</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-73164384588545647662015-01-14T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-17T14:35:19.079-08:00Robert J. Randisi, ed., Livin’ on Jacks and Queens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is an entertaining anthology of 14 stories about gamblers and
gambling in the Old West. Editor Randisi has assembled a notable gathering of
western writers, providing an array of storytelling styles and imaginative
treatments of the subject. The names of several contributors will be quickly
recognized: Johnny Boggs, John D. Nesbitt, Matthew P. Mayo, Nik Morton, and
Chuck Tyrell.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To these he has added a story of his own, plus the yarns of two women
writers who may be new to some readers: Christine Matthews and Lori Van Pelt.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My favorites of the bunch include Ms. Matthews’ “Odds on a Lawman,”
which tells of a succession of sheriffs who each assumes a tenure of service to
a frontier town, before dying or disappearing for various reasons, on which the
townsmen place bets until the turn of events claims one of them the winner.
It’s an amusing and well-written tale that brings its Dickensian cast of
characters to entertaining life, while we wait to see the fate that befalls
each of the town’s series of sheriffs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For a colorful portrayal of the daily life and business of a riverboat
gambler, Nik Morton brings that world vividly to life in his story, “Hazard.” In
“Acey-Deucey,” John D. Nesbitt’s central character is hired by a woman to
retrieve an emerald pendant once given to her by a paramour. Finally locating
the current owner of the gem, he has to win a game of cards before he can take
possession of it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrBzlgsq5eUGRPhPaVFHEhUThKfcYQikepq4ULJwdBaMecbahz57W1pKAVcdpQK4FYTzRmoIWIKgAgLgKXLG_TWu96T4wnrp_h8dDEnz5nluQz4azLoINs63o-Jn9RaDk7Yg171YCZec9/s1600/robert-j-randisi-fantasticfiction-co-uk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrBzlgsq5eUGRPhPaVFHEhUThKfcYQikepq4ULJwdBaMecbahz57W1pKAVcdpQK4FYTzRmoIWIKgAgLgKXLG_TWu96T4wnrp_h8dDEnz5nluQz4azLoINs63o-Jn9RaDk7Yg171YCZec9/s1600/robert-j-randisi-fantasticfiction-co-uk.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Robert Randisi</i></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Randisi’s story, “Horseshoes and Pistols” is so quirky, I kept thinking
that it qualified as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twilight Zone</i>
material. In it, two men are forced to bet their lives on a game of horseshoes.
Matthew Mayo’s “Pay the Ferryman” veers off in another direction, as a man on
the run escapes into what might well be called “the heart of darkness.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My favorite story in the collection was penned by a favorite storyteller,
Chuck Tyrell. His “Great Missouri River Steamship Race” evokes a period of
river travel from the point of view of a youngster working as a fireman aboard a steamship with a regular route between St. Louis and Fort Benton. Tyrell brings his gifts for characterization, dialogue,
and suspense to this story with its echoes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Huckleberry Finn</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Livin’ on
Jacks and Queens</span></i> is currently available in ebook format at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Livin-Jacks-Queens-Phil-Dunlap-ebook/dp/B00GYURKPI/buddiesin-20/">amazon</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/livin-on-jacks-and-queens-robert-j-randisi/1117667047?ean=2940045487740">Barnes&Noble</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Shamelsss
plug: </span></b>For an in-depth survey of early writers of frontier fiction, read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How the West Was Written</i> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/04/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol-1.html">to obtain acopy, click here</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits: </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">fantasticfiction.co.uk</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Illustrators of frontier fiction, Frank E. Schoonover<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-5198505897050286052015-01-13T03:00:00.000-08:002015-01-17T08:03:44.961-08:00Illustrators of early frontier fiction:J. N. Marchand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKH2_oMYQ5XBQEYG6fsJ36NlfAY1XOkr7fLFVBXPT-ISW4ViExAoDZkKLl06DyPAoojVXKtVs_nmgOFfrgk3GBsX8N9-bpsVvXngateE3B-2gKnZFEIuwaKl9SXzQV9TbwWRlEhqFcqheq/s1600/JN-Marchand-the-spell-of-the-gold-chase-the-outing-magazine-feb1906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKH2_oMYQ5XBQEYG6fsJ36NlfAY1XOkr7fLFVBXPT-ISW4ViExAoDZkKLl06DyPAoojVXKtVs_nmgOFfrgk3GBsX8N9-bpsVvXngateE3B-2gKnZFEIuwaKl9SXzQV9TbwWRlEhqFcqheq/s1600/JN-Marchand-the-spell-of-the-gold-chase-the-outing-magazine-feb1906.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>J. N. Marchand, </i>Outing Magazine<i>, 1906</i></td></tr>
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J. N. (John Norval) Marchand (1875-1921) was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. After high school in St. Paul, Minnesota, he worked for the <i>Minnesota Journal</i>, and later was a staff artist for the New York <i>World. </i>A painter and sculptor, he provided numerous illustrations for magazines, such as <i>Munsey's </i>and <i>Outing Magazine </i>(<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2011/10/magazine-illustrations-1902-1906.html">see more examples here)</a><i>, </i>and for as many as<i> </i>35 books, mostly featuring western themes and subject matter.<br />
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Below are his illustrations for several novels set on the frontier. My favorite is the faro scene from Alfred Henry Lewis's <i>Faro Nell and Her Friends</i>, where players cluster in a hubbub around the dealer, and in the foreground is the relaxed figure of a cowboy in leather chaps and boots, smoking a cigarette, long legs crossed, his big hat beside him on the table.<br />
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Alfred Henry Lewis, <i>The Sunset Trail</i> (1905)<br />
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Thomas Nelson Page, <i>Under the Crust </i>(1907)<br />
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Hamlin Garland, <i>Money Magic</i> (1907)<br />
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Margaret Hill McCarter, <i>The Price of the Prairie</i> (1910)<br />
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Philip Verrill Mighels, <i>The Furnace of Gold </i>(1910)<br />
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Alfred Henry Lewis, <i>Faro Nell and Her Friends</i> (1913)<br />
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Margaret Hill McCarter, <i>Winning the Wilderness</i> (1914)<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Shamelsss
plug: </b>For an in-depth survey of early writers of frontier fiction, read <i>How the West Was Written</i> (<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/04/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol-1.html">to obtain a copy, click here</a>).</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Further
reading/viewing:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2011/10/magazine-illustrations-1902-1906.html">Magazine illustrations, 1902-1906</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Image credits:
</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Google Books</span></div>
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<b>Coming up: </b>Robert Randisi, ed., <i>Livin' on Jacks and Queens</i></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-37646350032664187162015-01-11T15:38:00.000-08:002015-01-11T15:42:57.813-08:00Bump in the road<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIB-kmtpEcrKkJCiNVlrOKNsstbgFMOhV-hwEQtGTAAR5B8Uko95QG85ncmCBQcPgnvvIuJGlKW8QfLJXr2ygvuhzT-h_GNV4tYuAME_TY5miA0FuOtG5qmK5YnfwtChszL-gsSRS9tvc-/s1600/winter-sunrise-5jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIB-kmtpEcrKkJCiNVlrOKNsstbgFMOhV-hwEQtGTAAR5B8Uko95QG85ncmCBQcPgnvvIuJGlKW8QfLJXr2ygvuhzT-h_GNV4tYuAME_TY5miA0FuOtG5qmK5YnfwtChszL-gsSRS9tvc-/s1600/winter-sunrise-5jan15.jpg" height="291" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Winter sunrise</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I don’t feel much like posting today. It’s a gloomy, drizzly
day in the desert. Mostly I’m dealing with the news this week that my
oncologist believes my tumor is showing signs of growth, and we’re looking at a
change of treatment. She wants me to get a second opinion from a specialist at
UCLA. As the day for that appointment draws closer, a
handful of CDs with all my MRIs in a shoulder bag ready to take with me, I feel
a little apprehensive. I continue being positive, but I’m not as strong as I’d
like to feel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With cancer, you don’t just find out who your friends are.
You discover what a friend is. One of our neighbors—the one who drove me, the
car, and dog Zoe off the mountain when my wife Lynda broke her arm last month—has
offered to take us to UCLA, a round trip of 250 miles. Meanwhile, my next-door
neighbor Cory was offering the same, telling me to “rest assured” that he’d
find a driver for us “by hook or crook.” I cannot tell you the relief both of
them were able to give me with that simple commitment to drop everything and help
us.</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMHuoQs5vNJJS1XE8JhWxOxZ_VlgSZF3gg4Sa8UdqAYO9oIqqh49PgqZW6lpkEdV6p_gxfugaqzPh9RfmcDg8JqvqBZaRytRj5eto7K759ZmuYf7sipuFTJ9Plt0rDfL9klg3IOdN5bAY/s1600/wall-mural-whales-11jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMHuoQs5vNJJS1XE8JhWxOxZ_VlgSZF3gg4Sa8UdqAYO9oIqqh49PgqZW6lpkEdV6p_gxfugaqzPh9RfmcDg8JqvqBZaRytRj5eto7K759ZmuYf7sipuFTJ9Plt0rDfL9klg3IOdN5bAY/s1600/wall-mural-whales-11jan15.jpg" height="290" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>New wall mural in town</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cory is also a church-going man who practices his faith in
ways that put my meager spirituality to shame. A year ago, when I was in the
hospital’s intensive care, he got past the family-only visitors requirement by bringing
along his pastor, who wouldn’t of course be turned away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the past year, I’ve shifted my opinions about the power
of prayer. I remain unconvinced that entreaties to the God one believes in
either can or should alter the Will of the Almighty, but listening to Cory’s
and his pastor’s thoughtful prayers over me have softened my heart. Cory has a
men’s prayer breakfast at a local Denny’s once a month, and I have often gone
with him. There, a dozen or more men from his church regularly gather for a
homily and sometimes prayers for individuals dealing with family problems,
illness, and other difficulties. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a good-humored, congenial bunch, young and old,
employed and retired, with life experiences that would fill a phonebook. I was
included among those they prayed over on Saturday, and I could feel the honest
warmth of their collective concern. You can’t be unmoved by something like
that. Not me, anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fRyCy2wzfNS741qkzHDUQkrkpb3DRkW2Je77j3O7MtgJzA8O54NVpoKJoe-v2lIZrFtbqffExdpC6ry0Ih9Huk1sKqGodyYX9v-XYec2nA2HUjRM1fzukUXhvV40u53VXo4Qcb4DvruP/s1600/ron-faith-jan15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fRyCy2wzfNS741qkzHDUQkrkpb3DRkW2Je77j3O7MtgJzA8O54NVpoKJoe-v2lIZrFtbqffExdpC6ry0Ih9Huk1sKqGodyYX9v-XYec2nA2HUjRM1fzukUXhvV40u53VXo4Qcb4DvruP/s1600/ron-faith-jan15.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Me talking, as usual; Faith listening</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also deserving of mention here is my old college friend,
Steve, now retired and living in Palm Springs, who was my personal chauffeur
last week, getting me to/from the Cancer Center and my other doctors (and
dentist; happy to report I have my front tooth again). Also helping to keep me
fed and entertained was another family friend, Faith, who flew out from New
York for 10 days, driving for Lynda and lightening the mood with her wit and
laughter. Tears were shed when we finally had to say goodbye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pema Chödrön often speaks of our continuing, and futile,
efforts to get solid ground beneath our feet, only to have it give way time
after time, like having a rug pulled from under us. This new uncertainty about
my cancer treatment has followed many months of “progress,” and I’d become
trusting and mostly confident that I could look forward to an indefinite period
of more or less smooth sailing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These setbacks of unsatisfactory test results and broken
limbs, and relying on friends have forced me to an awareness of how tentative
and temporary everything always is, and I learn again to surrender to my
vulnerability. The choice is to (a) be discouraged or (b) to cherish the best
moments of each day as fleeting as they may be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, to heck with (a); I plan to take each of those (b) moments I’ve
got coming to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so life goes on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #262626;">I’m closing again with a video. This one called “Blessed
Quietness,” by jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut</span>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Previously:</b> <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2015/01/quoth-raven.html">Quoth the raven</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-13364754521614198612015-01-08T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-08T06:00:01.331-08:00Naguib Mahfouz, Karnak Café (1974) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkAvPIGEXgmtA36aQKKdOrq3tZVAGkHgZhpW2UP3v1LdhIKLWVGlq5AeLtJ61BgKjyTBfiOhfwdbssghApgy5vnIkc7q8xWvdYEEHXcq8WZ4b5nPgpCMoUdqA4ipL_Efl07zwDjGqXZ-d/s1600/karnak-cafe-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkAvPIGEXgmtA36aQKKdOrq3tZVAGkHgZhpW2UP3v1LdhIKLWVGlq5AeLtJ61BgKjyTBfiOhfwdbssghApgy5vnIkc7q8xWvdYEEHXcq8WZ4b5nPgpCMoUdqA4ipL_Efl07zwDjGqXZ-d/s1600/karnak-cafe-cover.jpg" height="320" width="197" /></a></div>
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Bit of a change today at BITS, from West to Middle East. This short
novel by Nobel-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz is a sadly melancholy
story of the crushing of youthful hope. Set in the 1960s around the time of the 1967 war
with Israel, it describes how a generation of young Egyptians, the children of
the revolution of 1954, were betrayed and lied to by their government, while
being subjected to interrogation and imprisonment by secret police.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Their story is told by an older man (and stand-in for the author), who
befriends a gathering of them who are regulars at a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cairo café, Al-Karnak. There they talk of
politics and express their idealistic aspirations, both for themselves and
their country. Abruptly disappearing for periods of time, they return shaken
and demoralized. While in police custody, kept in windowless cells, they have
endured harsh treatment and false accusations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Eventually it’s revealed that they have been coerced into becoming
informants, which corrodes their trust in each other and eventually leads to
the death of one of them. Two, a loving couple at the story’s start,
are driven apart by their guilt and shame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Karnak Café</span></i> is a
troubling vision of life in a modern police state, and it sheds light for
Westerners on the recent struggles in Egypt for freedom and justice. Novella-length,
it takes a stand somewhat distant from political events, while clearly throwing
its sympathies to the young people who speak on its pages. It is currently
available in paper and ebook format at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Karnak-Cafe-Naguib-Mahfouz-ebook/dp/B004QWZJWW/buddiesin-20/">amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/karnak-caf-naguib-mahfouz/1112935609/">Barnes&Noble</a>, and <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=karnak+cafe">AbeBooks</a>. For more of Friday's Forgotten Books, click on over to <a href="http://pattinase.blogspot.com/">Patti Abbott's blog.</a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Coming up: </b>Robert Randisi, ed., <i>Livin’ on Jacks and Queens</i></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-35225962667721023662015-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-07T06:00:02.919-08:00Richard Prosch, Devil’s Run<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If there’s such a thing as comic violence in the western, Richard Prosch
is a gentle master of it. There is shooting and fighting enough in his </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Devil’s Run</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">—and work for the undertaker—but
it’s a story told with a wry and barely suppressed grin.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The central character is Prosch’s “Peregrine,” John Coburn, a gun for
hire who’s taken the job of escorting a man improbably named Tie-Down Sam
Gustaffson, from Missouri to Nebraska, where he is to appear as a witness in a
murder trial.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Family ties, however, produce an obstacle as the two men stop overnight
at a river town called Bindlestick, and for a while it looks like they won’t
make it out alive. They are joined in their attempt to escape by Margo Blaze,
proprietress of the town’s hotel and whose bed was warmed the previous night by
our man Coburn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Suspense builds as Prosch offers an escape route dating from the days of
the Underground Railroad, but escape itself turns out to be not so easy, even
while the story’s villains are less than competent as adversaries</span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;">wherein
lies much of the comedy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Prosch’s storytelling sensibility is modern and ironic, but there is a
nod to old-fashioned pulp fiction in the cliffhanger endings to most of the
chapters. Novella-length, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Devil’s Run</i>
is a swiftly told and breezy read. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Run-John-Coburn-Peregrine-ebook/dp/B00RDLBQJI/buddiesin-20/">It is currently available in ebook format at amazon</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="twitter-share-button" data-via="rdscheer" href="https://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">BITS reviews of other books by Richard Prosch:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/05/richard-prosch-one-against-gun-horde.html"><i>One Against a Gun Horde</i></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2013/02/richard-prosch-holt-county-law.html"><i>Holt County Law</i></a></div>
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<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/04/richard-prosch-meadows-ford-blues.html"><i>Meadows Ford Blues</i></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Coming up: </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Naguib Mahfouz, <i>Karnak Cafe</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3434602314756730550.post-82740889003630131752015-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:002015-02-06T14:53:08.766-08:00Illustrators of frontier fiction:W. Herbert Dunton<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Taos_Society_of_Artists_founders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Taos_Society_of_Artists_founders.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Taos Society of Artists, 1915 (Dunton, 3rd from left)</i></td></tr>
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William Herbert "Buck" Dunton (1878-1936) was born in Maine. An outdoorsman from an early age, he travelled frequently to the West. After working in New York as a magazine and book illustrator, he eventually settled in Taos, New Mexico, which had become a thriving artists colony. There he gave up a career as an illustrator and took to painting and hunting. He was an original member of the Taos Society of Artists.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like the writers Zane Grey (1872-1939) and Will James (1892-1942), Dunton had a nostalgic regard for the Old West, preserving and celebrating in his work and pastimes the mythology of frontier scouts, cowboys, and other singular figures who lived independently off the land as it was before westward settlement. Here are a number of his book illustrations from the years <span style="font-family: inherit;">1904 - 1919.</span></span><br />
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William R. Lighton, <i>Uncle Mac's Nebrasky </i>(1904)<br />
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B. M. Bower, <i>Her Prairie Knight</i> (1907)<br />
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Sara Dean, <i>Travers: a story of the San Francisco Earthquake</i> (1908)<br />
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Alfred Henry Lewis, <i>Wolfville Folks </i>(1908)<br />
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Randall Parrish, <i>Keith of the Border: a Tale of the Plains </i>(1910)<br />
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Katharine Hopkins Chapman, <i>The Fusing Force: an Idaho Idyll </i>(1911)<br />
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Alfred Henry Lewis, <i>Faro Nell and her Friends </i>(1913)<br />
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Jackson Gregory, <i>Judith of Blue Lake Ranch </i>(1919)<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Shamelsss
plug: </b>For an in-depth survey of early writers of frontier fiction, read <i>How the West Was Written</i> (to obtain a
copy, <a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2014/04/now-available-how-west-was-written-vol-1.html">click here</a>).</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further
reading/viewing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.dunton.org/whd_exhibit/whd_biography.htm">W. Herbert Dunton bio</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/01/win-some-lose-some.html">Dunton's illustrations for Hugh Pendexter's "The Mantle of Red Evans"</a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Image credits:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Google books<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming up: </span></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard
Prosch, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Devil’s Run</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Ron Scheerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.com6