From the Land of Cowboys to You; or, The Modern Buckaroo’s Guide to the World
Let’s see, where was I? Why yes, hip deep in Lorne Greene’s pillow lips circa Bonanza…
Sigh, no. I was in deeply in the wonder that is the Gene Autry Museum (aka the Cowboy Museum) and writing up another draft of the novel. Unlike movie cowboys, who seem to either
a.) multitask–fix barbed wire fences, herd cattle, [...]
You ever go through life thinking you should’ve written that novel/filmed that movie/accepted that job/kissed that girl or guy/said yes when someone asked you to strip in front of a camera/handed that demo CD to that music exec/said hello to Paul Newman/told your best friend you love him or her/changed careers/hugged your kid/WRITTEN THAT NOVEL?
Well, [...]
A Western definition:
Dude (dood) n.
Usually an Easterner, but it can be used to call anyone obviously unready for the West–such as if a person is wearing street shoes, too-fancy clothes, or unable to ride a horse or track game or make coffee in a tin can. A dude is usually mocked mercilessly (see The Virginian, [...]
Pioneer Woman is the reason I can’t lie when people ask if I am a real cowboy. I say no. There’s no getting around it.
I don’t live in the middle of nowhere (although there actually is plenty of alone time in NYC).
I can’t cut off calf nuts.
I don’t even eat calf nuts.
I don’t ride a [...]
In a flurry of pink prose, headlines across the virtual Web are proclaiming the primacy of love: despite the sinking economy, people are still ponying up a few bucks to read the latest in love in lust:
Along with chocolate and Big Macs, romance novels are showing a brisk level of sales. Here’s a fact that [...]
Relationships in westerns???? At first the very idea seems incongruous–after all, they’re westerns for Tonto’s sake, not kissy-fests where people talk about feelings. But as part of the greater romance genre, they’re only leather chaps away from the bodice-ripping paperbacks* commonly called romances. So let’s get in touch with our get-in-touch-with-our-feelings side and talk about [...]
If I’m going to battle a cold, I would want Ernest Haycox to write the story.
The Whispering Range, by Ernest Haycox. Wherever the hell that mountain chain is, it also exists in my throat, which is as raw as the dark borderlands and filled with rustlers herding my healthy cells through secret byways.
Night time: Coughs [...]
Medical tools from the Civil War
There is something to be said for a high-deductible health care plan: This year, thanks to a likely financial crunch in my chosen field, I will certainly be reviewing my health expenditures carefully. No more mammograms willy-nilly–squishing boobs for fun has gone the way of tinkering with stocks. No longer will I [...]
There is something about the cowboy-riding-into-the-sunset image that is alluring. Countless movies end with the viewer/camera watching the swaying back of the horseback cowboy heading off into the glow of the setting sun, and a google image search will reveal kitsch and parody–it’s so cliché people don’t know what to do with a cowboy and a sunset [...]
Life must have been easier in the 1950s. Within half an hour, it was possible for a good guy to vanquish a bad guy, be a role model for youngsters, and look good in a holster.
Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.
His fast gun for [...]