"Looking For A Good Western Novel" Topic

Hi All,

I'm currently working on a Magnificent Seven project and would love some Southwestern inspiration. Are there any good novels out there featuring Banditos (or Comanche, Apache)?

Blood Meridian sounds perfect in terms of setting, but I think it might be too bloody and grim for my taste.

Any other suggestions, even those not set in the Southwest, would be much appreciated. The field is clear: the only western novel I've read so far is Borden Chantry by Louis L'Amour. I liked it but suspect there are better out there.

Thank you!

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What the Outlaw Josey Wales was based on.

Blood Meridian is a magnificent book, but I wouldn't recommend it for gaming inspiration, you'll be trying to forget the images it conjured up.

The Big Sky, by AB Guthrie. Troubled backwoodsman finds a kind of peace fur trading on the far frontier, but can't outrun his violent nature.

The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt. Two hired guns find out their intended target Holds the key to a sure-fire get-rich-quick scheme.

American by Blood, by Andrew Huebner. Follows the cavalry scouts who discovered Custer's fate through the subsequent campaign of pursuit and retribution.

St Agnes' Stand, by Thomas Eidson. A frontiersman ignores his better judgement and rides to the rescue against an Apache war party, only to find he's bitten off more than he can chew.

The Thicket, by Joe R. Lansdale. An orphaned farm boy puts together a posse of bounty-hunting misfits against a gang of stone killers who kidnapped his sister.

All highly recommended – I read a lot of westerns and these are my favourites among those I've read recently.

"Warlock" by Oakley Hall, one of the best I've read. Also the Western Short Stories of Elmore Leonard, includes "3:10 to Yuma" and "Valdez is Coming".

Hi,

As I understand it Elmore Leonard cut his teeth writing westerns. I haven't read any, except the Pumpkin Patch War one, which was made into a film staring Bronson, but Leonard is a very fine writer indeed and his action is good. So probably great for scenario ideas. Perhaps someone around here knows some of his western stuff better than I do.

I think he might have used an alias at the time, but here is a link.

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Lonesome Dove

Lots of Louis L'Amour set in the Southwest.

Also Luke Short.

Many of th eElmore Leonard stories are set in the Southwest, and focus on Cavalry vs. Apaches.

Thank you all very much. Shouldn't come as a surprise, but I hadn't even heard of most of the novel titles, and the name Elmore Leonard is equally new to me. I have a good deal to work with now.

If there are any title recommendations by Elmore beyond The Pumpkin Patch War I'd be most grateful!

Oh, and Landings, your list with short synopses is extremely helpful. Thanks for that!

Might keep an eye out for James Warner Bellah. Mostly tricky and/or expensive at the moment, But a Bellah short story lurks behind a number of old John Ford westerns, and he did novelizations of several others. He did non-westerns, but every western I can think of had a southwestern setting.

Second vote for Louis L'Amour.

For Bellah, many of his stories (those sparking movies) can be found in the four Reel West anthologies edited by Bill Pronzini.

For that matter, go watch some movies, starting with The Searchers and Ford's Cavalry Trilogy (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, Rio Grande). And the original Magnificent Seven.

Robert B Parker Cole and Hitch series:\

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Maker, I'll keep an eye out for Bellah. Inspired by this conversation, I've gone to Amazon and bought The Collected Western Stories of Leonard Elmore – sounds like it's a great place to start.

As for films, over the past weeks I've had a great time watching the following (almost all for the first time):

Shane
High Noon
Tombstone
Siverado
For A Few Dollars More
Pale Rider
Unforgiven
Rio Bravo
The Searchers

Have loved them all, but there's no question I've more "research" to do. Thank you all again for the input!

I'll second "Lonesome Dove".

Robert Parker's Cole/Hitch books are good reads also.

I have really enjoyed Zane Grey but you have to invest time into them. Meaning, authors wrote different back then. Sentence structure, grammar, words that now have changed meanings.

A more modern writer I have thoroughly enjoyed is Terry C. Johnston. Especially his Titus Bass character series.

Lastly, Don Coldsmith who wrote the Spanish Bit series is a good read time and again.

Oh one more thing. Watch out because some westerns are so damn silly. The best shot, the best tracker, the best this and the best that. I don't care for those books. The protagonist never has a mishap and is always 'the man'.

See if you can find a copy of "JT's Hundredth".

The 100th published book by JT Edson, the king of pulp westerns through the 1960's & 70's.
It's a collection of short stories featuring the protagonists of his full-length novel series.
Edson was an obsessive researcher, and his books are packed with historical and technical detail – great scenario inspiration and a good taster for his writing style.

All of McMurtry's stuff is superb!

Add "Open Range" and "Winchester '73" (James Stewart) to your list of movies. "Open Range" has one of the best gunfights I've ever seen on film.

Thank you for the tip, Nick. It happens that I've a very rare Bachelor's Weekend this weekend and am busily picking meals, films and drinks, as one does. I'm pretty sure I'll do "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon;" maybe I'll add "Open Range" as a second.

Don't tell the wife, but I'm really looking forward to this…

Clair Huffaker. He wrote: The War Wagon, Rio Conchos, Posse From Hell, etc. He also wrote the screenplay for L'Amour's Comancheros.

Alan Le May "The Unforgiven" and "The Searchers"

I would add to your film list
Ulzana's Raid
Major Dundee
Vera Cruz
Valdez is Coming

Another +1 for Open Range and Winchester '73 (the Jimmy Stewart version, of course), but let us not ignore the Duke's breakout film--Stagecoach (1939), as well as El Dorado/Rio Bravo (pretty much the same plot), True Grit, Cheyenne Social Club, and High Noon.

Another Huffaker novel not to miss is The Cowboy and the Cossack. Not relevant to the Southwest US, but it's hard to beat a trail drive across Siberia with a mixed American and Russian outfit!

This has turned increasingly into a thread about films, but as the OP I don't mind! (And my collection of Elmore should arrive today…)

Huscarle, Ulzana's raid looks fantastic, I must say. Unfortunately my Amazon membership doesn't allow me to get it (one must be a Starz member). I'll keep a lookout for it, however. I suppose I could always get the DVD.

I watched Open Range last night. Before Nick mentioned it above I'd never even heard of this film. Anyhow, it now ranks as one of my top Westerns – loved every minute of it: the landscapes, the sets/costumes and the plot (which is classic Western fare). Costner is a rather wooden actor, but I think it works in this film – he plays a decent fellow and comes across well, and Duvall, of course, is incredible. Thank you to all of you who recommended it!

Tonight I'll toss between Yellow Ribbon, Winchester and True Grit. Maybe I'll even watch two. I'm bacching it and the cat doesn't mind!

If we're talking Western movies, I'm going to throw this in the table:

The Top Ten Western Movies That – For Some Reason – Never Get A Mention (aka NOT the usual suspects!)

10: Eagle's Wing.
A fur trapper and a Kiowa brave clash over possession of a magnificent horse – with the loser facing the prospect of being left on foot in the wilderness. Great theme music by Marc Wilkinson.

9: The Fastest Gun Alive.
One of Glenn Ford's best performances as a talented but fearful shooter who's never been in a real gunfight. Broderick Crawford is a hard-case outlaw who intends to address that issue.

8: Hannie Caulder.
Raquel Welch (looking stunning in a skimpy poncho) out for revenge against a classic trio of all-time Western movie villains: Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam & Strother Martin. Robert Culp is the scholarly but formidable gunfighter who trains her up, and Christopher Lee is her gunsmith.

7: No Name on the Bullet.
The awesome Audie Murphy Is effortlessly convincing as a notorious hired killer.
When he rides into a small town, the community tears itself apart over the question: who has he come for?

6: Posse
Kirk Douglas plays a cynical lawman using his posse of hand-picked man hunters as a stepping-stone to political office. Bruce Dern is the subversive outlaw who aims to burst his bubble.

5: Five Man Army
Peter Graves is putting together a team to rob a train during the Mexican revolution. Basically, it's 'Mission Impossible 1912'. Features one of Ennio Morricone's catchiest soundtracks.

4: McKenna's Gold
Big, sprawling old-school Western with an all-star cast led by Gregory Peck, which had the misfortune to come out just as 'The Wild Bunch' changed the rules of the genre. Various bands of ne'er-do-wells double-cross each other in the hunt for a hidden valley full of gold.

3: Blackthorn
Sam Shepard gives a note-perfect performance as the aged Butch Cassidy, drawn out of hiding in Bolivia to aid an untrustworthy young fugitive.

2: Escape from Fort Bravo
William Holden is the driven, hard-as-nails warden of a forgotten desert outpost during the Civil War, facing Apaches outside the stockade and mutinous Confederate POWs inside. Bleak and gritty.

1: Barbarossa
Gary Busey is a hapless farm-boy turned accidental outlaw, who is taken under the wing of swashbuckling bandido played by Willie Nelson (who looks like he's having a brilliant time!) Elegiac story of how real events and people become Legends of the West.

There you go – ten classics you don't hear about all the time!

And I hadn't heard of a single one of them. One of the great things about this project is that one is spoiled for choice in terms of literature and films. With films alone I've barely scratched the surface. Did watch She Wore A Yellow Ribbon last night, however.

Norman, that new list will be hugely helpful when I want to get off the beaten track a little, and as mentioned above, it's hugely helpful that you give a short synopsis of each. Thank you kindly, sir!

Daryl