Mr. Bill Crider is no stranger to
Western aficionados. Aside from penning many fine westerns, he has also written
widely in other genres, serves as the President of The Western Fictioneers
organization, offered countless thoughtful reviews and insights on books, authors,
and matters pop in general over at his excellent blog Bill Crider’s PopCulture Magazine. Keep in mind this is just a brief listing of what the man
has done. And yet somehow, he found the time to have this conversation.
Mr.
Crider, sincere thanks for taking the time to provide us with some thoughts on
the Western genre. With that said, I want to get down to brass tacks and offer
what I consider one of my favorite first sentences of the past year. You open Outrage
at Blanco with this gem: “Jink Howard sat in the shade of a tree and ate
tomatoes while Ben Atticks raped the woman in the wagon bed.” That is pure
attention-grabbing gold. I heard a fine piece of writing advice years ago “Let
your readers know what’s at stake, right up front.” This sentence does that in
spades. Is this a philosophy you adhere to as well?
I always heard a different version of that advice, which was
"Shoot the sheriff in the first paragraph." I do try to have
something there that will get a reader's attention, but I'd never shoot the
sheriff. Sheriff Dan Rhodes has been way too good to me for me to do a
thing like that.
Staying
with your novel Outrage at Blanco, but also staying spoiler-free so that
new readers can have the joys of following up on that whip-cracking sentence;
the character Ellie Taine goes through a bit of transformation in the course of
this novel. It calls to my mind the film Hannie Caulder [which was minor at
best, aside from an excellent Robert Culp.] In Hannie Caudler the
transformation is a bit superficial and rote, but Ellie has real depth to her.
Her actions make sense to me. May I ask what spawned this character?
As is so often the case with my writing, I have no idea what
spawned the characters or the plot. I don't do a lot of planning, and
sometimes, as in the case of Ellie Taine, a character evolves over the course
of the book. I remember seeing Hannie Calder long ago, but I
remember almost nothing about it at this point.
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It's certainly possible that the spaghettis are an influence on
me. I quite enjoy the Clint Eastwood Dollars movies, and I've
seen quite a few other westerns in that vein.
I’m
flogging a dead-horse in that I’ve got one more question about Outrage at
Blanco. I don’t want to give anything away, but I find your unintended
consequences of a simple accident with a tomato can a stroke of genius. This
minor mishap wakes us to the fact that these were harsh times and lacking in
practically every amenity we possess today. There was more to be aware of then
then gunfights and stampedes. Do you find that these touches of “This is how
it was” authenticity add depth and breadth?
I like to add a little authenticity when I can, but the accident
with the tomato can was just one more thing that evolved in the writing of the
book. I hadn't thought of it at first, but it seemed just right
later on as I wrote the book.
Let’s talk
Sheriff Dan Rhodes. While a modern setting, I find these police procedurals
fine examples of contemporary Westerns that I have no problem including in my preferred
reading stack. What thoughts inspired the creation of this character?
Once again, I have to give a vague answer. I really don't
know what inspired the character, who started out as a character in a short
story that kept getting longer and longer. I've been told that there was
never a sheriff like Rhodes, but that's okay. I like him, and readers
seem to, also.
Do you
find there to be much difference between writing Westerns of the 19th-century
time period and those novels of the West written in contemporary settings?
Meaning are characters like Dan Rhodes and Walter Longmire really that far
removed from characters inhabiting a T.T. Flynn novel?
I think Dan Rhodes shares a lot of the same values that old west
heroes exemplified. He never expresses a "code" directly, but I
think it's clear that he has one and that it's informed by the westerners of
the past.
You are a
voracious reader and a thoughtful reviewer as anyone who consumes your blog
well knows. You have led me to many fine reads over the years, and with that in
mind I go to your expertise well again. If you had to make a stack of Desert
Island western novels to see you through hard times, what books would you pack?
There'd have to be a couple by Harry Whittington, maybe Saddle
the Storm being one of them. A few by Louis L'Amour. Shane,
The Big Sky. Little Big Man, Wild Times. There are too many to
list.
With that
said, are there any Western works that don’t quite make the classic-cut but
still provide you with entertainment? These can be minor classics in their own
right or what some call guilty pleasures.
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Do you
have upcoming novels in the works, Western or otherwise?
I just turned in a Sheriff Rhodes novel, That Old Scoundrel
Death. I hope the publisher likes it.
Mr.
Crider, thank you again for your time and consideration. It’s been an honor
corresponding with you.
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