Top Five from a Modern Master

S. Craig Zahler, author of the excellent, albeit intense novels A Congregation of Jackals and Wraiths of the Broken Land, and writer-director of one of the most memorable western films in recent years Bone Tomahawk will be offering his take on the genre and news about another of his Westerns in the works in an upcoming interview.

Ahead of that conversation he offers his own picks for Top 5 Reads in the genre.

1.      Beyond the Outposts Max Brand

2.      The Singing Guns Max Brand

3.      The Big Sky A.B. Guthrie

4.      Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry

5.      The Ox-Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark

Wraiths of the Broken Land

“Although the gentleman knew that he would be changed irrevocably by the act of killing another man, he admitted to himself that he was already different—aware of his mortality in a physical way and cognizant that his most cherished viewpoints did not in any way alter the world that happened violently around him. The scorpions had shown him that he was not immune to death.”

Friends, this is one gut-punch of a novel. S. Craig Zahler’s second Western [his first, A Congregation of Jackals is also reviewed on this blog] continues to display the author’s heady mixture of gorgeous prose, good grasp of the genre, and almost jaw-droppingly over-the-top set-pieces of violence ever presented on the printed page.

This ultra-violence is no mere effect or grab at exploitation. Some genres are founded almost entirely on the ability to push the limits but often these become exercises in one up-manship leaving any pretense of narrative ambitions in the dust in order to get to the grit, gore and grue to moisten that dust.

Not so with Zahler. This would be a mighty fine novel if it were not so tinged with red, but…I for one, find his violent visions fascinating.

It must be said, this may not be for all tastes. If you enjoyed his prior work, including his excellent films Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 you will find more to enjoy here.

A great toe in the water—if you read and survive the first chapter you’re in for a helluva ride.

If that chapter turns you off. Proceed no further—things get much worse from there.

Galveston

“I've found that all weak people share a basic obsession - they fixate on the idea of satisfaction. Anywhere you go men and women are like crows drawn by shiny objects. For some folks, the shiny objects are other people, and you'd be better off developing a drug habit.”

This neo-Western by Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of HBOs True Detective series is big on bleak observation and long on heart. It is no spoiler to say that it is the saga of a Galveston loan shark enforcer called “Big Country” who on the same day he receives a fatal diagnosis has rumblings that his unsavory employers have less than ideal plans for his already truncated future.

There are big themes here, redemption being one of them. A very fine example of what can be done with old ingredients.

David Crockett His Life and Adventures

“Ere long he found it necessary to oppose some of Jackson's measures. We will let him tell the story in his own truthful words: "Soon after the commencement of this second term, I saw, or thought I did, that it was expected of me that I would bow to the name of Andrew Jackson, and follow him in all his motions, and windings, and turnings, even at the expense of my conscience and judgment. Such a thing was new to me, and a total stranger to my principles. I know'd well enough, though, that if I didn't 'hurrah' for his name, the hue and cry was to be raised against me, and I was to be sacrificed, if possible. His famous, or rather I should say his infamous Indian bill was brought forward, and I opposed it from the purest motives in the world. Several of my colleagues got around me, and told me how well they loved me, and that I was ruining myself. They said this was a favorite measure of the President, and I ought to go for it. I told them I believed it was a wicked, unjust measure, and that I should go against it, let the cost to myself be what it might; that I was willing to go with General Jackson in everything that I believed was honest and right; but, further than this, I wouldn't go for him or any other man in the whole creation.”

This 19^th-century biography of Davy Crockett by historian John S. C. Abbott is a load of thoughtful fun. Crockett’s birthplace and stomping grounds are not far from my own homestead and I have to admit a bit of partiality when it comes to his exploits.

What struck me in this narrative was not so much the “adventures” but the political exploits which strike me as pertinent today.

I’ll let Mr. Crockett close out this musing.

“He said, 'I would as lieve be an old coondog as obliged to do what any man or set of men would tell me to do. I will support the present Administration as far as I would any other; that is, as far as I believe its views to be right. I will pledge myself to support no Administration. I had rather be politically damned than hypocritically immortalized.'"-David Crockett on withdrawing his support for Andrew Jackson

Ah, to see such courage and integrity in congressmen and voters/supporters of any and all stripes today…

"The Mountain Code"

Jim Webb, in his history Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America offers an interesting [if unprovable] premise on the foundations of the clannish honor, rebelliousness, and ornery combativeness of the people of early Appalachia and the Ozarks. It is a book well-worth reading and discussing [another day, perhaps.]

I find that you can see Webb's theme encapsulated in a few brief paragraphs in a work of fiction, the below is from Forrest Carter's The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales. [BTW-A mighty fine book itself.]

“The [Mountain] Code was as necessary to survival on the lean soil of mountains, as it had been on the rock ground of Scotland and Wales. Clannish people. Outside governments erected by people of kindlier land, of wealth, of power, made no allowance for the scrabbler.

“As a man had no coin, his coin was his word. His loyalty, his bond. He was the rebel of establishment, born in this environment. To injure one to whom he was obliged was personal; more, it was blasphemy. The Code, a religion without catechism, having no chronicler of words to explain or to offer apologia.

“Bone-deep feuds were the result. War to the knife. Seldom if ever over land, or money, or possessions. But injury to the Code meant---WAR!

“Marrowed in the bone, singing in the blood, the Code was brought to the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee and the Ozarks of Missouri. Instantaneously it could change a shy farm boy into a vicious killer, like a sailing hawk, quartering its wings in the death dive.

“It all was puzzling to those who lived within government cut from cloth to fit their comfort. Only those forced outside the pale could understand. The Indian—Cherokee, Comanche, Apache. The Jew.

“The unspoken nature of Josey Wales was the clannish code. No common interest of business, politics, land or profit bound his people to him. It was unseen and therefore stronger than any of these. Rooted in human beings’ most powerful urge—preservation. The unyielding, binding thong was loyalty. The trigger was obligation.”

Quote of the Week

This is “The Cowboy Code of Ethics” as offered by James Owen in his book Cowboy Values: Recapturing What America Once Stood For.

I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of all that Mr. Owen has to say in his book as it seems a bit of historical cherry-picking to get at the best and the brightest, but that’s just me. I do think most will find it hard to quibble with his list of 10.

The Cowboy Code of Ethics

“Live each day with courage.

Take pride in your work.

Always finish what you start.

Do what has to be done.

Be tough, but fair.

When you make a promise, keep it.

Ride for the brand.

Talk less and say more.

Remember that some things aren’t for sale.

Know where to draw the line.”

Short Story Short Take: "Gunman's Christmas"

“We don’t judge a man by the blood he was borned with. We measure him by the blood he’s got in his veins now, ‘cause we figure he made it whatever it is—good or bad.”

I write of this Christmas tale in the month of August as it was my first encounter with the work of Caddo Cameron [the penname of Charles Beeler.] It's a quaint tale with heart, and has the feel of hard-earned authenticity.

That authenticity likely comes from Beeler's own experience working ranches and railroads in the late 1800s.

In this story no new roads are paved, but the old roads feel legit and with the backing of the Yuletide setting it resonates.