Candles in the Bottom of the Pool by Max Evans

“Aleta, the world is strange. Mankind has forgotten what was always true—that a clean breath is worth more than the most elegant bank building. A new flower opening is more beautiful than a marble palace. All things rot. Michelangelo’s sculpture is even now slowly breaking apart. All empires vanish. The largest buildings in the world will turn back to sand. The great paintings are cracking, the negatives of the best films ever made are right now losing their color and becoming brittle. The tallest mountains are coming down a rock at a time. Only thoughts live. You are only what you think.”

This is one unusual story. It is beautifully written, rife with observations as the above will attest, and…well, the arc of the story literally shocked me. I can’t say I know what to make of the story as a whole; I am left with questions.

Usually such elliptical fare leaves me cold, but this bit of outre perspective and savage acts left me pondering its meaning. 

I don’t mean for that to sound pretentious, simply a fact. 

An unusual work of art.

Cottonwood by Scott Phillips

The screenwriter of The Ice Harvest provides this seriocomic tale of Cottonwood, Kansas that incorporates the true-life serial-killing “family” The Blood Benders.

The Benders are not the focal point of the story, but they do play and intriguing and significant part. It is well written Western tale and unfolds in an unexpected way. Well worth a read.

The Wind and the Snow of Winter by Walter Van Tilburg Clark

He mocked the airs with which the man rode, and his princely greetings. He mocked the man cleverly, and Armandy laughed and repeated what he said, and made him drink a little of her wine as a reward. Mike had been drinking whiskey, and he did not like wine anyway, but this was not the moment in which to refuse such an invitation.

The author of the acknowledged classic The Ox-Bow Incident provides this knowing tale of the land and the men and women in it. It is far from formulary, and likely made the 100 Best List by dint of its craft. 

It is melancholic, short and worth the time of thoughtful readers.

Court Day by Luke Short

“I just saw Comer,” Marty announced, his eyes hot, his voice contained. “He’s givin’ us till sundown to clear out of town.”

Nobody spoke for a minute. Ernie found them watching him, but he kept silent. There are times you can advise men, and times you can’t.

Luke Short wrote many a fine formulary Western. They are often Noir-ish in tone, but he always strived for that bit more than assembly-line feel. He was a great admirer of Ernest Haycox and wanted to infuse his stories with something a bit more, to render them beyond just disposable western fodder.

This story is the only Short tale that made the Top 100 Western Short Story list, but I must confess the brevity emphasizes Short’s formulary elements over his ability with tone and shading of events. 

It is not a bad tale, but comparing the author to himself, he has produced far better work.

Massacre by James Warner Bellah

Owen Thursday was a tall man, dried out to leather and bone and sinew. Whatever he was doing, he moved about incessantly, not with nerves, but with primeval restlessness; not with impatience, but with an echo of lost destiny.

Bellah’s elegiac story was adapted into John Ford’s excellent Fort Apache. It is rare that we have lighting strike twice where the beauty in print matches the beauty on screen. Here we have such magic.

I’ll not bother wasting time summarizing the familiar, suffice to say it still holds power.

The Return of Kid Cooper by Brad Smith

“I can see you’re busy,” Nate said.

“What do you intend to do with that cow?”

“Taking her back to the herd, if it’s any of your business.”

“It’s not,” Nate said.

“Where’s the herd?” The boy switched hands on the lariat, the better to jab a thumb vaguely to the north. “Back that way a piece. You happy now?”

”I was happy before,” Nate told him.

Nate “Kid” Cooper is no longer a Kid. He’s released from prison after a long stretch and enters a world quite different from the one he left behind. 

Along the way he rights old wrongs, reconnects with some old friends, and fails to connect with a few others.

Cooper is a delightful character to spend time with and the narrative sings when we are in his presence. Admittedly it is less compelling when he is not on stage, but that is not often.

Winner of a Spur Award, I look forward to more in the genre from this author.

Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner

On this morning I had no opinion on Henry Stands. He was one of those rough-and-ready, fat men we tend to elect as presidents and senators when they were too old to do anything else and too ornery to lie down. He had that same military bearing and attitude of patience that they had seen it all and leaned on the seasons like fences and watch the rest of the world cluck and run around.

It is rather hard to believe this is a first novel, it is so assured of craft, deep in learning, and has the feel of an experienced hand who knows to wear that learning lightly. 

It has been compared to True Grit in both premise and composition. That is high praise, but this is one of those rare instances where high praise is more than mere bluster. 

A sincerely superlative work.