BookLife

“Anytime you write in a long-established genre, the challenge is to find themes and plots that haven’t been done a thousand times already, and characters who are not caricatures,” said Western novelist Cameron Judd.  “When you sense you are achieving those goals the writing is fun.”

Cameron Judd is the author of more than 30 novels written under his own name and pseudonyms.  He got his start in 1980, on a lark, and has referred to himself elsewhere as a sort of unintentional novelist.  Yet, there is nothing unintentional about his historical novels set in Tennessee and traditional Westerns.  The plotting is intricate and intense and the characterization rich.

To put it poker terms: Cameron Judd writes with a cool hand, but he most definitely isn’t bluffing.
Continue reading →

“An appreciation of the American West and its literature is not a genre—it’s a state of mind,” said Susan K. Salzer.  “I lose myself completely when researching, reading or writing a Western story. It’s a wonderful escape from the grind of everyday life.”

Susan K. Salzer is a journalist by training and a character-based novelist by inclination.  Her debut novel, Up from Thunder, takes place in Missouri during the Civil War.  The protagonist, 16-year-old Hattie Rood, must take care of a wounded 17-year-old Jesse James.  If Hattie Rood is the heart of the book – her losses, her courage, and her growing love for young Jesse James – then the state of Missouri is the ravaged body of the book.  Despite the horrors being waged around them, Salzer remains focused on the characters.

As a result, Up from Thunder is an achingly beautiful book.

“I think Susan Salzer will be a voice and a force to be heard and recognized in the coming years,” said Johnny D. Boggs, author of Northfield and for president of the Western Writers of America. “Susan does her homework, and can tell a great story. Besides, she’s a strong writer of fiction as well as nonfiction. A lot of writers get caught up in the blood and guts when they tackle Missouri during the Civil War, but her first novel was deeply human, quite moving, just a really wonderful read.”
Continue reading →

No two of Johnny D. Boggs’ books are the same.  Each one is set in the American West, sure, but each one also does the unexpected.  Boggs seems constantly to be seeking out new ground, new ways of telling stories, new corners of the American West to call his own.  His occasional iconoclasm grows out of a deep and abiding love for good storytelling in general and the literature of the West in particular.

Boggs writes in a style rooted both in the dramatic arts and journalism.  His fiction is praised as gritty and action-packed as often as it’s praised as being character-driven.  His plots twist and turn and his characters, as he mentions below, often have strong opinions in a confusing world.  Deeply accurate historical research and a mildly twisted imagination steep his novels in liveliness and authenticity.

Before going freelance full-time, Boggs worked as a sports writer for the Dallas Times Herald and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  These days he contributes regularly to such publications as True West, Wild West, and Boys’ Life. His non-fiction covers all aspects of the West, from travel to history, profiles to apparel.

(While Boggs does not write “cowboy books,” he is indeed an extremely well-dressed cowboy, thanks to his freelance work reviewing Western-wear.  In fact, his hats, shirts, and boots are the topic of discussion wherever and whenever Western writers convene.)

Boggs has won the Spur Award from Western Writers of America (twice), as well as the Western Heritage Wrangler Award.  He is a former president of the Western Writers of America where he led the charge for innovation in the genre.

Below, Boggs and I talk about the literature he loves and writes – the very literature he is constantly help to re-define.
Continue reading →

I grew up on Westerns – movies, television, books, toys. 

I played Cowboys and Indians in the woods of upstate New York and in the snake-infested scrub of South Florida.  I was just as likely to pretend to be a gunslinger as a brave.  The scenarios I dreamed up tended toward last stands, ambushes, and suicide attacks.  I died a lot back then, and loved every minute of it.

Even as a kid, I preferred the grit of Clint Eastwood to the stiff-legged swagger of John Wayne.  Wayne’s one-liners rang false.  Eastwood’s one-liners sizzled.  For better or worse, Eastwood taught the boy how to talk like a man.

Summer days meant re-runs of Bonanza and Big Valley.  I preferred Bonanza all the way. My identification with Little Joe led me to Little House on the Prairie.  My outlaw self-image softened, began to work the farm, raise a family, do right.  Yet, below the honorable lifestyle lurked a man who could take violent action if need be.  I became Pa Ingalls with a wild past.
Continue reading →