Books I Read in July 2023

 Five books and some comics this month.

Vulcan’s Glory by D.C. Fontana (Pocket Books, 1989)

Written by D.C. Fontana, writer and story editor for Star Trek TOS, this novel is about Spock’s first mission on board the Enterprise with Captain Pike, Number One, and Dr. Boyce. We also meet Scotty as a newly transferred junior engineer. 

After a couple of early chapters set on Vulcan, Spock joins the Enterprise. The crew is tasked with searching for a priceless historical emerald from Vulcan that was lost in a shipwreck. Next, Captain Pike beams down to planet Areta for a mission. The planet is a pre-warp planet recovering from nuclear war. While Pike is on the planet the crew have to deal with a mystery involving the emerald. 

Pike’s mission felt very much like a standard old school science fiction adventure. I found the chapters set on Vulcan more interesting as they dealt with Spock’s family obligations versus his duty to Starfleet. Those chapters and the events on the Enterprise were the most engaging, especially Spock’s relationship with the Vulcan T’Pris who is also serving on board the Enterprise.

I didn’t find the book as strong as the Star Trek episodes written by D.C Fontana and some parts felt a little like fan fiction, but it was still an enjoyable read. 

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (Faber and Faber, 2008)

This is a charming but also somewhat subversive fable about Queen Elizabeth II discovering the joy of reading and what it leads to. While chasing down her corgis she encounters a book mobile parked by the palace kitchens. She winds up borrowing a book and even though she finds it a slog, she borrows another and then another. As she reads more and more, she changes and the people around her become uncomfortable. 

Quite a variety of authors are mentioned, including some of my favorites: Charles Dickens, Mary Renault, and Anthony Trollope, authors on my to read list: Kazuo Ishiguro and Marcel Proust, as well as authors that are new to me: Ivy Compten-Burnett, Nancy Mitford, and Alice Munro.

As I was reading, I went back and forth from passages that had me laughing out loud to passages that had me nodding quietly in agreement. Humorous, filled with a love of literature, and with a brilliant ending, this short book was an absolute joy to read. 

“What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do.”

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (Harper Perennial, 2023)

After her boyfriend tells her that he’s been seeing someone else and that he’s going to get married, Takako quits her job and falls into deep depression. She winds up moving above her uncle’s secondhand bookshop located in Jimbocho, Tokyo’s famous book district. Although she has no interest in books at first, she gradually develops a passion for reading.

Besides Takako and her uncle we also meet a variety of quirky characters. I really enjoyed spending time with them. I thought I was going to lose interest during the second half of the book as we learn more about the uncle, but the story quickly drew me in again as Takako spends time at the neighborhood coffee shop, takes a trip to a mountain inn, and helps her uncle deal with the events from his past. It felt like a sentimental soap opera at times, but it was also a love letter to the many pleasures of reading. I really enjoyed it. 

I might be a little biased though as this book brought back many fond memories of my time in Japan, not just my visits to Jimbocho, but also traveling by train, visits to coffee shops, and mountain hikes. 

“It’s funny. No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live our lives trying to find our way. It’s like that Santōka Taneda poem, the one that goes, ‘On and on, in and in, and still the blue-green mountains.’”

The Brave Cowboy by Edward Abbey (ebook from Rosetta Books, 2011) First published in 1956.

Jack Burns is a cowboy in post WWII New Mexico who refuses to join modern society. His friend Bondi is in jail waiting to be transferred to federal prison to serve a two year sentence for refusing to register for the draft. Jack decides to break him out.

The author does a good job of having the reader get to know Jack as well as the leader of the manhunt, Sheriff Johnson. I really liked the contrast between the two. Jack, riding his horse everywhere, represents the old west, freedom, and individualism in a changing world. Johnson, sitting in his office or driving his jeep, represents the modern world and all the rules that come with it. As the story progresses Johnson becomes a more nuanced and more likable character, especially compared with some of the other members of the manhunt. 

I liked the themes, the writing, the use of vocabulary and the descriptions of the land. On the other hand there were too many places where the slow pace of the story kept me from liking it more. 

After finishing the book I watched the film adaptation, Lonely Are the Brave (1962) starring Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau. Douglas called this his favorite film. It follows the book very closely with some minor changes which I thought worked. I also thought the film was better paced. I liked the book, but I loved the movie, and it was interesting to compare the two.

Non-fiction:

Beginnings, Middles, & Ends by Nancy Kress (Writer’s Digest Books, 1999)

I like to write short stories but I haven’t written very many. While I have lots of ideas, I also have lots of unfinished stories. Making time to write is a challenge but there’s another reason. Figuring out how to tie everything together. Ideas that sound great in my head often fall apart when I start writing them down. The following quote from the introduction of this book was eye-opening: 

“The truth is that there’s always a gap between the story as you imagined it — compelling, insightful, rich with subtle nuance — and what actually ends up in the manuscript.”

 

The rest of the book was eye-opening as well. It offers practical advice for how to fill in that gap, how to take a flash of inspiration and turn it into a story. The author provides clear explanations on creating characters, crafting opening scenes, choosing what direction to take a story, how to stay on track, coming up with an ending, and the importance of revising. I’m looking forward to putting what I learned into practice.

Comics:

Jonah Hex: Shadows West written by Joe R. Lansdale, art by Timothy Truman, and Sam Glanzman (Vertigo, 2014)

Shadows West collects three Jonah Hex mini-series written by Joe R. Lansdale with art by Timothy Truman and Sam Glanzman. While Jonah Hex did appear in a comic titled Weird Western Tales for a while, his stories were usually gritty tales of his life as a bounty hunter and not really weird westerns. These stories are still gritty but Lansdale goes all in on the weird western horror aspects and the stories are filled to the brim with dark, dark humor. 

Two-Gun Mojo:

After being rescued from a lynching, Jonah has to deal with a traveling salesman who controls a resurrected Wild Bill Hickock. I really liked the character who rescues Jonah, Slow Go Smith.

Riders of the Worm and Such:

Jonah helps the owner of the Wilde West Ranch who was inspired by Oscar Wilde to start a ranch dedicated to the pursuit of art. The ranch is being attacked by “The Worms of the Earth,” creatures that have lived underground for centuries. After a devastating attack Jonah convinces the owner to take the fight to the creatures and Jonah leads a group underground. 

This was one heck of a wild ride. Truman added some nice details to the art like graffiti left by another DC Comics character. There’s also a nod to the 1936 Republic Pictures serial Undersea Kingdom in some of the designs of what they find underground. 

Shadows West:

Jonah helps an American Indian woman and her baby, which looks like a bear, escape from a Wild West show. The owner of the show sends his performers in pursuit. 

I enjoyed the combination of Lansdale’s dialogue and dark humor with Truman and Glanzman’s art. In his introduction Lansdale says this: “And speaking of ornery, that’s Tim Truman’s art. Rough-edged and beautiful, bright and dark at the same time. If there was ever an artist born to draw Hex, it’s Tim.” I agree and I think Lansdale, Truman, and Glanzman all did a great job with these weird western Jonah Hex tales.

Jonah Hex Volume 1: Face Full of Vengeance written by by Justin Grey, Jimmy Palmiotti, art by Luke Ross and Tony DeZuniga (DC Comics, 2006)

This collects the first six issues of the 2006-2011 Jonah Hex run. Later volumes have some extended story lines, but these issues are all done-in-one. All six are well written, tightly scripted, gritty western stories.

Most of the issues are drawn by Luke Ross. I like his art a lot but not the coloring, especially the skin tones. It looks like it may have been done on the computer and often looks unnatural. It’s especially jarring when compared to the covers which have much better coloring. It’s a shame because Ross draws a great Jonan Hex and often gives him a Clint Eastwood look. Co-creator Tony DeZuniga provided the art for one story. His art is even scratchier than usual, and I love it. Although I didn’t care for the coloring, it's still an excellent collection of stories.

Next Month

I may read something for another Book Tube event. Next month is Garabaugust in which people read trashy books. I also have some more Star Trek books I plan on reading for Book Trek 2023. I still may read something for BookTube at War since I didn't read anything for it last month. As always, we'll see. 

Camp NaNoWriMo and Staying Motivated to Write

I’ve really been into westerns recently and now I’m trying my hand at writing one. How did I get here? 

One of the books I read last month was The Name’s Buchanan by William Ard writing as Jonas Ward. That led me to watching the 1958 film adaptation Buchanan Rides Alone, directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. That led me to watching all the films in the Ranown cycle, a group of western films all directed by Boetticher and starring Scott. 

For the last few years, I’ve participated in November’s National Writing Month challenge, aka NaNoWriMo. I haven't finished any novels, but the event has helped me to finish a couple of short stories. In April and July there's a less intense writing challenge called Camp NaNoWriMo, where you can set your own word count. A friend of mine is participating so I figured I would as well. As the last two stories I wrote were sword & sorcery stories, I was in the mood to try something different. Since I’ve been reading and watching westerns, a western short story seemed the natural choice. 

We’re just past the half-way point this month. Although my daily word count has dropped, I’ve been able to write something every day. Here are the things that have helped me stay motivated to write. 

Writing Buddies

I’ve found having a writing buddy or buddies on the NaNoWriMo web page can be motivating. Checking in and seeing that someone else has increased their word count motivated me to keep going a few times. Also talking with someone. There was a point where I was stuck, and I talked with someone about a few different things and answered his questions. A little while afterwards I figured out a way forward. I didn’t realize it right away, but that talk had helped.

Reviewing 

I have read more than a few books on writing and some have been more helpful than others. With books I find helpful I take notes in a notebook. I’ve been reviewing those notes and reviewing one book in particular, Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight. In the chapter titled "Idea Into Story" he has this to say:

“Particularize. You can’t write about a general character in a general setting — you need a particular person in a particular place, feeling in a particular way, in a particular situation.”

“Character, setting, and situation are all constraints in fiction.” 

“The more you know about your characters, setting, and situation, the more constraints there are — and the easier it becomes to decide what can and will happen in the story.” 

The advice seems obvious, but they are things that I haven’t always focused on. I found reviewing this advice helpful, especially after reading something in another book which I’ll talk about below. 

Reading 

Besides watching movies I’m reading western short stories for inspiration. Someone on Twitter recommended “The Defense of Sentinel'' by Louis L’Amour. I have it in a collection and gave it a read. The town drunk finds himself the only person left in town right before an attack. It was outstanding. 

After watching High Noon, which I really enjoyed, I read the short story it was adapted from, The Tin Star by John M. Cunningham. A PDF of the story is available to read for free online. An aging sheriff refuses to flee when a man he sent to prison is released and heads back to town for revenge. The set up is the same as the movie but the rest of the story is different. I thought it was excellent and it was interesting comparing the two. 

This month I also started reading another book on writing, Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress. I’ve had it for a long time but I’m just now getting to it. When I’m trying to write stories, I can come up with beginnings and I can come up with endings. But I always struggle with coming up with what happens in the middle and bringing everything together. 

Some of the advice Nancy Kress gives ties into the advice Damon Knight gives in his book:

“Ask yourself, “What does each of my characters want?” Once you know — I usually make a short list — you can figure out how these particular individuals would go about getting it. This in turn suggests scenes.” 

I’ve read this advice before, but once again it’s something I haven’t really focused on. I also found the idea of tying what characters want to potential scenes helpful. 

To the Finish 

The month is just over half-way over and I’m still plugging away at the story. I still have some things to figure out, but I think I have a better handle on the characters, and I have a number of scenes to work on. Best of luck to all the other writers out there. 

Books I Read in June 2023: Gothics and Westerns

 Six books this month.

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (Oxford University Press, 2014) First published 1764.

The Castle of Otranto is the first gothic novel. Just as Manfred’s only son Conrad is to be married to Isabella, Conrad is killed. Manfred decides to divorce his wife and marry Isabella himself. The novel has a haunted castle, a prophecy of doom, damsels in distress, secret passages, a duel between knights, ghostly apparitions, and secret identities. 

I enjoyed the story, the atmosphere, the imagery, and all the melodrama. Some parts read smoothly, but the paragraphs are quite long and all the dialogue runs together. This made most of the novel a bit of a struggle to read. Important historically as many of the plot devices and character types show up in later gothic novels.

The Vampire by John William Polidori (Open Road Media, 2017) First published in 1819.

Aubrey, a naive young man, befriends the mysterious Lord Ruthven and begins traveling with him through Europe. Aubrey soon realizes that Ruthven has a sinister side and decides to leave him. While in Greece, Aubrey falls in love, learns about vampire folklore, but also learns that leaving Ruthven wasn’t as easy as he had thought. 

Published decades before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this is considered the first modern vampire story. It came about as part of a contest among Polidori, Mary Shelly, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelly, the same contest that produced Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. 

Short, atmospheric, and dark, but I thought Aubrey was a little too clueless as to what was happening around him.

June on the Range 

For the rest of the month, I read westerns for a YouTube/BookTube reading event called June on the Range. 

True Grit by Charles Portis (The Overlook Press, 2012) First published in 1968.

In 1878, fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross convinces U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn to help her track down the man who murdered her father. The writing drew me in from the first paragraph. I loved the story, the prose, the characters, and especially Mattie’s voice as she narrated the story. Outstanding. My favorite book of the month.

The Films 

After I finished True Grit I watched both film adaptations. The 1969 film stars John Wayne, Kim Darby, and Glen Campbell. I knew Kim Darby from an episode of Star Trek titled “Miri.” Star Trek is my favorite TV show, so it was a lot of fun recognizing three other actors who guest starred on the show. The 2010 film stars Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, and Matt Damon. 

I enjoyed both films. I like that they both use a lot of dialogue straight from the book, but I prefer the 2010 version for a couple of reasons. It follows the book more closely, and as much as I like Kim Darby’s portrayal of Mattie, Hailee Steinfeld took it to the next level. 

The Hell Bent Kid by Charles O. Locke (Open Road Media, 2015) First published in 1957.

After being forced to defend himself at a dance, Tot Lohman winds up killing Shorty Boyd, the son of a powerful rancher. Tot decides it’s best to leave the ranch where he’s working and then soon finds that he's made the right decision as the Boyd family is out for vengeance. The writing was straightforward but didn’t grab me. I enjoyed parts of this book, but I thought some sections were slow. It got more interesting towards the end which felt very noir.

The Tall Stranger by Louis L’Amour (Bantam Books, 2012) First published in 1957.

Fast talker Mort Harper convinces a wagon train of settlers to take a different trail, going against the advice of their scout Rock Bannon. Eventually Harper convinces the settlers to start a town on land claimed by someone else. Trouble ensues. 

It starts off strong but becomes predictable with no real character development and the characters make some head scratching decisions. The story also seems to jump around a bit. The strongest aspects of the book are the descriptions of the characters, the landscapes, and the action scenes. A quick, light read with no surprises.

After reading other reviews and doing some digging, I learned that this book is an expanded version of one of L’Amour’s novellas, “Showdown Trail.” One reviewer wrote that L’Amour’s books can be placed in three categories: great, classic, and cheesy/corny, and that The Tall Stranger is of the latter. I agree. 

The Name’s Buchanan by William Ard writing as Jonas Ward (Piccadilly Publishing, 2020) First published in 1956.

Here we go. This was pretty much the total opposite of The Tall Stranger.

Buchanan is a former hired gun for the Mexican Revolution. He just wants to leave that behind and return to the US when he rescues a young woman who has been attacked. After she’s brought to her family he plans on heading out, but he winds up getting caught up in a fight between two families on either side of the US/Mexican border. 

This book was written by William Ard writing as Jonas Ward. He also wrote detective novels, and it really shows. It often felt like a western noir. It was fast paced with some hard-boiled dialogue. There was some humor as well. It had a great cast of characters and the conflict between them all was well done. I loved it. My second favorite book of the month.

The Name's Buchanan is the first in a series. William Ard wrote the first five and most of the sixth. Robert Silverberg finished the sixth one, Buchanon on the Prod. Brian Garfield wrote the seventh one, Buchanan's Gun and rest were written by William R. Cox.

The picture I included above is of the of the original paperback, but I actually read the Kindle version which has a generic cover. For some reason the Kindle numbering is incorrect. Books 1-6 are numbered as books 18-23.

After reading this book I watched the film adaptation, Buchanan Rides Alone from 1958. Although the script makes a number of changes, the changes work, and the script includes a number of lines from the book. It’s directed by Budd Boetticher and stars Randolph Scott. The westerns that Boetticher and Scott worked on together are known as the Ranown Cycle, named after Scott's production company, which combines the first few letters of Scott's first name with the last few letters of producer Harry Joe Brown's name. The films are well regarded and so far, I can see why. 

Next Month 

I'm thinking about participating in two other YouTube/BookTube events, Book Tube at War and Book Trek 2023. I may read some Richard Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell and I have a few Star Trek Books that have been on my TBR list for a while. As always, we'll see. 

Early Western Short Stories of Bret Harte

 “Bret Harte was the first important American writer to use the early western mining settlements, the colorful lives of prospectors, gamblers, early ranchers and frontier women, and stage coach and derringer in his stories. He little knew that he thus was founding the most perennially popular type of American reading — the “western.” And because he actually lived during the colorful era of the early west and was undeniably a talented writer, his stories are not only the first but among the finest “westerns” ever written.” — From the inside flap of Bret Harte Stories of the Early West 

I decided to read some westerns this month for a YouTube/BookTube event called June On the Range. After I discovered Bret Harte in a western anthology, I found a collection of his short stories during a recent visit to a used bookstore, Stories of the Early West: The Luck of Roaring Camp and 16 Other Exciting Tales of Mining and Frontier Days (Platt & Munk, 1964).

These stories are pre-westerns in a sense, as many of them are about the men and women of mining camps and early settlements, as opposed to stories about cowboys, cattle drives, and Native American Indians. I found them to be an interesting look at life in the early west. 

How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar (3/5)

After a small settlement is cut off by flooding, the men of the town decide to do something to help a sick young boy celebrate Christmas. There's a wild ride at the end as one of the men braves flooded rivers and a bandit as he’s trying to return in time.

Tennessee’s Partner (4/5)

This story is about the friendship between two men with the nicknames Tennessee and Tennessee's Partner, in a gold mining settlement. Tennessee is a gambler and drinker with a sense of humor but his partner is more serious and hardworking. The partner sticks by Tennessee’s side even after being betrayed by him and after Tennessee is accused of theft. An interesting story about friendship and loyalty. 

An Ingenue of the Sierras (4/5)

Stagecoach driver Yuba Bill has to deal with bandits and a mysterious young passenger who says she is eloping. Bill is smart and resourceful, he’s not perfect, but he has a sense of humor. Great characters with a great ending that had me laughing. 

The Outcasts of Poker Flat  (5/5)

Four “undesirables” who have been banished from the town of Poker Flat and a young couple traveling to the town get caught in a snowstorm. They find some shelter but have limited provisions. I thought the story was really moving. I loved the prose, the characters, and the various decisions that characters made. 

The Luck of Roaring Camp (5/5)

An orphaned baby brings changes to a California gold mining camp. Harte brings the camp to life as he describes the miners taking care of the baby, how they stop fighting and gambling, and how they work together to improve the conditions of the camp. Beauty, humor, and tragedy all in a few pages. Excellent. 

The spaghetti western Four of the Apocalypse (1975) directed by horror master Lucio Fulci is based on this story and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." 

Poetry 

Harte was also a successful poet. Many if not all his poems are available to read for free online. I read a few of them on the All Poetry website and I like what I’ve read of it so far.

The Mark Twain Connection 

Bret Harte met Mark Twain when Twain was a freelance journalist and moved to California. When they met Harte was the more established of the two and he mentored Twain. In a letter to editor Thomas Bailey Aldrich (included in The Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich by Ferris Grenslet, Riverside Press, 1908) Twain wrote:

 “...Bret Harte who trimmed and trained and schooled me patiently until he changed me from an awkward utterer of course grotesqueness to a writer of paragraphs and chapters that have found a certain favor in the eyes of even some of the very decentest people in the land….”

Twain of course would go on to be more well known than Harte, who’s fame and fortune did not last long. Unfortunately they had a serious falling out and Twain never forgave him even after Harte passed away. I find it interesting to contrast that with the events in Harte’s story “Tennessee's Partner.”

Fun Fact

Singer-songwriter Neil Young had a dog named Harte, which he apparently named after the author. 

In Conclusion 

Bret Harte seems to be little remembered today but there was a time in the 1870s when he was the best-known and highest-paid writer in America. I’ve read some reviews that compare Harte’s stories to the work of Charles Dickens regarding his plots, characters, sentimentality, satire and humor, both in a positive and negative way. I can see that based on the ones I’ve read, but so far I see it as a positive comparison. I like Harte’s writing style, his place descriptions, and especially his characters. I’ll be reading more. 

Harte’s short story collection The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales (1870) and his poetry collection Complete Poetical Works (1872) are available on Project Gutenberg.