All the News Fit to Print

Greetings,

Well, as usual, I've been busier than a one-armed bartender, but here's some quick news worth noting...

1) A comment was posted on the blog that I missed some writers on one of the lists, namely: Benjamin Capps (Sam Chance, Trail to Ogallala); Glendon Swarthout (The Shootist, The Homesman); Richard Matheson (Journal of the Gun Years); and Douglas C. Jones. I can't believe I somehow overlooked Swarthout and Matheson - shame on me - but I'll get that part of the blog updated in the next couple of days. I'm not familiar with the work of Mr. Jones - perhaps someone reading here is familiar with him?

2) Also received a blog comment from Michael S. Katz, the author of Shalom on the Range, which has gotten some fine reviews on Amazon and from other authors. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but I'm hopeful a copy will show up here soon, and I'll be able to dive in. Still, I reckon Mr. Johnny Boggs - despite his strange habit of taking my advice about places to eat in Nebraska - can't be all wrong when he says, "Think Louis L'Amour meets Jerry Seinfeld..." This is a book that I look forward to checking out - and so should you.

3) A nice email showed up from Jim Collette about his website "Slow Trail", which features haiku and other forms of short poetry inspired by the American southwest. Look for a link to show up on the blog and in the meantime, you might swing by and check it out at: http://www.jimcollette.com. There's good stuff there if you enjoy poetry - and if you don't, then you have clearly suffered from not having been exposed to the "good stuff", so take the time to visit anyway.

4) Speaking of websites, I'm working on ways to "merge" some of what I do here with what the fine folks over at Saddlebums Western Review (http://saddlebums.blogspot.com) do. Less work for all of us (which is a good thing) and better content. They run a great site and there's no reason for us to not work together to do more, so keep your eyes peeled for that in the future, too.

5) The most recent issue of Persimmon Hill - the magazine produced by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum - announced the retirement of editor M.J. Van Deventer. Many of the folks who read here knew her, as I did, and given that she was with the magazine for seventeen years, know what fine work she did for that publication and for western related articles and literature at numerous conferences and other industry events. M.J. has been a marvelous personality of our scene for a long time and I hope that her return to teaching does not mean we will be robbed of her voice. Certainly, I know that many of us here wish her well and hope that we'll see her out on the trail again in the future.

6) The Writers Guild of America has officially gone on strike, in an effort to obtain better deals specifically in regards to online media, advertising-supported media, DVD's, etc. Knowing a bit about how much a screenwriter makes in comparison to a novelist tends to make me want to froth at the mouth, but on the other hand, they also seem to be the only writers in the game who actually, you know, get paid pretty well. So maybe they know something we don't... In any event, it should be interesting as the late night shows have gone immediately into reruns and many other shows will be out of scripts by the January or so.

7) Speaking of Hollywood, here's some interesting numbers: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford has made about $3.2 million in seven weeks playing in 212 theaters; 3:10 to Yuma, on the other hand, has raked in about $53.5 million in nine weeks, playing in 209 theaters. If these figures don't prove that there is a serious risk in Hollywood in making a western movie, nothing else does.

That's about it for now. I'll update the links, etc. over the next couple of days!

Regards,

Russell Davis