Thursday 3 December 2009

Western Fiction News



A few entries ago I posted an interview with Keith Hetherington and since then Keith has been in touch and said in reference to the question I asked about what were his favourite western films:

“ My daughter read the Interview at the week-end and said, "Dad! Whatever happened to 'SHANE'? I thought that was your favourite Western..."

Close enough! I first saw SHANE at the Leiceester Square cinema in London in 1953 and I wouldn't like to have to count the times I've watched it since then. Chris (my daughter) was right - it IS - not my favourite Western film, but ONE of my favourite Western films. Dunno why I didn't include it in the interview along with WESTERN UNION and SEVEN MEN FROM NOW.

As the film company's PR said: at the time, "The role Alan Ladd was born to play." Couldn't see anyone else doing it as well - even if he wasn't much like the book's character. But we're talking Film here and that's a whole different category. Summing-up, it was just one of those rare films where everything came together - fabulous scenery, colour realistic, excellent cast from bit players up, and realistic gunfire, plus of course, Ladd giving it his all. Shane is the type of Western character I like, though the lone stranger fighting all kinds of odds has become a cliché like riding off into the sunset. But I'm a sucker for such scenes....”




Fans of Jory Sherman’s books will be pleased to know that a new book is now on sale, Sidewinder. This is the first in a new series and Jory is currently writing the second book Death Rattle.



In June 2010 the next book in Jory’s Savage series is published, Savage Hellfire.



Issue 12 of the Paperback Fanatic has now gone on sale and fans of westerns maybe interested to know it contains an article about three of the series written by the group of authors now known as the Piccadilly Cowboys. The three series in question being Breed, Crow and Herne the Hunter. Among the many other excellent articles you’ll find an interview with Tony Masero, concentrating more on his horror and fantasy work than westerns, which he discussed in the interview I did with him here.

4 comments:

jseger9000 said...

Hey, I just posted a review of Sidewinder on Amazon and LibraryThing!

It's my first Jory Sherman novel and I was very impressed with his writing.

Steve M said...

Still waiting for my copy to arrive.

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

Thanks for the link to Paperback Fanatic - have just ordered the latest issue. YOu can use Paypal you know. Great

Steve M said...

Think you should enjoy it Gary, and yes PayPal makes buying it so much easier.