WILD BUNCH WEDNESDAY - HEROES

Wild Bunch Wednesday is the brainchild of Black Horse Western writer Terry James (aka Joanne Walpole).

Five writers listed below will be showcasing their work over the next few weeks.

Now the intention is to highlight either the latest book or a future publication.

In my case I have neither. 'Lawmen' was published about a year ago and Jed Midwinter has yet to draw a close on the latest book to go on my machine.

Still this week's subject is the hero.

The pictured books were published back in the 1980s and featured main characters that were flawed.

Poseidon Smith was a preacher with a past but found a faith and God working amongst the Apaches. He became the preacher in a small town but when a catastrophe happens that tests that faith he tries to make himself believe that he is God's instrument in wreaking vengeance.

Van Essen in 'Rebel Run' is different. He is a Confedrate soldier who believes that it is his duty to escape. He,also, has strong principles that no matter what is thrown at him he will not stir away from.

In 'Leatherface' the hero is young, good looking and has an answer to everything but he learns that vanity and vengeance come at a terrible price.

Just three types of hero or main characters that I have written about.

When it came to writing a new book with 'Lawmen' I found myself writing a book with two heroes. Two lawmen who share their time through the book. Sam Ward, the ageing lawman and his younger deputy, Chris Ford who are chasing down a rustler. They arrive in the railroad town of Dennett Junction and have just discovered that there was an ambush set up for them.

Extract from 'LAWMEN':

" And you?" Chris demanded. " Where were you?"

" Right here," The barkeep shrugged. "Got no other place to be. 'Sides, the feller at the window had his gun aimed at me. I wasn't goin' to risk gettin' killed."

" Yeah, right," Chris responded, sarcastically. "So where are they now?"

The barkeep just shrugged: "How'd the hell I know? They just lit out and ain't come back."

"They - they said something about going to - to the livery," the surveyor offered, stumbling over his words.

As he spoke so Sam came through the doors and, like Chris before him, took in his surroundings before bellying up to the bar.

"Two beers," was all he said before turning to Chris. "You going to join me? Or are you going to stand there keeping the cards close to your chest?"

"There's a couple of hopefuls checking us out," Chris told him. "I think we need to deal with that problem before we do anything else."

Sam sighed: "Got a location?"

"Livery - maybe."

Sam shook his head: "If that's where they are they could've taken us both out when we came back from the station."

"Maybe," Chris nodded. "But I think they want to be sure they get us both together."

Sam pushed his duster away from his hip, exposing the holstered pistol. While he was doing that Chris slid his own gun out, checked it and held it against his side. He was no quick-draw artist and preferred his gun to be in his hand for instant use should it prove necessary.

"Ready?" Sam asked, with a slight cock of an eyebrow.

"As I'll ever be," Chris confirmed, taking a step towards the door.

Copyright Jack Giles - 2008 and Robert Hale Limited

Next up will be a look at the bad guys. In the meantime check out these other writers.

Lance Howard at Dark Bits (http://howardhopkins.blogspot.com

Terry James at Joanne Walpole (http://joannewalpole.blogspot.com

I.J.Parnham at The Culbin Trail (http://ijparnham.blogspot.com

Jack Martin at The Tainted Archive (http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com

DOUBLE-DEALING AT DIRTVILLE by Clay More

BLACK HORSE WESTERN published 2005

For five years Abe Gibson has lived a peaceful life. In the past he had done things that were not exactly downright illegal but he had made enough money to buy the Dead Ringer saloon and settle down. He had made a few friends and was hoping that the owner of the local eatery, Martha, would settle down with him.
However, his peace is shattered when wanted killer, Ethan Grant, walks into his saloon with a couple of pouches of gold. Sheriff Mat Hughes and Deputy Burt Lister arrive on the scene intending to make an arrest but Grant has other ideas and is gunned down.
No sooner is he buried than Laura Hollister turns up claiming to be the dead man's fiance. Burt Lister is quick to take her to the grave where he has no qualms in boasting of his acheivements. Though he's taken by surprise when she promptly shoots herself in the head.
Meanwhile Abe Gibson has taken himself for a ride and finds a semi-concious man who has quite a tale to tell. When he's been checked over by the Doctor the man, Zeke Kincaid, is hired by Abe as the saloon's piano player.
This is the opener to a real page turner of a book that is full of twists and turns that involves the death of a rancher, a gold mine and the town's rich entrepeneur, Grover Wilkins who may or may not be on the side of the angels.
Clay More brings his characters to life that has the reader rooting for the good guys and wondering how the bad guys plans are going to fall apart.
To date Clay More has written a total of five Black Horse Westerns:
Raw Deal At Pasco Springs (2004)
Nemesis For The Judge (2004)
A Rope For Scudder (2006)
Stampede At Rattlesnake Pass (2007)
Just hope that there will be more.

And don't forget that other writers will be riding for the Black Horse Western brand on Wild Bunch Wednesday.

TODAY - 4th July

All the best for the 4th July to all the American readers.

As for me I shall be looking for some American choppers at The Ace Cafe Custom Bike Show this afternoon.

IT'S ONLY A RUMOUR but.................

On the rumour mill are hints that Stephen Spielberg and Ron Howard are making a western.
Cowboys and Indians and......aliens. The idea of cowboys and indians joining forces to fight an alien swarm sounds a bit far fetched.
On the other hand if the film is a success and leads to more westerns being made then I guess I won't protest too loudly.

WILD BUNCH WEDNESDAY

Over the next few weeks a few Black Horse Western writers are going to show the rest of the world what we do.
You can find out more at Howard Hopkins site Dark Bits. He writes under the name of Lance Howard.
Then there is Jo Walpole who writes as Terry James and who's idea this was.
Jack Martin (The Tainted Archive) will be there.
And a couple of others will be along for the ride.
I will be opening up my own books.

The western is beginning to shrug itself out of hibernation but the way I see it is that now that the genre is being noticed we western writers can't just stop there.
The Black Horse Western novels are unique for they are published by the only British publisher of westerns Robert Hale Ltd. So when you ride for a brand you promote it.
And that is what I will do for Wild Bunch Wednesday.

THE TERRORIST HUNTERS

Extracts from Andy Hayman's memoirs appeared in the newspaper 'The Times' last week.
Today, the Attorney-General ordered the book to be removed from the shelves.
The news came in 10 minutes after I posted the last blog.

The Best Of British: What's it all about?

Once upon a time the British had a film industry. Some might say that it was not up to Hollywood standards - others will disagree.

To me the British film came into it's own in the 1950s and 1960s and I base that on the fact that these are the films that I grew up with.

Many were based on novels or were novelised by good authors.

Of course, for me the first British movies that I saw on a regular basis was the war film. 'The Colditz Story', 'The Dam Busters' and 'The Cruel Sea' and their like.

And then there were the Ealing comedies like 'Passport To Pimlico' and 'The Lavender Hill Mob'. And the 'St. Trinians' movies.

But the late fifties and early sixties took the British movie into a new world of real life social dramas.

Authors like Alan Sillitoe, Stan Barstow and Colin Wilson gave us the working class heroes and with those came a new bunch of actors. The likes of John Mills, Richard Attenborough and Michael Redgrave were joined by Richard Burton, Albert Finney, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford. Also, the rise of an acting dynasty with Juliet and Hayley Mills (daughters of John) and Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave featuring in many notable movies.

As the movies moved into explorations of social history so too did the big names.

Richard Attenborough defying Union power in 'The Angry Silence'; John Mills as the patriarch unable to understand his son's (Hywel Bennett) marital problems in 'The Family Way' and Dirk Bogarde outing himself as the homosexual barrister in 'Victim'.

Forty or fifty years on and I still get a lot of pleasure from watching these old movies because on the one side they are slices of British social history and, all the more depressing, is that there are no modern films that can do the same.

They tried with 'Educating Rita' and 'Billy Elliott'. Watching the latter with it's background of the Miners strike there are shades of 'The Angry Silence' tucked away in the body of the film.

And the new 'St. Trinians' movie - now I would have expected the usual smoking and drinking and the possibility of a cannabis farm - in other words follow the good old St. Trinians traditions. But, no, such scenes would only be seen to encourage young people to drink and smoke. So what I got was a diluted version while, and with the same 12 Certificate, 'Wild Child' did what 'St. Trinians' couldn't do.

In today's world the ending to 'Cosh Boy' (reviewed earlier) would not be permissable. Impossible to show a father punishing his child. The police on seeing Bob Stevens with a leather belt in his hands would not say that they would come back later. No, they would be on the phone to Social Services and arrest the father for assault after all the father would be abusing Roy's childrens and human rights.

The nearest that anyone has come to show life back then is a minor movie called 'Anita and Me' in which a young Indian girl, Meena, records life in the late sixties/early seventies. What surprised me was that this 2002 movie mentioned such things as Paki bashing and wogs and the accuracy of many of the things that happened to evoke the feeling of the period.

This in an age where the BBC sacked Carol Thatcher for mentioning the word 'nigger' in private and Prince Harry had to apologise for calling a Pakistani a Paki.

Many of the films and books of the period - Nell Dunn's 'Up The Junction', Bill Naughton's 'Alfie' and Alan Sillitoe's 'Saturday Night And Sunday Morning' all have scenes of attempted back street abortions. These scenes highlighted a problem and, eventually, abortion was legalised. Now in the 21st Century a bunch of very vocal minorities wants abortion to be made a thing of the past - a foetus has rights they say. OK. But if abortion in clinics is made illegal - it's back street abortions again.

To write a book or make a film about real life today - to create some real cutting edge social history drama with a working class hero and the language of the streets - is to invite a visit from the Fahrenheit 451 squad. Or a member of the Ministry Of Love to re-educate the writer.

Writing books and screenplays about real life is not being racist, sexist or any other 'ist' - it is called being realist.

In America they have Constitutional Rights which means something and they are damned proud of them.

Britain has the Magna Carta which means diddly squat. Freedom of speach and freedom of expression is down to what Big Brother says that we are free to say or express. Britain cannot make the films or write the books in the same vein as back in the sixties - someone might be offended. Well, I'm offended but there ain't a damned thing I can do about it.