Packing for a Trip

Whenever this family packs for a trip there’s always the discussion of what to take, whose responsibility it is to remember joint-used items, and even, on occasion, personal items. It tends to get a little fractious as the departure day draws close. I often wonder what sort of emotional upheaval those pioneers went through, they who were leaving their homes in the States for a trip out West, never to return.  

For a start, there were no comfortable SUVs. Most pioneering families used the wagon from the farm - what else had they? – so sizes differed. An average was ten feet by less than four. How big is your vehicle? Their priority was to keep that wagon in good repair, so top of their packing list was the wherewithal to do just that, from tools to rope and chains, to a spare wheel to a water-proofer, not just for its canvas cover but to help seal the wagon-box for crossing rivers.

Then there was its method of propulsion. It mattered little whether the choice was mules or oxen. The burning question was how many spares to take. Add in the accoutrements of a farrier and veterinarian, and something to feed the beasts if forage was poor. Imagine needing to carry a spare engine for your SUV, plus the tools for roadside repairs, and oil and fuel.

The family itself might be down the list of priorities, but if it didn’t have the means to support itself once its destination had been gained none would survive the first winter, so room was made for plows and seed, or whatever the family needed for employment.

The journey was around 2,000 miles and lasted five months. How much food would your family need for such a trip, and how many trailers would be needed to carry it? How much food have you just brought back from the mall and how long will that last? Add in a Dutch oven, skillets and pans, tin ware for eating from and, oh yes… water.

Water didn’t come from a faucet for those crossing the Great American Desert. A keg carried eight or ten gallons. Go weigh a full two gallon plastic pail and then consider the volume of  water you are looking at. Multiple it up. How long would that last not just your family, but in parched areas your stock as well? Better take two. And forget any romantic notion of crystal clear creeks. You’ll best not forget fine muslin to sieve the silt-ridden water through.

How are you doing? I’m exhausted already and I’ve not left my desk. More on this next time.

A Picture Paints...

We all need to take a pride in our work, and show it off to its best advantage. The ebook Dead Men's Fingers has finally gained a cover worthy of its fiction.

It's from the talented hand of Karri Klawiter, and I'm sure you'll agree it carries the atmosphere of a wagon train beset by strife, both from the emigres and from bushwhackers.

Range Wars 'n' Shootings

In April 1892 brewing trouble came to a head o' steam up in the Powder River Country of Wyoming in the shape of the Johnson County War. I won't go into the whys & wherefores as the link offers a far better account than I could or have space for.

My point is... we tend to think that much has changed, and then we read that it hasn't.

In Nevada, in the Gold Butte area, there is "a long simmering feud" between a rancher and the Bureau of Land Management about who owns what land and whether it should be grazed at all. At the moment it seems to be all shouting from the sidelines. Let's hope it stays that way.

'Cos up in South Dakota, a man is now in prison for shooting three people at... a Western re-enactment show. Yep, that was live ammunition he was using. Thankfully the injuries weren't life-threatening, but from now on I'll take to standing a little further back than normal at these shows.

Ah, perhaps it's just the spirit of the Old West giving itself a stir.

Ya-hee! Spotlight & 5 Star Review

Under the heading of  'New Western Writer Comes To Town' IcySnowBlackstone has given Dead Men's Fingers prime billing on her blog, complete with an excerpt.

She's also done it the honour of an in-depth 5 star review here which includes:

"...This is a tough little Western... as gritty and bloody as they come.  The descriptions are so realistic one can almost feel the arid heat and see the stark surroundings as the wagons push across the plains, and feel the splash of the water and see the mud being churned up as they ford the river. 'Dead Man’s Fingers' may be short, but it’s filled with plenty of narrative, description, and characterization.  Jed is a good man, a caring father but a man aware of how his past may catch up with him sooner or later..."

Well, thank ya kindly, ma'am. 

Utah Legend Lives Again - Redempton

I watched The Searchers yesterday. I hadn't meant to. I was supposed to be working but caught it while eating lunch and couldn't pull myself away. It's been a while and the majesty of the landscape had eased in my memory. I'd forgotten, for instance, that the Seven Sisters shown in the header to this blog features as a backdrop. The acting, the haunting determination shown by the characters, made me want to pull Alan leMay's paperback from the shelf.

Some people despise daytime television. I love it.

And then today a surprise. Yet another reprise for the Western genre, this time from Utah in the shape of a new movie Redemption. It's based on the true story of a French immigrant, Jean Baptiste, caught grave-robbing in 1862 and, according to the film, exiled to an island. From its trailer it looks less an all-guns fiction and more an examination of the consciences of two opposing men. I like Westerns that make you think.

Interview and trailer at ksl.com http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=19890700

Enjoy your Easter.

Why Westerns?

I mention that I write Westerns and folks look askance. Does anyone read Westerns these days? Do you watch them? I ask.

Sure they do, and that's how most of us got into Westerns, via the big, and then the small, screen. But what sets Western aficionados apart is a willingness to go back and not just forwards in time. Take a look at the Tom Mix films available on YouTube.

Son of a Pennsylvanian lumberman, Tom Mix worked on a ranch in Oklahoma while it was still an Indian Territory. He paraded with the Rough Riders, was part of the Miller Brothers Wild West Show. Even before the movies he, and the West, had one foot in reality and one foot in myth. In his movies he's clean-cut, well-spoken, dressed from a high-class store - it's about as far from the reality of the 1880s West as can be ridden in three days, but it doesn't deter from the sense of space, of responsibility, of self-reliance that the Western genre conjures in our collective psyche.

Western fiction has been looked down upon since the days of the Dime Novel, when the West as we know it was still being carved. So if you want to smirk, be my guest. You're hardly the first.

Read An Ebook Week!

The wrinkles at Smashwords were ironed out just in time for me to take advantage of site-wide promotion.

For one week only, finishing on 10th March at 23.59 PST, Dead Men's Fingers is available in all-formats download for $1.50. Click this link and use the 50% discount coupon RW50 at checkout.

Enjoy your read!