Westerns?

Paddy Samurai

Does anyone in Ireland read westerns anymore or are they a dead genre.

Found some Edge books clearing out the attic.I remember reading the anti-hero "Edge" series by George g Gilman over 10 years ago,but i have'nt read a western since.

[FONT= ]Edge was billed ‘a new kind of western hero’. Later on in the series, he was billed ‘a man alone’. Gilman deliberately emphasised Edge’s loner status: the half-breed psychopath, the western outsider, the amoral existentialist. Initially the Edge novels were novels of pursuit, later they became a series of one-off Edge adventures, with each novel containing an extremely violent dénouement.[/FONT]

Althought i found Gilmans books good at the time, i dunno if i could be tempted to read a western now.In fact i probably would never have read a western,if not for Mr Gilmans unique take on the Old west.

PADRAGON

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Does anyone in Ireland read westerns anymore or are they a dead genre.

Found some Edge books clearing out the attic.I remember reading the anti-hero "Edge" series by George g Gilman over 10 years ago,but i have'nt read a western since.






Althought i found Gilmans books good at the time, i dunno if i could be tempted to read a western now.In fact i probably would never have read a western,if not for Mr Gilmans unique take on the Old west.

Yeh i read at least 20 edge books.A friend of mine has a collection of them i think hes only missing 1 or 2 of the full 60.I thought they were very good.Realism and gallows humour.I can never see a straight razor without thinking of edge.

MikeC101

When I was a lot younger I read them all - almost all anyway, I'm missing a few of the early ones. Hours spent going through stacks of paperbacks in second hand bookshops hunting down the ones missing from my collection.

Definitely an interesting take on the western genre. The puns that frequently ended chapters and the books could be a little groan inducing. I still remember the one after a massive shootout, where Edge and five others are on one side. After they've one, one of the guys says "I reckon they'll say us six was magnificent." and Edge replies "likely some feller will come along and go one better."

Unfortunately they're all out of print now - though there is a message board dedicated to GGG where he sometimes posts new Edge material (he used to do this anyway - http://gggandpcs.proboards.com/index.cgi)

He's written other Western series as well, under various pennames, one called Steele was similar in a lote of ways. And a few books where Edge met Steele.

There's actually a huge sub genre of westerns that was popular in the 70s/80s similar to Edge - dark, violent and amoral. Loads of series out there, that seem to have been farmed out to different writers under different pseudonyms.

Paddy Samurai

I read about the first 40, kept volume 1-10 and got rid of the rest.
Dunno how well they have stood the test of time,but Edge is one book character i will never forget.Would have made a great film character.
Tarantino?........you listening!.

PADRAGON

MikeC101 wrote: »

When I was a lot younger I read them all - almost all anyway, I'm missing a few of the early ones. Hours spent going through stacks of paperbacks in second hand bookshops hunting down the ones missing from my collection.

Definitely an interesting take on the western genre. The puns that frequently ended chapters and the books could be a little groan inducing. I still remember the one after a massive shootout, where Edge and five others are on one side. After they've one, one of the guys says "I reckon they'll say us six was magnificent." and Edge replies "likely some feller will come along and go one better."

Unfortunately they're all out of print now - though there is a message board dedicated to GGG where he sometimes posts new Edge material (he used to do this anyway - http://gggandpcs.proboards.com/index.cgi)

He's written other Western series as well, under various pennames, one called Steele was similar in a lote of ways. And a few books where Edge met Steele.

There's actually a huge sub genre of westerns that was popular in the 70s/80s similar to Edge - dark, violent and amoral. Loads of series out there, that seem to have been farmed out to different writers under different pseudonyms.

Yeh i remember some of the jokes."you'll find a yellow gibbon tied to the old oak tree" or talking to a man called Bruce Wayne "looks like its your turn in to bat-man"

I read some Adam Steele too,and the crossovers.
As far as i remember when they met the conversation went like this
'names Steele'
'Edge feller'
'sounds like we were made for each other'
'maybe,but since you shot my horse i aint so keen on you'
Great stuff!

I havent read Edge for a long time but i think they have staying power.

PADRAGON

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

I read about the first 40, kept volume 1-10 and got rid of the rest.
Dunno how well they have stood the test of time,but Edge is one book character i will never forget.Would have made a great film character.
Tarantino?........you listening!.

Never thought of a film but you're right.
However i dont think Tarantino is the man for the job.
Ridley Scott maybe,or the fella that did the Bourne Identity.

By the way i'm loving Swan Song.
Might take another look at that list.

Fenwick

Hey folks, sorry to resurrect thsi thread but it seems to be the most appropriate. I've just finisnhed Lonesome Dove and it was without doubt the best book I ever read............well, perhaps I should say my favourite, rather than the best. I just lvoed it. I've been looking for similar books and have come up with a few like Blood Meridian or Deadwood or Ghost Town etc. Just wondering if anyone here has any suggestions?
Thanks!

ThirdMan

Fenwick wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone here has any suggestions?

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt.

I haven't read it yet, but I've heard it's great.

"Oregon, 1851. Eli and Charlie Sisters, notorious professional killers, are on their way to California to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm. On the way, the brothers have a series of unsettling and violent experiences in the Darwinian landscape of Gold Rush America. Charlie makes money and kills anyone who stands in his way; Eli doubts his vocation and falls in love. And they bicker a lot. Then they get to California, and discover that Warm is an inventor who has come up with a magical formula, which could make all of them very rich. What happens next is utterly gripping, strange and sad. Told in deWitt's darkly comic and arresting style, THE SISTERS BROTHERS is the kind of Western the Coen Brothers might write - stark, unsettling and with a keen eye for the perversity of human motivation. Like his debut novel ABLUTIONS, THE SISTERS BROTHERS is a novel about the things you tell yourself in order to be able to continue to live the life you find yourself in, and what happens when those stories no longer work. It is an inventive and strange and beautifully controlled piece of fiction, which shows an exciting expansion of Dewitt's range"

Fenwick

Hmm, sounds interesting, might check it out. Cheers ThirdMan!

Paddy Samurai

In The Rogue Blood by James Carlos Blake is a must read IMO.Top notch.
I prefer it to Blood Meridian.

In the Rogue Blood, gained him considerable attention and won the prestigious Los Angeles Times Book Prizefor Fiction. Dealing with the misadventures of a pair of American brothers during the time of the U S War in Mexico in the late 1840s, In the Rogue Blood is generally regarded as one of the most compelling works in recent American literature to treat violence as a primary engine of U.S. history. It has been widely compared to Cormac McCarthy's savage masterpiece Blood Meridian.

Fenwick

Paddy, thanks for that. Had intended on Blood Meridian next but think Ill give your one a go first.
Cheers

ThirdMan

Fenwick wrote: »

Had intended on Blood Meridian

I misread you earlier. I thought you had already read it. In that case, let me be yet another person to recommend it to you. It is breathtaking. For me, nothing compares to it.

ThirdMan

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

In The Rogue Blood by James Carlos Blake is a must read IMO.Top notch.
I prefer it to Blood Meridian.

Nice one. Can't wait to get my hands on this.

Paddy Samurai

ThirdMan wrote: »

Nice one. Can't wait to get my hands on this.

If you get a chance let me know what you think about it.
Not sure where your from ,but the latter part has a Irish interest revolving around the San Patricios.
While IMO In the Rogue Blood is his best,he also wrote similar books........."Wildwood Boys","The Friends of Pancho Villa",and "The Pistoleer"(Have'nt read this).

ThirdMan

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

If you get a chance let me know what you think about it.
Not sure where your from ,but the latter part has a Irish interest revolving around the San Patricios.
While IMO In the Rogue Blood is his best,he also wrote similar books........."Wildwood Boys","The Friends of Pancho Villa",and "The Pistoleer"(Have'nt read this).

I'm an Irishman, to be sure to be sure

I love western movies, and I love the idea of 'the western', but I've never read that many. I really ought to make more of an effort. Looking forward to this lot. Cheers.

Fenwick

ThirdMan wrote: »

I misread you earlier. I thought you had already read it. In that case, let me be yet another person to recommend it to you. It is breathtaking. For me, nothing compares to it.

Ha, sorry ThirdMan, my fault, I wasn't very clear. Will give either Blood Meridian or In the Rougue Blood a go next - whichever one I get my hands on first I'd say. Currently reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss as an inbetweener; I hate reading two of any type of the same genre one after another. I think it stems from being a teenager and reading every James Patterson book I could get my hands on......aftert a couple I could nearly write the next page myself. Ever since then I spread them out!
ANyway....more rambling....thanks for the tips. Ill pop back when I read them!