Scott Harris's Blog, page 11

Once a Renegade

With 2002’s “Once a Renegade,” Peter Brandvold sets up quite a morality tale, under the umbrella of an old-fashioned Western. Shambeau is a Métis Indian who lives alone, as much as he can, and avoids people whenever possible. He is looked down on as a “dirty half breed” and lives his life by a code,

Mile 12: The Team

You’ve started to write, which is great! Hopefully, you’ve moved beyond the first line and maybe even written a chapter or two. Writing can be, and usually is, a very solitary process. If you were writing a diary, or a journal, it would theoretically be designed to stay private. But you’re not. You’re writing a

Movie Review: True Grit

“I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.” “Fill your hands you son of a bitch!” “True Grit” is quite simply just a heck of a fun movie to watch. It was released only one year after Charles Portis’ book by the same name and close to the end of John Wayne’s long

Forum Featuring Nick Wale

When — and why — did you first fall in love with Westerns? Scott, I think there’s a part of every country boy that yearns to be a cowboy. I grew up in a rural area, where I fished and ran around in the open fields, not ever knowing what these things called socks were,

A Bloody Day in Destiny

“A Bloody Day in Destiny” is a collection of four short stories from an author new to writing Westerns, Russ Towne. While Russ has written quite a few books over the past few years, this is his first foray into our genre, and it’s a good one. The book’s namesake story, “A Bloody Day in

Mile 11: Stephen King

Stephen King’s book on writing is called, you guessed it, “On Writing.” Some consider it a classic of the “writers helping other writers” genre. I don’t actually know if that’s a genre, but it should be, and King’s book is a good one. While he’s best known for his horror, fantasy and supernatural books, none

Movie Review: The First Texan

1956’s “The First Texan” is a star vehicle for one of the biggest Western stars ever — Joel McCrea. If you like Joel McCrea, you’ll love this movie. It’s an hour and 22 minutes long, and McCrea is on screen for about an hour and 19 minutes. McCrea stars as Sam Houston, who resigns, in

Forum Featuring Nik Morton

When — and why — did you first fall in love with Westerns? I grew up with them — a Western on TV virtually every night of the week in England in the 1950s. I read the Roy Rogers, Pecos Bill and Lash LaRue comics, among others, and the Buffalo Bill annuals. And in those

Six Bullets to Sundown, Volume 13

“Six Bullets to Sundown, Volume 13” is (and this should be no surprise) the 13th book in the “Six Bullets” series. It’s a relatively new series, and a new volume is being released almost monthly. This particular anthology has six stories by six different authors. As with most anthologies, I liked some stories more than

Mile 10: Be There!

If you read the previous post, “Mile 9,” you’ve hopefully written your first line. If so, congratulations! Now it’s time for the second line and to put some serious thought to your characters. I stole the title of this Trail Notes from James Patterson, one of the world’s best-selling authors. When talking about bringing life