Richard S. Wheeler's Blog, page 4
March 28, 2016
Jim Harrison
We lost the giant among us here in Livingston. Jim Harrison's death is deeply felt here, among all who cherished him. His daughters, Anna Hjortsberg and Jamie Potenberg, took off yesterday for Arizona, where Jim had a winter home. I guess this closes a chapter in Livingston's unique literary history, which began when Tom McGuane moved here. I think Jim was probably the finest novelist I've ever read. Very few are left. I linger on.
March 3, 2016
A Little Salt Around the Rim
My colleague, the gifted pianist and musician Bill Payne, and I have been creating some music. He's the expert; I'm the scribbler, dabbling in fields I don't know. But somehow we've made some magic.
We put together a memorable one the other day, My Tequila Margarita, a little love song with a distinctive rhythm and a tenderness that lifts the heart. I hope it succeeds. He will play it here and there, and maybe it will touch a few romantics.
It occurred to me that it is a perfect response to the xenophobia of Donald Trump, and I hope the song will be seen in that fashion. Long ago, in the 1970s, I lived on the border for a while, and got to know and enjoy the Mexican people. They hitchhiked a lot, and I picked them up now and then. They were hoping to earn a little cash to support their families back home. Our stiff Anglo culture was and is blessed by the human warmth and cheer and courage of these people from other places and other lands.
We put together a memorable one the other day, My Tequila Margarita, a little love song with a distinctive rhythm and a tenderness that lifts the heart. I hope it succeeds. He will play it here and there, and maybe it will touch a few romantics.
It occurred to me that it is a perfect response to the xenophobia of Donald Trump, and I hope the song will be seen in that fashion. Long ago, in the 1970s, I lived on the border for a while, and got to know and enjoy the Mexican people. They hitchhiked a lot, and I picked them up now and then. They were hoping to earn a little cash to support their families back home. Our stiff Anglo culture was and is blessed by the human warmth and cheer and courage of these people from other places and other lands.
March 1, 2016
Best-Selling Books
I have never been able to discover an adequate and complete accounting of the way Amazon calculates how it ranks books, and I have concluded that Amazon doesn't want you or me to know.
There are various ways of accounting: one is units sold. But if units are the basis, what is to distinguish between hardcover units, trade paper, and mass market? And what is to distinguish between electronic versions and print versions?
Another accounting is to rank books by gross sales: by this measure, the more income the book earns, the higher it is on the best-seller lists. But again, a hardcover book might swiftly out-earn a mass-market book and a trade paper sale might be well below a Kindle sale. Who's to say? Amazon dodges or fudges these questions, and doesn't want you to know.
The best advice is to discount all best-seller rankings entirely. Amazon could clarify matters by listing only the top one hundred books in various unit-sale categories, such as hardcover fiction, trade paper fiction, mass-market fiction, and electronic fiction. Likewise, with nonfiction. Only then will readers have some sense that the lists are authentic and not manipulated to achieve sales by dubious means.
And one final word: A single sale of a title at Amazon can cause wild fluctuation in the best-seller rankings, while lists compiled for the New York Times and other publications with integrity are much more reliable because they depend on vastly larger and more diverse sales bases.
I like Amazon for many reasons, but it is not a company to rely on for data.
There are various ways of accounting: one is units sold. But if units are the basis, what is to distinguish between hardcover units, trade paper, and mass market? And what is to distinguish between electronic versions and print versions?
Another accounting is to rank books by gross sales: by this measure, the more income the book earns, the higher it is on the best-seller lists. But again, a hardcover book might swiftly out-earn a mass-market book and a trade paper sale might be well below a Kindle sale. Who's to say? Amazon dodges or fudges these questions, and doesn't want you to know.
The best advice is to discount all best-seller rankings entirely. Amazon could clarify matters by listing only the top one hundred books in various unit-sale categories, such as hardcover fiction, trade paper fiction, mass-market fiction, and electronic fiction. Likewise, with nonfiction. Only then will readers have some sense that the lists are authentic and not manipulated to achieve sales by dubious means.
And one final word: A single sale of a title at Amazon can cause wild fluctuation in the best-seller rankings, while lists compiled for the New York Times and other publications with integrity are much more reliable because they depend on vastly larger and more diverse sales bases.
I like Amazon for many reasons, but it is not a company to rely on for data.
February 26, 2016
February 25, 2016
Senator McGovern's 1970 Speech
"Every Senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood. Every Senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land—young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces or hopes. There are not very many of these blasted and broken boys who think this war is a glorious adventure. Do not talk to them about bugging out, or national honor or courage. It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes. And if we do not end this damnable war those young men will some day curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us."
I wish we had a George McGovern in the Senate now, not only to curb Republican warmongers, but also President Obama. McGovern had fought in World War Two, and had won numerous honors. He began his life as a Republican, but war and maturity brought new insights.
I wish we had a George McGovern in the Senate now, not only to curb Republican warmongers, but also President Obama. McGovern had fought in World War Two, and had won numerous honors. He began his life as a Republican, but war and maturity brought new insights.
February 20, 2016
Old novel, New Reader
There sure is something good about a long-term literary career. Here's a posting that warms me:
http://lastbestnews.com/site/2016/02/...
http://lastbestnews.com/site/2016/02/...
February 13, 2016
In the Misoula Independent (and Amazon)
Top Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 starsand Wheeler does an excellent job portraying the difficulties faced by such an undertaking ...
By Chris La Tray on February 11, 2016
Format: Hardcover
I wrote the following for the Missoula Independent:
One of the advantages of a review queue that focuses primarily on Western literature is that often what I’m reading is set in a locale I’ve visited, or am familiar with. This is certainly the case in the latest work of historical fiction from Livingston’s Richard S. Wheeler, Anything Goes. Even though his story is set more than 100 years in the past (roughly somewhere in the first decade of the 20th century), the beauty of it is that, particularly in smaller towns and cities around Montana and Idaho, one need only squint a little bit at the modern view on the street to see something of what once was. History feels much closer here, especially when the winter skies are gray, and the air smells of wood smoke.
Anything Goes is the story of a few weeks in the life of the Beausoleil Brothers Follies, a traveling vaudeville show working their way west from Chicago as winter settles in. While the name of the act suggests multiple Beausoleils, there is only one — August Beausoleil. The first of two owners, he is also the master of ceremonies for the troupe, and manages the day-to-day business of keeping the show on the road. His partner and co-owner, Charles Pomerantz, operates a city or two ahead of the troupe to make sure hotels are booked, venues confirmed, advertisements are posted, etc. The two employ a variety of acts; singers and dancers, a juggler, an orator, and even a woman who performs with a pair of trained capuchin monkeys. It is a complicated process, and Wheeler does an excellent job portraying the difficulties faced by such an undertaking plying the rough boards of working class mining towns in the mountain west.
If there was ever a book that should not be judged by its cover, though, it is Anything Goes. I like this cover — a lovely young red-headed woman with a smoldering gaze who hints of femme fatale, standing with an older gentleman whose sidearm suggests a career gunfighting — but only the mountains and opera house in the background are relevant to the story. There isn’t a femme fatale here, and though Wheeler’s story can support a label of “Western” there’s no gunplay or other tropes typical of the genre. Even the description in the front of the book jacket suggests a mystery focused on a single woman, and how her shadowy history may create a desperate situation for the troupe, but that is misleading. I was expecting a rollicking story; a desperate chase across the landscape, a bold adventure, or maybe even something of a comedy. It’s none of that.
I was more of a third of the way into the story before I realized the book is really something of a road (or, in this case, railroad) novel, with a rotating ensemble cast. It was then that I was able to settle in and start to enjoy it. There isn’t a character of singular focus, there are several, and points of view — including reliability of narrator — shift throughout. Not all of these characters remain with the Follies to the end, which is at best bittersweet, and some are added as the story proceeds. If there is a singular character, it is the Follies as a whole, a unit comprised of multiple personalities and backgrounds, and how they interact. Most of the performers are of a second tier of skill, or have careers on the decline, and that makes for interesting reading as they attempt to hold things together and improve their station. Most are immigrants, or come from difficult backgrounds, and the entertainer’s life is all they know.
Wheeler, who owns a body of work most writers can only dream of, including fifty-plus novels and a shelf full of awards for Western fiction, captures a setting as well as anyone. Every city — Butte, Missoula, Pocatello — is slightly different depending on the industry that drives its existence. Each stop creates unique difficulties for the Follies, and how they take on the challenges, or adjust their acts to compensate for peculiarities of the cultural environment, are enjoyable to see play out. Meanwhile, change is in the air for the entertainment industry, as massive syndicates are buying up theaters and opera houses to create circuits that allow them to control all the entertainment themselves, forcing independent acts like the Beausoleil Brothers Follies to either surrender or die. At times I laughed out loud, and I even teared up a little at a couple scenes, something I can’t remember happening in some time.
Wheeler ultimately delivers a narrative that is a mix of sadness and triumph. If it leans more to the former, it is of no issue; Anything Goes is a complete pleasure.
4.0 out of 5 starsand Wheeler does an excellent job portraying the difficulties faced by such an undertaking ...
By Chris La Tray on February 11, 2016
Format: Hardcover
I wrote the following for the Missoula Independent:
One of the advantages of a review queue that focuses primarily on Western literature is that often what I’m reading is set in a locale I’ve visited, or am familiar with. This is certainly the case in the latest work of historical fiction from Livingston’s Richard S. Wheeler, Anything Goes. Even though his story is set more than 100 years in the past (roughly somewhere in the first decade of the 20th century), the beauty of it is that, particularly in smaller towns and cities around Montana and Idaho, one need only squint a little bit at the modern view on the street to see something of what once was. History feels much closer here, especially when the winter skies are gray, and the air smells of wood smoke.
Anything Goes is the story of a few weeks in the life of the Beausoleil Brothers Follies, a traveling vaudeville show working their way west from Chicago as winter settles in. While the name of the act suggests multiple Beausoleils, there is only one — August Beausoleil. The first of two owners, he is also the master of ceremonies for the troupe, and manages the day-to-day business of keeping the show on the road. His partner and co-owner, Charles Pomerantz, operates a city or two ahead of the troupe to make sure hotels are booked, venues confirmed, advertisements are posted, etc. The two employ a variety of acts; singers and dancers, a juggler, an orator, and even a woman who performs with a pair of trained capuchin monkeys. It is a complicated process, and Wheeler does an excellent job portraying the difficulties faced by such an undertaking plying the rough boards of working class mining towns in the mountain west.
If there was ever a book that should not be judged by its cover, though, it is Anything Goes. I like this cover — a lovely young red-headed woman with a smoldering gaze who hints of femme fatale, standing with an older gentleman whose sidearm suggests a career gunfighting — but only the mountains and opera house in the background are relevant to the story. There isn’t a femme fatale here, and though Wheeler’s story can support a label of “Western” there’s no gunplay or other tropes typical of the genre. Even the description in the front of the book jacket suggests a mystery focused on a single woman, and how her shadowy history may create a desperate situation for the troupe, but that is misleading. I was expecting a rollicking story; a desperate chase across the landscape, a bold adventure, or maybe even something of a comedy. It’s none of that.
I was more of a third of the way into the story before I realized the book is really something of a road (or, in this case, railroad) novel, with a rotating ensemble cast. It was then that I was able to settle in and start to enjoy it. There isn’t a character of singular focus, there are several, and points of view — including reliability of narrator — shift throughout. Not all of these characters remain with the Follies to the end, which is at best bittersweet, and some are added as the story proceeds. If there is a singular character, it is the Follies as a whole, a unit comprised of multiple personalities and backgrounds, and how they interact. Most of the performers are of a second tier of skill, or have careers on the decline, and that makes for interesting reading as they attempt to hold things together and improve their station. Most are immigrants, or come from difficult backgrounds, and the entertainer’s life is all they know.
Wheeler, who owns a body of work most writers can only dream of, including fifty-plus novels and a shelf full of awards for Western fiction, captures a setting as well as anyone. Every city — Butte, Missoula, Pocatello — is slightly different depending on the industry that drives its existence. Each stop creates unique difficulties for the Follies, and how they take on the challenges, or adjust their acts to compensate for peculiarities of the cultural environment, are enjoyable to see play out. Meanwhile, change is in the air for the entertainment industry, as massive syndicates are buying up theaters and opera houses to create circuits that allow them to control all the entertainment themselves, forcing independent acts like the Beausoleil Brothers Follies to either surrender or die. At times I laughed out loud, and I even teared up a little at a couple scenes, something I can’t remember happening in some time.
Wheeler ultimately delivers a narrative that is a mix of sadness and triumph. If it leans more to the former, it is of no issue; Anything Goes is a complete pleasure.
February 11, 2016
Unpublishing
I am "unpublishing" all of my self-published Kindle titles. They were lost in what I call the Swamp at Amazon, the two million or so self-published titles, often junk, that are largely given away or sold at bottom-feeder prices. A few authors made good money in the Swamp, but most of us don't.
These self-published titles of mine were competing with the well-edited and packaged titles offered by my publisher, Macmillan, which has kept my series available and also produces print and Kindle editions of my new titles.
I will lose almost nothing in sales, and will likely gain sales for my traditional publishers, such as Macmillan because I am no longer competing against my own publisher and my own titles.
The self-published titles will remain available in electronic form elsewhere. If you want one of my Skye's West novels for your Kindle, you will find it on Amazon, as always.
These self-published titles of mine were competing with the well-edited and packaged titles offered by my publisher, Macmillan, which has kept my series available and also produces print and Kindle editions of my new titles.
I will lose almost nothing in sales, and will likely gain sales for my traditional publishers, such as Macmillan because I am no longer competing against my own publisher and my own titles.
The self-published titles will remain available in electronic form elsewhere. If you want one of my Skye's West novels for your Kindle, you will find it on Amazon, as always.
February 10, 2016
Abandoning Two Blogs
I've abandoned two Google blogs, Wheeler's World, and Axel Brand, which deals with my mysteries. My task was to update my Google account by supplying a new email address because I have changed providers. I was unable to find a way to do it, or to get help from Google when I sought it.
So I will occasionally blog from the more welcoming platform of Amazon and Goodreads, and put the Google accounts to rest.
Security dead-ends and changes in the meaning of words have bewildered me to the point that the Internet is not of much use to me. I had no trouble updating financial and commercial accounts, but Google defeated me.
So I will occasionally blog from the more welcoming platform of Amazon and Goodreads, and put the Google accounts to rest.
Security dead-ends and changes in the meaning of words have bewildered me to the point that the Internet is not of much use to me. I had no trouble updating financial and commercial accounts, but Google defeated me.
January 24, 2016
Valedictory
I did a reading a few days ago, my first in several years. Here is a report about it, written by my gifted novelist friend, Craig Lancaster.
http://lastbestnews.com/site/2016/01/...
http://lastbestnews.com/site/2016/01/...
