Rod Miller's Blog, page 5

Some cowboy.

Not long ago, we lost a good friend of mine. Jim Fain is gone, butwon’t soon be forgotten. Jim was a photographer of many talents, but specializedin rodeo action. I’ve got more than a few photos signed by Fain. Hundreds,thousands, of rodeo cowboys over the past sixty years can say the same thing.

The photo above is not typical of his work but, as he always did,Jim captured the essence of a story.

The year was 1973. It was Labor Day weekend, “Cowboy Days” inEvanston, Wyoming. Back then the arena had no lights so the rodeo was heldSaturday and Sunday afternoon. The weather turned bad on Saturday—a deluge so heavythe rodeo committee pulled the plug and re-scheduled for Sunday morning. Thenit rained some more. And snowed.

Mud, water, ice, and muck covered the arena come morning, but theshow must go on. I was up in the first event, the bareback riding. In the cold,with icy fingers, and on the back of a frosty, dripping wet horse I did a sorryjob of setting my bareback rigging. When the horse turned back into a spin, myrigging went over the side and so did I. Then the horse landed on me, stompingme deeper into the mire. I have other Fain photos that show it all.

Jim snapped the shutter on this picture as I waded back to thebucking chutes. I was soaked, muddy, and cold. My face and eyes were gritty. Myhat was mashed. So was I. All in all, I was a mess. The few fans in the standsthought it funny. At the time, it didn’t seem funny to me.

A misadventure, recorded for all time through Jim Fain’s cameralens. The sad thing is, this photo is my favorite from the album documenting myrodeo career. Some cowboy, huh?

 

My Favorite Book, Part 29

We citizens of the United States sometimes forget that we do notown the West. Most everything that counts as cowboy came to us from south ofthe border, courtesy of Spanish and Mexican vaqueros. And their influence, alwaysadapted for regional use, did not stop at the Canadian border. Cowboys are bigin Canada.

I was reminded of that fact with this novel, BreakingSmith’s Quarter Horse. The book was recommended by my friend Doris Daley from Alberta. She is as fine a poet, reciter, and writer asyou’re likely to find anywhere.

Written by Paul St. Pierre, the details of cowboy life in BreakingSmith’s Quarter Horse will be recognized by anybody who loves and lives the West, butwith a unique north-of-our-border flavor that captures the quirks and customs ofa time and place where the West was wild, the winters cold, and a sense ofhumor a necessary tool in coping—the sense of humor (or ‘humour’ as they spellit in Canada) perhaps most important of all. As you smile through page afterpage, and occasionally laugh out loud, you’ll wonder if the Indian cowboy—ahorse whisperer of sorts—will ever find time in his not-so-busy schedule to seeto the breaking of Smith’s quarter horse.

I thank Doris Daley for therecommendation. You will too.

 

Interesting times.

 

There is a curse, wrongly attributed to the Chinese, that says,“May you live in interesting times.”

We certainly do.

As most of you probably know, that strange assemblage of littlesquares above is a QR Code (QR is shorthand for Quick Response, I’m told). Yousee them all over the place in these interesting times. They bear about as muchresemblance to the real world as Rorschach ink blots. Word is, if you pointyour smart phone at one, it will link you to some other place online.

As one living in interesting times, and feeling a slight tug attimes to keep up, I got my very own QR Code. It links to my web site, writerRodMiller.com. I had to borrow my wife’s smart phone (because I don’t own one) totest it. It works. I was amazed and surprised at the success of my first-everexperience with a QR Code.

Try it.

P.S. The hero of four of my novels, Rawhide Robinson, was jealous and wanted a QR Code of his own. So, I got him one.Try it, too. Here it is:

 

P.P.S. 

All My Sins Remembered was just named a finalist for the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award for Best Novel of 2022!

 

Silver Screen Cowboys I have loved.

Movies and television programs are very much a matter of opinion.What some like, others despise. The same holds true for actors. Portrayals ofcowboys on the big (and small) screen range from authentic to absurd, and theactors assigned those roles come off as believable or bogus, and sometimesdownright laughable.

Like most movie fans, I have my favorites. I lean toward actorswho are absorbed into the role, rather than movie stars who are essentiallyplaying themselves in cowboy costumes. Here are some of my favorites, in noparticular order. (Not included are many, many fine players who appear mostlyin supporting roles or small parts.) I’m sure some—most—of you will disagreewith my choices. Others will wonder about those left out. That’s fine. You canmake your own list.

Robert Duvall. Tommy Lee Jones. Ben Johnson. Clint Eastwood. TomSelleck. Paul Newman. Henry Fonda. Robert Redford. Thomas Hayden Church. EdHarris. Jeff Bridges. Alan Ladd. Sam Elliott.

And, finally, Latigo Brown.

Latigo Brown?

Excuse the crass commercialism, but Latigo Brown is the hero of mylatest novel, Silver ScreenCowboy.Like me, Latigo Brown is often uncomfortable, sometimes downright dismissive,of the unrealistic ways cowboys are portrayed on screen. Despite his surprisingpath from ranch and rodeo cowboy to movie star back in the golden days ofWesterns and the remuneration and renown that come with it, some of the thingshe is asked to do on screen chafe like a bur under a saddle blanket.

Give Silver ScreenCowboy a read. Could be that Latigo Brown will make it onto your list offavorite silver screen cowboys. Even if you’ve only seen him in your mind.

School days.

In recent weeks I’ve had the opportunity to spend time onuniversity campuses at opposite ends of my home state of Utah.

At my alma mater, Utah State University in Logan, I met with aclassroom full of journalism students. For more than an hour they peppered mewith questions about journalism, advertising, magazine writing, poetry,fiction, nonfiction, Western history, how I go about writing, and all manner ofthings. Fortunately, after stringing words together over several decades forall manner of reasons I was able to offer some sort of response to most oftheir queries.

Days later, I spent an equally enjoyable hour with creativewriting students at Utah Tech University in St. George. Again, the questionswere insightful and the discussion engaging. Later, UT hosted a public eventduring which I read from several of my books—mostly fiction but also some nonfictionand poetry—answered a few questions, and spent time talking with and signingbooks for some of the readers kind enough to come out for the event.  A fine local bookseller, The Book Bungalow, handled sales and now has several of my titles on the shelves attheir store in St. George.

All in all, the faculty and staff members involved in my visits hadeverything well in hand to make the experiences enjoyable. And, the students atboth universities were impressive. They seemed bright, immersed, andinvolved—much different from my own time as a college student, if my hazymemories are to be trusted.

To read or not to read?

Book reviews can be helpful for readers. Honest book reviews, that is, not the puff pieces authors often ask friends to post online. An honest review that expresses the reviewer’s opinion of the book—good or bad—can help prospective readers weigh that opinion in their decision to read—or not read—a particular book. A review can also inspire readers to read books they had not known about or considered.

Not long ago, I got an email from the New York Journal of Bookswhere readers find reviews on hundreds of books in every category imaginable. They invited me to join their panel of reviewers. It says on their website, “This panel includes bestselling and award-winning authors, journalists, experienced publishing executives, academics, as well as professionals across a number of disciplines and industries.” Given that, I can’t help but wonder how or where they heard about me. Still, I signed on.

Truth is, I am no stranger to book reviews. I wrote a library’s worth of brief reviews for Western Writers of America’s Roundup magazine (and not always to the authors’ satisfaction). True West magazine has asked me to review a few books. I write a lengthier book review each month for the Utah Westerners newsletter. And my reviews have appeared here and there on other occasions.

If you are not familiar with the New York Journal of Books, check it out. It may help you answer the question all readers ask: To read, or not to read?

Talk, talk, talk.

Not long ago I was asked to do an online interview with a publisher of Western novels—not my own. Dusty Saddle Publishing, DSP for short, in an effort to wave the flag for Western literature, has launched a campaign to feature authors outside their own stable. So I uncapped the camera on my laptop and when the questions started coming I opened my mouth and let the syllables spill out and trickle down my shirtfront. Click on the video link and you can watch it happen.

Here is how DSP introduced the interview to their readers:

“DSP is always working to reach out to our fellow authors and bring them to you, our readers. This interview is one of the first of 2023, and we are very honored to be featuring the very talented Rod Miller. Rod has won every writing award the Western business has to offer, and his novels are generally considered to be some of the finest in the genre. We would consider it an honor if you would hop on over and take a listen to his brand-new interview and then try out a few of his books. These are the kind of Westerns readers sit around waiting for. It’s about time you discovered them.”

 

At the movies.

Latigo Brown is a cowboy. A real cowboy, not like those TV and movie cowboys who ride everywhere at a high lope firing off six-shooters and hardly ever come into contact with a cow. But he finds himself lured to Hollywood by a rodeo hero, where he unexpectedly becomes a box-office star during the heyday of big-screen Westerns and cowboy heroes. Amidst the glitter and glamour of the movie business, he still harbors resentment for the way he—and other cowboys—are portrayed.

Will Latigo Brown swallow his pride and pocket the money? Will starlets, high society, and riches win out? Or will Latigo write “The End” to the movie business? Follow Latigo Brown’s adventures through rodeo arenas, film sets, and the Hollywood West in the pages of Silver Screen Cowboy. Coming soon in paperback and eBook from publisher Speaking Volumes.

 

On the trail of an idea.

Writers—including yours truly—are often asked where they get their ideas. It is not always an easy question to answer. But in the case of my short story “Black Joe” I know the answer.

“Black Joe” was originally published in the periodical Saddlebag Dispatches in 2019. It was named “Best Western Short Fiction” in 2020 and given the Peacemaker Award by Western Fictioneers, an organization of professional writers of—you guessed it—Western fiction. Now it is the title story in my just released hardcover book from Five Star Publishing, Black Joe and Other Selected Stories.

But back to the subject at hand and the source of ideas.

Andy Nelson, a radio host, entertainer, and cowboy poet—and friend—of the highest order learned of the event that inspired the story from his father, Jim. It concerns an ornery wild horse, a black stud called Black Joe, that attacked a father and young daughter while out riding in the backcountry of Idaho. Andy passed the story on to another friend, cowboy composer, singer, and songwriter Brenn Hill, who saw a song in the incident. He penned “Black Joe” and recorded it for his 2018 album Rocky Mountain Drifter.

Being a fan of Brenn Hill’s many talents, I heard the song numerous times as I played and replayed the album and saw in it the idea for a tale that starts with the story in the song and goes from there. The result is the short story “Black Joe.” (Starring, as it happens, two cowboys named Andy Hill and Brenn Nelson.)

So, many thanks to Jim Nelson, Andy Nelson, Brenn Hill, Saddlebag Dispatches, Western Fictioneers, Five Star Publishing, and you for the parts you all played in making “Black Joe” a success.

 

Really stupid words, Chapter 21.

Sometimes, perfectly good words get overused and abused and stretched to the point that they become stupid. One such word that has been stirring my curmudgeonly coals of late is “journey.”

At its core it is a fine word, describing “travel or passage from one place to another,” the key word being place. While it can be suggestive of other things, place generally indicates a physical location. That notion is forgotten more often than not nowadays when it comes to journeys.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu voiced what must be the most famous saying about “journey” when he said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The implication of moving from one physical location to another is surely implicit, if not explicit. Still, the saying and the source have contributed to the dilution of the meaning of journey. More to blame, perhaps, is a bumper sticker phrase of uncertain origin and many iterations: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” Notice how the idea of going from one actual, physical place to another is missing, watering down the meaning of “journey” to the point where it can be applied to anything, everything, and nothing.

The New Age (which elevated Lao Tzu and his sayings) and all its psychobabble latched onto the word back in the 1970s and there has been no turning back. Healing and transformation became a journey, along with your health and wellness journey, your recovery journey, your emotional growth journey, and your soul journey. And, of course, our spiritual and religious journeys.

Now, even unfortunate situations like fighting cancer have become journeys. So have trivial situations, like my hair loss journey. Grief became a journey. Education is a journey. So is weight loss. Business has latched onto the idea with a passion, tracking customer journeys, service journeys, training and development journeys, leadership journeys, workday journeys….

Writers are not immune to the infection. Seldom have I attended a conference where the “hero’s journey” wasn’t held up as the essence of most any and every piece of literature. (I confess ignorance of its finer points.) And, of course, we are each on our personal writing journey.

That’s all for now. While the “journey” journey may be an endless journey, we’ve come far enough on our journey for one day.