Westerns at Year's End
The western genre continues much as it has been for a century. It is still built around stories that are resolved by guns. Those continue to sell well, while other, broader versions of the genre barely sell at all. The western has changed in a couple of ways over the century. It is much bloodier now. Earlier stories were often resolved with a single death. Now a typical western has a high body count, and skill with a weapon is more important than character or bravery in the resolution of the story.
The other way that westerns have changed over the century is that they have become southernized. This is best described by what you don't see on the paperback racks: you don't see two former Union army soldiers, fresh from freeing the slaves, fighting it out on the streets of Bismarck or Sheridan. What you do see on the paperback racks, almost a hundred percent, is stories involving former Confederates, mostly from Texas or border states, getting into a bitter fight on the streets of El Paso or Tucson. The modern western hero is southern, bitter, and settles his disputes with guns.
I tried for years to broaden the field. The West is a grand place, settled by diverse people with diverse ambitions. And while many of these stories won critical acclaim, and some won awards, they hardly sell at all compared to the tens of thousands of copies a typical Pinnacle gunfighter western sells from grocery racks across the country.
I was reminded of that by the brief appearance of my most recent novel, involving a vaudeville troupe making its way through the barely-settled west. It climbed up Amazon's charts briefly and then vanished, more or less. Last I looked, there were 866,000 novels that sold better. It will, over the next months be reviewed with care in sundry places, and then it will vanish.
Such is the western genre, which remains rigid. Mystery fiction, by way of contrast, has broadened into a variety of subgenres involving crime, mystery, detective skills, criminal psychology, etc., and most of these sell very well. That genre is fluid and healthy.
The other way that westerns have changed over the century is that they have become southernized. This is best described by what you don't see on the paperback racks: you don't see two former Union army soldiers, fresh from freeing the slaves, fighting it out on the streets of Bismarck or Sheridan. What you do see on the paperback racks, almost a hundred percent, is stories involving former Confederates, mostly from Texas or border states, getting into a bitter fight on the streets of El Paso or Tucson. The modern western hero is southern, bitter, and settles his disputes with guns.
I tried for years to broaden the field. The West is a grand place, settled by diverse people with diverse ambitions. And while many of these stories won critical acclaim, and some won awards, they hardly sell at all compared to the tens of thousands of copies a typical Pinnacle gunfighter western sells from grocery racks across the country.
I was reminded of that by the brief appearance of my most recent novel, involving a vaudeville troupe making its way through the barely-settled west. It climbed up Amazon's charts briefly and then vanished, more or less. Last I looked, there were 866,000 novels that sold better. It will, over the next months be reviewed with care in sundry places, and then it will vanish.
Such is the western genre, which remains rigid. Mystery fiction, by way of contrast, has broadened into a variety of subgenres involving crime, mystery, detective skills, criminal psychology, etc., and most of these sell very well. That genre is fluid and healthy.
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