Landscape is in some ways the most important character in a Western
I’m pleased for several reasons to announce that my good friend Scott Gese has resurrected Rope And Wire, an online journal of Western writing. First, while once the 800-pound gorilla of American fiction, Westerns are now the sick, old man if not the dying patient. They constitute a pitiful percentage of the rapidly shrinking market for fiction in this country. For an alte kokker like me who grew up with the genre, this is a tragic thing. Anyone who helps to keep the Western alive is a hero in my book (the one in my head where I list everything, good or bad). That’s why I’m always cheered to learn that somebody has made or plans to make a Western movie or written a Western novel, no matter how much the work may depart from the traditional mold. A good recent example of this would be The Son by Phillip Meyer.
Second, Scott has been kind enough to publish two of my Western stories. The Espantosa is my only attempt at a Western ghost story, based on true events and set in a real location, Lake Espantosa, a spooky body of water that to this day inspires unease among locals. Down To The Frenchman’s Place is a contemporary story, pretty much the only Western I wrote that wasn’t set in Mexico or Texas, and was meant to be humorous. Both originally appeared in Rope And Wire in 2009. Espantosa was also published in Rymfire Books’ State Of Horror, Texas in 2011, a horror anthology that’s currently out of print.
The story is now available to be read in the revived version of Rope And Wire.
Most importantly, I’m glad to see the magazine up and running again because I know how much it must mean personally to Scott. He was thrown from his mount, but he got up, dusted himself off, and got back in the saddle, just like you’re supposed to do. Good on you, hoss! That’s a fine example of persistence that could be followed by anyone.