A loyal reader of mine emailed me about some good Western novels to read.
Although I am a fan of the Traditional Western and like a lot of writers, cut my teeth on the likes of Louis LaMour, Larry McMurtry and Glendon Swarthout just to name a few, my entire ideal of the Western was turned on it’s head when I read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
Since then I have gravitated more to certain styles of writing that capture the raw, gritty and realistic life of the old west instead of the tired, tropish romanticism so prevalent in traditional westerns.
One writer I really like for this style is James Carlos Blake.
Top 5:
-
In the Rogue Blood
-
The Pistoleer (Based on the Life of John Wesley Hardin)
-
The Friends of Pancho Villa
-
Wildwood Boys (Based on the Life of Bloody Bill Anderson)
-
Country of the Bad Wolfe’s