WESTERN TV TIE-INS—GUNSMOKE

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

ORIGINALLY OUTLINED 

AS A GUNSMOKE NOVEL FOR 

THE ABOVE SERIES...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WESTERN FANZINES—OWLHOOT

WESTERN FANZINES

OWLHOOT

A few of months ago, I reconnected with the last remaining (as far as I know) old school APA, a western genre version known as OWLHOOT. There are just over a dozen die hard participants, all of us old enough to need extra light when we read and close captioning on the TV...and at least a half dozen of us still around from the pages if DAPA-Em...

If you have no idea what an APA is, or OWLHOOT, or DAPA-Em, settle down here by the campfire and let me tell you the legend of the (almost) lost fandom.

Back in the prehistoric times before the Internet—when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the West was wild and the East was still the mysterious Orient—mystery fandom wasn’t a simple matter of keeping abreast of daily blog updates or Facebook group news feeds…it had to be earned.

I’m not kidding…

One of old school fandom's most deeply rooted sources existed in monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly collections of individual newsletters gathered together and mailed to the members of amateur press associations known as APAs.

In 1973, the only APA devoted to mystery fandom began publication under the title DAPA-Em, which if I remember correctly stood for Elementary My Dear APA. The name was a bit nonsensical and the lettering was out of order enough to set off my OCD—or CDO, which is OCD in the right order—but but question me no further as I don’t know how the name originated. I guess that was part of the mystery.

APAs were limited membership publishing co-ops whose members produced copies of their amateur fanzines, which were then sent to an official editor. The official editor collated the newsletter style fanzines, mailed them to the members, kept track of the APA’s finances (dues to cover mailing expenses), maintained a waiting list of contributors, and made sure current contributors met the requirements for minimum activity—which in the case of DAPA-Em was four pages of mystery related information or research (three of which had to be original material) every four months. Since issues were gathered and sent out every two months, a contributor could miss only one issue before facing an inactivity deadline.

This was hardcore, chisel and stone, tape and paste, mimeograph machine, surreptitious Xeroxing at work, seat of the pants desktop publishing…and it was probably the most fun I've ever had in the mystery genre.

DAPA-Em was originally founded with six contributors. By the time I joined in the late 70’s, it was filled to its limit of thirty five members with a half-dozen names on the waiting list.  For a number of years, I published my own contribution to the cause, which was originally titled The Thieftaker Journals before being re-christened Brass Knuckles. It was full of reviews and explorations of—mostly—hardboiled detective fiction. In my November 1983 issue, I even had the honor of publishing a controversial story, The Oldest Killer, by Edgar Award winning author Dennis Lynds, which went on to much acclaim and cemented a friendship of many years.

But the absolute best thing about DAPA-Em was when a new issue (consisting of a combined 35 newsletter/fanzines) dropped with a satisfying thump in my mailbox. When that happen, life came to an immediate screeching halt for a couple of hours while I sat back and read the current issue from cover to cover.

Critical appreciation of the mystery genre was in its infancy during the early days of DAPA-Em. Several mystery newsletters, including Marv Lachman's The Mystery Lover's Newsletter and Al Hubin's The Armchair Detective had laid the groundwork for DAPA-Em, but the pivotal works of the genre were still on the horizon. The first of these mystery reference books to have lasting impact was The Encyclopedia of Mystery & Detection by Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler. Al Hubin’s ambitious Bibliography of Crime Fiction followed in 1978, and John M. Reilly’s epic Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers came two years later in 1980. All of these continue to maintain a place of honor on my bookshelves, but before any of them appeared there was the collaboration that was DAPA-Em. 

And what a collaboration it was. Members of DAPA-Em spanned America with submissions also coming from Canada, Australia, and England. At the height of DAPA-Em’s existence, it was not unusual for two-thirds of the membership to show up, live and in person at the yearly Bouchercon world mystery convention—except for George Kelley (which is an inside joke only members of DAPA-Em will understand).

There is no longer a wild DAPA-Em party room set aside in the Bouchercon hotel (we still can’t talk about some of the scandals), but last year, I attended the 49th incarnation of Bouchercon in Dallas, Texas, where I crossed paths with several long time friends from the days of DAPA-Em.

While the reviews and articles, which made up the bulk of most DAPA-Em entries, were interesting, it was the exchanges in the letter pages where gold and friendship was to be found. Here tales of book buying/collecting experiences, convention antics, personal travels, and personal lives abounded—much in the same way the connections made in the Campfire section of the revered pulp Adventure raised that magazine to a level of reader connection above all others.

DAPA-Em contributors were a family and, like any such grouping, there were dysfunctions and arguments—both personal and literary. Sometimes, it could get ugly, and once or twice the heat from the pages could be felt through the mailing envelope. Rabid Mets fans and had nothing on the contributors of DAPA-Em and the mystery genre.

Those upsets, however, were minor glitches now lost to the winds of time. More importantly, through the pages of DAPA-Em, I established cherished friendships, acquaintances, and contacts, which have continued across the decades and are still viable today. A number of DAPA-Em contributors are no longer with us, and while I may only hear occasionally—usually through the wonders of Facebook—from my buddies Cap’n Bob Napier, Art Scott, and others still on this side of the sod, those early days of writing, publishing, and sharing of our love for the mystery genre still bind us together.

Every two months when my copies of the magazines bound into DAPA-Em arrived in my mailbox—usually after a frantic rush to get my own entry finished, collated, and submitted—I knew I was in for hours of enjoyment, spending time learning about new books and writers in the genre I loved, and catching up with thirty four of my best friends in the world of mystery—many of whom went on to successful writing careers.

Work and commitment are needed to keep up with a semi-monthly publishing schedule of even a small publication. Original research and writing had to be done aside from the dexterity needed with glue sticks and those old fashioned things called typewriters. DAPA-Em not only represented the best of the mystery genre, it also represented a massive collective effort on the part of its contributors.

In February 2011, after 216 issues, DAPA-Em gave up the ghost—murdered in cold blood by the siren call of blogs and social networking. I love physical books, but I shifted to e-books (mostly) with ease. However, I still miss DAPA-Em, the work it entailed, and the never to be had again rewards it provided. I recently read through some old issues and marveled and the breadth of knowledge still contained there.

Yesterday, when the latest throwback issue of the OWLHOOT APA (#70) hit my mailbox, I dropped tools faster than Fred Flintstone responding to the end of the workday whistle at the rock quarry, straddled my antique mechanical horse (rustle from where it was plugged in outside a long gone grocery store), slapped in a quarter, and settled back in the saddle for a cover to cover reading session. An absolute blast from the past and I loved every page. Roll on Owlhoots...

6-GUN JUSTICE CONVERSATIONS—CHUCK DIXON

SIX-GUN JUSTICE CONVERSATIONS

CHUCK DIXON 

Six-Gun Justice Conversations are occasional bonus features in which Six-Gun Justice co-hosts Paul Bishop or Richard Prosch get to hang out in the virtual Six-Gun Justice Saloon chewing the jerky with friends and writers who also love the western genre. There is no agenda or any particular western subject, simply an informal fifteen minute chat about westerns in whatever media comes up. In this first Six-Gun Justice Conversation, Paul downs some bad whiskey and pickled pigs feet along with comic book legend and western lover Chuck Dixon... 

Like the full-length Six-Gun Justice Podcast episodes and the Six-Gun Justice Speed Listens, the bonus Six-Gun Justice Conversations are available on all your favorite podcast platforms or simply listen by clicking the player below...

SIX-GUN JUSTICE PODCAST—SPEED LISTEN #5

SIX-GUN JUSTICE PODCAST

SPEED LISTEN #5

TRUE GRIT

Do the quarantine blues have you ready to sing Tex Ritter's cowboy lament, There was blood on the saddle and blood all around, and a great big puddle of blood on the ground, (also sung endlessly by Big Al in Disneyland's Country Bear's Jamboree attraction), then posse up with Six-Gun Justice co-host Paul Bishop for this new Six-Gun Justice Speed Listen installment tracking down True Grit...Everything you need to know about the iconic novel, the original film with John Wayne, and the Cohen brothers' 2010 'reimagining' of the core story—all in a fast and furious 15 minutes...Available now on all your favorite podcast streaming platforms or by utilizing the player below...

Six-Gun Justice Speed Listens are bi-weekly mini-podcast installments (15 minutes or less) recorded in support of the full-length Six-Gun Justice Podcast episodes. Regular co-hosts Paul Bishop and Richard Prosch trade off hosting Speed Listen installments while continuing to host the regular Six-Gun Justice Podcast episodes together...

WESTERN NOVELS—JIGGER BUNTS

WESTERN NOVELS

JIGGER BUNTS 

MAX BRAND/FREDERICK FAUST

The following is a guest review from wordslinger and Six-Gun Justice Deputy Andrew Salmon.

Frederick Faust’s place in the pantheon of great Western yarn spinners is assured and unquestioned. Writing as Max Brand, he earned that reputation by spreading around enough Western material to fill 340 average size books like so many bullets in a Peckinpah gunfight. Legend has it he sold 90% of what he produced.

But what of that 10% which has gone unsold since his death in action during WWII?

Well, Center Point Large Print and Blackstone Books has begun to answer that question recently by publishing some of these ‘lost’ tales. And the first one out of the corral is Jigger Bunts.

Of course with material which has not seen the light of day in eight or nine decades, the question arises why these stories have not been published until now while 100s of Faust’s other stories and novels have scarcely been out of print during this time. In the case of Jigger Bunts, we readers can now answer that question for ourselves.

The novel consists of two parts and introduces us to Jigger Bunts who we are told by Tom Reynard, ramrod for the Bar L and narrator, was a wide-eyed eighteen year old from New York come to range cows through the winter months. To pass the long, dark nights, the other hands take to telling tale tales to young Bunts who eats the stuff up and believes it whole hog. The joke is to give to Reynaurd, as ordinary a cowpoke as ever climbed into a saddle, incredible abilities and Herculean accomplishments. Soon Bunts is convinced that no one could out-fight, out-shoot, out-ride or out-anything tough ol’ Reynard. Bunts quickly comes to worship the ground Reynard walks on and wants to emulate the cowhand in every way.

Slightly put out by the unmerited praise, Reynard goes along with the joke because it keeps the peace and keeps the long hours moving. Until he sees a chance to put a stop to it once and for all. When the group is celebrating Reynard’s fighting prowess one night, he is able to step in to relate how he was completely and thoroughly whipped in a fight one time. A picture torn from a magazine provides a face to the fictional name given to the guy who bested him. 

Hoping only to climb down off the pedestal the others have placed him on, Reynard’s plan works too well. Bunts is now the stalwart follower of the fictional man from the photo – a ruthless, tough as nails gunfighter named Louis Dalfieri. Immediately he adopts the look and trains to attain the prowess heaped upon the non-existent gunman in the photo while Reynard is instantly reduced to being just the boss once more.

All goes well until Bunts brings a gambler to the ranch who fleeces the men. Well, ruthless gunman Dalfieri wouldn’t stand for that and neither will Bunts who tracks the man down. This results in Bunts, as Dalfieri, becoming the outlaw the others fabricated out of whole cloth. The remainder of the story deals with Reynard trying to stop Bunts before he’s hunted down by the law.

This set up is almost standard Fred Faust fare. The execution of the idea doesn’t quite measure up however. To qualify that last statement, I’ll read anything Faust wrote. If they stumble upon a crumpled up grocery list at the back of his desk drawer, you can put me down for the deluxe slipcover/hardcover printing of it. Thus reading Jigger Bunts, for me, was a labor of love. Frankly I didn’t expect much, given the long decades it lay dormant, and therefore could not be overly disappointed. That said, if this is your first exposure to Faust’s work, you’ll most likely come away with a ‘what’s the fuss over Faust all about’ vibe.

Jigger Bunts fails first from a lack of focus. The novel swings from light-hearted yarning to flat-out comedic buffoonery to deadly serious Faust with a little romance thrown in. It’s trying to be a bit of everything but this Faust of all trades suffers from the pitfalls of such attempts and masters none. Faust referred to his writing as ‘dreaming’ where he put himself into a trance-like state and the words flowed. Much like a dream, Jigger Bunts wanders along and I can’t help feeling Faust wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this one and decided to set the thing down to see where the setting led him. The lack of focus hampers the reading experience.

The other failing in the tale is the narrator’s description of action taking place far away from where he’s is at the time of the tale. We don’t get to see what transpires, we are merely told what happened elsewhere and how significant it was when it happened. That’s a limitation of first-person narration but nowhere is that limitation more evident in Faust’s work than Jigger Bunts. This detachment from events moves the reader even farther from the tale and one’s interest lags.

It’s not all doom and gloom however. This is a Max Brand tale! Well-drawn characters, great pacing and dialogue are hallmarks of his work and they are on display in Jigger Bunts. The female character especially, a well-worn, attractive woman who marries men for their fortunes, strays from the wide-eyed innocence of typical Western damsels. The tale certainly doesn’t read as if it’s from his formative early years. No date is given for the original manuscript so this is guess work on my part but with more than 100 Faust books under my belt, I’ve got a sense of his style and Jigger seems to hail from his just about prime Faust time. That’s my two-cents for what it’s worth.

Should you read Jigger Bunts? Well, if you want a hardcopy for you bookshelf, it currently only exists as a large-print hardcover from Centre Point Large Print. The ebook and audible versions come courtesy of Blackstone Books. Pick your poison. If you’re a Faust fan, you’ll want to give this one a try. If you’re a Faust Fanatic like me, well it’s a no-brainer. For today’s Western fan, it’s not a bad read ultimately. If one comes to Jigger Bunts not expecting a master work from one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, there’s enough in the tale to entertain. But not enough to ‘wow’ anyone.

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There are future unpublished Faust tales on the horizon though the most recent release raises a few eyebrows. The Magic Gun bears the ‘first time in print’ logo as does Jigger Bunts but Gun has Street and Smith Copyrights from 1929 and 1928 for the two collected tales which appeared in the original pulps: “The Magic Gun” in Western Story Magazine 4/7/28 and “The Danger Lover” from the 7/9/29 issue of that same publication. The publisher is either being very loose with the interpretation of ‘first time in print’ or there is a printing error somewhere. 

A future volume, The White Streak, carries the “unpublished” logo but no detailed information about the book is available. There was a Faust tale called “The Streak” which ran in Argosy in 1936 and published by Dodd Mead in 1937. There aren’t any similarities to be seen based on the description of the forthcoming volume so the jury is still out on The White Streak. As the hero is a football player who heads West, it sounds like my kind of tale. 

Either way, I’ll be reading these volumes and any future volumes which contain Faust material I haven’t read. Hey, I’m a fan.

Happy Trails!