Mrs. Sundance (1974)

Etta Place holds a fascination in American folklore for good reasons: she was the girlfriend of the Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh) and rode the outlaw trail with him and Butch Cassidy (Robert Parker) all the way to Bolivia where Sundance and Butch were killed in a shootout in 1908—but what of Etta Place? We don’t know, and may never find out, what became of her later life and death. So, the mystery is ripe for speculation with the most famous telling of Etta’s story being Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969) featuring Katharine Ross in the part.

Mrs. Sundance, a 1974 TV movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery, is the first time an actor other than Ross played the part. Since I grew up on Ross as Etta Place and Montgomery as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched (1964-1972), I fully expected to be thrown off by the casting, but within the first few scenes, Ms. Montgomery swiftly erases those other associations, firmly establishing herself as this historical enigma.

Etta is a desperate woman on edge. She’s best described by a nosy member of the community where the outlaw is laying low, saying, 

I've been watching you since the first day you come. Every time a train stops, every time somebody just passes through - the fear in your eyes. Hiding out; never showing till they've gone. Why? Hiding from what? Who wants you?

Well, it turns out just about everybody, including Charles Siringo, played by veteran actor L.Q. Jones. Mr. Jones—known for Ride the High Country (1962), The Wild Bunch (1969), and a host of other classics—authenticates every scene like he’s hopped out from the real Old West. Siringo is charged with tracking the elusive Etta Place and bringing her to justice. He uses captured thief Jack Maddox (Robert Foxworth) as bait to lure in Place by gaining her confidence. Siringo is betting that she will lead him to the rest of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang so he can reap the bounties on their heads. He spreads word that Sundance is still alive and before long, she goes in search of her true love.

IMDb currently ranks the film at a middling 6.3 though I would elevate it a bit higher. Sure, the television budget and, at times, meandering script hinder it from becoming anything more than an afternoon joy ride. But sometimes that, and Elizabeth Montgomery, is more than enough.

David Cranmer is the editor of the BEAT to a PULP webzine and whose own body of work has appeared in such diverse publications as The Five-Two: Crime Poetry Weekly, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, LitReactor, Macmillan’s Criminal Element, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Under the pen name Edward A. Grainger he created the Cash Laramie western series. He's a dedicated Whovian who enjoys jazz and backgammon. He can be found in scenic upstate New York where he lives with his wife and daughter.

LOVE AND THE WESTERN HERO - Meg Mims

It may be January, but in two weeks everyone's thoughts will be drenched with loooooove.

Valentine's Day brings hearts, flowers and chocolate (of course!) to mind, but to any lovers of the western genre, it may also bring a fluttering for their favorite cowboy or soldier hero. Today I'll explore some of the movies set in the west that the ladies consider real heart-throbbers.

Look at that baby face to the left. What I found interesting was seeing images of the actors when they were young, versus being portrayed as western heroes. Oh, the manliness! Oh, the chiseled jaws! Oh, the *muscles*... er, sorry.

I'd like to start with THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, which for its time was set in "the western frontier" of the United States as depicted in James Fenimore Cooper's day of 1757 during the French and Indian War.

Notice the change wrought in Daniel Day-Lewis' face after he takes on the role of Hawkeye, or Natty Bumpo, or Long Rifle... whatever you want to call him. He looks worried. He's got major diplomatic troubles dealing with the French and British, plus the Huron scout Magua. He's supported by Chingachgook and his son (as the last of the Mohicans) and then the Delaware tribe -- since the measly British won't send reinforcements for poor Colonel Munro and his soldiers. All that worry! He looks exhausted too.

Thankfully the movie plot simplifies the book (for the better, imo) by boiling down the war between the French and British, setting up a four-way romance with the Munro daughters, Hawkeye and Chingachgook's son. When Wes Studi (Magua) is determined to kill Munro and take his daughters captive -- well, let's just say I'd jump off a cliff too. That Magua scared me to death!

Hawkeye gets the girl, that's the important point of a romance. It's all about the HEA -- happily ever after. Come on! Who wouldn't want to end up with DDL in that costume? But being a western hero sure changes a guy. Really.

As a bonus, I found this image of Daniel Day-Lewis and Russell Means.
Both of them are pretty hot here.

Every single time I watch Mohicans, I weep when Russell Means is killed and Alice chooses to fall off the cliff after him rather than remain Magua's captive. When I met Wes Studi last summer in Albequerque at the WWA convention, I changed my mind about choosing that same fate. Wes is a great actor -- funny, warm and sweet, very generous about taking photos and giving autographs. He sure fooled me when I first saw the movie! That's fabulous acting.

Let's move on to Elmore Leonard's HOMBRE with Paul Newman. Ooooh, those baby blues! Who can resist those, or that manly chiseled jaw, or those muscles... er. Ahem.

The book and movie are pretty strong (I saw the movie, but must confess I have not read the book) for the "revisionist" western genre -- meaning the underlying issues of race are brought to the surface, in this case, the hero was raised as an Apache and faced big-time prejudice after he returns to the white man's world. I guess the blue eyes didn't matter much. I had trouble believing Newman as a Native American, but his acting is decent in the film.

Still, I much prefer him as Butch Cassidy. Sorry.

How about the book DANCES WITH WOLVES by Michael Blake? Oddly enough, the Comanche tribe is switched to Sioux, and Kevin Costner acted and directed this epic western into a real classic.

Once again, portraying a hero takes a toll on youthful men. That's a very young and hot Kevin Costner on the right, versus portraying Lieutenant John Dunbar (see the photo to the left below.) He looks tired. And worried, especially given the problems he's facing...

Oh, all right -- enough of that. Kevin portrays a disillusioned Civil War soldier who wants to die and ends up an unlikely hero during a battle. He then requests a transfer to a remote western fort -- apparently to redeem his burden of guilt and serve his country after an attitude adjustment. Alas, he "goes native" after seeing how unfair the government treats "the people."

I'd say the gorgeous cinematography of the prairie along with the portrayal of the natives by wonderful actors, and even the wolves and teeming herds of buffalo (which bring to life what the early post-Civil War era of the west) are as much Western heroes as Costner's character.

Kevin also gets the girl, a white woman who was taken in by the tribe he befriends. Like I said before, HEA is what makes a real romance. They go off together into the sunset.

Next up, let's see how portraying a hero took a heavy toll on another famous western actor... the Duke. Talk about manly! Talk about a chiseled jaw!! Talk about muscles - oh, fine. On to the gallery of photos. First up, the young Marion Morrison himself.

 Such a baby-face here. He was born in Iowa but his family soon moved to California. Marion intended to play football on a USC scholarship - but a bodysurfing accident put an end to that dream. All the better for us romantics, I say! Who knows what would have happened to Duke if he hadn't turned to small bit parts at the Fox studio.

Marion's first leading role was in the western The Big Trail which came out in 1930. He kept working in other roles, a few leading, until he became a superstar in 1939 in John Ford's Stagecoach.

Based on a 1937 short story titled "The Stage to Lordsburg" by Ernest Haycox, it features several strangers who travel by stagecoach through Apache territory. I saw the film long ago and it was okay. Sorry, just my opinion! But it boosted John Wayne's career, that's for certain.

See the photo on the right - the Duke looks worried, if not tired. He portrays Johnny Ringo, a fugitive, and is attracted to the prostitute who was run out of the Arizona town and is heading east on the stagecoach to New Mexico, along with a seedy doctor, the pregnant wife of a soldier and a whiskey salesman. The stage driver and a lawman make up the "company" that meet hardships along the way, including an Apache raid, before the cavalry rides in to the rescue.

Filmed in the Monument Valley, the movie became a classic and was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress for their National Film Registry.

Let's take a look at another significant western featuring the Duke - The Searchers. Also directed by John Ford, the film is based on a novel published in 1954 by Alan LeMay, set during the Texas-Indian Wars, featuring a Civil War veteran on a quest to find his nieces kidnapped by Comanches.

The Searchers is one of the favorites of many Western Fictioneers and WWA colleagues of mine. I liked this one better than Stagecoach, although the setting is fairly similar, so perhaps it's the worry, the tiredness of hero John Wayne along with his adopted nephew (Jeffrey Hunter, who caught my eye as a hot hero - see photo).

That was one looooong search, and Natalie Wood didn't seem all that appreciative of their efforts. Yeesh.

The Searchers earned some great top honors. In 2008, the film was  named the GREATEST AMERICAN WESTERN OF ALL TIME (yep, you heard that right!)  by the American Film Institute. This after it climbed to 12th place on the AFI's 2007 list of the 100 Greatest American movies ever! Besides a few other awards, the film was named the Best Western of all time by the magazine Entertainment Weekly. Not bad! 
And BOTH heroes look like they went through HELL, all for love and loyalty. Sigh.

Here's several other young studs who looked fabulous -- until becoming heroes in famous western films. I tell you, being a hero out west is bad for your health. Look at these manly guys, the chiseled features, those muscles! Clint Eastwood looks great until he turns into a scruffy, worried, tired Man With No Name. Robert Redford looks spiffy in that uniform until he grows a thatch of beard and long hair, dons buckskin and then scalps people and eats their livers. See how Tom Selleck looks so happy, healthy and hot in Hawaii as Magnum, the ultimate private eye, until he goes FURTHER west to Australia and gets all worried, tired and grungy.

Of course, this is all tongue-in-cheek. We LOVE these hot western heroes. They're worried for good reason -- the situation needs changing! The heroine needs loving! And they can prove just how much of an American manly man they are by saving the day.

God bless American heroes!

Meg Mims is an award-winning author with two western mysteries under her Eastern belt. DOUBLE CROSSING earned the 2012 WWA Spur Award for Best First Novel, and the sequel DOUBLE OR NOTHING was recently named the First Place Winner in the 2013 Laramie Awards for Western Mystery. Her story, "A Savior Is Born," is included in the Western Fictioneers' anthology A WOLF CREEK CHRISTMAS. Meg lives in Michigan, where the hills are like driveway slopes and trees block any type of prairie winds. LIKE her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or check out her books on her website.

BE THANKFUL FOR WESTERNS - Meg Mims

I pretty much ran through the various heroines, heroes, horses, villains and sidekicks in my previous posts. I had to think twice about what to address next -- and figured since Thanksgiving is coming up, I'd ask some of the readers an important question.

WHY ARE WE THANKFUL FOR WESTERNS?

Think about it. It's just fiction/film entertainment. A way to pass the time, to relive the "Cowboys and Indians" fun we had as kids, right? Think again. Who hasn't been intrigued by what you've read or watched to Google a fact or fiction question? I have, countless times. Come on, don't be shy! Admit it. Why are we thankful?

 A.  HISTORY - for the history alone, we ought to be thankful (whether or not the book or film gets it right) because reading or seeing a western will definitely spur the interest of the reader/film goer - old, young or in-between. I can't tell you how often as a kid that I went searching in the library for non-fiction books due to seeing Jeremiah Johnston or Little Big Man, Last of the Mohicans (it *was* set in the west, for the era) or Dances With Wolves, McLintock! or Stagecoach, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Tombstone or True Grit -- and I recently read many of the fiction books associated with films (forgive me, I came late to reading in the genre.) Reading and seeing the panoramic views of the American plains, the buffalo herds, the wide open prairie before settlers came, the mountains, the cowboys and cattle drives, the railroad line stretching west - all helped me expand my knowledge of the American West.

B. CHARACTERS - you have to admit that the American West bred unique individuals. Tough, resilient, hard-working, gritty survivors who did whatever they had to or went back East (or died.) The origins of that character and integrity come from the melting pot of all the various people, native and immigrant - pilgrims from England, the original People of all the various tribes stretching east to west, stout Irish and Germans, Italians and other Europeans, Russians and Swedes and many others, and don't forget the African Americans forcibly brought here, who also fought for their freedom, plus the Chinese who were brought to dynamite through the Sierras while building the transcontinental railroad, and who stayed on to fight for a new life here.

These men (and women, which I'll address soon) were portrayed in books and films that have lasted in our memories - and it's up to us to pass on what we know to the next generation of Americans. From the real liver-eating Jeremiah Johnston, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Butch Cassidy, Jesse James and others to actors Graham Greene, Wes Studi, John "Duke" Wayne and Victor Sen Yung who portrayed Hop Sing on Bonanza - long before any television show dared to address anti-Chinese sentiment in the Old West. Long before David Carradine's Kung Fu show, too.

And now for the unique women who stood by their men or stood alone, just as tough and resilient, just as hard-working and gritty. In fact, women equaled men in helping to survive conditions in summer and winter in the endless, empty prairies or in rough towns. Consider Sacagawea, who with her infant son strapped on her back, helped lead the Lewis & Clark expedition... and the pioneer family of Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose daughter Rose assisted her mother in writing the beloved series of her childhood on the prairie. Both Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane proved their mettle in matching men, shot for shot or job for job. And let's not forget Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls, where they actually got the uniform right, to give us a window into how some ladies came out to civilize the Old West.

C.  AS AMERICAN AS MOM, HOT DOGS, BASEBALL AND APPLE PIE

Why else would people in Japan, Germany, Italy and other countries love westerns if not for a love of our country's origins? I'm not sure everyone in America loves our origins as much as they should - except when the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving roll around. Thomas Jefferson started America's westward expansion with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from the French - you can see the map to get a picture of how fast the "west" was added to the original states and how the territories each had unique traits, from Florida's swamps to the majestic Rockies to the California gold fields and the Pacific Northwest forests. Western books and films give us far more than entertainment. They are based on a foundation of fascinating history, and no other country in the world (except Australia, although their books/films are few) has such a rich, massive lore for readers and film goers to explore and enjoy.

D. ER,  LET'S NOT FORGET "THE PEOPLE"

Many Indian tribes called themselves "The People" and they were here first in fact, although the American government hardly took that into consideration when expanding west - and ruthlessly cut down an incredible array of culture, tribal history and way of life in sheer greed and profit. But Native Americans remain a cornerstone of the "Old West." They can never truly be forgotten, thank goodness. They may never regain the status they once had, of course, when nations and alliances stretched from the east to the west coasts of America. But their grit, spirit and courage shown in battling to maintain their unique way of life shaped the "Old West" as much as the cowboys, cattle droves, Mormons, prairie farmers, gold and silver miners, railroad builders and laborers, lawmen and criminals, soiled doves and gamblers, etc. Consider this map which shows all the tribes before Columbus.

 
I am exceedingly thankful for the Old West, for the history of this country and the endless possibilities to bring that era alive in my writing. Yeehaw and Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!

Meg Mims is an award-winning author with two western mysteries under her Eastern belt. She lives in Michigan, where the hills are like driveway slopes and trees block any type of prairie winds. LIKE her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or check out her books on her website. Double Crossing won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel and Double or Nothing is the exciting sequel. Both Double Crossing and Double or Nothing are finalists in the Laramie Awards! Her story, "A Savior Is Born," is included in A Wolf Creek Christmas published by Western Fictioneers, and her new Christmas novella, Santa Claws, is out. Last year's Christmas novella Santa Paws is once again an Amazon bestseller!

Source for Tribal Nations map - www.escapistmagazine.com

WESTERN FOUR-LEGGED HEROES - MEG MIMS

WESTERN FOUR-LEGGED HEROES

After several posts featuring western film and TV show funny sidekicks, dastardly villains and sweetheart heroines, we’re going straight to the horse’s mouth. Heh.

Sure, there are plenty of heroic cowboys – John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, Sam Elliott, Alan Ladd, Tom Mix, Tex Ritter, Clayton More, Lash LaRue, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Buck Jones… the list goes on and on. But who would dare say that the horses these western heroes rode were mere transportation? They deserve their own post. Those I haven’t named – well, they also deserve a lump or two of sugar for their hard work.

Let’s start with Tom Mix’s famous horse Tony. Born in 1899, Tony had white stocking rear feet and became a celebrity after making his debut with Mix in 1917. They made well over a hundred and fifty films together – Tony even had equal billing! The horse learned a few marvelous tricks without any extensive training; he only needed Mix to show him how to untie the cowboy’s hands, or loosen his own reins, run after trains, open gates, jump a cliff and rescue Mix from a fire. He was the original “Wonder Horse.” Tony planted his hoof prints in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater next to Mix’s hand prints in 1927. Three films featured his name in the title – Just Tony (1922), Oh! You Tony (1924), and Tony Runs Wild (1926). When the horse was 22, he retired. Tom Mix used Tony Jr. in other films he made, and Tony II when appearing in public. But the original Tony died on the second anniversary of Tom Mix’s tragic death in a car accident. Who knows – maybe they’re together riding the heavenly prairie in the sky right now.

Roy Rogers’ Trigger was the second most famous horse in films. Born in 1932, he was first named Golden Cloud due to his palomino breed. Rogers chose him in 1938 out of several “rented for the movies” horses. He bought the horse later that year and gave him the name Trigger due to his quickness and intelligence. The palomino was able to walk on his hind legs and perform over a hundred trick cues. Trigger also was featured in a Dell comic book series about his adventures. Rogers took the horse up three or four flights of stairs several times to visit the children’s wing at hospitals. Trigger did have a trainer, Glen Randall, and was housebroken – which made it easier for Rogers during public appearances. He once danced, reared up and pawed the air, and played dead at the Hotel Astor’s ballroom for an audience. Trigger planted his hooves in front of Grauman’s beside Roy Rogers’ hands in 1949. To take the strain off performing, Rogers used two other horses, Little Trigger and Trigger, Jr. After Trigger’s death, Roy Rogers had the horse stuffed and mounted. Once the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans’ museum closed, a family-friendly cable network in Omaha, Nebraska bought Trigger for display.

Silver, the Lone Ranger’s white stallion, was one of many Silvers on the big screen. The Lone Ranger radio show was inspired by the Zane Grey book before the character galloped onto film and television. According to a 1938 episode the Lone Ranger first rode Dusty, a chestnut mare. After the Lone Ranger saved Silver from a wild buffalo, the horse chose to pair up with the masked man. Silver starred in two films with Clayton More as well as the television series. And every time the Lone Ranger mounted up at the end of an episode, he would shout, “Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!” Both the Lone Ranger’s horse and Tonto’s horse, Scout, were intelligent and trained – but Silver won the “Patsy” in 1957 – the Award for Excellence given to outstanding animals in television and motion pictures.

Gene Autry’s Champion also had a radio, film and television career. The sorrel with a blaze and three white stockings first appeared on screen in Melody Trail in 1935. He could jump through paper-covered hoops and gallop and stop on command. Champion died in 1947 during Autry’s military service, so the singing cowboy had to find a second Champion. In 1949, Autry and Champion II left their marks in the famous sidewalk in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. He used other unofficial horses, named Little Champ, Lindy Champion, Touring Champion and Champion Three, to serve as movie stunt doubles or public appearances. Autry’s famous horse also starred in his own series, The Adventures of Champion, in 1955 and 1956. Champion also had a comic book series (he couldn’t let Trigger have all the glory!) The third official Champion died in 1991 at 42 years old. But all three Champions starred in almost one hundred films and TV shows.

Buck Jones’ horse, also called Silver, starred with the actor in 50 out of the 73 films for over twenty years, from 1922 until 1942. One silent film, The War Horse, features Silver being drafted into the cavalry – and Buck joins up as well out of loyalty. In France, Buck rides Silver across enemy lines and heroically stops an ambush by German soldiers to save the outfit and win the love of a Red Cross nurse. Perhaps Silver also earned the love of a sweet mare! Unfortunately, Jones’ star as a western cowboy waned by the end of the 1930s. On November 28, 1942, Buck Jones was the guest of honor at a party in Boston’s Cocoanut Grove, the city’s best nightclub. The actor died in a tragic fire, trapped along with 491 other guests celebrating over the Thanksgiving holiday including soldiers and a pair of newlyweds. Silver must have wept out of loyalty.

Hopalong Cassidy’s horse, Topper, replaced the actor's original horse after King Nappy was injured during filming in 1939. Topper, named by William Boyd’s fifth wife Grace – who loved the popular films and books – was a white Arabian stallion with black ears. Topper starred in over 60 films with the actor. Boyd wisely bought the rights and ended up making syndication deals along with tie-in products for the new Saturday TV matinee audiences until 1953, when he retired. Since he owned Topper, Boyd interred the horse after death in the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park, also called Save Our Pets’ History in Eternity (S.O.P.H.I.E.) in Calabasas, California.

Leave a comment about the favorite horse you remember in westerns. This website - http://www.fiftiesweb.com/horses.htm - lists many movie and television stars along with the animals associated with them. And here are a few more great websites to explore:  http://www.wildwestweb.net/horses.html; http://discovery2020.hubpages.com/hub/Horses-of-Famous-Western-Film-Stars-and-their-Sidekicks; http://thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestshowbizcowboys/293-moviecowboyhorses

Meg Mims is an award-winning author with two western mysteries under her Eastern belt. She lives in Michigan, where the hills are like driveway slopes and trees block any type of prairie winds. LIKE her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or check out her books on her website. Double Crossing won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel and Double or Nothing is the exciting sequel. Her story, "A Savior Is Born," is included in A Wolf Creek Christmas published by Western Fictioneers.

MY FAVORITE WESTERN NOVEL by MEG MIMS

It's no secret.

My favorite western novel - absolutely favorite - is True Grit by Charles Portis. Why? The authentic dialogue. The in-depth narrative. The action-packed plot. The unique characters, both major and minor. What's not to like?

The novel first came out as a serial edition in The Saturday Evening Post in 1968. And just look at this classic illustration! Clearly this is a gritty heroine. By her dress, a reader knows she's not rich. She's also not pretty, like many of the heroines we see now on book covers. She holds the rifle as if she knows full well how to use it. And she has that determined look in her face. Oh yeah.

TRUE grit.

So what exactly does "true grit" mean? "Unyielding courage in the face of danger, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and & Culture, which has an entire page

devoted to Charles McColl Portis (born in 1933) and considered one of the state's finest writers. His other books haven't sold in the millions like True Grit - and only Norwood was made into a film in 1970, also starring Glen Campbell, after the first version of True Grit came out in 1969. Everyone knows the film earned a Best Actor Oscar for John Wayne's portrayal of Rooster Cogburn.

Michael Cleary considered Portis to be "one of the most inventively comic writers of western fiction" in his essay on the writer, included in Twentieth Century Western Writers (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1982). I'd have to agree with that, since there are many places I laughed out loud while reading the

book - long after I saw the 1969 movie as a young teen. I discovered, as many know, that the book is far better than the movie. But our culture is becoming far more visual, and a film gives us that expansive view of what the setting is like, and I was mesmerized by the cinematography of the first movie. But it wasn't filmed in Oklahoma - instead, in California and Colorado! It was also far more colorful, while the 2010 movie seemed grittier - and filmed in Texas and New Mexico. Guess Arkansas and Oklahoma weren't available. (wink)

While I enjoyed the Duke's portrayal despite him being far too old for the role, I sensed Kim Darby wasn't right (and I was right) nor was Glen Campbell as LaBoeuf. I didn't consider any of these actors while reading the book - Portis' characterizations contain plenty of strong descriptive passages. The incredible dialogue blew me away. A novel is supposed to sweep the reader off their feet and carry them away into its world. I can attest that when I picked up Portis' novel, True Grit, I became totally immersed in the 1800s setting and eagerly followed Mattie Ross' journey to track her father's killer.

The story is a classic - following the hero's journey (not all stages, but the most important) when Mattie accepts the call to adventure (her decision to track down Chaney), gaining a mentor and ally in Rooster Cogburn, faces tasks and trials (convincing Rooster and LaBoeuf to allow her to join the search, dealing with criminals in the cabin), and surviving a severe challenge (abduction by Ned Pepper's gang, the fall into the snake pit after facing Chaney.) It's a great action plot, with plenty of gunfire - and both the 1969 and 1910 film showed Rooster's hell-bent-for-leather shoot-out with his rival and gang-leader Ned Pepper. Also, Rooster's mercenary ways are redeemed when he saves Mattie from death. I loved it. Totally loved it. It's a book I'd read again and again, like many true classics.

And of course, as many people know, I was inspired to write Double Crossing due to True Grit's "heroine facing a challenge." While I twisted the theme (adding betrayal to Lily's challenge to survive) and utilized the newly opened transcontinental railroad instead of horses, I included some character traits from both Rooster Cogburn and LaBoeuf - rolling them into Ace Diamond. He's a Texan, ex-Confederate, expert fighter with or without weapons, and also courageous despite his mercenary tendencies.

Double Crossing will be re-released in July - with a new cover - but it's available in hardcover large print (as seen on the right) as well as in Audiobook from Audible.com.

I have to give Charles Portis a rousing "yeehaw" for his book's influence. If you haven't read True Grit, I urge you to RUN to the bookstore or switch now via this link and buy it! IMMEDIATELY. And then relax, in a comfy chair by the fire, with a great beverage (your choice) nearby, and READ.

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Meg Mims is an award-winning author and artist. She writes blended genres – historical, western, adventure, romance, suspense and mystery.

Her first book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel from Western Writers of America, was named a Finalist in the Best Books of 2012 from USA Book News for Fiction: Western, and was named a Top 12 Book Pick from The Spiritual Woman. 

Double or Nothing is the sequel. Meg has also written two contemporary romance novellas, The Key to Love and Santa Paws — which reached the Amazon Kindle Bestseller list. She earned an MA from Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction program in 2010.