My 10 favorite Louis L’Amour novels by Kaye Spencer #louislamour #westernfictioneers #westerns

It seems altogether fitting and proper to remember Louis L'Amour for my June article, since June 10, 1998 was, sadly, the day he passed away. There are any number of biographies about him on the Internet, so I won't include a bio here, but his website has entertaining reading about him: Louis L'Amour – Website  http://www.louislamour.com/

The first book of his I read was Last Stand at Papago Wells during my junior high years (c. 1966 – 1968). Long about 10th grade, my literature teacher looked down her nose at his books, because they were so far below my reading level that I wasn't challenging my brain or expanding my literary knowledge. We agreed to disagree, because I was reading plenty of challenging books: The Godfather, Catch-22, Lost Horizon, The Man in the Iron Mask, Pride and Prejudice... You get the idea.

When she finally admitted she'd never read any of his novels, I challenged her to read my favorites at the time (five or so – don’t recall which ones). She agreed if I'd read Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.

I read War and Peace and went on to read other books by Russian authors. While she didn't love Louis L'Amour, she admitted for reluctant readers, especially boys, his books had value.

So, Win-Win. She never openly criticized my choice of books again.

This is my commemorative Louis L'Amour coin (front and back).

 

Front Inscription: Louis L'Amour

Back Inscription: The Dream is in the mind – Realization in the Hand – Act of Congress 1981

(The image is a mountain in the background with a miner/frontiersman walking ahead of his pack mules.)

 Here are my Top 10 favorite Louis L'Amour books.

1. Last Stand at Papago Wells (1957)
2. The Key-Lock Man (1965)
3. The Man Called Noon (1970)
4. Down the Long Hills (1968)
5. How the West was Won (1962)
6. Conagher (1969)
7. Brionne (1968)
8. The Sackett Brand (1965)
9. Sitka (1957)
10. The Haunted Mesa (1987)

What are your favorite Louis L'Amour books? If you have a Louis L'Amour anecdote or story, it would be great if you'd share your story in the comments or leave a comment on the Facebook post of this article.

Until next time,

Kaye Spencer

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THE NEVER-ENDING DEBATE by Tom Rizzo

Most people realize the value and joy of reading—to explore, to learn, or to just kick-back and relax and be whisked away to a crime scene in the Far East, a shootout on the high plains, or standing on the deck of a luxury ocean liner struggling to keep afloat. 

I learned the importance of reading early in life. Both my parents were readers, but my father harbored an enormous appetite for reading. He read everything he could get his hands on. Novels, biographies, daily newspapers, how-to books, and so much more. 

He was a stickler, however, for not reading during meals, so he banned newspapers and books and other materials. But I did manage to fool him by reading the marketing copy on the back of cereal boxes and other food products containers. 

He always kept a dictionary close-at-hand and a pencil for scribbling various remarks in the margins. When he was in his later-80s, before his eyes began deteriorating, I handed him an Ebook and explained how it worked. He looked up, glasses perched on his nose. “Exactly how would I take notes and underline or circle things?”

I mentioned it was possible to highlight certain passages in the text and access a dictionary—all electronically. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “No thanks,” he said with a short, quiet laugh. “I’ll stick to paper.”  The memory of that brief conversation still amuses me. But, in reality, the debate continues over Ebook vs Paper. 

For the record, I love libraries and bookstores—even second-hand book shops. Visits to these places always bring to mind the character of Lt Col. Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, who proclaimed “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” 

It's the same with bookstores. The musty smell of old books or the scent of new paper and ink is intoxicating. 

Roaming the aisles represents a journey of discovery—untold stories, mysteries, and long-held secrets. One the other hand, I enjoy the portability feature of an Ebook—and the ability to store a broad range of books or documents inside a tablet less than a half-inch thick. 

But the convenience factor of an Ebook, I’ve learned, doesn’t appeal to everyone. 

Naomi Baron, a linguistics professor at American University, reported that in a survey of over 300 university students from Japan, Germany, Slovakia, and the U.S.,  92 percent preferred reading paper books when it came to serious reading. 

In an interview with the New Republic, Ms. Baron said students “care about the smell of a book,” adding, “…There really is a physical, tactile, kinesthetic component to reading.”

In her book, Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World, she points out students find Ebooks fine for casual reading but not for serious reading. 

At the same time, Professor Baron suggested there were a couple of physical issues involved.  

Students “say they get distracted, pulled away to other things. The second had to do with eye strain and headaches and physical discomfort.”

The reaction, on an informal basis, is all over the board. One person described Ebooks as a “minor blip on history’s radar,” insisting that paper books will always dominate. 

Someone else suggested that denying the relevance of digital reading products strike her as a head-in-the-sand mentality, almost like saying “the Internet is a fad.”

Author Michael S. Hyatt, blogger, speaker, and former chairman of CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, recently published a post declaring he’s focusing on physical books for 2016 and putting Ebooks on the shelf. And he cited for eight specific reasons. Among them:

• Ebooks Engage Fewer Senses: 
• Ebooks Result in Less Retention and Comprehension
• Ebooks are More Difficult to Navigate
• Ebooks Provide Less Satisfaction in Finishing

You can read all eight of Mr. Hyatt’s reasons here. 

So what’s your take on this?  Do you prefer Ebooks or physical books? Are arguments against Ebooks legitimate? Is it time to shelve this debate?

_______

HERE COME THE HOLIDAYS - Meg Mims

The holiday season is fast approaching. And that means no time for reading - right? Wrong!

Trust me, while Christmas holidays may be stressful, some readers long for a break between cookie baking, decorating, wrapping, shopping, or whatever - and a novella or collection of short stories takes the 'cake' if it has a holiday theme. I've written several novellas over the past few Christmases. Bear with me for some shameless promo before I get down to western business.

SANTA PAWS features a dog who wreaks havoc for a divorced mom and her daughter. 

"The last thing Lacey Gordon—divorced with a teen daughter and two cats—needs is a rescue dog coming into her life. To top it off, she's rooked into a "Get Under the Mistletoe by Christmas Eve" dating contest. Since Buddy the dog prefers to be the only "new guy" in Lacey's life, will Santa Claws ruin her holiday for good?"

I had fun writing this novella, and the dog on the cover looks just like my own rescue, Benji, now in doggie heaven.

SANTA CLAWS stars Lucifer, a mischievous black cat with an agenda of his own.

Mary Kate Branson will do anything for her brother, who is deployed overseas right after Thanksgiving - including taking in his mischievous cat, Lucifer. She juggles battling job woes at a bakery with dating a hot volunteer firefighter and all the preparations for Christmas ... but Lucifer has his own plans for a holiday bash.

And Lucifer, the black cat on the cover, resembles our own Toby, also in kitty heaven. Sniff. We miss them both! But readers have enjoyed the comedic antics.

Also in the line-up is HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS - all about an animal rescue organization.

Jodie Watson's in the animal rescue business -- with her best friend Phil. Their non-profit organization, Fur and Feathers, is teetering on the brink of disaster, with trouble from the city condemning their rented building. They soon have a worse fight on their hands, though, when donation money goes missing. Will their blossoming romance turn sour? Or can they work some Christmas magic to survive and find a new home for the holidays for their precious rescues?

The adorable wiener dog on the cover resembles Pepper, the dog my family first owned. She bit my older brother, so she ended up with my grandparents. Dang. At least we ended up with a far more lovable (but uglier) mutt.

Dogs and cats aside, I thought - why not write a western AND holiday story this year?

And that's when I learned that Prairie Rose Publications planned a mail order bride anthology revolving around Christmas. Oh boy! I jumped on board. I'd never written a mail order bride story, but hey, one of my favorite TV shows was Here Come the Brides set in Seattle.

While all the girls my age fawned over Bobby Sherman or David Soul, I kind of liked Robert Brown - the oldest brother. And I ended up marrying an older guy, too. Hmm. But I had to come up with an idea that would be believable, since not all mail order bride stories end up 'happily ever after'.

It turned out tougher than I thought. But who doesn't like a little holiday mischief? That's why I chose a theme where my heroine takes a chance for a new life, like in all mail order bride stories, but with a twist. I wouldn't be a mystery writer if I failed to include that in my plot! So here's the anthology for this year - A MAIL ORDER CHRISTMAS BRIDE with my story among seven other talented Prairie Rose authors.

Will it be true love or a HOLIDAY HOAX for these mail-order brides who are traveling together? When they “switch” grooms in Holliday, Nebraska, will things work out for the best, or will they end up ruining their futures? 

I'm also hoping to get my own Christmas novella out by December 1st - the sequel to THE KEY TO LOVE, a novella centered around Valentine's Day and the Groundhog Day blizzard of February, 2011. 

My characters Jenn and Steve decided they'd waited long enough and started bugging me, so I'm rushing to finish the story and get a new cover. So far, THE KEY TO CHRISTMAS is working out. Let's hope I can get it done - maybe I'll have to avoid all the turkey leftovers, since everyone yearns for a nap after the big dinner.

ENJOY your Thanksgiving, family get togethers, and the busy season of giving. Make sure you have great reads on your Kindle or Nook, and remember, short stories are enjoyable for those "in-between" times when you need a break.

HAPPY READING for the holidays!

Mystery author Meg Mims earned a Spur Award from WWA and also a Laramie award for her western historical mystery series, Double Crossing and Double or Nothing. Meg is also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland for a mystery series featuring Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins for Minotaur books. Book 2 just came out, MOVE YOUR BLOOMING CORPSE. Book 1, WOULDN'T IT BE DEADLY, was nominated for a 2015 Agatha Award. Meg lives in Southeastern Michigan. Meg has currently has a Malti-Poo who causes plenty of holiday trouble. Maybe 2016 will feature Dusty on the cover... 

‘A Horse for Henry’ — Kaye Spencer’s memories of a treasured childhood book



When I was eight or nine years old, my parents gave me a hardback book called A Horse for Henry. At that age, I identified with the main character, Henry, because he wanted his own horse more than anything in the whole wide world, and so did I. What my parents wanted me to take away from this story was the theme of responsibility and that certain privileges had to be earned by demonstrating responsible behaviors.

Somewhere in the process of growing up, I not only forgot about the book but, as Kris Kristofferson wrote, I lost it somewhere, somehow along the way. So, a couple of years ago, I decided to search for it. Patience and time paid off, because I located three paperback copies, which I have tucked away, hopefully to share someday with an interested grandchild.



You’ll notice the author’s name is not on the cover (or anywhere else in the book), which makes me sad. The inside cover has a little bit of information about the book. The publisher was Whitman Publishing Company in Racine, Wisconsin, and the Roman numerals translate to a 1952 copyright date. The illustrations certainly pigeonhole the book as classic 1950s and early 1960s style, but they also bring up fond reading memories since I am of the generation who learned to read with Dick, Jane, and Sally and “See Spot run”, which share the same type of illustrations.

A Horse for Henry goes like this…

 

What Henry wants most is a black colt named Shine, but he hasn’t shown that he’s dependable enough to take care of a horse. He leaves a saddle out in the rain. He forgets to load the salt in the chuck wagon. He leaves the corral gate open, and the horses get out. His dad tells him, “Son, when you can do a man’s work and do it right, you can have a horse.”

Just when it looks like Henry will always have to ride the family’s pet mule and never get a horse of his own, through some quick thinking on his part, he saves his little brother (and himself) from a cougar.



The next morning, Henry wakes to find Shine tied outside his window, and his dad says, “You’re a man now, Henry, and a man can’t get along very well without a horse of his own.”

From my adult’s perspective, I look back on the popularity of the traditional western novels, western television shows and movies, and perhaps even some of the country music during the era when A Horse for Henry was published, and I see this story as a post-WWII children’s slant on the Old West theme of “what makes a man a man”.

This story, and its message, has stayed with me all these years and, every time I reread it, I remember why.

 * * * *

Just for fun, here I am with my first horse, a Welsh pony named Corky. In the left-hand picture, I was riding in the Howdy Days Parade in Fort Morgan, Colorado in August 1964. The right-hand picture was at the Morgan County Fair in Brush, Colorado in August 1965 (4-H).

Until next time,

Kaye
Fall in love…faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer

DO AMERICANS STILL READ FOR PLEASURE? by CHERYL PIERSON

I subscribe to a little trivia newsletter called “Wisegeek” that comes a couple of times a week in my inbox. The other day, the topic was, Do Americans Still Read for Pleasure?

Here’s what their data shows:

Americans still read for pleasure, with about 75% of adults claiming to have read at least one book during the previous year, according to a 2013 survey. The number of Americans who have not read a book in the past year is estimated to have tripled since 1978, however. For people who do read for pleasure, the format has changed, as about 40% of American adults surveyed said they had read books electronically. Another 2013 survey found that adults age 18-39 who owned e-readers or tablets had read an average of 21 books in the previous year, compared with 13 for people who did not own such a device.

More about reading habits:

• A little more than half of all Americans older than 16 visit a library during a year.

• India is the country where people read the most, at an average of more than 10 hours per week.

• More than 80% of Americans age 50-64 say they read the pleasure, which is the highest rate of any age group.

Do these figures shock you? For me, they were a real eye-opener. I was amazed to find out that there were 25% of our population of adults that had NOT read one book in the past year! In the past 35 years, the number of people who have NOT read a book in the past year has tripled. That breaks my heart! And it’s astonishing to me.

The one good thing—if you can call it that—that this survey shows is that on average, 8 more books per year are being read by adults with some kind of electronic device to read them on. Now don’t get me wrong. I love my Kindle. But…I read a lot of paperback books, in addition to this. I’d like to know about people like me who have both—an e-reader and the paperbacks all over the house.

What was the best book you read in 2013? I think mine would have to be The Outsider by Penelope Williamson. It’s an oldie, but a goodie—and I just discovered it this year, thanks to our own Kathleen Rice Adams. It was so good, in fact, that a movie was made from it. I’m anxious to hear your thoughts about this survey and if any of this surprises you—then let’s talk good reading. What’s your pick for 2013?