“‘Excellent,’ the Spaniard said. ‘The village is called Encinillas. A man
called Gonzales runs the cantina there. The place is known for its gambling,
whores and killings.’ (p.36)
I have a deep dark secret that I have never shared with anybody, about fiction writing, about a very specific genre, about Westerns. I have never, ever in my life finished a Western novel that I know of. Sure, I have seen some Western films. Some. But a book. Never. I came close once. I have this very bad habit. You see, whereas most people buy or rent books and only read the first few pages never to finish the book, I usually read three quarters of a book before putting it down and never finishing it. This usually puts me in a very funny position, because, I never really can tell if I did or did not read the book. And the truth is that I really did not “not” read the book, but then I also never completely read the book. But Louis Masterson’s Ransom, I can safely say, is a Western, and I did read it from start to finish, so it was a first for me, that is, the first time I have read a complete Western from start to finish, this despite these types of novels lying around everywhere during my life, being of great interest to some members of my family.
How are Westerns valued? They are obviously not valued very high. They are works that entertain people. They are written according to a recipe. And yet, I would think that anyone interested in creative writing should read them. Yes, they have a strong colonial feel to them. Yes, they are strange stories at times with all that violence. And yes, they are not serious works of literature that will stand the test of time and be remembered as long as Shakespeare’s or Austen’s works. But still. They are full of jewels. And they are full of exciting punch lines. Take for example:
“In the half light she looked breath-taking, but her eyes glittered with evil and hatred. They didn’t suit the lovely face. They suited a person who didn’t belong to a good Spanish family. Kane knew that if her body was virginal, he couldn’t say the same about her spirit.” (p.40-41)
It is astonishing to know the amount of research some of these authors of Western novels put into their ‘product’. One of the most famous authors of these types of works, J.T. Edson, studied an enormous amount of film and books doing research. And they are very popular amongst a certain readership. Popular to the extent that Edson apparently on occasion declared that he was very much inspired to write Westerns due to the promising sales it offered. Western writing is serious business...
But about Masterson’s Ransom. It is an enjoyable read. What is so refreshing about these kinds of works is that one can really get a feel of the environment. Ransom is about US Marshall Morgan Kane, who is send on a special mission into Mexico. A gang of criminals is taking young women as hostages and demands ransom. Kane gets involved in a whole lot of trouble as he tries to be hero hero everywhere he goes.
It was very enjoyable to read this book, however, a few things really bothered me. It was a great disappointment that Kane
1. Lash a woman and
2. use the same woman as bait to catch the bad guys
This is simply not good enough. My kind of Western hero never touches a woman in any bad way and certainly never puts her life in unnecessary danger. In fact my kind of hero would rather save the woman, which Kane in fact did, but only after he got her into trouble. So despite me only wanting to stack praise upon Masterson’s Ransom, I cannot. I would not be true to my thoughts and feelings as I worked my way thru the book.
In the end, all I could say is thank you Creator. Thank you for a little thing called variation in life. I suppose I’m not going to become the biggest reader of the Western novel, maybe I’ll do a few more in order to find a better one than this one, but all in all, Ransom was a nice reading experience, with lots of tension, outlaw characters, adventure and just enough action - I can totally understand why people get addicted to these kinds of books.
I have a deep dark secret that I have never shared with anybody, about fiction writing, about a very specific genre, about Westerns. I have never, ever in my life finished a Western novel that I know of. Sure, I have seen some Western films. Some. But a book. Never. I came close once. I have this very bad habit. You see, whereas most people buy or rent books and only read the first few pages never to finish the book, I usually read three quarters of a book before putting it down and never finishing it. This usually puts me in a very funny position, because, I never really can tell if I did or did not read the book. And the truth is that I really did not “not” read the book, but then I also never completely read the book. But Louis Masterson’s Ransom, I can safely say, is a Western, and I did read it from start to finish, so it was a first for me, that is, the first time I have read a complete Western from start to finish, this despite these types of novels lying around everywhere during my life, being of great interest to some members of my family.
How are Westerns valued? They are obviously not valued very high. They are works that entertain people. They are written according to a recipe. And yet, I would think that anyone interested in creative writing should read them. Yes, they have a strong colonial feel to them. Yes, they are strange stories at times with all that violence. And yes, they are not serious works of literature that will stand the test of time and be remembered as long as Shakespeare’s or Austen’s works. But still. They are full of jewels. And they are full of exciting punch lines. Take for example:
“In the half light she looked breath-taking, but her eyes glittered with evil and hatred. They didn’t suit the lovely face. They suited a person who didn’t belong to a good Spanish family. Kane knew that if her body was virginal, he couldn’t say the same about her spirit.” (p.40-41)
It is astonishing to know the amount of research some of these authors of Western novels put into their ‘product’. One of the most famous authors of these types of works, J.T. Edson, studied an enormous amount of film and books doing research. And they are very popular amongst a certain readership. Popular to the extent that Edson apparently on occasion declared that he was very much inspired to write Westerns due to the promising sales it offered. Western writing is serious business...
But about Masterson’s Ransom. It is an enjoyable read. What is so refreshing about these kinds of works is that one can really get a feel of the environment. Ransom is about US Marshall Morgan Kane, who is send on a special mission into Mexico. A gang of criminals is taking young women as hostages and demands ransom. Kane gets involved in a whole lot of trouble as he tries to be hero hero everywhere he goes.
It was very enjoyable to read this book, however, a few things really bothered me. It was a great disappointment that Kane
1. Lash a woman and
2. use the same woman as bait to catch the bad guys
This is simply not good enough. My kind of Western hero never touches a woman in any bad way and certainly never puts her life in unnecessary danger. In fact my kind of hero would rather save the woman, which Kane in fact did, but only after he got her into trouble. So despite me only wanting to stack praise upon Masterson’s Ransom, I cannot. I would not be true to my thoughts and feelings as I worked my way thru the book.
In the end, all I could say is thank you Creator. Thank you for a little thing called variation in life. I suppose I’m not going to become the biggest reader of the Western novel, maybe I’ll do a few more in order to find a better one than this one, but all in all, Ransom was a nice reading experience, with lots of tension, outlaw characters, adventure and just enough action - I can totally understand why people get addicted to these kinds of books.
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