Uncommon History

Lightning-fast gunfights, dry and dusty trails, greedy ranchers and over confident gunfighters. These things, and more, make up the stories of the Old West. From time-to-time I hear that these stories are outdated and irrelevant. My heart aches when I my ears meet with such comments. Not because I wish it weren’t so, but because I truly believe it isn’t true at all. The timeless stories of The Great American West are more than simple stories.

The lives lived by many of the characters, while fictionalized, are very real. Certainly particular authors utilize artistic license to bring more readability to the lives of their heroes and villains, but the underlying stories come from the heart of the American Spirit. No matter how you feel today, you can pick up one of these great stories and immerse yourself in the lives of pioneering men and women. By the end of most stories, you feel good about yourself, your country and the future in general. That is what the Western brings to the table.

A quick search on the website for a popular online bookstore shows that in 2008, numerous Western fiction novels were published. Granted that a large number of these are reprints of popular authors such as Louis L’Amour, Les Savage and Zane Grey, but the fact remains that Westerns remain a popular choice for readers.

I was personally introduced to stories of the Old West while serving in the United States Navy. I came across a well-worn copy of a Louis L’Amour title set in his popular Sackett series. I was so hooked that I went to a local bookstore and purchased as many of the Sackett series as I could on my meager salary. I chomped my way through these very quickly and found myself wanting more.

I didn’t ask myself why they appealed to me back then, but recently I have been asking myself why I still write Western short-stories and love to read those written by others. I soon realized that as times get harder, I want to read about people who suffered hardships equal to or greater than my own, just to reassure myself that we all can endure.

I do hope to some day find my own novels upon the shelves at bookstores and in people’s homes alongside the likes of my literary heroes. Until then, the following is a listing of some of my favorite Western novel favorites. This list is by no means exhaustive, but a sampling of some of the great stories that remain in my collective memory.