Hi All,

Was talking with a friend the other day and got around to sharing my lifelong experience reading Lamour's westerns. In the course of that conversation as I painted little synopses of different stories to my friend, it dawned on me that Louis' stories fall into similar setting 'categories' for the most part, and I realized I find myself liking certain settings more than others. So here goes my lame attempt at trying to list these setting categories...

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There's the DESERT SETTING (Hondo, Mojave Crossing)

There's the HIGH RIDGE/MOUNTAIN SETTING (Sackett Brand, Sackett: his gold mining, finding Ange)

There's the GREAT PLAINS SETTING (Daybreakers)

There's the MINING SETTING (Comstock Lode)

There's the WESTERN TOWN SETTING (Iron Marshall)

There's the COWPOKE SETTING (ranch or cattle drive: ie Man From the Broken Hills)

There's the EARLY AMERICAN FRONTIER SETTING (Jubal Sackett, Walking Drum)

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Did I forget one? Maybe you can add to my list. I purposely left off the more modern (20th cen) ones because my focus is on the western.


IMO Louis' use of setting was done so well that it really put you there in the story. Of all the settings he used, I enjoy the High Mountain ones the most. My second choice would be the desert setting. (in either case, the unbound liberated nomad with nowhere to go and no hurry to get there, carrying everything he owns on his horse, long lonely rides in between modest solo campsites beside a small fire)


Do you have a setting category you prefer? What about a certain character type or story line you prefer? Tell me all about it. MilkBandit weants to know!


Cheers

MB