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!
#1. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 0
Interesting. The short answer is no. One thing I discovered is exploring and realizing with a mix of surprise and pleasure I was in an area that would fit with this or that LL story. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what an area might have looked or been like before civilization destroyed it. And that includes foreign lands too.
One of the things in Viet Nam that surprised me was exploring areas that seemed untouched by humans, and finding an empty Coke can or some innocuous item left along the way...literally laying on what appeared to be an unexplored, untouched mountainside. We were making our own path.
There was the time one of our guys, who was bringing up the rear of our small platoon, had silently worked his way around in front of us, emerged quite suddenly from the thick jungle in front of us...and I was restrained from attacking him with the machete in my hand. It was not good to be surprised in the middle of a war in the middle of nowhere. Innocence lost.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
#2. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 1
Mike, That machete story immediately brought to my mind Tell Sackett. With your background i'd think you'd be drawn to LL's solitary long riders. Like on your bike, maybe?😊
Tennessee Dave
"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God" Author unknown
#3. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 2
Oh yes, TD. Loved it out on my own and wondering while I wandered off the beaten path about what was over that upward swelling of land...and not realizing I was walking on an old lava flow. Not the thing to do, but ignorant of the possible consequences. This was on a reservation, but not inhabited by anything but critters. The Acoma Reservation was atop a high outcropping of rock...nice folks.
Once in Nam exploring, I found an old cave that was easily escaped by a rope hidden on a rock shelf about 7 foot above the cave floor. After climbing up, I pulled it up after me and left it on the shelf. The view was amazing and I was virtually invisible to the outside world. It was easy to make my way down, but it would have been a difficult climb to the top without the rope.
What was weird, to me at least, was how the guys didn’t realize how good Army issue jungle boots were. I had to lead them up a rock face once by literally walking up it, when they didn’t believe it was possible. Those boots were awesome in any terrain we faced. It surprises me those fools followed me, but I got a kick out of it when they weren’t looking.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
#5. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 0
Hey Yall,
After I posted the list above it dawned on me that maybe I meant to refer more to the 'lifestyle' of the characters in those settings, rather than the actual location itself.
#6. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 5
Probably the MT would appeal to me if I was to live in one place for an extended period. Absolutely loved Em and the life she and Talon carved out. Family tends to restrict movement, and even that was difficult for me. Had a great wife for many years, but she was a city girl born and bred, so her roots ran deeper than mine. Growing up in the country on a small farm that overlooked a river sort of gave me wings I haven’t been able to shed for seventy years. My mother always said I was fiddle footed...and she sure knew me best.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
#8. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 6
Figure you'd have been like Cap Rountree hanging out with Milo and Barnabus ... and ready for a scrap. From the description LL gave of that country I can easily see how those boys loved to roam the back country growing up. I don't know, I figure I'm much like Tell myself. Roaming the back country with a pack mule would be right interesting. Might even run into the Tinker And Lando, time to time. Wait, who's that comin' down the trail. Why it's none other than Mordicai.
Tennessee Dave
"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God" Author unknown
#7. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 5
I probably live a bit like The Tinker. As a " Territory Manager", I travel a lot, but to the same places, and am comfortable in a number of cities and towns in my territory. It's interesting to see the changes that occur, snapshots of the places I visit. Even before I had the position I have now, I had a service-type job, and was constantly going to various places around the metro Atlanta, GA/surrounding areas. I'd go stark raving mad, trying to work in the same place more than a few days at a time.
#11. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 0
Anywhere in the wilds. I just need a destination. I like to "be out there" but need a reason. I recall hitching to California when I was eighteen, it was scary at times traveling by myself but also, at times, it was some kind of wild adventure. But I remember thinking at the end when I got to Reno that I wouldn't try that again. It had it's ruff points. It would've been better had i more experience and a bit older. Most of the people I met were salt of the earth, but some, jeese others were pure Looney. Thank God I was as big as I was. It made people think rwice. I often thought about LL and his shoulders. I'll just bet at times be had to back somebody up. I had friends that did not make it to twenty. That hurt. Maybe my time visiting New Orleans was better. Who knows, now?!
Tennessee Dave
"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God" Author unknown
#12. "RE: Do you have a favorite 'setting" In response to Reply # 11
One of the big reasons I like riding a bike...especially the BMW F650...was it would take you virtually anywhere. Once I was following an old trail in the middle of nowhere and suddenly looking down I saw an actual road. I turned down a steep hill and was on a back road to god only knows where. Eventually, there was a sign leading to a highway...never found, heard, or saw the highway, but I had plenty of gas and eventually found my way. Those were the days you could pull up to a hotel or motel without a reservation and be assured of a room.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
