Review: Great Storytelling, Regardless of the Setting
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 4, 2011
Even though I've managed to read a few books in the genre over the past couple years, I'm still pretty new to the Western outside of the movies. But I know good storytelling, regardless of the setting, and Charles Gramlich is as good a storyteller as anyone I've read. I really enjoyed this short collection of his Western tales. For example, one story has the best description of a gunfight I've read in a long time: it is a single, short sentence long. That seems simple enough, but trust me, it isn't.Another thing about Gramlich's collections that I like, which one also finds in his BITTER STEEL collection, is he includes essays about how he came to write whatever stories are collected, some background stuff, behind the scenes, etc. In this particular book he talks about how he grew up with Westerns, and includes a short essay on one of his biggest influences not only as a writer of Westerns but just as an author in general, Louis L'Amour.This stuff inspires me to blow the dust off some of my own attempts with Westerns and see them finished. That's pretty high praise for a book, and I'm giving my highest to this one.