DWD's Reviews

Lots of fun in a small package. Duration: Approximately 2 hours Multicast Performance Published by Galaxy Press First published in Western Story Magazine in 1938, Death Waits at Sundown is part of a large series of books and stories that are being re-published by Galaxy Press as part of their Golden Age Stories series. In reality, they are a collection of L. Ron Hubbard's early works that were published in magazines and as pulp fiction books. Hubbard was a prolific writer and he wrote a lot of action stories that translate quite well into the multicast performance audiobook format. This audiobook is actually three short stories. The first story is the title story of the collection. It features a wrongly accused man named Frank Taylor. He has been convicted of murder and robbery so that the new town sheriff can confiscate his land. But, the new sheriff never counted on Frank's brother, a famed gunslinger from Texas, comes to town to save his brother.

A Classic Set in 1871 and written in 1912, Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage is a classic, perhaps THE classic of the Western genre. The plot is a little more complicated than most Westerns - it features two concurrent stories. Jane Withersteen is a wealthy Mormon with no husband. Her local church leader (an Elder) wants to marry her, in fact has all but ordered her to do so even though she has no interest in him. Tull orchestrates a plot to have the local Mormons shun her as much as possible (including not working for her) and not help her as rustlers steal entire herds of cattle that are no longer tended. Zane Grey (1872-1939) In the meantime, a stranger named Lassiter arrives. He has a reputation as a Mormon-hater and a gunslinger and becomes a defender of Jane Withersteen. Meanwhile, one of her last employees (Venters) goes after a herd of cattle that is being rustled and discovers a secret pass and a secret valley that they have been using. The story splits at

Short but pretty sweet Read by James Naughton and Dylan Baker Duration: about 1 hour, 30 minutes Published in 1999 by Simon and Schuster. These two stories are taken unabridged from a larger collection of Elmore Leonard short stories called The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories . Both stories last about 45 minutes each. The entire package consists of one audio cassette lasting about one and one-half hours. They are read by veteran television actors James Naughton and Dylan Baker. I thought that "The Colonel's Lady" (she is taken captive as a result of an ambush) had a pretty good twist to it but was a bit slow. I would give it three stars. On the other hand, I enjoyed "No Man's Guns." In that story, a recently discharged member of the cavalry is framed for murder. I give the second story 5 stars. That makes an average of four stars. This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Colonel's Lady and No Man's Gun . Revi

Up and down quality. So, here's the scoop on the audiobook The Bold West: Edition 4 . Zane Grey (1872-1939) There are 3 unabridged stories read by three different readers. The stories are: 'Death Rides This Trail' by Steve Frazee. It is the longest and definitely the best of the three stories. It concerns a family of settlers and the struggles they have after the father is killed in a senseless gunfight. Good character development and an entertaining story. Often funny and often sad. It was originally published in 1953. I give this story 4 out of 5 stars. 'Yaqui' by Zane Grey. Originally published in 1920, this is the story of Yaqui, the young chief of the Yaqui Indians of Western Mexico. The Yaqui were hunted down and killed or moved to the Yucatan Peninsula to be enslaved in the Sisal plantations to make rope. This is the worst story of the three by far. The writing was stilted and overly formal and the reader was the worst of the three. T

This will be unpopular - but I just couldn't finish it! I know Johnstone's Mountain Man series is extremely popular - I used to work in a used bookstore and we had a hard time even keeping them on the shelf! So, I was really looking forward to delving into this new series of books. I was really disappointed. Not because Pursuit of the Mountain Man was not readable - it was. But, because I quickly lost interest in the main character. I did not see the point in reading about him. So, I stopped after 65 pages since... He is unstoppable - he cannot be outdrawn in a gunfight. He can't be outfought in a fistfight. No one hunts better than him. No one rides better than him. No one tracks better than him. No one shoots better than him. No one is smarter than him. No one can beat him. In fact, no one is even a challenge to him at all. Well, if that's the case, why even read the book? I would compare it to watching Superman take on a 3rd

So, your first question has to be "What's a jinglebob?" A jinglebob is part of the little spinny thing on the back of a set of spurs - the sharp part. It makes the "ting, ting, ting" sound you always hear in westerns as the cowboys are walking along and setting up for a big shoot-out. The main character is The Jinglebob Man because he is imprisoned tortured by a sadistic superior officer with a set of sharpened spurs during the Civil War because he is accused of treason. Our protagonist, Tyler Carradine, escapes from his prison and is now forever on the run, afraid of meeting someone from his past and in pain due to a lost love that he feels will not accept him due to his physical deformities and the accusations against him. Carradine stumbles into a corrupt mining town years after the war and is finally forced to turn and fight rather than continue to run. Oh, and he finally has a chance to find love again (but not with his long-lost love). The pl

Good, but predictable Audio version originally published in 1986 by Random House Audio Multicast performance with sound effects Duration: 55 minutes. I like Louis L'Amour. His descriptions and conversations are top notch. However, his plots are predictable so I really am grading this on a curve. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings I am also rating the audio version of  Riding for the Brand  which is interesting because it is told by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. It was quite enjoyable to hear the four of these men work together - they were all quite good, especially Kristofferson and Nelson. This audio edition has features that most don't, including special effects and a music soundtrack that was sometimes reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns and sometimes reminiscent of Silverado . The inclusion of the special effects did speed the plot along (you don't have to describe th

More of a portrait, less of a traditional movie Monte Walsh is not a plot-driven movie so much as it is a portrait of that moment in time when the Old West was disappearing and the men who made the Old West what it was had to adjust, die or just fade away. It is beautifully shot and there is a lot of attention to detail. If one is looking for a ton of action, this is not the western you are looking for. But, if you love cowboy movies this one is a real treat. It would make the watcher wistful for those days when the horse ruled the west, except that you know that Monte Walsh would have none of that pointless sentiment. No living actor looks more like a cowboy should than Tom Selleck and I'd be thrilled if he focused on those movies for the rest of his career. I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5. This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: Monte Walsh . Reviewed on October 4, 2004.

A western for grown-ups. It's not about the guns, horses or bullets. It's about friendship, sex and, ultimately, love. Movie released in theaters in 2008. Be warned right now - this movie review is mostly one giant spoiler. Here's the non-spoiler parts right up front. This is a movie that strives to look authentic. The two main characters have known each other for years and have no need for a lot of dialogue - they know each other well, they know each other's habits and their conversations are spare. Many reviewers have missed the whole point of Appaloosa . It was not about two buddies/lawmen bringing peace to a town, although that does happen (mostly) and the gun fights are quick, brutal and ugly. The movie is about what happens when such a partnership is disrupted by a woman. Look at the DVD cover art and you can see it symbolically represented - there is Renee Zellweger standing between Mortensen and Harris. ****Spoiler alert****The rest of the review is jus

It is bad on so many levels I bought this book for my dad to read and he brought it back to me and I read it and I had to apologize to him for giving it to him - this is, without a doubt, the worst Western I have ever read. What makes it so bad? When I read a Western, I expect a certain amount of realism. I am not talking about the picky, picky details like the amount of gunpowder grains in a bullet. These are the things I am talking about: -The book is set in 1857. They constantly refer to the sheriff of Gila County. There was no Gila County in 1857 - it was not formed until the year 1881. -They refer to the town of Globe. It was a mining town formed in 1878 (as Globe City). -Uncle Henry (Hoss) has a cabin on Saguaro Lake. Saguaro Lake was not formed until a hydroelectric dam was installed in 1930. -Characters camp along creekbeds in the mountains during massive thunderstorms. I am not a mountain climber but I do know that you avoid creekbeds due to flash floods.