Old West Book Review: Contention and Other Frontier Stories
Contention and Other Frontier Stories: A Five Star Anthology of original Western stories by seventeen authors, Edited by Hazel Rumney, Five Star Publishing, $25.95, Cloth, Frontier Fiction.
Most of the authors of these short stories are well-known winners of writing awards, having plenty of experience with word-wrangling. These stories are fast- paced, filled with original detail. Here you will find a wide selection of ideas and varied circumstances pertaining to our American frontier.
A good short story hooks the reader right away, and almost always ends with a surprise. The reader will arrive at the end and get a laugh, or perhaps be entertained when the villain gets his or her comeuppance. Nearly all of these stories live up to our expectations.
The editor is Hazel Rumney who began working for Thorndike Press in 1983. By 1995 Thorndike began publishing the Five Star western series, and soon the books began winning awards. Hazel Rumney was right in the middle of it all. She retired in 2011, but in 2012 Five Star called her back, offering her the job doing work from home, via computer. She grabbed the opportunity to edit in the comfort of her own home “drinking coffee” and avoiding travel; her dream job. Writers will tell you she is strict, she’s demanding, she looks for good stories that are exciting, believable, and true to Old West authenticity.
This collection has all the right combinations that make short stories work. The authors keep you guessing until the last page. Here you will find a deserter from Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders; another is about a young ranch wife avenging the brutal and sudden murder of her husband; a wounded Pony Express rider brings in the mail during a blizzard; Geronimo sends one of his wives away to save her from life in captivity; a young cowboy and his sweetheart get even with a nasty gambler; a Mormon wife treks across the plains toward Utah, protecting her family even after her husband was killed; a tough old buffalo hunter stands firm in the face of removal from his home by encroaching civilization; two cowboys stranded in the mountains with a cantankerous old cook resort to cannibalism; a mysterious rider rescues two young girls held captive on a lonely ranch-far from town; a cocky young troublemaker finds himself involved in a shotgun wedding; a city girl newspaper reporter gets stranded in a dust storm, a miner tries a variety of imaginative ways to bury his dead partner, an aged colonel from Civil War days struggles with his memory; a preacher is embroiled in a Texas blood feud; a baseball player living in the past tries to avoid the reality of giving up the team; a young man with a speech impediment finds clever ways to defend himself.
These stories highlight protagonists with grit and imagination, who forge ahead against difficult circumstances. A variety of provocative issues are explored. These were tough people surviving tough times. This is good frontier fiction, a fun book to read.
Publisher’s Notes: The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza is the author of numerous books about the Old West, including Death For Dinner, the Benders of (Old) Kansas, Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 399, Unionville, New York, 10988. Ph. (845) 726-3434. www.silklabelbooks.com
*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.
