Fiction

PHANTOMS IN THE NIGHT by Les Savage, Jr. Simon and Schuster Trade Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, 1998, 208p., $18.95, hard, 078621161-X
This is a Western novel that takes place in California while it was still occupied by Mexico in 1845. The font is of a size that makes it easy to enjoy. Though a work of fiction, Savage take great delight in presenting numerous details, and such details add to the mystery of this Western and give it the quality of "time standing still" and that it could happen even today.
The action of the story is so involved it actually seems to delay the outcome of the book--making one anticipate, yet, not wanting the end to come.
Some characters are full and well developed, while others are mysteriously hidden and await their full revelation. The story line is clear and easy to follow though the vocabulary is set in the early traditional California/Mexico blend of cultures.
Phantom in the Night is a obedient read which seems to reenact a place and time long not remembered. Omar Galvan

THE TWELVE by Howard Kaminsky & Susan Kaminsky, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010,1999, 274p., $23.95, hard 0-312-20601-1; 99-21987
For collections maintaining Southwest Fiction holdings, here's one you should definitely add. The Kaminskys have joined forces before and their combined talents make for smooth, comfortable reading. In a Waco-like stand-off (Waco and Koresh are frequently mentioned by the protagonists) in the far northwest corner of Arizona, the FBI's official policy is keep up the pressure but do not attack; presidential election time is just a few months away and there must not be another Waco disaster. But the FBI agents "on the ground" know that the leader of this particular religious group is becoming more and more erratic and...sure enough, one day after releasing twelve children two at a time out of the seventy-plus member compound, the entire compound is reduced to tiny fragments by a powerful blast. Then, two years later, the 12 children who have been placed with family members suddenly disappear. Readers aware of "psychological programming" will have an idea early-on of some of the things that are happening, but over-all this is a suspenseful read with likeable heros and heroines and despicable bad guys. W. David Laird

LIKE A HOLE IN THE HEAD by Jen Banbury, Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, 1999, 296p., $12.00, soft 0446675172
This Bangury novel is about a young woman, Jill, who is something of a loner--she would rather be left alone. She moves from town to town (trying to lose her past) before settling down in Los Angeles, California. The story is built around a bookstore and a rare book that was sold very cheap, yet its cost fluctuates between murder and violence to kidnapping.
The plot is fresh and interesting from the opening page and the characters are amazingly true to life. You can detect strengths and weaknesses in each player, and it becomes a blend of both the story and the personality of each as the mystery unfolds.
The point of view seems to be that of a younger person's perspective. Almost like a "Generation X" theme, which most tend to enjoy because it relates to the experiences, feelings, and thoughts of both young and old, for we all have been there. Both the characters and reader seem to blend into one action--one story. Each character seems to have a sense of humor, which made the book funny at times. It also had its share of serious mistakes and situations which show Jill to be complexly human.
A note of caution, the language used in this novel is graphic and profane and care should be given in the audience chosen to absorb it. Rachel Garza

TRAIN STOPS by Larry Frank, Sunshine Press, 1998, 182p., $28.95, hard 0-86534-273-3
Train Stops is a wonderful collection of short stories. It is a book about a train that travels from station to station, moving from one destination to another, picking up and dropping off its human cargo. As new passengers arrive on the train and old ones leave, the reader is able to meet and get to know them personally. Each one is a new experience with different thoughts, hopes and dreams.
The reader is invited to stop and get to know those who live in the many communities along the way. Your fare has been paid for this exciting trip and you become one of those the train stops for.
Frank would have his passengers get to know and understand the feelings of the others on board, from discerning a rude grandfather, understanding a hopeful school teacher, to even the anticipation of a women intent on reuniting with her new lover. You can almost feel the rhythm of the rails as the trees, towns, and life itself pass by the windows.
Quite a reading experience! This book is probably not like any other book you have ever read. The stories are brief yet inviting. Each one seems to fulfill a need in us to be a part of a world moving away and in that movement taking us, our cares and concerns with it. Rachel Garza

BLACK MESA by Leland J. Hanchett, Jr., Pine Rim Publishing, Phoenix, AZ, 1996. Illus., 176p., $9.95, soft 0-9637785-4-4; 96-69718
In 1883 young James Scott, known to friends and family as Jamie, went West determined to make good as a rancher. Working at anything that kept him going, mostly at cowboying and with occasional money from his father in Massachusetts, he first spent a couple of years in Texas before deciding in 1885 to give Arizona a try. There, mostly in the cattle country above the Mogollon Rim, things began to go better and he settled into a spot at Aztec Spring, started a ranching operation and with money from home began to build herds of both cattle and horses, the latter by far having the greater value. Through the years Jamie wrote letters to family and friends, and his sister Hannah saved many of them. Unfortunately, Jamie was caught up in the Graham-Tewkesbury feud, the so-called Pleasant Valley War and, identified as pro-Graham, was eventually hanged by pro-Tewkesbury posse for horse theft in 1888. Using the letters as a base and quoting most of them in toto, Hanchett has created a fiction, with sister Hannah as the narrator. Although well-intentioned, this structure is a mistake. Historian Hanchett, with three books relating to this time and place to his credit, could better have given us the account from his own perspective, filling in the gaps between letters with brief explanations of the circumstances surrounding young Jamie. Then he would be free to footnote vague references in the letters and identify in some detail the characters who played in this mini-drama. Mentioned, but not well-identified are such people as Commodore Owens and Will C. Barnes as well as several specific events in the feud, but even this reader with a fair knowledge of the historical events wants more detail. W. David Laird

FRAMEWORK FOR DEATH: A Mystery by Aileen Schumacher, Write Way Publishing, 10555 East Dartmouth, Ste 210, Aurora, CO 80014, 1998, 360p., $23.95 soft 1885173555
Aileen Schumacher presents us with a wonderful, easy-to-read mystery story that will equally thrill children over twelve years of age and their parents. The plot is simple to follow, and the chapter titles cleverly clue a reader into what will happen next.
The characters are very believable and one gets a sense of identification with them almost from the start. The setting is in the cities of the Southwest--El Paso, Texas and La Cruces, New Mexico. The theme will not be revealed until the last two chapters are read. Schumacher does an excellent job of keeping the reader entwined in the story's outcome by revealing snippets of information as the lines unravel.
All said and done, I have told you noting about the story itself. To reveal that would destroy this mystery and you would have no need to acquire the book.
It's a keeper! Diana Resendez

OUTCASTS OF PICTURE ROCKS (Reprint) by Cherry Wilson, Five Star Books, Box 159, Thorndike, ME 04986, 1999. $19.95 hard 0-7862-1902-5; 99-14742
First published as a four-part series in Western Story Magazine in 1932, this novel presents the reader with about all of the "mysterious" qualities one could find in western fiction of that period. The Jore family lives in total isolation in a mountain stronghold that was once the caldera of a volcano, now split open to allow a single way in or out. The leader of the Jores was a man of the old type who made his living however he could and raised his children to do the same. Now dead, his leadership has passed to his wife who is a seer and predicts the future in her visions while her youngest son has inherited all of his father's self-control. A daughter, now eighteen, has grown into the striking beauty promised in her youth and has eyes the same purple-blue as the tops of western mountains. Wilson is especially good with horses, and the key to this story is a golden horse with a black wing on its side, descendant of a famous race horse whose original owner sees the colt as his property. But no one goes into Picture Rocks and lives to tell the tale! W. David Laird

THE FOURTH HORSEMAN by Randy Lee Eickholf, Forge Books, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010. 1998, 416p.,
Eickhoff tells his version of Doc Holiday's life, narrated by Doc, and includes boyhood and the connection to his true love, a cousin Mattie. Quite a bit of gruesome killing, often provoked by Holiday, is the usual reason for him to move on from one frontier town to the next. To Eickhoff's credit, the Tombstone period gets only its share of coverage as it is in no sense the focus of the book. Doc is viewed, by himself be it noted, as a man with no future and a feeling that all the men he killed (no one can establish how many that was) needed killing and that his success in doing so was mostly attributable to the fact that he was fearless because he did not care if he died. Eickhoff also has Doc tell us that he often provoked deadly clashes because an insult, or presumed insult, caused him to become enraged beyond his control. An interesting relationship with Big Nose Kate is well established in this believable, perhaps slightly too long, novel. W. David Laird

RESERVATIONS: A Novel by Harold Burton Meyers, University Press of Colorado, P.O. Box 849, Niwot, CO 80544. 1999, 287p., $24.95 hard, 0-87081-524-5; 99-11760
Except for fictional names, this book seems more like a memoir than a novel. The father and mother of the young narrator are teachers at various Indian schools in the Four Corners area during and after the great Depression with a true love of their work and a true desire to help Navajos, Hopis and others find a better life. Interesting characters drift in and out of their lives including Mary's Troops (young teachers who looked up to the narrator's mother Mary and came to visit for advice and companionship), wise old Navalos (and some hotheads), and an old friend of the parents who, it turns out, has not made much success of his life. Settings include Ganado, where the mother has her final cancer operation, and Keams Canyon. Not surprisingly, the author was born in Arizona 1924, and his parents taught at Indian Service schools in the Four Corners area. W. David Laird

PEOPLE OF THE MASKS by Kathleen O'Neal Gear, Forge Books, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010, 1998, maps, biblio., 416pp, $25.95, Hard, 0-312-8587-4
The authors/archaeologists entertain an avid international audience with their rousing historical epic of adventure, triumph, and heartbreak of the pre-Columbian peoples who struggled to make this great continent their home, The Gears spin a fascinating, heart-rending tale of two children fighting for their lives and making an everlasting impact on the fate of their tribes. This book focuses on three different cultural traditions: the Princess Point (A.D. 500-1000), Glen Meyer (A.D. 900-1250) traditions in southern Ontario, and the Carpenter Brook phase of the Owasco tradition in New York State (A.D. 1000-1100). The setting is in the Northwestern region of Canada. The Gears take us to the homeland of the Iroquois, in what is now known as New York and Ontario.
The weaving together of anthropological fact and human drama by the Gears brings to life this ancient culture with a tale of greed and the lust for power that began nine winters earlier with the birth of a child who would change the fate of his people forever. Rumbler is a nine-year-old boy who is know also as False Face Child by the elders because prophets gave him this name when they foretold his birth.
Trouble begins when a sadistic war leader and a member of the Walksalong Villagers raid and destroy Paint Rock Village. Rumbler is condemned to die on winter-whipped Lost Hill. Kara Jones

THE SEVENTH MAN by Max Brand, Five Star Books, P.O. Box 3142, Scottsdale AZ 85271, 1999 (Electronic Books, $2.49, 1586273582)
The Seventh Man is seen by many to be a tragic story. It is about one man (Dan Barry) who tries to help another (Vic Gregg), but to everyone's dismay is lost forever. In an effort to help his friend (by seeking vengeance), he becomes an outlaw. This new lifestyle leads to the loss of his wife, daughter, and eventually, himself.
The action in this novel is determined by each character and the choices they he or she makes.
Brand creates a western heroes out of a mysterious youth named "Pan of the Desert." Yet in the end it becomes obvious that we, and the choices we make, dictate our destinies. A good book with a good plot; it has an "ease you into the action" style, and a theme that is memorable. Gina Sendejo

MOUNTAINS OF THE BLUE STONE by Dorothy Cave, Sunstone Press, 239 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, NM 87504, 1998, 304p. $35. hard 0-86534-272-5
Drake Cavanaugh, an unhappy lawyer in a miserable life, stumbles across Descano, a tiny Hispanic village set in the high and remote mountains of New Mexico. Here, he begins to see the true meaning of happiness and the essence of life. It is a strange world of saints and witches, of murders and miracles, completely alien but oddly familiar to him. He must overcome many obstacles in order to find the truth that he seeks.
Dorothy Cave uses her extensive experience and travel of New Mexico to show the world the beauty she has discovered. She skillfully spins a story rich with cultural and linguistic details. She expertly captures the innocence of small town life. Cave brings Descano alive with her vivid description of its residents and their customs. By the end of the novel, the reader dreams of giving up the hustle and bustle of today's world and going back to "that forgotten pocket of God's overall," where nothing is too important and everything can wait until mañana.

JOURNEY OF THE DEAD by Loren D. Estleman, Forge Books, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. 1998, 251p. $21.95, hard 0-312-85999-6; 97034381
To make one's book rise above general fiction to the level of literature without losing the impact that we associate with reading for entertainment is the most difficult task a writer can face. Too often, I fear, when the general reader spies the word "literature" attached to a book under consideration, that reader runs for cover. Literature is too highfalutin! But as Estleman demonstrates in this powerful and readable account, it need not be so. The book focuses on two people: Pat Garrett (killer of Billy the kid) and an alchemist more than 100 years old living in a cave-like home in Chihuahua. Throughout his life in the Southwest, mostly in New Mexico and Texas, Garrett is haunted by Billy, his one-time playing buddy, whom he sees at night and converses with, as he moves through life always on the edge of success yet never truly successful. Ironically, having killed Billy in what most people have condemned as an unnecessary killing. Garrett has principles which most often keep him from succeeding in politics and business. The alchemist continues as have his father and grandfather before him, all of whom also lived well past the century mark, to be obsessed with turning base metals into gold. They are known to each other, Garrett and this ancient man, and sometimes the alchemist can "see" the younger man's torments and his future. Both will find peace only if they can come to terms with their searches in this entrancing piece of fiction that adds a fascinating level of understanding to Pat Garrett's role in the Billy the Kid myth. W. David Laird

SUBDIVIDE AND CONQUER: A Modern Western (video) by Narrated by Dinnis Weaver, Produced and Directed by Jeff Gersh and Chelsea Congdon. Bullfrog Films, Box 149, Oley, PA 19547. 1999, 30 minutes VHS cassette. Price vary for individuals and institutions. Write for details.
Weaver's husky, friendly voice with a western twang is about perfect for explaining how the West is being subdivided to death. Beginning with the myth of an endless frontier, clean air and pure water, short clips of urban sprawl put the truth of uncontrolled development in pictorial terms. Short statements, more than a sentence or two, by planners, environmentalists, architects, builders and ordinary citizens are interspersed between contrasting visuals to highlight what is being lost. And even the plight of urban centers comes into focus as suburbs suck away at their tax base and lead to decay. Having set the scene, the narration touches on some of the things proposed or already accomplished in the war to combat sprawl and preserve open spaces for future generations. This excellent, professional film could serve as focus for classroom discussion, town hall debate, etc. W. David Laird

Non-Fiction

FIRE ON THE PLATEAU: Conflict and Endurance in the American Southwest by Charles Wilkinson, Island Press, 1999, Illus., maps, notes, index, 402p. $24. hard 1-55963-647-5; 99-18908
Wilkinson, a lawyer/professor well-known for his work on Native Americans and the environment, gives us a insightful and autobiographical account of his years of involvement with the cultures and issues on the Colorado Plateau. Inspired while working in Phoenix by the late Paul Roca's love for the Southwest, Wilkinson found working in San Francisco an exile that drove him to seek work with the fledgling Native American Rights Fund in Denver. This put him in the thick of efforts by southwestern Native Americans (Navajos, Hopis, etc.) to take more control of their own destinies and gain resources for tribal education and development. As he recounts successes (and failures) he also recounts his continually growing connection to the region and his developing understanding of the persistence of native cultures as well as the endurance of the landscape. For readers who "love" the Southwest but think mostly of its deserts, Wilkinson's is a literate, caring voice helping us understand that high, dry plateau country surrounding the Four Corners and the people who call it home. W. David Laird

REOPENING THE AMERICAN WEST Edited by Hal K. Rothman, The University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719-4140, 1998. Notes, index, 208p. $15.95 soft 0816516251
When the West was first open for those who wished to tame it for its fortunes, it was quite a different place to discover. The issues facing it today are vastly different although it has continued to be a place that attracts newcomers. Top of the list of concerns is that of the environment--has the Colorado river been damaged by the huge influx and births of people in Las Vegas? Also in the list of concerns is the Navajo economy, wildfires, and the effects of the Cold War on the West. The three issues of multiculturalism, water, and resources are addressed in ten essays by scholars whose efforts are to "re-examine the relationship between people and the environment." Contributors include Char Miller, Stephen Pyne, William deBuys, and Dan Flores. This is important commentary on the effects that are taking place without the attention of the masses. What once was glorious is facing the cold reality of human damage. Rothman along with his contributors are knowledgeable and show great insight into these issues.
As Char Miller states in her essay, "The past offers no simple set of guidelines for how to balance [the] impulses of preservation and use."
Shiloh Richter Pivoda

COWGIRL RISING: The Art of Donna Howell-Sickles Text by Peg Streep. Introduction by Teresa Jordan, The Greenwich Workshop Press, PO Box 875, Shelton, CT 06484-9861, 1997. Color Illus.,128p. $35. hard 0-86713-034-2.
In Greek mythology, goddesses displayed power, had strong auras and fiery personalities. As classic mythology was overtaken by the male-dominated Christianity, women lost these identity-forming images. At the dawn of the American West mythology, women were hardly seen as the goddesses they could be. More important was the rugged individual male dominating the land and the animals used to do so. Donna Howell-Sickles creates a mythology of her own--that in which the goddess returns. This time, however, the goddess is atop a horse--not dominating it, but looking beautiful, competent, and powerful. She communicates with the animal in a way that is deep and shows a mutual respect between the two. In a sense, she is reclaiming her powerful place in society. She is not only mythology now but a true wild-spirited woman who feels comfortable in her competence. As Teresa Jordan states in her introduction, "Confident and strong, they move without apology or the need for permission. At ease with animals and with themselves, they are also at home with other women, and with men: all of this without denying their essential womanness."
The paintings themselves are dynamic in their royal blues and cherry reds, touched by lemon yellows. The artist makes her symbolism clear--putting nothing that would convolute the message. She clearly draws on classic mythology to establish her own female western mythology, and in this, she succeeds. On each page is captured a new idea, a bold statement of femininity and graceful power. Donna Howell-Sickles' work is contemporary culture in the making. She is unique, insightful, and inspiring. Shiloh Richter Pivoda

THE TEXAS COWBOYS: Cowboys of the Lone Star State--a Photographic Portrayal Text by Tom B. Saunders IV. Photography by David R. Stoecklein, Stoecklein Publishing, Tenth Street Center, Suite A1, Ketchum, Idaho 83340, 1997. Color Illus., Ranch Biographies, 250p. $60. hard 0-922029-60-1.
Captured during hard days of labor, some in brilliant sunsets, others taking a moment to reflect on the pains gathered during the day, each true cowboy is seen at work at the very thing that made them famous all those years ago. There are over two hundred pages of breathtaking photography. The book is divided into areas to cover the vast land space of Texas ranches. Beginning with the Arnold Ranch in East Texas, Stoecklein makes his way to such ranches as the Briscoe Ranch and the King Ranch of South Texas, further on to the YO Ranch in the Texas Hill Country. He picks up in the Trans Pecos with the Kokernot 06 Ranch, visits eight ranches in the West Texas Rolling Plains, and four in the Panhandle High Plains. He ends his photographic journey at the Veale Ranch in North Central Cross Timbers and Prairies. Although the pictures need no words, along side the photography is informative and sometimes poetic text. Together, this is a striking tribute to the rugged beauty of ranch work. Shiloh Richter Pivoda

WILD WEST SHOWS AND THE IMAGES OF AMERICAN INDIANS 1883-1933 by L. G. Moses, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, 1996. Illus., index 364p. soft 0-8263-2089-9.
From what we know of "poetic license" in movies, it is not hard to imagine that the Wild West Shows at the end of the last century were hardly presenting American Indian reality. Shows, such as the well-known Buffalo Bill Wild West Show were created for their own needs and, in doing so, created accepted ideas that have continued to this day. This book is an exploration into the lives of those show Indians--the real people--and their experiences of being stage acts.

THE LAST CHEATER'S WALTZ: Beauty and Violence in the Desert Southwest by Ellen Meloy , Henry Holt Publishing, 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011, 1999, 227p., $23., hard 0-88050-4065-X; 98-30325
Readers who enjoy Sharman Apt Russell's environmental essays (for example, The Humpbacked Flute Player) will respond with equal enthusiasm to Meloy's personal thoughts on such topics as the anomalous situations that occur when wilderness areas (e.g., White Sands) become parts of military complexes or the way in which the heaps of rejected rock left over from vanadium mining became a major source for uranium ore during WWII and her need to create her own Map of the Known Universe when on a cool fall morning she unknowingly boils a small lizard while making tea. Very personal yet encompassing a universal feeling, Meloy's essays do preach so much as they describe and explain. Evocative reading. W. David Laird

A VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA, THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, AND AROUND THE WORLD: In the years 1826-1829 by August Fruge & Neal Harlow, University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, 1999, 6 b/w illustrations, 5 line illustrations, 3 tables, index, bibliography, footnotes, 317p., 6 1/2 x 9 1/2, $29.95, hard 0-520-21752-7