Plays Poetry
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BOOK REVIEWS RED SHUTTLEWORTH of theater and gritty prose on a moving A note on reviews 1900: Daykin, Nebraska; 1901: Volin, journey of the Roaring ’20s, Western South Dakota; 1902: Portales, New Mexico style. Most book reviews in this issue Territory; 1903: Cawker City, Kansas; are condensed versions of ones 1904: Tyrone, Oklahoma Territory; 1905: published in Roundup between Goldfeld, Nevada; 1906: Branchville, POETRY October 2017 and June 2018. Texas; 1907: Idalia, Colorado; 1908: Reviewers include: Stan “Tex” Wallace, Idaho; 1909: Homer, California Banash, Michael F. Blake, Johnny Bunchgrass Press D. Boggs, Lynn Bueling, Tom TACEY M. ATSITTY Chapbooks, no prices listed Rain Scald: Poems Carpenter, Thomas D. Clagett, PoetRedShuttleworth.blogspot.com Tom Clavin, Thomas Cobb, Paul University of New Mexico Press The first of the Americana West series Colt, Carol Crigger, James A. Trade Paperback, 88 pages, $18.95 of 100 short plays and monologues set UNMPress.com Crutchfield, Phil Dunlap, Kirk in Western states from 1900 to 1999 re- Ellis, Chris Enss, Ralph Estes, W. Tacey M. Atsitty writes Michael Farmer, Glenn Frankel, veal Westerners, young and old, wolfers her book of poems Micki Fuhrman, Rachelle “Rocky” and newlyweds, Wyatt and Virgil Earp from an intimate Gibbons, James J. Griffin, Melody and wives Sadie and Allie coping with a viewpoint of her Groves, Harlan Hague, Doug new century in a changing West. Navajo culture, which Hocking, Abraham Hoffman, RED SHUTTLEWORTH lends credence to this, Linda Jacobs, Richard Lapidus, 1910: Larson, North Dakota; 1911: her debut collection. Preston Lewis, Jean A. Lukesh, Sidney, Montana; 1912: Parker, Arizona; She sprinkles her Bill Markley, Edward Massey, 1913: Brogan, Oregon; 1914: Lusk, poems with hyphenated Ann McCord, Monty McCord, Wyoming; 1915: Frisco, Utah; 1916: word pairs that spice Robert D. McKee, Rod Miller, Chesaw, Washington; 1917: Fairbury, the poems in meaningful ways that Phil Mills Jr., David Morrell, Nebraska; 1918: Tolstoy, South Dakota; caught the eye of this reviewer: 1919: Tinnie, New Mexico John Mort, Candy Moulton, SD cloud-pull, word-water, word- Nelson, Robert Nott, Nancy Plain, Bunchgrass Press spill, et al. With a master’s of fine Richard Prosch, Quackgrass Sally, Chapbooks, no prices listed arts in creative writing, several Ollie Reed Jr., Stuart Rosebrook, PoetRedShuttleworth.blogspot.com prestigious awards and published Sandra K. Sagala, Vernon Schmid, An old man tries to rob a nun. An work in various journals, she has Candace Simar, Larry D. Sweazy, Arizona baseball player copes with built a solid foundation to continue Rod Timanus, Loyd Uglow, Lori the loss of a leg and end of a career. Van Pelt, Lowell F. Volk, Sandy growing and producing reputable A homesteader reads a newspaper and work such as this volume. Whiting. R.G. Yoho and Michael wonders what has become of her miss- Zimmer. – Lynn Bueling ing husband. The Americana West series continues with beauty, wit, comedy and tragedy. MARLEEN BUSSMA Saddle Up for Cowboy Poetry RED SHUTTLEWORTH Self-published 1920: Nicodemus, Kansas; 1921: Forgan, PLAYS Audio CD, $13 Oklahoma; 1922: Winnemucca, Nevada; MarleenBussma.com 1923: Fort Stockton, Texas; 1924: Como, RED SHUTTLEWORTH Colorado; 1925: Quartzburg, Idaho; 1926: Marleen Bussma has a refreshing way Rumors and Borders: Eight Western Plays Termo, California; 1927: Marmarth, of describing ranch life from the point Humanitas Media Publishing North Dakota; 1928: Plevna, Montana; of view of a woman who has truly lived Trade paperback, 156 pages, $14.99 1929: Cherry, Arizona the ranching experience. The CD shares HumanitasMedia.com Bunchgrass Press the spirit of women who pioneered Originally produced in the 1990s, Chapbooks, no prices listed ranching in the West and who still do so these eight one-act plays reveal Red PoetRedShuttleworth.blogspot.com today. Shuttleworth’s vision of the Ameri- From the all-black settlement of Nico- JOHNNY CASH can West, past and present, filled with demus, Kansas, to a Texas bunkhouse, Forever Words: The Unknown Poems twists, humor, wit, sympathy, fantasy, a Colorado train depot, the California Blue Rider Press savagery, tough yet vulnerable men and desert, Dakota Badlands and other stark Hardcover, 144 pages, $25 women – and the beauty of language. locations, Red Shuttleworth takes lovers PenguinRandomHouse.com 22 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE AUGUST 2018 Billed as a collection of newly dis- Fergus is a charmingly imperfect “ev- covered, unpublished poems, this slim eryman’s equine” whose exploits lead SANDRA DALLAS book includes mostly song lyrics that him over, under and through all manner Hardscrabble Johnny Cash put aside (often with good of obstacles as he strives to reach the Sleeping Bear Press Hardcover, 244 pages, $15.95 reason). Despite the occasional gem, bigger, better prize that beckons, always SleepingBearPress.com Forever Words is for diehard Man in just a litter farther away … and on the Black fans. other side. A pleasure for all ages. Twelve-year-old Bluebelle “Belle” (author) and KARLA K. MORTON ANNE BROYLES KE Martin and her large Wooden Lions (illustrator) LEWIS family, having lost their Arturo and the Bienvendido Feast Texas Review Press farm in Iowa, venture Trade paperback, 92 pages, $10.95 Pelican Publishing Company out onto the Colorado TexasReviewPress.org Hardcover, 32 pages, $16.95 PelicanPub.com prairie to claim a The 2018 Western Heritage Wran- homestead. In 1910, gler Award-winning collection gives us Young Arturo and his grandmother dryland farming and life copperheads, coyotes, cattle, cats, frogs, are making a welcome dinner for the in a soddy are as hard as they’ve dogs, vultures, doves and other beasts boy’s aunt and fiancé, but when a ever been. Rattlesnakes, blizzards, and bugs in an elegant and heartwarm- headache forces Arturo’s Abue to rest, swarming grasshoppers and real ing tribute to animals. For animal lovers the boy has to take over. Told in English hunger fail to dislodge the Martins, and those who love words written from and Spanish for children in pre-kinder- and Belle, “wild as a rabbit,” learns the heart. garten to third grade. to love the wild land. Hardscrabble, TIM CHAMPLIN which includes a helpful glossary, Tom and Huck’s Howling Adventure: The is simply yet powerfully told and JUVENILE Further Adventures of Tom Sawyer and provides the middle-grade reader Huckleberry Finn JEAN ABERNETHY with a realistic look at life on the Fergus and the Greener Grass Five Star Publishing plains, with its changing joys and Hardcover, 234 pages, $25.95 sorrows. Trafalgar Square Books Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar Hardcover, 40 pages, $15.95 – Nancy Plain HorseAndRiderBooks.com An allergy-induced coma sends a Arrow to the Heart is the fascinating account of how Christopher Kortlander, the owner of the private town of Garryowen, Montana, fought off the federal government and exposed a vast conspiracy of corruption and espionage. For more information see my website www.arrowtotheheartbook.com This book is available on the website, Amazon or Barnes and Noble AUGUST 2018 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 23 present day 13-year-old boy time-travel- are either sheer genius or spookily to record her childhood spent in South ing to a rendezvous with Mark Twain’s clairvoyant. A happy, entertaining book Dakota and Montana. Her daughter, a storied characters and setting in a rous- about a truly wondrous dog. second-generation working artist, has ing extension of Twain’s Tom Sawyer lovingly recounted these tales of life on DORIS FISHER (author) and SARAH and Huckleberry Finn adventures. the plains. COTTON (illustrator) JIM KRISTOFIC (author) and Jackson Sundown: Native American LOIS V. HARRIS NOLAN KARRAS JAMES (illustrator) Bronco Buster Lotta Crabtree: Gold Rush Fairy Star Black Sheep, White Crow and Other Pelican Publishing Company Pelican Publishing Company Windmill Tales Hardcover, 32 pages, $16.99 Hardcover, 80 pages, $17.99 PelicanPub.com University of New Mexico Press PelicanPub.com Paperback, 120 pages, $19.95 Straightforward but well-told and With the California Gold Rush reach- UNMPress.com nicely illustrated biography of Jackson ing a feverish peak, it was up to child Eight delightful tales from Navajo Sundown, the trick-riding Nez Perce performers called “fairy stars” to keep Country, told, as the seasons turn, by an Indian who rode with Chief Joseph but the miners entertained. This expertly old storyteller to young Kameron Nez, is best known as a rodeo rider – even written biography for juvenile readers who has had to give up his city life, cell- though he didn’t start competing in showcases the most successful among phone service and friends and relocate rodeos until 1912 when he was 49. them, Lotta Crabtree. to his grandmother’s sheep camp on the CATHERINE RADEMACHER SUSAN HOLT (author) and ROBERT reservation. GIBSON (author/illustrator); recounted CRANE (photography) MARTY RHODES FIGLEY by MARY GIBSON SPRAGUE Counting Colors in Texas The True Story of Jim the Wonder Dog Glorious Fourth of July and Other Stories Pelican Publishing Company The RoadRunner Press from the Plains Hardcover, 10 pages, $9.95 Hardcover, 100 pages, $16.95 South Dakota Historical Society Press PelicanPub.com TheRoadRunnerPress.com Hardcover, 71 pages, $19.95 Bilingual, hand-sized board book SDHSPress.com In Depression-era Missouri, Mr. Sam teaches pre-kindergarten children a few VanArsdale has his doubts about train- Catherine Rademacher Gibson cre- words and how to count to 10 in Eng- ing Jim as a hunting dog, but the pup ated her whimsical watercolor “memory lish and Spanish. soon exhibits traits that many believe paintings” and accompanying stories 24 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE AUGUST 2018 BETH JUDY Bold Women in Montana History Mountain Press Publishing Company Paperback, 264 pages, $14 Mountain-Press.com Some of Montana’s strongest women characters are brought to life in this well-written, impeccably researched work in the “Bold Women” series. Readers cannot help but admire the perseverance and grit of these amazing women.