On December 29th, Wednesday, 7PM, The Hard Word Book Club will be discussing one of my favorite westerns – Richard Matheson’s Journal Of The Gun Years. It’s a truly unique and authentic title in the genre. What makes it even more of an accomplishment was that it was Matheson’s first western.
Richard Matheson is mainly considered a godfather of modern horror and science fiction. He added to the vampire myth with I Am Legend and was one of the first to set horror in suburbia. As a screenwriter he contributed to the Twilight Zone (including the classic William Shatner and gremlin episode “Terror At 30,000 Feet”) and adapted his story “Duel” into one of Steven Spielberg’s first directorial efforts. When laid up in an English hospital, he asked his wife for a bunch of paperback westerns. Soon, he took a crack at writing some.
Journal Of The Gun Years follows the life of gunfighter Clay Halser, in his own words from a journal found by one of the newspaper men that made him famous, from a farm boy who distinguishes himself as a sharpshooter in the Civil War. Drifting through the west, sometimes as a petty outlaw, he finds his calling as a gunman when trying to protect his ranch owner boss in a range war, leading him to being a marshal in a cow-town where he gains notoriety across the country. As other shoot outs occur, he becomes dogged by the fame as much as the violence. He may also be addicted to both as they tear apart his life.
Matheson draws from the biographies of many gunfighters, including Billy The Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Wild Bill Hickock. Hickock even appears a few times. The authenticity of the period gives realism to the emotions and the complexity of Clay’s feelings about his history and notoriety.
At 216 pages, Journal Of The Gun Years is a quick, smooth read. As a master story teller, Matheson delivers great flow and concise depth. It has the feel of a great Johnny Cash song, showing the pain of a man trapped by his sins. It should make for a great discussion, so grab your Stetson and join us on the third floor.
–Scott Montgomery
BookPeople 