John Seelye

I think this is one of the better short story collections I have read recently. Not all the stories were stellar, when are they ever? The short biography/introductions to each author describing their life, influences and effect on the genre were quite good.

I was not too fond of Bret Harte and Mark Twain, but I knew that, as always some of their stories are delightful, but they have a very cynical tone, and smack of someone who is an interloper judging the place, not someone who loves the west.

Ambrose Bierce was too wordy for my taste, but had a nice haunted gothic tone going on.

Owen Wister I had read and enjoyed before, and his was a friendly sort of writing, amusing to read. Frederic Remington was good too, only his dialect for the Native American was nigh unto unreadable. That bothered me about many of the stories in this collection. Stephen Crane I enjoyed. The one Jack London was amazingly not depressing and I liked it as well. O. Henry was familiar to me. I'm not sure why his writing went out of style, I like finishing a story with a smile.

Frank Norris was new to me. Again, the story would have been more enjoyable if it weren't for the strained effort to write dialect.

Stewart Edward White is the overall winner in this collection. I had never heard of him before, but I liked every one of his contributions. Straight-forward western writing with the details to prove that he had been there and enjoyed it himself, and the humor to make me laugh.

Surprisingly, the only author I couldn't stomach at all was Mary H. Austen. I tried to read her. I usually enjoy mystic thoughts on the desert and native populations and all, but her strained use of big words and negativity were too much for me. I had to reread her sentences several times to get any sense at all out of them, and even then I wasn't sure of it.… (mehr)