Synchronicity or the Almighty Algorithm — really both — seemed bent on beckoning me to the Scottish Highlands. Perhaps it was the fine Scottish weather we got for a couple of weeks in September... First there came a teaser for what looks to be a sumptuous depiction of a deer hunt in the … [Read more...] about The Highland Call
The Hangman Never Loses
Guest post by Matthew Ilseman DC comics, though best known for its superheroes, released a lot of high quality non-superhero work in the 70s. These genres included War, Horror, and of particular interest to those here, the Western. This was part of an effort to release more books to crowd titles from its rival publisher, Marvel, which was … [Read more...] about The Hangman Never Loses
Battling Over Boers
It’s hard to imagine it nowadays, but there was a time not really so very long ago when Great Britain moved through the world with supreme self-confidence, convinced of its suitability to rule over a quarter of the globe. Chris Ash is a throwback to that age, an age that perhaps hit its apogee right around when the Second Anglo-Boer War broke … [Read more...] about Battling Over Boers
Working The Trapline — Apache Scouts In Mexico, ‘Yee-haw Taken’ & Flint
Our friend Andrew Wills aka Hawken Horse attended the Nashville Film Festival world premier of the forthcoming film rendition of Louis L’Amour’s Flint. He says the filmmakers knocked it out of the park. The plot is classic save-the-ranch, but the hero is unusual. From the Penguin Random House edition of the L’Amour novel: He left the West … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Apache Scouts In Mexico, ‘Yee-haw Taken’ & Flint
The Desecration Of Treasure Island
Long-time readers of Frontier Partisans know that I seldom slag off on bad creative work. I much prefer to extoll things I like and find of value, and I tend to simply remain silent on that which I disdain. This, however, cannot pass unremarked. Indeed, it begs for a broadside. Ready guns, full complement... MGM+ is vandalizing Treasure … [Read more...] about The Desecration Of Treasure Island
Apache Scouts
Our friend and ace scholar of the Apache Wars has a new book contract for a tome on the Apache Scouts. She’s looking for commentary from the campfire: I have also signed a new book contract that I am working on now about Apache Scouts, who were warriors for sure and knew how to survive with or without any kind of fancy rifles or even knives and … [Read more...] about Apache Scouts
Ground Truth?
A few years back, I did a presentation on my book Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans at a local church. During the Q&A period, a young woman in the back threw out a challenging question: How do you know what you say you know? This young woman had tattoos and attitude, and some of the audience was taken aback and … [Read more...] about Ground Truth?
Lift. Shoot. Write. Indian Summer At The Range
It’s been a while since I’ve done a training post — and some things have changed that are worth talking about. Here in Central Oregon we had an abrupt shift to autumn conditions, which has included several days of fine Scottish weather that made me break out O, The Dreadful Wind and Rain. Saturday, however, delivered about as perfect an Indian … [Read more...] about Lift. Shoot. Write. Indian Summer At The Range
Nothing But Gunpowder
Hawken Horse scouted up a painting of an Assiniboine hunter who has what is, in my estimation, the most badass name in all of Frontier Partisan history. Allow me to introduce Päsesick-Kaskutäu (Nothing But Gunpowder). Imagine swaggering into the trading post with plenty of plews, looking all hard in your fur-hooded capote, and the women say, … [Read more...] about Nothing But Gunpowder
The Burning Of The Valleys
The final episode of the American Revolution on the Frontier podcast series on the war on the New York frontier is up. It’s titled The Burning of the Valleys. You can access it here or on most all the podcast platforms. After the Sullivan Expedition destroyed so much of the Seneca Country in Western New York in 1779, the British came back with a … [Read more...] about The Burning Of The Valleys
