So what’s up with all this Mexican Revolution and narcotraficante stuff on Frontier Partisans lately? you ask. Well, maybe you didn’t ask, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.
It’s Craig McDonald’s fault. He sent out a call for submissions to an anthology of crime fiction titled “Borderland Noir.” Craig and I share a fascination with the Mex Rev, a love for the music of Tom Russell, a taste for Hemingway — and similar day jobs. This deal sounded right up my alley:
In the beginning, there was BORDERLAND NOIR, the ezine.
This autumn, Betimes Books will be releasing BORDERLAND NOIR, the print anthology, a mix of old and new stories and essays about life and death as lived along the Mexican border—about dangerous crossings to build new lives that sometimes result in losing that old life in every sense.
This new edition of BORDERLAND NOIR also provides the opportunity to let in some fresh voices.
New voices…
The original 2005 pitch went something like this:
“Our troubadours are Russell, Dave Alvin … Marty Robbins and Ry Cooder. Mariachi bands dominate the shortwave radios down this way, where tortured widower Orson Welles hands out justice with his ham-sized fists, all the while muttering under his boxy Stetson…
…Fiction or nonfiction, I will be seeking that Malcolm Lowry/Day of the Dead/Cinco de Mayo vibe.
Focus on that uneasy friction between Old Meh-hi-co and El Norte … because, way down deep, we all know that you can leave Brownsville, but you can never get Matamoros out of your soul.
My eyes lit up at that non-fiction bit. I can supply that. Before you could shout “Tonight We Ride, You Bastards!” I sent Craig a couple of essays — one on the mid-19th Century border warlord Juan Cortina and one on Pancho Villa. Both are adapted from chapters of the eventually forthcoming Frontier Partisans book. Craig went with Pancho.
So I’ll be one of those fresh new voices in Borderland Noir come autumn. Hot damn!
I am beyond honored to be in the company of the writers featured in this anthology. These are heavy hitters, amigos. Just before I got the green light to pass on this news, I heard that Craig had secured a story from James Sallis, who is a master of the kind of crime fiction that’ll trip the trigger on Pancho’s Bisley Colt. He’s also a fine musician in the style of music I play myself.
Ken Bruen, Manuel Ramos, Sam Hawken, Mike MacLean, Dave Zeltserman, Martin Solares and many others are contributors. And Tom Russell, one of my musical heroes.
This is just so damn cool.
I really appreciate that Craig was up for including a historical essay in a crime fiction-based collection. Some history belongs there. For one thing, the Mexican Revolution offers a graveyard full of tales too incredible and macabre to make up. For another, many of the contemporary issues the border throws up — from immigration to smuggling — trace back in a straight line to the days when Pancho Villa rode Siete Leguas across that wild Chihuahua Desert so dry you couldn’t spit (thanks Tom).
I’m proud of the piece and proud of the band of rogues I’m riding with between the covers. And speaking of covers — that’s one damn compelling image, don’t you think?
So come November I’ll be flogging this like rustled cattle smuggled across the borderline. If this collection sells well, there might be more. And I’ve got this idea… The Arizona/Mexico border. 1926 — Prohibition. Tequileros. The mob. One very dangerous cowboy who still dreams at night of the killing fields of the Meuse-Argonne…
So I’ll be down on the border for a while yet. Come ride along — keep a sharp eye out for trouble and check the loads in that Carabina .30-30.
Art by Derrick Castle — https://dribbble.com/shots/1490982-Landyachtz-Loco-Longboard-Series
Paul McNamee says
Congratulations!
JimC says
Thanks Paul.
Keith West says
Sweet! I’ll be looking for this one. Congratulations.
BTW, I saw your post on Tom Russell’s Rose of Roscrae. Mine came the other day, and I spent the weekend listening to it. Great stuff.
JimC says
It’s great to see a guy in his 60s still pushing instead of coasting on Navajo Rug and Gallo del Cielo, more artistically ambitious than ever. Inspiring.
Lane Batot says
While we’re on all this Mex Revolution border stuff, I thought I’d throw another perspective very few folks know about that era–that is, the Bronco Apaches that never got caught! I first heard/read about them in Forrest Carter’s Geronimo novel “Watch For Me On The Mountain”, and wondered if there was any truth to that rumor–that “wild” Apaches continued on living and raiding up until the 1930’s!!! Apparently, they DID–an EXCELLENT(if terribly expensive) book on the subject(NOT a novel, but an actual historical research of the subject) is “They Never Surrendered; Bronco Apaches of the Sierra Madre” by Douglas V. Meed. I always felt perhaps this phenomenon got rather lost in history because it was overshadowed by Pancho Villa and others, and some of those Apache raids were attributed to the raiding Mexican revolutionaries instead. Fascinating subject, regardless, and certainly a ‘must” for anyone interested in that time and that area!
JimC says
YES!!! fascinating stuff. Haven’t read the Meed (too $$) but have read The Apache Diaries, about two separate quests for evidence of these lost Apaches. There is absolutely no question that there were broncos in the Sierra Madre up through the mid-1930s. There’s a novel inspired by this business that’s quite good — The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus. Here’s a description. I think you’d love it Lane.
“When Ned Giles is orphaned as a teenager, he heads West, hoping to leave his troubles behind. He joins the 1932 Great Apache Expedition on their search for a young boy, the son of a wealthy Mexican landowner, who was kidnapped by wild Apaches. But the expedition’s goal is complicated when they encounter a wild Apache girl in a Mexican jail cell, victim of a Mexican massacre of her tribe that has left her orphaned and unwilling to eat or speak. As he and the expedition make their way through the rugged Sierra Madre mountains, Ned’s growing feelings for the troubled girl soon force him to choose allegiances and make a decision that will haunt him forever.”
Lane Batot says
YES!!! right back atcha! I haven’t read “Wild Girl”, but you can bet I’ll be looking for it now! And it’s a shame the Meed book is sooooo pricey, but despite my checking on it regular(for potential blog tithes to folks–ahem!), it NEVER seems to come down–destined to become an untouchable damn collector’s item eventually likely! One book I kept checking on(on Amazon), the classic novel “Bronco Apache” about the most famous of that ilk–Masaai–that they based the classic Burt Lancaster movie on–was also always frustratingly exorbitant. but I kept rechecking, and whaddaya know–one day there finally WAS a cheapo copy! And a GOOD copy at that! Snatched THAT sucker when I got the chance–GREAT book! And, surprisingly, MUCH more positive ending–even than the Hollywood version!….And, Ha! I’ve got a copy of “Villa Rides” with good ole Yul Brynner on DVD! Did you ever see the Antonio Banderas movie “Pancho Villa Starring Pancho Villa”–I got a copy of that fairly recently, but haven’t watched it yet–I reckon I need to pull it out and do so while this discussion is going on!
JimC says
“And Starring” is a solid B+ I’d say. I like “Villa Rides!” Never saw “Viva Villa!” which has just been released on DVD by Warner. “Viva Zapata!” with Brando and a screenplay by Steinbeck is probably the best Mexican Revolution film I’ve seen, though I’ve heard good things about the Mexican film “Vamanos con Pancho Villa,” which is available on DVD. It’s all a matter of time and $$….
I remember watching “Apache” as a kid. I always rooted for the Apaches anyway, and it was cool to see a movie where an Apache was the “good guy.” Massai was remarkable. It seems that he and the Apache Kid linked up when he went fugitive. There were remnant fugitive Apaches in northern Mexico and the U.S. for a long time. The reason we think of the Geronimo Campaign as the “last” Apache campaign is that “renegade Apaches” were basically treated as a law enforcement problem rather than a military problem after 1886 (though the military and native scouts chased ’em). Geronimo wasn’t the “last Apache” by any means.
Lane Batot says
I’ve also always felt that our guvmint and military was rather embarrassed at their lack of ability to control these last “broncos”, which is why they got rather ignored in the “official” telling of history! The Geronimo campaign was just a nice, neat little package for the officials to pretend it was all done(not that Geronimo didn’t chuck a fair number of monkey wrenches in the affair himself!), and the remainder of the “wild” Apaches could just be called isolated “renegades” or “outlaws” for reputations’ sake!–but in reality, little or no different from Geronimo and his gang!….Yes, I’ve always loved “Apache”, and also “Broken Arrow”(Jeff Chandler WAS Cochise!), and the hokey but spirited “Geronimo” with blue-eyed Chuck Conners playing the title role–wildly inaccurate and Hollywooded up, but STILL, captured the spirit of the Apache splendidly, I always thought. Have you ever read “The First Hundred Years Of Nino Cochise”, by one of Cochise’s grandsons? It IS controversial(as to it’s accuracy), but chock full of detailed information of those survivors in the Sierra Madre, including the Apache Kid and his actual demise(sickness–not very dramatic!). I’m inclined to believe most of the account–most of it made very practical sense, and was full of details(including rather BORING ones!) that I doubt a tale-spinner would know or make up–fascinating, regardless!!
JimC says
OK — another one for the list.
Norm Andrews says
Sir ,
A few weeks ago I did say on here that I knew very little about the Mex-rev, so this is all new to me, keep it coming please .
Thank you,
Norm.
JimC says
Glad you’re getting something out of it. There will be more.
Hierro Vaquero says
Compa!
Check this out this trailer for the documentry, “Narco Cultura” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfW3rLFdYDs
and this narco news website, Borderland Beat, http://www.borderlandbeat.com/
Mantener el buen trabajo!
JimC says
Thanks for the recommendations. Haven’t seen Narco Cultura.” I have Borderland Beat bookmarked.
BTW, I enjoy reading about your rides.