The feast of Frontier Partisans content continues. Mark Lee Gardner, who has turned in a solid collection of Western frontier history touching on the lives and legends of Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Theodore Roosevelt, has a new dual biography coming out on Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. I will inevitably measure any such book … [Read more...] about Working the Trapline — Dangerous Territories
Born To Be Hanged
Ye know I can never resist a buccaneer tale. Thus this tome is making its way to me through the library. If it’s as good as it’s purported to be, It’ll find its way onto the shelves of the captain’s cabin. The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates—a potent mix of low-life … [Read more...] about Born To Be Hanged
‘The Commie Killing Joy-Girls Of The Bay Of Pigs’
It’s been a full four years since I alerted Frontier Partisans across the globe to be on the lookout for the Nude Queen of the Communist Cannibals. Despite the turbulence the world has experienced since then, our vigilance remains undiminished. I said it then and I’ll say it again now: I do it for America. Inevitably, the dive into 19th Century … [Read more...] about ‘The Commie Killing Joy-Girls Of The Bay Of Pigs’
Stalked By Filibusters
I started off the Frontier Partisans Podcast series on filibustering with a description of an attempt to liberate Cuba that was on the nose in 1851 AND in 1961. As you know, I love that hit of Continuity & Persistence. Synchronicity then fired a shot that echoes in the Sierra Maestra. Christopher Othen dropped a potential cover for his … [Read more...] about Stalked By Filibusters
Reassessing Jan Smuts’ War
The East Africa Campaign of World War I is one of the key Frontier Partisans theaters of war in the modern era. It was the theater that saw the battlefield death of the great African hunter, Frederick Courteney Selous. It was the theater that saw PJ Pretorius’ magnificent work as Chief of Scouts to General Jan Smuts. Smuts, a South African who … [Read more...] about Reassessing Jan Smuts’ War
Conan Of The Blackfeet
I didn’t tell anybody, but in my head, in secret, I was Conan. Like him, my people were from the cold and brutal North. I was just drifting through Texas to hop a few walls, steal a few jewels, maybe fight a giant spider or two. — Stephen Graham Jones. Blackfeet. College professor. Writer of horror fiction. I know many a yarn-spinner whose … [Read more...] about Conan Of The Blackfeet
Historybounding, Dragon Fire & South African Frontier Wars
Learned a new term last week that might apply to some of us. A young woman who goes by the handle “Prairie Carrie” sent a photo to The Nugget of herself in a 19th Century dress amid the ruins of the Hindman Barn at Camp Polk Meadow Preserve near Sisters. She said she was out “historybounding.” That was a new one on me. It has to do with … [Read more...] about Historybounding, Dragon Fire & South African Frontier Wars
Fifty Years Ago: Revisiting Hawk-eye, Chingachgook And Uncas
By Rick Schwertfeger Captain, Frontier Partisans Southern Command I didn’t know if I could do it. I’d been hankering to reread The Last of the Mohicans — published in 1826 — which I first read somewhere back in the hazy 1970s. But return to 1757 via the 200-year-old prose style and verbiage of James Fenimore Cooper? I … [Read more...] about Fifty Years Ago: Revisiting Hawk-eye, Chingachgook And Uncas
Of Nightbirds And Other Strange Creatures
Don’t know whether to bless or blame Paul McNamee. Our stalwart New England ranging captain scouted up a series of books by Robert McCammon — the Matthew Corbett tales. Paul found a special edition set of the books soon to be published Lividian Publications. Now, when I see a weathered feller in a tricorn hat, it grabs my attention... I am … [Read more...] about Of Nightbirds And Other Strange Creatures
Wilderness Adventure And Demon Folklore — A Journey With Adam Shoalts
By Rick Schwertfeger Captain, Frontier Partisans Southern Command First of all, Adam Shoalts is cool. Jim discovered this guy with the outrageous job of Explorer-in-Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Shoalts reminds me of Theodore Roosevelt’s statement about adventurer, hunter and author Frederick Selous: that Selous had … [Read more...] about Wilderness Adventure And Demon Folklore — A Journey With Adam Shoalts
