• Two of the great chroniclers of the Frontier Partisans are teaming up again for a volume that will surely find a place on some of our shelves: On The Rangers Of The French And Indian War 1754-1764 From Canada to Georgia; By Gary Zaboly and Timothy J. Todish; Illustrated by Gary Zaboly.
I know. Wow.
Here’s a description from an interesting prosectus put forth by the authors:
The earlier collaboration of Timothy J. Todish and Gary Zaboly, The Annotated And Illustrated Journals Of Major Robert Rogers, published in 2002, remains in print. This new book will go much farther afield and cover not only Rogers’ companies, but the British-allied rangers of every colony, as well as those of Canada’s Maritime provinces. The concurrent conflicts with the Cherokees and the Indians of the Pontiac rising will also be included. Many long-neglected ranger battalions and companies, such as the mounted troops of South Carolina and Georgia, and rangers elsewhere in the South, Middle Colonies, and the North, will receive equal attention, much of the narrative drawn from fresh research and heretofore unpublished documents.
Many of these units will be illustrated for the first time. Other parts of the book will deal with the provincial and regular troops who served in the wilderness on ranger-like duty, and the Native Americans who also scouted and fought alongside their white counterparts.
There will also be an Appendix on ranger woodcraft, survival and fighting techniques, methods of building shelters in the forest, food eaten on the trail, weapons, clothing, concealment, and many other related subjects.
• I stumbled upon a stunning series of photographs of Mohawk Ironworkers — the men who worked the steel on Manhattan’s skyscrapers. It’s a kind of tribal trade, and it demands the same virtues as the Mohawks’ ancient warrior craft. The photographer is David Grant Noble and his website is here.
Photo Copyright © 2012 David Grant Noble
There’s a documentary series on the Mohawk Ironworkers, which is only right. I’ll have to run it down.
• Cowboys & Indians Magazine has a nice interview with Gil Birmingham, the First Nations actor who was such a compelling presence in Hell or High Water and Wind River. The man’s a real deal artist, a musician and (formerly) a bodybuilder as well as an actor.
This has nothing to do with me. This has to do with your ability to be a vehicle, so you can convey, in the most respectful and fruitful way, universal experiences. Sometimes experiences that you can’t even really fathom. But things that you know human beings really experience.
I like that.
I also get a kick out of the fact that he played Conan the Barbarian at the Universal Studios theme park in L.A. There’s obviously something to this Indian Conan thing…
• Ryan Condal, who is heading up the development of Amazon’s Conan the Barbarian series, likens Conan to “an Apache warrior, leaving his tribal lands.” Huh. OK. Conan is actually a pro-Celt, but we’ve seen that there is a certain affinity between the Celts and the native peoples of the Americas, right? So he’s not off the mark.
Condal reveals that the pilot episode will be The Frost Giant’s Daughter. He’s promising that Conan “purists” will be pleased. Well, if he makes a faithful adaptation without trying to “improve” the original, fix things that ain’t broken or provide an “origin story,” I will be pleased. I am (very) cautiously optimistic. The Howard Conan tales lend themselves well to TV — much moreso than the big screen. The original stories are episodic.
Our own John Maddox Roberts wrote one of the very best Conan pastiches. Methinks Condal ought to bring the old warrior back to the Hyborian Age and turn him lose on the scripts. What say ye, JMR?
I will be interested to see if Condal has the stones to resist altering these 1930s tales to pander to modern sensibilities. The Frost Giant’s Daughter will be a good test, because it is — predictably, if unnecessarily — controversial, involving as it does Conan’s mad, lustful pursuit of a beautiful spectral woman across the frozen Northland. The modern virtue-signaling criticism of the story rolls out exactly as you’d expect: It’s “rape-y.” Well, no, as the estimable Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward lay out cogently here. Read the story if you haven’t. (What? You haven’t?) You’ll get it. Let’s hope Condal does.
We’ll see.
• Speaking of Conan and Apaches, Tim Truman (who did a fine run on Conan for Dark Horse comics) and his son Ben have crushed their Kickstarter, which means that Scout:Maurader lives! Well done. I kicked at the $35 level and look forward to my rewards — and most of all, the story.
• And speaking of the frozen Northland, put this one in your ahhhhhhh…. file:
Stavanger Norway blood moon — Audun Gabrielsen Photography
- Clan Cornelius will be celebrating my birthday in November with the premier of Season 4 of Outlander. Regulators. Cherokee warriors. Yep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS3jdfZbDno
• I have never been to any kind of “Con” (as in convention). I envision such doings as rendezvous for various subcultures. (Come to think of it, that’s not exactly true — I attended Folk Alliance in Austin years ago with the Sisters Folk Festival. That probably counts). Anyway…
CombatCon looks like a hell of a hoot. I love it that martial artists and writers and history nerds have, over the past couple of decades, revived the European Martial Arts, returning the heritage of the sword to its proper dignity. A seminar on the tomahawk with Carmine Downey and Steve Huff sounds like fun…
The ancient art of the Tomahawk and knife has survived for thousands of years since the stone ax. Carmine Downey was trained in this art directly by Cherokee Indian Tribal members while serving in Special Forces and Steve Huff from the renowned Col. Dwight McLemore. They will bring you through the history, traditions and techniques which were (employed by) the premier warriors on the Eastern frontier.
There’s also a session on Viking Combatives titled The Joy of Seax, because who is gonna pass up that pun?
It looks like a lot of hands-on activity, and there’s a whole Writers Track for those trying to write realistically about combat. Cool, eh?
I don’t do too well with being confined to a hotel for long periods of time, and I don’t like Las Vegas, but damned if this doesn’t have a certain attraction…
Keith West says
A plethora of riches.
I am guardedly optimistic about the new Conan series. And I maintain he was under a spell in “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” and it isn’t really “rape-y” at all. But for some people, reading is hard. For further thoughts, see this post
http://adventuresfantastic.com/the-frost-king-the-frost-giant-and-their-daughters/
JimC says
Concur entirely. Thanks for the link.
H.P. @ Hillbilly Highways says
That ironworkers documentary looks great.
They are saying all the right things about Conan but I remain skeptical. The Frost-Giant’s Daughter is a tough one to adapt right out of the gate.
JimC says
True — which can militate either way. If they get that right in tone, the rest of it is likely to be on the mark; but they could be setting themselves up for a faceplant in the bloody snow.
Matthew says
I never considered “Frost Giant’s Daughter” all that offensive. It seem obvious that Conan was under a spell. The sword and sorcery story that really was rapey would be “The Sadness of the Executioner” by Fritz Leiber, one of his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories where the Mouser committed rape. It’s about where the series jumped the shark for me.
About Indian combatives I’ve heard that some of those tomahawk styles look similar Filipino martial arts. As in they are FMA but are called Indian styles.
JimC says
Interestingly — tellingly — many soldiers during the 1899-1902 war referred to Filipinos “Indians.” As in, “Boy, we killed a lot of Indians today.”
Matthew says
Well, some of these soldiers probably had frontier experience.
JimC says
Two of the major commanders, Adna Chaffee and Henry Lawton, were important figures in the 1880s Apache campaigns.
John C. says
Mohawk Ironworkers – was that the Trail of Tiers?
JimC says
O, bro…
John C. says
It had to be said. You just wish you had written it. 😉
lane batot says
Dang. I wish I had….
JimC says
You realize you are encouraging him…
lane batot says
Wow! LOT’S of good stuff! The Mohawk Iron Workers is rather Wolfen-esque, is it not? A good reason to stay up high!….. And as for the “- Cons”….GO! I had never done anything like that before I got the all-expenses-paid-celebrity-guest-speaker-guest deal at the Centennial Edgar Rice Burroughs celebration con-type scenario in L. A. back in 2012(Burroughs wrote the first Tarzan novel AND the first Mars novel back ion 1912…)–it was a BLAST! SUCH fun hanging out with the Burroughs geeks(of which I am one)–so much to see and do–but the BEST part is the neato people you meet and can relate to on common subjects. A real rarity for me! If you kin git summbody to feed the dog for ye– GO!
RLT says
“The Joy of Seax” sounds interesting…a lot of those dark age battles, especially the smaller ones, could be simulated by a couple dozen guys with butcher knives and leather jackets. Not pretty.
JimC says
Exactly — a Viking Age street fight, really.
john roberts says
I’m always open for a new gig.
Saddle Tramp says
Jim…
This was for RIR Podcast Six.
Tried posting on RIR but does not stick. When trying again it says it has already been said.
Also have tried posting on Craig’s BC recently and it never stuck either after several attempts. Hate to repeat myself, so I bailed out.
Glad to see others weighing in on what I would call THE SWEAT LODGE SESSIONS and also [ahem] where it appeared well advised to remain seated the entire time lest a compressed air snake bites you on the ass and takes your breath away. Yes Paul a few toes and finger triggers were stepped on and some feathers ruffled during this one. Never let it be said that RIR avoids controversy which can be quite problematic especially in smaller communities.
Great interview interlaced with some fine trail tales. My introduction to a devotee of the Oregon Trail was Ezra Meeker. I had stopped short of Chimney Rock and pulled into a RV Park and campground where there was a small store as well. I wanted to make sure I get park my rig near Chimney Rock. The map is not the road. During conversations with the proprietor I found out he was an amateur historian. He had a one page photocopy of a story written up about Ezra Meeker and the Oregon Trail. James Earle Fraser and his wife Laura Gardin Fraser designed the “Ezra Meeker” petioned Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollar. I stopped several times and climbed to the top of Indepence Rock in the middle of nowhere Wyomimg when I rode the Chief Washakie trail coming out of Rawlins to cut up through Casper and over into Deadwood. Wide open country. Sometimes I would go over through Fort Laramie and on over through Fort Robinson and the Sand Hills. Love the old trails…
Another great podcast with no whitewashed empty drivel…
Listening to the very raw blues of Charles Caldwell who in his own words said “I was the first negro in Yalobusha County to own a Cadillac. Don’t believe me, go to the courthouse and ask them for yourself.”
P.S. Just because you are paranoid does not mean you are [not] being followed. Maybe that was LBJ that said it. Not sure.
Another practical paranoia quote:
“Paranoia is just another mask for ignorance. The truth, when you finally chase it down is almost always far worse than your darkest visions and fears.”
— Hunter S. Thompson
JimC says
Thanks for alerting me to the problem — I’ll get Lynn on it.
Saddle Tramp says
Glad to see others weighing in on what I would call THE SWEAT LODGE SESSIONS and also [ahem] where it appeared well advised to remain seated the entire time lest a compressed air snake bites you on the ass and takes your breath away. Yes Paul a few toes and finger triggers were stepped on and some feathers ruffled during this one. Never let it be said that RIR avoids controversy which can be quite problematic especially in smaller communities.
Great interview interlaced with some fine trail tales. My introduction to a devotee of the Oregon Trail was Ezra Meeker. I had stopped short of Chimney Rock and pulled into a RV Park and campground where there was a small store as well. I wanted to make sure I get park my rig near Chimney Rock. The map is not the road. During conversations with the proprietor I found out he was an amateur historian. He had a one page photocopy of a story written up about Ezra Meeker and the Oregon Trail. James Earle Fraser and his wife Laura Gardin Fraser designed the “Ezra Meeker” petioned Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollar. I stopped several times and climbed to the top of Indepence Rock in the middle of nowhere Wyomimg when I rode the Chief Washakie trail coming out of Rawlins to cut up through Casper and over into Deadwood. Wide open country. Sometimes I would go over through Fort Laramie and on over through Fort Robinson and the Sand Hills. Love them old trails…
Another great podcast with no whitewashed empty drivel…
Listening to the very raw blues of Charles Caldwell who in his own words said “I was the first negro in Yalobusha County to own a Cadillac. Don’t believe me, go to the courthouse and ask them for yourself.”
P.S. Just because you are paranoid does not mean you are [not] being followed. Maybe that was LBJ that said it. Not sure.
Another practical paranoia quote:
“Paranoia is just another mask for ignorance. The truth, when you finally chase it down is almost always far worse than your darkest visions and fears.”
— Hunter S. Thompson