Howdy, gang! Nick Nethery here. I’m back from my vacation in beautiful Scotland. Kilts! Scotch! Highlands! Castles! Haggis! Fried Mars Bars!
Nothing can last forever, though, and I’m back in the word mines. First order of business this week is putting the Wyrd West anthology to bed. Ordering the stories made me feel like a record producer putting an album’s songs in the proper sequence to maximize emotional connection. Luckily, I have experienced hands at Raconteur that I can ask for advice, during the six minutes a day that I’m allowed to remove my ball gag.
This will be the first anthology with a shiny new feature. I won’t spill the beans, but suffice it to say that I’m looking forward to seeing the reactions as readers discover it.
In the spirit of great westerns, what’s your favorite recent western movie, show or book that is underrated or should have been a bigger hit? I love the Christian Bale version of 3:10 to Yuma, the largely unnoticed movie Slow West, and the Netflix series Godless. What are your favorites? Answer in the comments.
There are some other projects on the docket, as well, such as the Malta books reissue. I’m working on one of those, and it’s fun rereading some of the back catalogue as I go. We are also in later stages of planning and prep for our convention schedule for the coming con season, and I am happily anticipating being corporeally present for some of these gatherings. Wunderbar!
On a personal note, now that Wyrd West is almost complete, I’m also working on my own entries for future anthologies.
Although things have been going well and I can’t complain about work conditions, I will, anyway. Below are some more quality of life issues that I’ve tried to address through the Complaint Box Ian put in the breakroom. Unfortunately, I keep hurting myself on all the barbed wire, and if I lose any more blood, I’ll start to get loopy.
-I don’t mind having to dig my own latrine, but I would prefer not to be forced to dig with my only spoon.
-The branded Raconteur shirts make me feel like part of the team, but why is mine the only one made of hair?
-I noticed while doing my change of address form that my HR file has something called a “Death and Dismemberment Waiver” in it that has my signature, but I definitely never signed anything like that. Can someone explain this to me?
That’s all for now. Good talk, I’ll see you out there!
-Nick
The Original Intern Steve
I feel for you in all the problems you are having at work. Good news is that if you carefully unravel that hair shirt, you can twist them all back together to make the spring action for a small catapult! And if you are careful, you can wind the barbed wire in a ball to be used with the catapult.....
Anyway, in answer to your question about underrated westerns: I've been a big fan of the 98/99 Magnificent Seven tv series - it only ran for 2 seasons, but the actors had a good rapport. Though the fan fiction for the series is infinitely better than the show itself.....
The family channel in the late 80's had a series called Bordertown that I still greatly enjoy. Each episode was only in a 30 minute slot, so about 20 minutes or so with commerical breaks, but it was a really well written series and I watch it now wondering what the writers and actors could have done if they had had more time.
There is also an old gem of a tv show I ran across a few years back called Laredo. It ran in the mid 60's and was overshadowed by some of the bigger shows, but Laredo is well worth watching for the great humor of the cast, including William Smith, Peter Brown, and Neville Brand.
As for western movies, I can suggest a lesser known Randolph Scott movie called Ride Lonesome that also co-stars Pernell Roberts. And if you want a lesser known Aussie western from down under, try out the Wrangler staring Jeff Fahey!
They gave you a spoon? Are Ian and Jonna going soft?