Customer Reviews

Where the Long Grass Blows

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This 1976 western from Louis L'Amour started its life in a September, 1949, pulp magazine and was later expanded and changed somewhat into novel form. The author name used for the pulp story was 'Jim Mayo', a name Louis used long before he began using his real name.

The original story was set in Nevada where the Ruby Hills are located, they soar upwards of 11,000 feet. This was an area of active mining and cattle ranching. With this setting in mind, Louis L'Amour wrote his 1949 pulp story for WEST magazine, giving the name of Ross Haney to his main character. Ross Haney later became the Bill Canavan of the novel. The plot has to do with land settlement and development, especially with Bill Carnavan having the desire to have a ranch of his own. When he stakes claims to do so several ranchers turn against him. In spite of changing Levitt's fiance's name from Sherry Vernon to Dixie Venable in this longer version, both stories still remain pretty much the same.

Readers wishing to read the complete, original story may still do so in Louis' book entitled THE RIDER OF THE RUBY HILLS, a book containing four magazine articles all of which later were reworked into full blown novels.

This novel, WHERE THE LONG GRASS BLOWS reads much better than the magazine story as a more skilled Louis L'Amour did the writing and the story is more fleshed out than the earlier 1949 pulp magazine story. For true L'Amour fans reading both will be very instructive.

Semper Fi.

Quite enjoyed this one, the cards were on the table almost right from the start. Bill Canavan rides into town, on the way he meets the feisty girl he wants to marry - and races her and her horse Flame, Winning as well.

She is daughter of one of the clans who are controlling things thereabouts. The other clan is headed by Reynolds, a man with a very unsavoury past which Canavan knows well enough - and when challenged lets everyone else know about it as well.

Canavan, however, knows sometihng none of them know - he has staked out or bought all the water rights thereabbouts - and there is going to be big trouble brewing - Canavan is the man to handle it though.

Wry humour, tough action and some good western reading. L'amour does a rollicking good yarn.

No one's reviewed this, and probably no one will see this review! As much as any thing, this is probably a result of L'Amour's amazing productivity.

I came late to the Western genre somewhat by accident, at age 56. I think I have a detached view. I started with L'Amour, as perhaps most neophytes do, because he has so many titles out there and everyone has heard of him. His stories are good, as is this one; a tale of a man who comes to the lawless valley with a mission to establish himself and confound the villains while doing so. It has a couple of clear flaws, though, the main one being a seemingly tacked-on late bit about a smuggling operation. But it's sound, and of course the protagonist succeeds. L'Amour has good detail and atmosphere. He tends to have sentimental passages about the west, manhood, morality, etc. here and in all his books. Not that the subjects are at all questionable, but they tend to be in didactic passages in the protagonist's thoughts rather than arising from the art of the story itself.

L'Amour is a good starting point in the genre. He is a solid 3 to 3 1/2 star writer. This is praise, not condemnation. But there are many better Western writers to go for, while time's a wastin', Elmore Leonard for just one.