A group reading experience of The Woodstove Whittlers and Wrangling Association
By now you old-timers know about the Spur & Lock Mercantile and Sundries Emporium reading group, The Woodstove Whittlers and Wrangling Association, and how some members are partial to the writing of Lewis B. Patten, in particular his action-driven narratives and hard-nosed characters. Those in the group who hold a differing opinion argue that Patten is a plot-dependent hack who couldn’t vary his characterizations if his Stetson depended on it. (Among those disagreeing were Buell, oldest of the Barlow brothers, and Burl, second oldest of the Barlow brothers. This discussion marked Burl's first participation with the group, and it may be his last -- during the course of things Burl flung down his whittling stick and said, "There's no use talking about any of this dang stuff, 'cause the only book ever worth reading outside the Bible is Shane, so why am I sitting around trying to talk some sense to you knotheads?" Fortunately Renee Husky, wife of WWWA member Adolphus, arrived about that time with a banana pudding fresh from the oven, and these minor disagreements were forgotten -- or at least smoothed over -- in the rush to collect bowls and spoons.)
The convivial fussing has mellowed with the spring weather and the blooming coneflowers, but with the season's rising temperatures, tempers have flared once or twice. (Fortunately no one has thrown the lemonade pitcher at anyone else, but one sneaky reader -- no one saw who, but general opinion leans toward Aloysius Clayton being the guilty party -- plucked half a squeezed lemon from the pitcher and beaned fellow book clubber Pickle Pennington behind the ear the other day. Self-service for lemonade was therefore suspended until all group members signed a no-fingers-in-the-lemonade pledge.)
The WWWA decided to try some short stories by Patten to see if anyone might be swayed to another opinion. Blame for Patten’s erratic quality was laid to his prolific manner, because he had written as many as three and five books a year during his prime, according to Jon Tuska’s introductory passages in a recent Leisure Books edition of Patten’s work. So the group took up Ride the Red Trail, a Leisure Book with three Patten stories from the late pulp period. The first of the stories in that book is “Summer Kill,” from the October 1953 issue of Triple Western, published by Best Communications, Inc., and that’s where the WWWA started.
Patten’s novels usually have a hard-boiled element similar to that in the stories of Luke Short. (Burl commented that Short is "another trashy writer," which prompted his brother Buell to stomp his heel on the toe of brother Burl's shoe. A fraternal dustup ensued, but calm was restored when the two Barlows were seated in chairs separated by several other reading group members.) The same hard-boiled quality is evident in “Summer Kill.” This story also contains an element of sexuality not evident in the novels so far encountered by the reading group. It’s fairly blatant -- more so than the Mercantile is used to seeing in pulp western stories. (Further discussion didn't continue until Renee Husky had left the store.) But this story first saw print in 1953, and its sexual content was likely influenced by the hard-boiled crime and detective fiction so popular at the time. In “Summer Kill,” tough ranch owner Ben Malloy is rumored to rely on his house keeper, Sarah, for more than just washing windows. Midway through the story, Sarah is revealed to be meeting Phil, one of Ben’s sons, secretly, and there’s a steamy scene where the two go skinny dipping before rushing off to the woods for more than just drying off. ("This sure ain't Shane," was muttered more than once by Burl.) All the male characters seem to have hungry eyes for whatever female happens to be around, and this tendency causes some tension between Ed, Ben’s other son, and a young woman he hires as a housekeeper to replace Sarah after Ben is murder.
For it is the killing of Ben that launches the plot. Ben learns that Lenny, his bookkeeper, has been cooking the books, and Lenny murders the ranch boss. The story thus leans heavily on the crime fiction genre, as Ed takes over the narrative as the primary character seeking clues to his father’s death.
The plot thickens when the family lawyer, Forsberg, learns the truth about Lenny. Forsberg, unknown to the Malloys, holds the mortgage on the ranch; he sees the murder -- and his ability to blackmail Lenny -- as a way to finally gain control of the ranch and the power that comes of land ownership in the region. He then plots the murder of Ed by hiring a gunslinger.
This condensed description sounds like Patten has written a whirlwind narrative. On the contrary, this story seems to mosey along rather slowly compared to the incident-driven narratives in Patten’s slim novels. At about page 90, the action kicks in. Lenny gets worried when Forsberg doesn’t show up for Ben’s funeral, and determines the lawyer is preparing to reveal the bookkeeper’s guilt; he bolts from the funeral party when he sees Ed gallop away on horseback instead of head to the graveyard after the ceremony.
Ed had planned to meet Forsberg outside of town, but instead encounters the lawyer’s hired gun. After exchanging shots, Ed is wounded, then chases the gunman to the ranch on horseback. He’s followed by Lenny. At the ranch, the gunman hooks up with Forsberg. More shooting ensues, with a horse and others killed, and Ed badly wounded. By the time the dust settles on page 110, the guilt is determined, the ranch is safe, and Ed’s new housekeeper has agreed to be his wife. Their last-scene kiss seems rather chaste after the lewd grimaces and sexy scenes appearing earlier in the story.
The Mercantile readers were divided on this story -- no surprise there -- with some saying the story moved too slowly and was too blatantly padded for the author’s monetary gain. Others said the slam-bang shootout finish had enough death and destruction to redeem the rest of the story. Two readers -- Burl (of course) and Waldo Grinter -- got in a name-calling contest when one said there was too much sex and the other said it didn’t have enough. When Burl shouted that there's no dirty sex in Shane, Waldo agreed, but pointed out the sexual tension between Shane and the boy-narrator's momma. Burl said, "That's a dirty lie!" At that point I threw two whole lemons and beaned both knotheads to shut up their caterwauling. Order semi-regained, the WWWA decided it would have to read more by Patten before the membership settled the matter of his worth once and for all.
(c) Duane Spurlock
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Links:
Ride the Red Trail is available from Amazon.com. Click here to learn more and purchase.
There are multiple editions of Burl's favorite novel, Shane, but click here to visit Amazon for the popular paperback edition with the perennial cover illustration by the great pulp magazine artist Earl Mayan. And Amazon has an entire section devoted to Burl's other favorite book, The Bible -- click here to see more.
Posted by ds at May 4, 2007 07:36 AM
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