.jpg)
OK so 2026 is definitely a year I started exploring a genre I have never ever even approached before and that is western. In the past, I associated it with a pulp novels my stepfather used to read and I guess it fits with his generation (he was post WW2 child, raised on John Wayne movies) - honestly, before 2026 the only western novel I ever read was "Betty Zane" by zane Grey. Funny enough, as I started my reading in January 2026, it was exactly revisit to that same "Betty Zane" (a few decades later) that gave me lots of joy and inspired me to explore the genre a bit more. Being systematic Virgo as I am, I made a list of what are classic examples of the genre (in chronological order) and carefully started exploring some more. I suffered a bit trough now extremely dated writing style of both "The Virginian" (1902) and "Hopalong Cassidy 1: Bar-20" (1906) although I enjoyed them both once I disciplined myself into reading - I simply knew that I have to continue until I reach something published in more recent times. So I totally skipped 1920s (something to explore?) and jumped straight to 1930 when this novel was published.
Just as I expected, writing is much more to my liking and to be honest, this might be one of the most enjoyable westerns I have read so far in 2026. Even though Owen Wister and Clarence Edward Mulford are celebrated as classics of the genre, I doubt that anyone reads them for pleasure these days. Max Brand (the pseudonym used by writer Frederick Schiller Faust) on the other hand, is a full blown western pulp fiction told in a exciting, much more modern language (I didn't get a headache like previously with above mentioned novels) and therefore easier to follow. In fact, it was just a perfect escapism, with lots of posturing, shooting, horse riding and all.
Not to be confused with 1939. Hollywood movie of the same name, "Destry Rides Again" is basically a revenge novel, kind of western Count Monte Christo. At the very beginning we are introduced to swaggering and hotheaded Harrison Destry who is jailed for a crime he did not commit and the local jury of twelve men (all of them holding a grudge against him) sentence him to ten years in prison. Its clear they simply hate him for who he is and to be honest he was a troublemaker who loved to get drunk and fight, but surely this is not deserving ten years in prison. The novel really gets going when Destry gets out the jail and how he searches each single person from that jury to punish them for what they did to him. There is also a intriguing fact that the man he considers his best friend is secretly the main antagonist, so this works out very well. For once, we have no Indians, though they are some black slaves mentioned (in a extremely derogatory way that today we consider offensive, but it was obviously accepted in 1930). I enjoyed this a lot and read the book in a short period of time. I am also glad that I left the historical ancestors behind and now arrived at the point where I can easily follow the language. It's not a high literature, but a very very pleasant pulp fiction and a pure escapism.
