At the movies.

One of my favorite movies, and certainly one of my favorite Westerns, is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

I am fully aware that it bends and twists history until reality is unidentifiable, and faithfulness to actual events is lacking. Still, it does have some basis in fact. And, let’s face it, it’s not as if even the most studied scholars and historians agree about the exploits and adventures, the villainy and vices, the lives and deaths of Robert LeRoy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh.

What do I like about the movie? For one thing, it’s funny, and humor is one thing that’s sadly lacking in Old West film and fiction. The picture above portrays the climax of one of the movie’s most hilarious moments, Butch and Sundance’s escape from a persistent posse by leaping from a cliff to a river below following a furiously funny debate. Then there’s the fact that the actors, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, are masters of the craft and their partnership here, as well as in The Sting, is inspired given the on-screen chemistry between them. And it’s well written and well-directed. Finally, much of the movie was shot in and around my home state of Utah, showcasing the wild beauty of our varied landscape.

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I last loaded up the DVD a few months ago. And it won’t be too many months before I see it again.

 

Dateline: My House

 

SANDY, UTAH: Work proceeds apace at writer Rod Miller’s desk. The author recently shipped With a Kiss I Die off to Five Star Publishing. The novel follows the star-crossed love story of a young emigrant girl from Arkansas and a Mormon boy from Utah Territory, and events leading up to the historic Mountain Meadows Massacre. Given publishing schedules, the book is not expected to see the light until 2023.

In other news, Five Star Publishing recently completed the cover design for the writer’s forthcoming release, And the River Ran Red. This novel is also based on Western history and tells the story of the Massacre at Bear River, the deadliest slaughter of American Indians by the US Army in the history of the West.

But not all the writing news is related to tragic historic massacres. Miller just finished proofing page galleys for the paperback and ebook release of the hilarious Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award-winning and Western Writers of America Spur Award finalist novel, Rawhide Robinson Rides the Tabby Trail: The True Tale of a Wild West CATastrophe, soon to be released by Speaking Volumes. That publisher also revealed the cover design for Rawhide Robinson Rides a Dromedary: The True Tale of a Wild West Camel Caballero, a finalist for the WWA Spur and Western Fictioneers Peacemaker awards. Both comic novels should hit the shelves, physical and digital, any day now.

On schedule for release in early 2022 from Five Star is a novel by Miller that has already been labeled a “frontier classic,” All My Sins Remembered. Finally—for now—This Thy Brother, a sequel to his 2018 Peacemaker finalist, Father unto Many Sons, is expected for release by Five Star in the fall of 2022.

Read all about writer Rod Miller’s fiction, history, poetry, and magazine work at www.writerRodMiller.com and www.RawhideRobinson.com.

Rawhide Robinson Rides On.

Rawhide Robinson—that ordinary cowboy who often finds himself involved in the extraordinary—has been good to me.

In his first appearance, Rawhide Robinson Rides the Range: True Adventures of Bravery and Daring in the Wild West, he won a Western Writers of America Spur Award. For his second novel, Rawhide Robinson Rides the Tabby Trail: The True Tale of a Wild West CATastrophe, he was a Spur Award Finalist and won a Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award.

I’m happy to announce that our cowboy hero will be back. I recently received signed contracts from Five Star Publishing for Rawhide Robinson Rides a Dromedary: The True Tale of a Wild West Camel Caballero.

As you no doubt discern from the title, the adventure that’s the basis for this book has to do with camels. It was inspired by and is loosely—very loosely—based on the US Army’s attempt to acquire and employ camels in the southwestern deserts back in the nineteenth century.

In its pages, Rawhide Robinson finds himself sailing the high seas, experiencing exotic Levantine ports of call, and forking a camel in the Texas outback. Of course Rawhide Robinson wouldn’t be Rawhide Robinson if he didn’t spend time around the campfire spinning tales about his supposed adventures and escapades.

No release date as yet. I’ll keep you informed.

Reviewing Rawhide Robinson.

Rawhide Robinson is riding high in my new novel, Rawhide Robinson Rides the Tabby Trail.

“Best of the West” reviewer Rick Huff says, in part, “Hope yer hankerin’ fer another of award-winning poet/author Rod Miller’s tall tales…or should that be ‘tails’? If anyone could be up to actually herdin’ cats, who better than Miller’s redoubtable creation Rawhide Robinson…. Along the way we get more of the kind of campfire wild ragging from Rawhide we discovered in his previous volume…. The plot gets deeper (well, somethin’ sure does) as we pussyfoot down the trail.”

Rick Huff’s reviews appear in Western Way magazine, on CowboyPoetry.com, and in various other places around the globe and throughout the universe.

Give Rawhide Robinson Rides the Tabby Trail a read—it’s good for a grin. Check your local library. Or, you can order the book from any bookstore or online.

Watch the 38-second video for some burning questions about the book and our cowboy hero on YouTube or my Amazon Author Page.

“Old Rivet” goes barefoot.

Cowboy Poetry recently lost one of its guiding lights with the death of Don Kennington. Don was a fine writer, a fine reciter, and a fine cowboy. And a fine human being by any measure.

Don and his brother Phil were sources of inspiration and information when I first thought to write poems, and were unfailing in the kindness and assistance they offered me. I suspect others feel the same.

While Don penned a passel of outstanding poems, I would venture to guess his most popular is “Shoeing Old Rivet.” I saw Don recite it many, many times—usually at the request of the audience—and it never failed to bring tears to the eyes of most in attendance, because the poem is so darn funny you laugh till you cry.

Unlike the rhyming punch-line jokes so many reciters try to pass off as poetry, “Shoeing Old Rivet” is an ongoing stream of humor, wit, wordplay, and clever turns of phrase embedded in a story with real depth and meaning hiding behind all the funny.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing “Shoeing Old Rivet” recited by others in days and years to come. But as far as I’m concerned, Old Rivet will go barefoot from now on, as no one else will be able to tack shoes on that horse the way Don did.