Buying Options

Kindle Price:	$6.85
	includes tax, if applicable

Redeem a promotion code or gift card

Share <Embed>

Wordslingers: An Epitaph for the Western by [Will Murray]

Follow the Author

Ray W. Murrill

Wordslingers: An Epitaph for the Western Kindle Edition

by Will Murray (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

8 ratings

See all formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$6.85

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$57.74

$47.56

—

The Writers of the Purple Wage have long since taken the last trail into dusty memory. But, now, they live again--to retell tall tales of those distant days when they helped forge the fabled West of American Imagination.

They’re all here!

* The POPULAR hacks!
* The SPICY bestsellers!
* The THRILLING myths!

Those amazing million-words-a-year men!
True Westerners born on the Range!
Broadway cowboys never West of Hoboken!

Join MAX BRAND, LUKE SHORT, JOHNSTON McCULLEY, ERNEST HAYCOX, WALT COBURN, FRANK GRUBER, RYERSON JOHNSON, & a hard-working, fast-drawing posse of freelance fictioneers!

And those two-fisted foremen of New York’s fiction factories–magazine editors FRANK BLACKWELL, ROGERS TERRILL, LEO MARGULIES, ROBERT LOWNDES & FANNY ELLSWORTH!

Together, IN THEIR OWN WORDS, these veteran pulpsters & others offer startling inside stories of how they created the mythology of the Golden West!

* Blazing action! Savage characterization! Real emotion!

Ride with the Old West’s top gunhands, greatest pulpsmiths & legendary brands.
From BUFFALO BILL, DEADWOOD DICK & HOPALONG CASSIDY to GUNSMOKE & LOUIS L’AMOUR, this is their saga.

Armed with forgotten interviews, controversial essays & candid letters first not seen in generations, acclaimed pulp historian Will Murray, author of The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage. reveals the epic life & frequent deaths of the Pulp West!

WORDSLINGERS: AN EPITAPH FOR THE WESTERN

Print length

470 pages
Language

English
Publication date

17 August 2013
File size

880 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00EN247DM
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Altus Press (17 August 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 880 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 470 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 1,117,457 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 204 in History & Criticism of Short Stories
- 7,402 in Literary Criticism & Theory (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
8 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Ray W. Murrill

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more

Customer reviews

5 star		60%
4 star		20%
3 star		20%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Dr. Karl Jürgen Roth

Für Freunde der Pulp Magazines ... unverzichtbar!

Reviewed in Germany on 12 July 2013

Verified Purchase

In "Wordslingers" geht's um den amerikanischen Western in gedruckter Form. Fast jeder klassische US-Western der 1920er bis 1950er Jahre erschien in einem der zahlreichen, preiswerten Pulp Magazines, die inzwischen längst wieder vom Markt verschwunden sind. Ihr stark holzhaltiges, leicht zerbröselnde Papier ist nur noch Nostalgikern ein Begriff.

Um so wichtiger ist es, dass Will Murray in vorliegender Untersuchung diesen Pulp-Western und ihren Verfassern eine umfangreiche Arbeit widmet. Er lässt sie alle (mit zeitgenössischen Äusserungen) zu Wort kommen, die Autoren, die Herausgeber und die Verleger. Dies ist lebendig und kurzweilig, aber vor allem erhellend und informativ, erlaubt es doch einen direkten Block auf die Produktionsverhältniss der Pulps, auf die von Herausgebern und Publikum gewünschten themenmässigen und inhaltlichen Schwerpunkte, auf die Verdienst- und Arbeitsmöglichkeiten der Autoren und vieles mehr. Gerade der teils anekdotenhafte Charakter der durchaus manchmal umfangreichen Zitate bietet Hintergrundinformationen, die bislang weitgehend unbekannt waren.

Murray geht in seiner Darstellung chronologisch vor. Er beginnt bei den Dime Novels - den Vorläufern der Pulp Magazines -, beschreibt dann den Übergang zum Pulpformat und den Wechsel der Moden in diesem Bereich. Es gab Phasen, in denen Magazine dominierten, in denen Geschichten aus dem Abenteuer-, Western- und KrimiMilieu in einem bunten Mix präsentiert wurden; dann wiederum gab es Zeiten in denen 'genrereine' Pulps (also z.B. nur mit Westerngeschichten) den Markt beherrschten, die sich teils noch in speziellere Untergenres aufspalteten. So wurde z.B. der Bereich der weiblichen Leser mit Magazinen wie "Ranch Romances" bedient oder die Freunde Alaskas und des kanadischen Norden konnten sich an Veröffentlichungen wie "North West Stories" erfreuen. Reine Magazine mit Indianergeschichten gab's dagegen selten, das kurzlebige "Indian Stories" war hier eine Ausnahme. Die Schilderung des Niedergangs der Pulp Magazines nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und der Aufstieg des Taschenbuch kündet schlieslich vom Ende einer Ära, die inzwischen weitgehend in Vergessenheit gerät.
Murray rundet sein Buch ab mit einer Porträtgalerie der wichtigsten Westernautoren der Pulps, wem bekannt ist, wie selten solche Fotos zum Teil sind, der kann empfinden, welche Arbeit hinter einem Werk wie "Wordslingers" steckt.

Seine Arbeit ist allerdings kein statistisches Werk, man findet keine ausführlichen Listen wer, wann welche Story, in welchem Magazin veröffentlicht hat - dies hätte auch viel zu weit geführt ...
Nachdem vor langem eine knappe Arbeit von John A. Dinan "The Pulp Western" (Neuausgabe 2004) auf den Markt gekommen war, bietet Murray jetzt zu meiner grossen Freude ein endlich einmal ein unverzichtbares Kompendium zu diesem Bereich der populären Unterhaltungsliteratur Amerikas. --- Fazit: Unbedingt zu empfehlen - gerade auch für Westernfreunde hierzulande!

Translate review to English

Joseph Wrzos

Will Murray, Saddling Up

Reviewed in the United States on 6 July 2013

Verified Purchase

I've always loved a good Western. Whether in the
now outmoded pulp magazines I read as a kid, or
the Old-Time radio shows (like GUNSMOKE or
THE LONE RANGER) we all listened to so
avidly back then, and, of course, wolfing down
loads of buttery popcorn, while watching Gary
Cooper's HIGH NOON on the silver screen, or
TV repeats of same, along with exciting new
shows like CHEYENNE and RAWHIDE. And
I've always wondered, especially of late, why
and whence this once highly popular genre
(in all the media) somehow quietly managed
to end us this side of Boot Hill.

Now, thanks to Will Murray's ambitious
and deftly documented WORDSLINGERS (what
a terrific title that is!), subtitled "An Epitaph
for the Western," at last we have some answers!
Thanks to lots of extensive reading, diligent
research, and canny culling of first sources -- not
only in the pulp Western magazines themselves,
but in collateral memoirs, letters, and articles
written by the original pulpsters, their editors
and agents themselves -- we have pertinent
and reliable data to work with.

Murray shows how, after the emergence of the
Western story in early novels like James Fenimore
Cooper's THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (featuring
Natty Bumppo) and in more literary treatments
by luminaries like Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and
Stephen Crane, genre quality dipped noticeably
with the wildly popular, but meretricious, cheaply
printed Dime Novels (such as BUFFALO BILL,
DIAMOND DICK, THE JAMES BOYS, and the like),
which proliferated at the turn of the century.
Followed, in the early 20th century, by the
emergence of better written, though often
formulaic yarns in all-Western pulps like
Street & Smith's WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE,
which became so popular that for a time it was
published weekly!

In quite illuminating and entertaining fashion,
Murray goes on (abetted by aptly chosen
quotes from major and minor practitioners
in the pulp Western and tangential fields),
to clarify at least my own concerns about the
demise of the genre. (Why? How? What really
happened?) And he does so most satisfyingly.
Which makes me pretty sure that even for
those with only a lapsed or passing interest
in the Western story, whether in pulp or
paperback form, on TV, or as an occasional
Hollywood big budget summer blockbuster -
like the latest remake of THE LONE RANGER,
in which a culturally updated Tonto gets the
best lines! - Will Murray's WORDSLINGERS,
for so many reasons besides genre interest,
would prove to be a most enjoyable and
highly informative read.

9 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Western Pulp History

Reviewed in the United States on 1 July 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a great book for anyone interested in the rise and fall of the western pulp magazines. Thoroughly researched and presented in an interesting, enjoyable way.

Charlie Aukerman

Highly recommended for pulp fiction fans

Reviewed in the United States on 30 April 2015

Verified Purchase

If you grew up in the pulp era, like I did, you'll remember that western pulps outnumbered all others on the newsstand. Will Murray explains why and illustrates how the pulp market worked for writers, some of whom became very well known through television and movie adaptations of their stories, and some of whom simply made a living and remained anonymous. This is a great reference book for anyone interested in the pulps or westerns in general.

Bruce Boxleitner

The best history I’ve ever read about the pulp fiction era

Reviewed in the United States on 7 March 2018

Verified Purchase

The best history I’ve ever read about the pulp fiction era. Will Murray, captures the era and the writers vividly. Bruce Boxleitner

Buying Options

Follow the Author

Wordslingers: An Epitaph for the Western Kindle Edition

Product details

About the author

Ray W. Murrill

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

Top reviews from other countries