Where You Really Need a Gun and a Horse

West of Dodge: Frontier Stories by Louis L'Amour
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my second book of Louis L'Amour short stories, and I enjoyed it just the same as the first. 4 stars.

These are stories written to entertain a reader. I like that. I thought for a long time that I didn't really like short stories because the type that tend to get included in magazines that I would try (science fiction, fantasy, and a few others) apparently tend toward the literary. I'd be looking for a beginning, middle, and end, and they'd have maybe one or two but not all three. Or they'd do any number of clever, stylistic things that didn't make for satisfying stories, IMO. Crucially, they just didn't feel like the books I enjoyed in the same genre.

L'Amour isn't like that; these stories are a lot like his novels. This is regular genre fiction, where the author gives you an entertaining story with one or two characters you can get interested in. You want to read for a few minutes before bed? These stories are perfect for that. You want to cheer for a kid trying to get ahead in a tough world? Or a grown man looking for a second chance? These are the stories. I don't think you even need to be very interested in the genre to like them. Westerns probably represent about 1% of my reading, but I like this.

(Why a 4, then, and not a 5? Seems like a fair number. I guess westerns are not exactly my thing, though I liked it quite a lot. Better than I might have guessed ahead of time. Others will maybe like it a little more or a little less.)

I guess what I'm saying is this: if you know of fantasy or SF or mystery authors with short stories like this--fun, short, plot-focused stories with satisfying endings and likable characters--I would appreciate a heads-up. :)

Recommended. (Another one of brother Jon's books.)

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