Interview: David Robbins

My third interview is with author David Robbins, who has written in a number of different genres but mainly he writes westerns. In fact he has had around 250 books published, with many more to come, under a variety of pseudonyms so chances are you may have read some of his work without realising it.

First David, I want to thank you for agreeing to answer my questions.

You're most welcome.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

When I was 11 I taught myself to type on an old Royal manual and churned out short stories. That's when the muse took serious hold.

What was the first novel you had published and if this wasn’t a western what was your first western?

BLOOD CULT was the first novel. My first Western was a PREACHER'S LAW fill-in. The editor liked it so much he asked me to do more Westerns.

How many books did you write before the first was accepted for publication.

The first book I submitted was published and every one since except for one.

Which writers influence you?

As in current tense? None. I write 'me'. If you mean from the past, the list is legion.

Don't misconstrue. There are many currrent writers I like greatly. But not in the sense that they mold my work.

In terms of craft, Hemingway and Poe are worth noting. Hemingway not for the way he wrote but in the ideal he strove to attain. Poe for the elements he espoused in THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION.

In terms of Westerns, Owen Wister, Zane Grey, L'Amour, Jack Schaefer, the list could go on and on.

So many fine writers tell fine stories. It's a shame so many of those stories are lost in the mists of time.

You’ve written in other genres such as sci-fi (Endworld), adventure (Executioner) and horror novels but is there a particular genre you’d like to write in that you haven’t yet?

Is there a million-dollars-a-book-genre? :)

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

No.

You’ve written the non-fiction book Heavy Traffic, was this as enjoyable to write as fiction?

Absolutely. I've done other non-fiction, magazine articles and the like.

Do you wish you had more say in the covers that appear in your books?

Show me a writer who doesn't. :)

Seriously, there have been covers that make you go, 'Huh?'

What led you to write westerns and what appeals to you about the genre?

I was weaned on Westerns. Back in my day, they ruled the entertainment roost. With my farm and later ranch experience, it was a natural fit.

As Owen Wister’s The Virginian was such a successful book, often referred to as a western classic, was it difficult to write the sequel, The Return of the Virginian, as it would probably be measured against that great novel, and how did the opportunity to do this come about?

I enjoyed the experience immensely. My goal was always to have the two be seamless. In that I succeeded except in one respect that nags at me to this day. Still, it got a lot of positive response. As for how it came about, it was another case of someone knowing my work and liking it.

How important is historical accuracy in westerns?

These days in some quarters it has almost become a mantra. Personally I like to see stories steeped in the history they flesh out.

You’ve had a few books published under the Ralph Compton name (twelve to date) but what is your opinion on keeping dead authors alive by having someone write new books under their name, like is happening with Ralph Compton and William Johnstone?

They are cash cows for the publishers and serve a crucial need for writers; work.

How much research did writing the Davy Crockett series (as by David Thompson) involve?

It was typical. I read everything on him I could find, from his own narratives to contemporary accounts to the latest research. Since I was a Disney Davy way back when, it was fun.

I’d like to see your White Apache series brought back so you can tie up all the hanging plot threads left dangling when Leisure cut all their western series but one. Any chance of that happening?

As Sean Connery will tell you, 'never say never'. :)

The series Leisure continued to publish is Wilderness, that you write as David Thompson – to my knowledge the longest, still being published, western series by a single author. It seems sales of this series are increasing all the time so what do you think it is about these books that appeals to the readers.

Pardon the mixing of metaphors, but the series might aptly be described as a melding of VAN HELSING and Shakespeare, with a generous dollop of DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

As for the increase, that's explained by the fact the ladies have discovered it. WILDERNESS is very female-friendly. :)

Have you listened to any of the audio books of the Wilderness series and what do you think of them and audio books in general?

I've listened to some and liked them. Audio books are great. They take you back a bunch of decades to something called 'radio'. :)

You’ve probably written more Trailsman books (over seventy) than any other author except Jon Messman – and this would apply to the Wilderness series too – how do you continue to come up with fresh plots for them?

I follow Poe's dictum referred to above.

Basically, take a plot, invert, misdirect, and play ring-a-round to avoid predictability, then throw yourself off a cliff as a form of creative Hail Mary.

Is it easier to write a series where you are the only author as opposed to a shared series?

From a continuity perspective. But then, when I'm part of a stable, I concentrate on what the editor wants 'me' to do, and not on what anyone else is doing unless the editor wants us to talk the series over, which rarely happens.

Which of your westerns would you recommend to someone who hasn’t read any of your work yet and why?

WILDERNESS, first and foremost.

Among the Compton's, FOR THE BRAND, NOWHERE, TX, RIO LARGO and the not my title BLOOD DUEL are pretty entertaining.

Which western writers would you recommend?

Today or yesteryear or all time?

The current WWA roster has some terrific writers putting out terrific tales. Kelton, Sherman, Brandvold, Richards, Butts---I could go on and on. There are some outside the WWA also doing stellar stories.

As for my list of must-read fiction Westerns ever: THE VIRGINIAN, SHANE, TRUE GRIT, and THE U.P. TRAIL

Which past western would you like to see back in print and why is this?

Oh, geez. Just Westerns? You're already aware of a pet passion of mine, namely, all the outstanding writers who have fallen by the cultural wayside. Great writers from any given decade, many giants in their time, no longer read.

I'd like to see---and we will, thanks to Leisure---the rerelease of books on which major Western films were based. I'd like to see the rerelease of not just classics, but books that went beyond the pale of normalcy.

Next April sees the re-launch of your Endworld series after an eighteen year gap, and hopefully it’ll be as successful as it was then, but are then any new westerns, other than the series you’re writing for now, to be on the look out for?

New WILDERNESS, new COMPTON'S, new TRAILSMAN. Other stuff is in the works but not necessarily Westerns.

What do you think of the western genre today and what do you think the future holds for the western?

Western writers today have it extraordinarly rough. Not only is the Western genre's share of the market one of the smaller slices of the publishing pie, but they must also contend with the Western equivalent of Moby Dick in the form of L'Amour. He dominates the genre to such an extent that it's not uncommon to see a single bookcase devoted to Westerns at a given bookstore, with two or three of the six or seven shelves devoted solely to him.

For the genre to survive it must adapt. You've noticed how drasically different the market is today than, say, back in the '60's. The days where the 'gunslinger' novels predominated are gone.

Not that there isn't a market for them. Look at L'Amour. Many of his are just that---and at the same time, more.

Diversity has become a key element. The Western umbrella now covers everything from those gunslingers to travelogues of the West.

The core of the market, the traditional Western, has a future to the degree it entertains current sensibilities.

What is your favourite western movie and why?

SHANE. It typifies yet exalts the classic elements.

Finally, what do you read for pleasure?

Everything.

Morgan Kane #23

DUEL IN TOMBSTONE

as by Louis Masterson

Corgi, 1974 - originally published in Norway, 1968.

Only the legendary Wyatt Earp and his men had tamed the bloodiest territory in the West – Tombstone, Arizona. But now Earp was gone, his men scattered and living peaceful lives, the vermin were crawling back – outlaws for whom Tombstone was a haven from the law with the Mexican border nearby and the mountains to hole up in…

The day Morgan Kane rode into town as the new U.S. marshal a local newspaper reporter named “Red Kate” Coleman offered to write his obituary. But Kane had a lot more to worry about than a spiteful woman out for revenge. In every dark alley, on every rooftop was a gun waiting to shoot him down. Some of the most infamous outlaws in the old West had taken a liking to Tombstone and they weren’t about to give it up again without a fight…

The Morgan Kane books still rank as one of my favourite western series of all time, and this tale didn’t change my mind, even if Louis Masterson (Kjell Hallbing) has taken a few liberties with who was in Tombstone and when, and who killed who.

The book is set about five years after Earp left Tomsbstone and many famous names appear in the fast moving story, Buckskin Frank Leslie and John Ringo being two killed by Kane. There’s loads of action and well-drawn characters - most of which are bad, even the law. Kane has to take them on with only the help of fellow lawman Neal Brown and newspaperman John C. Clum.

If you can find a copy it’s well worth a look.

Longarm and the Valley of Skulls

as by Tabor Evans

Jove, October 2008

A Longarm Giant Novel

Up in the Owl Creek Mountains, Wyoming Territory, lies a wretched place the Indians call Valley of Skulls. Settlers there have a whole heap of bad luck – including a posse of hooded killers – which is why Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long is stepping in…

Travelling to the valley, Longarm keeps company with the local Indian agent’s sister. Soon they reach the valley and it’s all business – bloody business. Because now Longarm’s to-do list includes taking a slimy rancher down a peg and finding this elusive posse – before they find him…

James Reasoner – writing as Tabor Evans – continues his, very welcome, idea of including characters from long-gone western series in his giant Longarm novels.

Here we have the return of Easy Company, nearly all the soldiers from that series have a role to play in this book, and from one of James’ own series we find out what became of Fury.

It’s mainly Longarm and Easy Company that take centre stage here, and James writes a chapter or two about one and then switches to the other, as both follow different trails that will bring them together at the Valley of Skulls. It’s here they will team up with John Fury too.

The book has everything you’d expect from James Reasoner, a fast moving story, loads of action, and a few twists and surprises along the way. James also includes a number of characters that’ll keep you guessing as to whether they are who they say they are and to their part in the plot.

If you’re a fan of Longarm, Easy Company or Fury then this is a must read but to be honest I’d say all western fans should find this a highly entertaining read.

Me? I’m already looking forward to James’ next Giant Longarm novel.

Blade of Vengeance

as by Dave Armstrong

A Black Horse Western from Hale, 1991

Judge McShane fears for his life as a man who had declared he would kill him has just been released from prison. Slash Harmon has his favourite weapon, a lethal Bowie knife, and a gang of hired killers to help make good his threat. All that stands between the judge and his would be killers are his drunken son, his son’s beautiful wife, Cassandra, a faithful old negro servant, an old dog - and one other...Art Adams, a lawman sent by the state governor. Adams could possible match Harmon’s skill with a knife but are the odds too great even for him?

This book is action packed from the word go, every chapter containing its fair share of violence. Harmon makes for an excellent villain who might or might not be behind the attempts on the judges’ life. There’s also a tangle of a love story as Cassandra and Adams find themselves strongly attracted to each other. Then there’s an Indian prowling around wanting to kill Adams.

I found this to be a very entertaining read, even though it was obvious from the start that Adams and Harmon would eventually face each other in a knife fight. The story raced to it’s violent conclusion which sprang a surprise or two as too the fate of a couple of the characters.

This book will have me keeping an eye out for more of Dave Armstrong’s work.

Rogue Lawman #3

 COLD CORPSE, HOT TRAIL

by Peter Brandvold

Berkley, April 2007

Ex-Deputy U.S. Marshal Gideon Hawk gives some bounty hunters a lethal lesson in how reputations are made. This leads to him being stuck with a beautiful prostitute who he is more than happy to leave with a troop of soldiers. These soldiers are also minding payroll money and a blaze of gunfire proves things are not what they appear to be. Now Hawk will make it a personal mission to make the bushwhackers pay the only way he knows how – with their lives.

This is the third book to feature Gideon Hawk and like those before it the story is filled with bloody violence. Each chapter throws up another deadly confrontation for Hawk.

Peter Brandvold’s work reminds me more of spaghetti westerns than those put out by Hollywood. They’re savage, brutal and paint vivid images. Most of his characters are strong, often without morals. In this book this is balanced by the inclusion of Lieutenant Primrose, a man sworn to capture and bring to legal justice the men who stole the payroll he was guarding. His duty, as he sees it, bringing him into conflict with the man he rides with, Gideon Hawk.

If fast moving, very violent, westerns are your preferred choice then you can’t go wrong with this book.

Interview: Tony Masero

The second interview to appear here is not with an author but an artist. For those who may not be as familiar with his name as western readers in the UK, Tony Masero's work appeared on two of the longest running western series produced in the UK. His work fronted many other books too. Tony has also been kind enough to share with us a new painting of a well known western character he did for his own amusement, you'll find this at the end of the interview.

Let me begin by thanking you for agreeing to this interview Tony, and providing some scans of the original artwork to help illustrate it.

My pleasure.

How old were you when you fist decided you wanted to make painting your career?

Well, I was born the son of an artist. My father, Gino Masero was a woodcarver and he put a pencil in my hand at a very early age so I guess it was somewhat pre-determined from those childhood days.

Was painting book covers an area you wanted to break into and how did you end up working for NEL (New English Library)?

It’s a strange story really. In 1960 I started at Hornsey College of Art in London after leaving school and studied Graphic Design there. Always being better at drawing than design, about half way through I decided I preferred Illustration to Graphics and asked the headmaster if I could change my course. With all the wonderfully encouraging and farsighted attitude that one could expect from the teaching profession in the sixties I was told I’d never make an illustrator. Not a chance, old boy. Guess I spent the next few years trying to prove him wrong.

I was pretty determined and eventually after some years working as a designer I packed it in and prepared some sample illustrations and hawked them around. It took a long time but eventually cracked it with NEL who were producing a great deal of pulp fiction at the time. It was a wonderful launching pad for an illustrator as one had to turn your hand to many different subjects and styles. A good training ground.

Do you find a particular medium reproduces better than another when going through the printing process, for instance acrylics rather than oils?

In commercial illustration, in the days before computer technology took over, it was quite often a matter of speed. Either to meet tight deadlines or, more basically, to earn more money. I started off by using mainly gouache for very tight, bright artwork. Later I moved to acrylics mainly for their quick drying capacity and finally oils which I found worked particularly well for skin tones. In the end it was often a mix of all three. Gouache dries rapidly but smudges if you’re not careful. Acrylic dries quickly and is a hard wearing medium. Oils take a long time to dry unless you mix a drying medium with them but this can alter the texture of the paint.

Did you begin to use an airbrush on the backgrounds of your later western covers?

Yes, once again speed played a part. The airbrush coats an area with a perfect graduation and it thankfully took over from the days when I used a lino cutting ink roller and two shades of colour to achieve a graduated sky as I did in many of the ‘Black Slaver’ series.

How big is the original artwork for a paperback novel?

It varies. As long as the artwork is in correct proportion to the jacket size it doesn’t matter. Obviously the bigger the artwork is, on reduction, the better it looks. The early Edge and Steele were about 15” x 10” but later some were produced at 30” x 20” size.

Did you have an interest in westerns before you started painting western covers or was it a case of, ‘I’ll painted anything as I need the money’?

Oh, big fan of western movies from early days. Still am.

The main western covers you are known for are those for George G. Gilman’s books. You took over as the artist for these series after they’d been running for a while so I guess you had to keep the look of Edge and Steele as created by the previous artists?

That’s certainly the case with the Edge series. With Steele I was allowed a freer hand. How the Eastwood look came about is quite funny really. I had done some samples for another Western series called ‘Herne the Hunter’ and my artwork ideas were rejected by the publisher. When the series eventually came out I saw that the chosen illustrator had used Clint as his basis for the character - so I thought, well, if he can get away with it why not me! And that’s how Steele got his look, only changing when Terry decided to give him a beard. Which, by the way, was a swipe from Sean Connery in ‘Robin and Marion’.

How did you decide on the content of the covers? Were you sent a synopsis of the story or discuss your ideas for the covers with Terry Harknett (George G. Gilman)?

Usually I received a brief synopsis and based the artwork around that although on some particular occasions I did discuss with Terry. For instance when he produced the Civil War trilogy and the beard thing. Terry was always very flexible and could integrate my visual ideas into his novels without a problem, working with him always went very smoothly.

Did painting western covers involve a lot of research to get details correct, such as clothing and weapons?

Every Illustrator had a huge library of reference and I was no exception. In those days you could buy model weapons quite easily - then villains started adapting them as usable firearms or as fakes in robberies so they no longer became available. Movie stills were a great resource and I also used a lot of self produced photographic reference. Polaroids mainly and some on 35 mm film. Nowadays its all far simpler with digital.

Keeping on the theme of guns, I believe you were the only the second artist to paint Adam Steele with a Colt Hartford, most others – including the American artist – had him wrongly using a Winchester.

This was Terry’s influence. He supplied the correct reference right at the beginning so it went from there.

Did you use real models to pose for the covers or were they all created on paper? The reason I ask is I seem to remember reading that some of your Edge covers were based on a popular English footballer of that time, George Best, and no-one can deny Steele’s resemblance to Clint Eastwood.

Real models were an expensive proposition in those days and I only used them if the commissioning company was prepared to pay, which was rarely. I inherited the Edge look from the original series illustrator, the late Dick Clifton Dey. He and Cecil Smith, the art director worked out the look together so I believe. George Best was a popular player at the time and with Dick’s own rather samed look they combined the two. When I took over I was younger, fitter and thinner in those days, so able to pose myself. Although finding so many ways to have a solo figure holding a gun on a cover was no mean feat.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that you very rarely showed the main character on a horse. Was this because it was difficult to include a horse in a vertical composition or was it simply because you didn’t like painting horses?

Mainly its the difficulty of fitting both man and beast into the format. A horse takes up a lot of room and the scale of the figures suffered as result. Witness ‘Edge meets Steele. No. 3”. I often had to resort to just a saddle or some part of the creature.

How come Edge was never shown wearing a Stetson?

He looked cooler without one. He is represented as ‘A Man Alone’ and I think hatless he somehow fitted that bill better.

There’s always been comments made about the height of Steele on the first Edge meets Adam Steele cover, I guess this is artistic licence in aid of composition?

Yep, that’ll work.

Was it your decision to use a more or less white background on early books in both series or was this something the publisher wanted? With the chance of title logo came more detailed backgrounds.

Edge was really the first Western series to use this format and, as far as I know, it was Cecil Smith, the Art Director at NEL, who designed the look. After that the formula was often copied by other publishers and I had many requests for western covers that looked ‘the same as Edge but different’.

The covers showing Edge coming through wanted posters, flags, and maps, and those with a shield or star behind him were effective. Did you have the freedom to take the covers in any direction you wanted?

Yes, once established as the main illustrator and as long as the book sales kept going up they were happy to leave me to my own devices.

You painted many superb covers for both the Edge and Steele series but do you have any personal favourites? I, and many other fans of the Gilman books, have always highly rated Steele #20: Wanted for Murder, and I really liked the portrait of Edge on #44: The Blind Side.

I enjoyed both of those covers. The Blind Side was a nice chance just to concentrate on a portrait style image and I was happy with the way Steele 20 came out too. The original reference for the background stimulated the idea of the muted tones. It was an old sepia tone photograph of a Victorian dock scene that I found in (would you believe it?) a recipe book for antique dishes.

If I have any one favourite its for a professional reason. It’s No. 30 ‘Waiting for a Train’ - mainly because I know the amount of work that went into getting the lighting just so.

The final Gilman book, Edge #61: The Rifle bares a strong resemblance to Dick Clifton-Dey’s original cover for the very first Edge book, I always thought this was a great idea, were you asked to do this or was it your decision?

This was my idea. I had always held a great respect for Dick Clifton Dey’s illustration work and that cover was a kind of tip of the hat to his passing. He did many covers outside the Western genre and in all of them he demonstrated an outstanding talent. We never actually met face to face but spoke often on the phone at the end of the era, when old style book illustration was being marginalised and superceded by inhouse computer use of photography and type.

Moving onto George G. Gilman’s third series, The Undertaker, did you come up with the idea of the photo background, the coffin illustration, combined with your painting or were you just asked to paint Barnaby Gold and the cover was then created by NEL?

The latter was the case. Not my favourite resolution either. It was a thing the design department at NEL were going through at the time and they had me doing the same idea on various other subjects as well such as romance and drama.

Did you become a fan of Edge and Steele or did you just stick to painting the covers rather than reading the books?

Well, I never got the chance as I only saw the synopsis.

Do you still have the original paintings?

Except for maybe a few I think do. Keep thinking about arranging an exhibition of them.

You also painted the covers for John Delaney’s James Gunn series. It’s often commented on how much Gunn looks like a blond Edge, was this done as a marketing ploy?

No, this series was before Edge in my very early days at NEL. To be honest I can’t really recall how his look came about although I did know a guy some years before who looked a lot like Gunn, so maybe that was the subliminal influence.

I have a Star version of one of Pinnacle’s western series, Six-Gun Samurai by Patrick Lee, it’s for the fourth book Kamikaze Justice that looks to be your work. Is it, and if so how many covers did you paint for this series as the other Star books I have from this series use the American cover art?

There was only the one unfortunately - Being an old martial arts man I quite wanted to do that series - I don’t think they took off in the UK though and if memory serves they only published the one book.

I also have Jay Charles’ Tupelo Gold that features your cover art, are there any other westerns that fans of your work in this genre should be on the look out for?

I did a few for various serials in Woman magazine that had a Western background - but I doubt if your readers will generally be interested in those. ‘Track’ was a short lived series for Star Books. Other than that mainly one-offs. I did do quite a few for W H Allen alongside their Target range of Dr. Who books which eventually led on to Dr. Who covers for Virgin Books.

And finally, are you still painting today and if so is it for business or pleasure…perhaps both?

Yes, still at it. And doing both. An interesting sideline is that through your website, Steve, I contacted Black Horse Western and sent them some samples and they are now keen to use me for some covers. So, thanks to you, it looks like I might be back in the saddle again. And thanks also to all the people out there who have been kind enough to make such favourable comments about my work over the years. Bless you all.

Hart the Regulator #4

THE SILVER LIE

by John B. Harvey

Pan, 1980

The Regulator is Wes Hart – ex-soldier, ex-Texas Ranger, ex-rider with Billy the Kid. He’s tough, ruthless, slick with a .45. He’s for hire now and he isn’t cheap…

Little Alice was cute. And brave. On her father’s instruction – and for the right price – Hart agreed to escort her to Denver. Seemed like easy money…until Hart discovered silver bullion stashed away in the stagecoach…

Lee Sternberg’s gang found out too. So they figured on blowing Hart’s head clean off and making a quick exit with the loot. Hart thought different. So after the blood of an ambush, it’s the agony of a kidnapping and the brutality of a pulse-pounding showdown in a Rancho Nuevo whorehouse…

And all this for a little girl…

The first part of this book sees Hart trying to find a friend who appeared in the previous book and also mentions quite a few events that happened in that book and those before. Because of this I’ll suggest new readers to the series may find it worthwhile reading the first three books before reading this one.

Once Hart is persuaded to escort Alice to Denver the story really picks up in pace. John Harvey also spends a lot of time fleshing out the Sternberg gang; telling us their backgrounds and reasons for riding the outlaw trail. In fact Hart isn’t in this part of the book much. When he is it is usually showing him at odds with Alice, which leads to some humorous dialogue.

Although the violence isn’t described in as much gory detail as the other writers might have done, who shared the name of the Piccadilly Cowboys, it nevertheless is as brutal at times.

This book also introduces the reader to a character who will play an important part in Hart’s life in a later book.

As I’ve said this book is perhaps not as savage as other work from the Piccadilly Cowboys, so as well as being essential reading for their fans, this should appeal to all who enjoy a fast moving action packed tale.