I recently read another H. A. DeRosso collection—after
Under the Burning Sun—edited by Bill
Pronzini . Its title: Riders
of the Shadowlands. It was published by Five Star in 1999, and it is similar to
Under the Burning Sun in that it
collects ten of DeRosso’s western-type stories—two were published by mystery
magazines, although one is a strange kind of mystery. The tales are less
eclectic than the first collection, but no less entertaining, existential, or
downright terrific.
The stories in this collection are also lightly
edited—James Reasoner in a comment to my post about Under the Burning Sun said, “I compared a couple of the stories in
the collection to their original magazine appearances and found only a very few
changes.” Mr. Pronzini also states that he only edited superfluous, and
redundant words. I only mention the editing because of the recent Internet
flare-up about the new Harlequin pulp editions that were edited for content—a
situation that is far different than the editing in this volume.
My favorite stories included in the collection are
both tales of the “shadowlands.” One is a short story and the other a novella.
The novella is the title story, “Riders of the Shadowlands,” a fairly
conventionally plotted rustler tale. Its ordinariness ends at the plot however.
It is a violent story in a hellish setting with a hardboiled / noir attitude.
It has more in common with the hardboiled crime written in the 1950s, but the
western setting and attitudes are accurate and beautifully described in a hard-bitten,
stark prose.
There is a terrific mystery titled “Dark Purpose,”
which was originally published in Mike
Shayne Mystery Magazine (April 1958) under the title “Kill the Killer.” It
is a manhunt story set in the wilds of Northern Wisconsin. The wilderness, and
landscape, are as central to the story as they are in DeRosso’s “shadowlands”
tales. In fact it is as much a western as any of the stories included in the
collection.
Riders of the Shadowlands does not include a dud; each is vibrant, entertaining, and dark. The stories were published between 1950 and 1962, and each is an example of how talented and original DeRosso was as a writer.
Hi, I have read END OF THE GUN, .44, and UNDER THE BURNING SUN. They’re all great books. The intro to THE BOUNTY HUNTER is awesome. I want to find this collection now. I saw another collection called TRACKS IN THE SAND, also edited by Bill Pronzini. I wonder if it’s the same book with a different title?
ReplyDeleteNo. TRACKS IN THE SAND is a third collection edited by Bill Pronzini. It has four or five novelette length stories. I haven't read it yet, but it is on my list. I'm looking for a few of DeRosso's novels right now.
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