Sometimes, despite our best efforts, books just fall through the cracks. I suppose the sheer volume of books that pass through our hands makes this inevitable, but it’s never too late to make amends — so that’s what I’m doing now.
When The Best of Zane Grey was released in May of last year, we ordered a copy, and it got swallowed up on the shelf, as happens to books sometimes (even good books). It wasn’t until December that we sold it. When the replacement copy came in, I saw the great cover and stopped to flip through it.
Immediately, I thought it’d be a great book to talk about here, especially with Christmas coming up. Then I put it out on the shelf, forgot about it, and didn’t remember I wanted to blog about it till it sold and the next copy came in. By then, I had a couple other things I was planning to write about, and it got pushed down the list of priorities again.
Fortunately, the book was brought to my attention again, and I’m glad to (finally) share it with you. Zane Grey (born with one of the all-time great “A Boy Named Sue” names — Pearl Zane Grey) was one of the first (and one of the greatest) American Western writers. It’s too bad that Zane Grey didn’t live to see modern publishing — his early life seems tailor-made for the back flap of a dust jacket, with the now-ubiquitous practice of listing every bizarre job or failed career move in the author bio. Grey worked as a movie-theater usher, played minor league baseball, practiced dentistry, and spent a great amount of time away from home fishing and consorting with mistresses.
He even has a great rejection story. Harper had rejected Grey’s first three novels, and when he met with Harper’s editor Ripley Hitchcock after submitting his fourth novel, Hitchcock told him, “I do not see anything in this to convince me you can write either narrative or fiction.” This fourth novel (The Last of the Plainsman) was finally published by a sporting magazine, with the understanding that Grey would receive no payment at all unless the book sold well enough to require a second printing. Of course, history has vindicated Zane Grey as an immensely popular author as well as a pioneer in the Western genre.
This new collection from Trafalgar Square brings together three of Grey’s later novels: Riders of the Purple Sage, The Trail Driver, and Rangers of the Lone Star. I think this is an excellent introduction to one of the original Western writers who popularized the genre and paved the way for Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry, and Cormac McCarthy’s great Western novels.
The Best of Zane Grey (Trafalgar Square, 2010)
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