Sunday 10 October 2010

The Treasure of Saint Woody - review


Review in Dutch at Western Romans.

Dank Je.

2 comments:

Oscar Case said...

I took a peek, but couldn't make out the front end from the tail, other than a "dat is" once in awhile. I'm sure it's a great review. Maybe I'll take course in a foreign language some time.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately my English is not good enough to write reviews in that language, but here is a translation by the Google translator, that I corrected a bit (hope that it works out OK):

Harlan Finchley is an avid reader of dime novels about the Wild West, in particular about Marshall Colt T. Blood, who keeps order in the rugged Fort Arlen. Because Harlan himself has ambitions to become a writer and wants to write an episode in the series on Marshall Colt T. Blood he decides to visit the real Fort Arlen to feel the atmosphere and find inspiration for his first novel.
To his disappointment fact and fiction are not the same. Marshall Ed Buckley, also secretly an avid reader of the Colt T. Blood books, claims that his experiences have indeed served as a model for the Colt T. Blood books. In practice, he is only engaged in the search for a missing pig! Harlan finds the stay in Fort Arlen boring and thinks about going home earlier than planned.
Then the duo Fergal O'Brien and Randolph McDougal arrives in Fort Arlen with their car full of interesting objects. They also sell a secret drink that can cure sick animals (including pigs) and perhaps it even can cure sick people. They themselves are looking for the maker of a strange casket, in which symbols are depicted, which they have managed to buy but do not know how to open. They suspect that the casket contains a treasure. They hope that the creator of it, Saint Woody (many people in the book ask themselves if there really is a saint Woody) will tell them how to open the chest. St. Woody appears to be a sergeant in the garrison stationed at Fort Arlen.
Marshall Buckley suspects the duo Fergal O'Brien and Randolph McDougal of stealing pigs in the area. When the duo notices that the Marshall wants to show Harlan that there are exciting things happening in Fort Harlan, the duo proposes the Marshall - in exchange for their freedom – to stage some exciting events for Harlan ...

Unlike most westerns of Parnham, published in the British Black Horse Western series, this book appeared in the American Avalon Western series.

"TheTreasure of St. Woody" is an ironic western, that you read with a smile on your face. What normally is exciting in a western is now taken with a grain of salt. That's quite nice for a change (***).

Also nice is that Parnham has left two blog posts on the writing of this book:
http://avalonauthors.blogspot.com/2010/03/art-of-making-connections.html
http://avalonauthors.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-have-cunning-plan.html

Parnham also has a blog: http://ijparnham.blogspot.com/ and sells his own books, signed, on Ebay with very low initial prices.