Westernautoren: Charles G. West
Westernautoren
Charles G. West
"When I was a boy, I was fascinated by the writing of A.B. Guthrie and Vardis Fisher among others. They were the authors that could tell a tale of the old west. I read a great many westerns by other authors, but I decided that I wanted to write one my way." (1)
Während der High School begann er mit dem Schreiben seines ersten Romans, dem SF-Thriller "The Tenant", der schließlich nach einer Vielzahl von Absagen 1996 in einem kleinen Verlag veröffentlicht wurde.
"In high school the one subject I found easy was English, especially the creative writing courses. And I have always thought that everyone has at least one book in them, if they would just sit down and write it. I had what I thought was a great story to write, but even then, I didn’t think seriously about becoming a writer.
I started that first book more as a hobby, just to see if I could actually write a whole book. After a long day in my commercial print shop, I banged away at night and early morning on an IBM typewriter. When the book was finally finished, I then decided that the project would be a success if I could get it published.
At that point, I was introduced to the real challenge in writing, but I was determined, so I continued to send it to every publisher I could find. About ten years, and God knows how many rejections later, a small publisher in Denver liked the manuscript, and published THE TENANT, a science-fiction medical thriller." (2)
Nach "The Tenant" schrieb West die beiden Western "Wind River" und "Stone Hand" und schickte "Stone Hand" an einen Agenten, dem der Roman so gut gefiel, dass er Charles G. West bat, zwei weitere Romane mit Jason Coles zu schreiben.
So gab Charles G. West 1998 mit dem Roman "Stone Hand" sein Debüt als Westernautor, der im Penguin Verlag veröffentlicht wurde.
"So I wrote WIND RIVER. It was my epic. At this point, I don’t remember why I didn’t want to submit WIND RIVER to this agent I had been talking to. So I wrote STONE HAND and sent it to him. He liked it, and wanted to know if I could write two more to make it a series of three. Of course, I said I could, so we got the Jason Coles series published at Penguin, and I’ve been writing for them under the Signet label, ever since." (3)
Nach dem Erfolg von "Stone Hand" folgten die beiden Coles-Fortsetzungen "Black Eagle" (1998) und "Cheyenne Justice" (1999)
Danach schrieb Charles G. West weitere Westen-Romane mit den Protagonisten Little Wolf, Trace McCall, Culver, Jordan Gray, Matt Slaughter, Cole Bonner und John Hawk sowie bis 2015 über ein Dutzend Einzelromane.
2018 gewann Charles G. West mit seinem "John Hawk"- Roman "Hell Haith No Fury" den Spur Award in der Kategorie "Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel".
Ein Jahr später erreichte er mit seinem "John Hawk" - Romane "No Justice in Hell" das Finale beim Spur Award in der Kategorie "Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel".
2020 erschien mit dem dritten "John Hawk" - Western "Mountain Territory" sein neuester Roman.
Leider sind in Deutschland bisher keine Romane von Charles G. West. Man kann nur hoffen, dass sich dies in naher Zukunft ändern wird.
© by Ingo Löchel
Bibliographie
k
n
g
(1) Charles G. West
(2) Charles G. West
(3) Charles G. West
Kommentare
Soweit ich weiß, ist der gute Mann Jahrgang 1933 und war er daher bei Veröffentlichung seines ersten Buches deutlich über 60 Jahre alt. Mittlerweile ist er 87!