Richard S. Wheeler (1) (1935–2019)

“Easy Street” (2012), one of Richard S. Wheeler's last novels, did not have a major publisher. As no publisher at all is listed on the book, it must have been self-published. To be sure, it is not among his best westerns, yet still it proves entertaining while, like his others, giving readers a glimpse at the real Wild West as opposed to the popular fantasy.

The story begins, and ends, in the East, where Jay Tecumseh Warren, son of a wealthy businessman, has just graduated from Harvard expecting to live comfortably off his father's money for the rest of his life. Instead when he gets home he finds $500, a train ticket to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and a letter from his father telling him to make his own way in the world.

In Cheyenne — although with $500 he could have gone anywhere — Jay, having a Harvard degree, expects to start at the top. The only available jobs, however, are those requiring hard physical labor, which Jay decides is beneath him. He changes his mind, somewhat, when his money runs out. He takes a job with a shipping company hauling supplies by oxen for gold miners in Deadwood. He abandons that job as soon as he can, joining a gang of men planning to jump the claims of miners.

One get-rich scheme after another, legal or not, fails to put Jay on Easy Street, until in the final chapters he finally learns the lesson his father had been trying to teach him — that hard work leads to success. Nothing comes easy.

It may all be a bit simplistic, yet even in his old age Wheeler could write an engaging novel. “Easy Street” at least deserved a publisher.… (mais)

Right up to the end of his prolific career, Richard S. Wheeler wrote western novels that didn't seem like western novels. They were more about the real West than the fantasy West. His 2015 novel (he died in 2019), “Anything Goes,” must be one of those least like a typical western novel. Not among his best, it nevertheless offers a rich reading experience.

The West has been all but tamed early in the 20th century when a small vaudeville troupe braves harsh winter weather to bring entertainment to towns in the upper Rockies. The Beausoleil Brothers Follies is run by August Beausoleil, who has no brother and has put together a variety show composed of singers, dancers, comics, an animal act and a juggler. The show barely breaks even, but keeps going and usually finds an audience starved for entertainment.

Then troubles come, one after the other. The lead singer dies. One of the monkeys in the animal act dies because of the cold weather. Several of the performers get sick. Then the Orpheum Circuit, which has taken over the best theaters in the East, starts doing the same in the West, spelling doom for this independent group of performers. Prominent theaters begin canceling August's bookings.

Then there's Ginger, an 18-year-old girl who has run away from home, or more specifically, from her dominating mother who wants her to become an opera star. Ginger, who has also changed her name, has other ideas. She joins the Follies and soon becomes its star, but then forced changes in the schedule take her unwillingly back to her hometown in Idaho.

Wheeler's story may be weaker than usual, but his characters are vivid and memorable. Show business novels usually turn me off, but not this one.… (mais)