|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 18, 2007 13:28:03 GMT -6
Leyton McLean has been praised for having the best ever characterization of GAC in a novel. I wonder how we view the way he has been portrayed in other novels? Are those portrayals accurate and is the writing good or bad? Can any of you boarders recognise the authors and books from the following GAC descriptions? One caveat, Book 1 and Book 5 are by different authors:-
Book 1 A) "I quite understand, Private," the officer replied with that famous peg-toothed smile of his B) The officer smiled beneath the bushy mustache that hung like corn straw over his mouth C) Bellowing like a bull elk in rut, Custer raced over to Vic and leapt upon the mare bareback
Book 2 He was a tall man, as gracefully slender as a woman, yet with the impression of whipcord in that slenderness. He wore his hair falling in great flat curls to his shoulders, and in the coming sun of that funereal day, it gleamed with the brightness of yellow-gold.
Book 3 He was a right good-looking fellow, tall and well-proportioned...He had a yellow mustache and his hair was so long in back, its curls barely cleared his shoulders
Book 4 A) ..had to admit that when it came to Indian-savvy, the "Boy General" wouldn't have ranked a chevron higher than a two-stripe corporal. Naturally, you couldn't help liking the crazy-eyed little devil. B) But his twitching, woman-small mouth still hid under a sunbleached droop of haystack mustache and the little ambush of beard on his chin still did its damndest to make him look like he wasn't weak-jawed as a pocket gopher. Top all that with the fact that his varmint-close eyes were as wild and coyote-looking as ever....
Book 5 A) Custer spoke with a nervous, quick grin. His voice was high and excitable. B) He was smiling his old peg-toothed smile, but there was a plaintive quality to it.
Book 6 The commanding-officer - that long bushy fall of almost golden hair...that sweeping tawny dragoon's mustache which sharpened the bony, hawkish nose and accented the depth of eye sockets, that sinuous and muscularly restless body now held in momentary restraint against its own incessant rebellion.
Any takers?
"Hunk Papa"
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Aug 19, 2007 2:57:06 GMT -6
OK, I'll bite ... Just guessing, but Book 1 sounds like Terry C. Johnson. (From the self-conscious macho-ness of the imagery, and the touching belief that Vic was a mare.) And is Book 4 Thomas Berger, Little Big Man?
|
|
|
Post by BrokenSword on Aug 19, 2007 6:38:01 GMT -6
Well ... since a lady was the first to have enough courage to step up try, I'll guess that Book 2 was by Darkcloud - under a pen name of course.
M
|
|
|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 19, 2007 12:05:20 GMT -6
Elisabeth, you are one smart lady. Book 1 is by Terry C. Johnston. The quotes are from "Seize the Sky", one of his Sons of the Plains series, but could be from any of the books in which Custer appears. I know that he is highly regarded by some people, but I was frankly disappointed by his writing after the award winning trio starting with "Carry the Wind". I particularly disliked the artifice he had of writing the speech patterns of say Irish brogue, or mountain man 'patois' in a way meant to imitate their speech patterns. I think that is lazy writing and quite often, just a page filler. Book 4 is not Thomas Berger, but as a well read lady, I am sure you can hazard some guesses on the others.
Brokensword, you could be right about Book 2, but as I have no knowledge about the pseudonyms of our friend Darkcloud, I can't give you a gold star.........yet.
|
|
|
Post by BrokenSword on Aug 19, 2007 12:11:39 GMT -6
Papa-
Given that my 'guess' was in my usual tongue-in-cheek smart-eleck style, I feel confident that you needn't bother digging in your bag for a gold star nor even a solitary chevron.
M
|
|
|
Post by Tricia on Aug 20, 2007 10:03:38 GMT -6
Hmm ... I haven't read a ton of Good or Bad Autie fiction, but I'm wondering if selection number three is George MacDonald Frasier? It has a touch of Britishisms to the description of Our Blond Headed Hero ...
One of my secrets when it comes to describing GAC is that one should never be too comfortable "watching" him in action (even though you're reading a manuscript) ... he is almost a cyclonic character, always in movement, always in thought, always thinking--though not always too deeply! A brain and a man thorougly in upheaval ...
And as for my writin', sometimes I feel the comment is more of an accusation ... ugh!
The former Leyton McLean
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Aug 20, 2007 10:32:30 GMT -6
Myself, I haven't a clue as to the other books; I haven't read much Custer fiction either. (Not sure about G. MacD. Fraser -- "in back" is more American than British ...) But I'd love to know which Book 4 is. It sounds fun. --- Hang on, that's not Fraser, is it? My memory of "Flashman and the Redskins" is that he was more benign towards Custer than that, but it does have his verve, and his cynicism ...
Fascinating how Book 5 picks up on the "peg-toothed" thing, when there are no photos (that I know of) showing his teeth. How these things do get passed from hand to hand ... Another wild guess, and apologies to the author if I'm wrong: Book 6 sounds more as if it's written by a woman than by a man. Not sure quite why, unless it's the internalisation in contrast with the hints of homo-eroticism that turn up in so many male writers on the subject. (Sorry, chaps!)
|
|
|
Post by Tricia on Aug 20, 2007 10:40:12 GMT -6
E--
I kind of felt number 4 could have been Frasier as well ... he seemed to have the Custer-in-Constant-Motion thing quite well- pegged (pun intentional) in his narrative: sort of a combination of Teddy Roosevelt's power-shaking action combined with a high-voiced, excitable Boy General. I'll never forget the scene where Flashman meets the Boy General in the Willard (?) and the strength of Custer's long handshake (I believe the only thing missing from GAC's dialogue was "bully, bully") ... now that's the hallmark of an effective writer!
As for the peg-toothed thing, maybe that's taken from Custer's fascination/fixation with oral hygiene ... he's obsessed because the mouth isn't so pretty?
--t.
|
|
|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 20, 2007 15:53:23 GMT -6
Sorry ladies, Mr. Fraser is not among the authors quoted. Chronologically, Book 5's 'peg-toothed' phrase pre-dates the one used by Terry C. Johnston in "Seize the Sky" a not very apposite title in my view. As a prompt, Books 2, 4 and 5 are by the same author, a very well known western writer, whilst Books 3 and 6 (again very well known) were both made into movies using the same titles. Tricia, if you have depicted a flesh and blood human being in the GAC of your book, then the comment you received is well merited. Most portrayals of him in fiction are little more than caricatures, leaning towards one extreme or another of this multi-faceted man. Good luck with your sales - and when I can I buy a copy?
Hunk
|
|
|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 20, 2007 16:00:25 GMT -6
Hey M, I saw how you got you name in John Wayne's version of 'The Alamo' - Colonel Travis treated you harshly I thought. I had detected your laconic style from your many other postings on these boards, but I think you do deserve at least a chevron for making some comment. Over 70 of your fellow posters have not even done that!!
Hunk
|
|
|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 20, 2007 16:02:43 GMT -6
M - make that over 100!
H
|
|
|
Post by harpskiddie on Aug 20, 2007 16:12:44 GMT -6
Will Henry and Ernest Haycox are in there, ain't they?
Gordie, and it's just across the borderline................................................
|
|
|
Post by markland on Aug 20, 2007 17:08:41 GMT -6
Will Henry and Ernest Haycox are in there, ain't they? Gordie, and it's just across the borderline................................................ That's a good excuse to reread "No Survivors" and "The Last Trumpet". Or is it "Bugles in the Afternoon"? Either will do. Billy
|
|
|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 21, 2007 12:21:05 GMT -6
Gordie, spot on. Will Henry is the author of Book 2 'No Survivors', Book 4 'Yellowhair' and Book 5 'Custer's Last Stand'. Book 6 is 'Bugles in the Afternoon' by Ernest Haycox, but are these good, or bad examples of historical novels?
Billy, Haycox, wrote two other books with Bugle in the title, 'Bugles in the Night' and 'Bugles Wake'. He also wrote 'Border Trumpet' but I can find no reference to 'The Last Trumpet'. There is a book by Paul Horgan called 'A Distant Trumpet' set in the southwest and covering one incident in the Apache wars. It was made into a movie (1964) by Raoul Walsh, he of 'They Died with their Boots On' and starred Troy Donahue and James Gregory, but perhaps I'm blowing my own here!
Hunk
|
|
|
Post by "Hunk" Papa on Aug 21, 2007 16:26:08 GMT -6
Tricia, Generally speaking I won't reveal anything - perhaps you and Elisabeth could get to Book 2 via the movie, by thinking 'Soda Pop'.
Thank you kind lady.
Hunk
|
|