Black Rock Canon

From the first page of "Black Rock Canon", Les Savage Jr spins a tale that you know will end up in a rip roarin' hell-to-pay all out battle. Del Rockwall, while a devoted horse runner, is fiercely attracted to Aldis Spain, neice to Black Jack Jennings of the Forked Tongue. A stunningly beautiful woman, Aldis holds the attentions of Kenny Graves, and Rockwalls`compadre Tie Taylor (who eventually weds her). She is not the only prize at stake in the valley. A seemingly uncatchable wild stallion runs the ranger. Blue Boy is part quarter horse and Morgan, and attracts the passions of horse men from all over the valley. Between Rockwall and Graves, the animal and the woman, strong forces of attraction build to the point of erruption. This is a page turner. No wonder it made for such a brilliant movie with Joel McCrea in 1954. For the movie edition, McCrea supplied the cover blurb that `has captured the spirit and daring of the real west.` I can agree with that. As a novelist, Savage captured the wild and beauty of the landscape with his poetic prose. His was a gift for descriptive phrasing that left no error in what he envisioned in his mind. Whether he is describing the landscape, the beauty of Aldis, or the stark reality of death, his literal imagery imposes itself on your own. That is just one mark of a great novelist. Black Rock Canon comes highly recommended. Tim Lasiuta