Zane Grey is one of the country's best known western writers. His bestselling book, Riders of the Purple Sage, was published in 1912. As of 2007, more than 90 novels and 110 films using his work have been produced. A few years ago I visited the rebuilt Grey cabin in Payson, Arizona. The original burnt down in 1990. But when Dusty Richards gets back from the road, I'll have him send us a few pictures that he took of the original cabin years ago when he was a struggling writer. He sat at Zane Grey's desk and told the ghost of the writer that he would some day join him on the book store shelves. Dusty kept that promise.
The drive through the mountains was beautiful.
Grey became one of the first millionaire authors and his books helped to shape the myth of the Old West. Many writers, because of the success of Grey, followed in his footsteps and began writing about the West. In the earlier part of the 20th century, nearly one third of all the books published were western adventure or Western History.
My Dad was a Zane Grey fan. I opened a few of his books back in the 70's. It's a good time to revisit him.
ReplyDeleteLove your site. My Dad has a lot of Zane Greys books. Time to re-visit them.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Flier 389. I loved the trip to Zane Grey's cabin and have read quite a few of his books since then. They must have published a zillion of each title because you can find them everywhere. If you're a western writer, enter something in the Unknown Cowboy contest.
ReplyDeleteSally...you should do a review of a Zane Grey novel so we can post it here at Cactus Country. If you choose to accept this challenge:) send it to TheCactusCountry@aol.com