Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

Today, I'm honored to be participating in the cover reveal for the latest installment of Rachel Kovaciny's Once Upon a Western series! OUAW is a collection of clean stand-alone non-magical fairytale retellings set in the Old West. They're oodles of fun, and you should absolutely check them out if you've never read one. My personal favorite of the series, so far, is Dancing and Doughnuts , which is a reimagining of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  However . . . I gotta say, the more I hear about the newest book, the more excited I become.  I have a feeling it might edge out DaD. 😉 What is this newest book, you ask?  It's Ms. Kovaciny's take on one of the most classic of all fairytales:  Beauty and the Beast!  It's entitled My Rock and My Refuge , and it releases November 8, 2022! And, as you might have guessed, it has a lovely cover: Isn't that the perfect cover for a Western retelling of Beauty and the Beast?  I love it.  Now, you probably want to k...

*scurries into the room distributing sweaters and acorns and fantasy novels*  Hello, hello, hello, and a happy Hobbit Day to you all!  In a shocking and delightful turn of events, the weather where I am actually cooperated and gave us a deliciously crisp first day of fall.  I can taste the metaphorical hibernation coming on the autumn wind, and I am thrilled and enthused about it. In other news, we are in the thick of one of my very favorite weeks of each year:  Rachel's Tolkien Blog Party , which is celebrating its TENTH anniversary! (*emotes quietly*)  Alas, I don't think I'll be able to contribute anything other than my tag answers this time around, but that's okay.  There's always next year, Lord willing — a great comfort for many reasons. 😉 ⸻ 1.  Who first introduced you to Middle-earth? My family.  I don't really remember a time when The Lord of the Rings paraphernalia wasn't scattered about our house.  It was A Big Thing every time on...

more like the Taking No Crap in Imperial Regalia Tag, am I right The lovely Chloe at Movies Meet Their Match tagged me for this, and I'm thrilled she did, because I really wanted to squeeze in one more post before Rachel's Tolkien Blog Party , but have had no time or energy to finalize anything else.  Admittedly, this did take me a while to finish, as well, because I wanted to select options that I genuinely might wear, might genuinely be able to "pull off," etc.  But it was fun, the perfect break from heavier duty posts. 😃  Thanks, Chloe! This tag was originally created by Elizabeth at Autumn Ink , and the rules are simple:  select an outfit that you'd love to wear to each location given, tell us which fictional character you'd bring along with you, and link back to Elizabeth's blog.  Beyond that, you have creative freedom!  Tag people if you so choose, change the locations, whatever strikes your fancy.  I personally opted to use only movie/TV outfi...

If you've been around for a while, you may have heard me say before that I dislike time travel in fiction.  I just do.  There are (a very few) exceptions, of course, but, for the most part, if I know that a story involves time travel, I can give it a friendly "Not for me" and move along my merry way with no hard feelings on either side.   I've more or less always known that this technique is one of my fictional no-go's, but I haven't always known why — or, at least, I haven't always known fully why.  That changed when I watched Christopher Nolan's Interstellar for the first time a few months ago.  (Yep, this post has been in draft that long. *coughs*) If you don't know, Interstellar tells a fairly familiar story:  a retired military-pilot-turned-farmer living on a futuristic Earth teetering at the cusp of ecological Armageddon is recruited by a super-secret branch of NASA.  His mission, should he choose to accept it, is to undertake a Perilo...

Well, folks, we've come to the end of another Legends of Western Cinema Week. Nothing gold can stay, and all that. A couple of reminders for this last day of the party: Be sure to visit Rachel's and Heidi's blogs to enter their fabulous giveaways ( Rachel's is here and Heidi's is here)!  I believe that both giveaway close at midnight tonight, so this is your last chance! If you've published any Western posts this week, please add your links to the widget below!  We all want to read what you've written. That's it for me, folks!  As always, thanks loads for making this week such a rollicking summer tradition. 😃

Why the parenthetical 's,' you ask?  Because I have two different kinds of to-watch lists, you see.  There's the "absolutely plan to watch this, no questions asked" list, and then there's the "am in interested in watching this but have some qualms about it" list.  I thought it'd be fun to share examples from each. 😉  ⸻ ⸺ Five Westerns That I Definitely Want to Watch ⸺ Silverado (1985) I'd actually planned to watch and review this for this year's party, but 'twas not to be.  Maybe next year!  I think I'll enjoy it.  The trailer amused me ("Can't you tell this horse loves me?"), so that's a good sign. Slow West (2015) Another one that I was hoping to get to this year, but would you believe it?   It was removed from the streaming service on which I'd been banking.  The audacity! Anyway, looking forward to watching this whenever I do.  It looks like one I'll enjoy. The Harder They Fall (2021) I can't WAI...

I'm kiiiinda bending the party's rules with this one, because this post was originally published over on Charity Bishop's Femnista .  So it's not brand-new.  However, it hasn't made an appearance on here  until now, so I'm saying it counts. 😉  And, since Femnista is closing down on August 1 and Charity has given contributors permission to repost their articles on their own platforms, Legends of Western Cinema Week seemed like the perfect time for this post's  Rivendell debut.   (Note:  What follows is my original draft of this piece, along with a couple of final 2022 tweaks — not the slightly edited version which appeared on Femnista back in 2020.)   ⸻ The 2006 miniseries Broken Trail brings several unique perspectives to the traditional Western paradigm, not the least of which is its exploration of what it’s like on the other end of the brothel business.  Before we get into all of that, though, let's begin with a brief synopsis f...