Cowgirls from Siberia

[fuzzferatu]

Hello, cowpokes!

I am working on a book series whose main character isn't quite the typical cowgirl. The series is set in the near-future, where societies have collapsed thanks to vanished oil reserves and climate change. Oksana hails from Siberia, where her family runs a ranch. A family friend, however, has filled her head with cowboy lore, and since Oksana isn't quite all there, she has come to believe it as being the state of reality - somehow combined with Marxist ideological remnants.

Since I am not a connoisseur of cowboy lit, I'm having a bit of difficulty establishing her mindset. She hasn't read Lonesome Dove or watched Unforgiven; revisionist westerns are not part of her life. She takes Roy Rogers ("Comrade Roy Rogers") to be a real life figure, for example. Old time western movies and spaghetti westerns are documentaries, as far as she's concerned. She has even mastered six gun shooting from the hip, quick draw -- all the stuff they claim was a literary invention.

Now... how the heck to research this character? Can you fine folks recommend any source material that depicts this mystical west, as opposed to "this is how it really was"? I need cliches, and I need 'em pronto!

Thanks,
steve

[Cav Guy]

Watch anything by ol' Roy, and read the books associated with the old series. Most of the early 1950s TV shows are good, too (but not Gunsmoke or Have Gun Will Travel...the Rifleman is good for some of the cliches, as is the Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid).

Quick draw and all that wasn't just myth, so you'll be doing a fair amount of combining fact and fiction here.

[fuzzferatu]

Watch anything by ol' Roy, and read the books associated with the old series. Most of the early 1950s TV shows are good, too (but not Gunsmoke or Have Gun Will Travel...the Rifleman is good for some of the cliches, as is the Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid).

Quick draw and all that wasn't just myth, so you'll be doing a fair amount of combining fact and fiction here.

Thanks! I have some watching to do, which is strange since I don't even own a tv... and in post-peak oil Siberia, the TV will be run by either solar power or a treadmill...hmm...

Now, this article here contends that quick draw was just fiction: http://www.desertusa.com/mag05/jul/myths.html

Is this guy just ornery?

[Cav Guy]

He's correct in a sense, but only in a sense. What we consider quick draw now is a far different beast from what quick draw was at the time. For example, quick draw on the Frontier could be seen as shooting through a coat pocket (done by many gunslingers), drawing from a sash (as some did, especially in the early days - Hickok was a fan of this), or using a lower-slung crossdraw or regular holster. This came about because the standard carry holster (adapted from Army rigs) was a flapped or narrow top holster carried on the trousers belt. That put it very high up and hard to get at in a hurry. Thus, anything that wasn't in such a holster could be considered "quick draw" at the time.

The author's also somewhat wrong about the second gun thing. Many of the postwar bad men carried two guns in open sight (a carryover from their days as border ruffians between Kansas and Missouri, possibly), but it was so a second weapon would be available without having to reload. It wasn't always a "deadly trick" as it was a way to get a second weapon into play quickly (especially in the cap and ball days when reloading was VERY slow).

When dealing with the myth of the West, it's very important to decide which myth you want to use. The author of your article made some good points about the dime novel West, but there's also the West of Randolph Scott's Westerns, that of John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood's. And then the Lone Ranger, Matt Dillon, James West...it just goes on.

[Mr. Jinx]

The author's also somewhat wrong about the second gun thing. Many of the postwar bad men carried two guns in open sight (a carryover from their days as border ruffians between Kansas and Missouri, possibly), but it was so a second weapon would be available without having to reload. It wasn't always a "deadly trick" as it was a way to get a second weapon into play quickly (especially in the cap and ball days when reloading was VERY slow).


I remember reading about or seeing a history channel special on the civil war that talked about this too. The skirmishing groups would carry as many as 6 or 7 pistols so that during their raids they could keep drawing and firing as they emptied their revolvers (like Cav Guy said, reloading cap and ball is not something you can do very well in a gunfight).

[fuzzferatu]

I am also led to wonder: is there a modern equivalent of a six shooter revolver that would be more practical in a situation where ammo and maintenance supplies might be less easy to come by? Manufacturing will have dwindled to a local level. I realize there are already plenty of guns in the USA which would continue to see use as manufacturing ceased.

[JeanneTGC]

If you're looking for books, go with Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Good details, lots of myth, would expect the books would still be available in your post-apocalyptic world, if Roy Rogers is as well.

Also, Gene Autry "The Singing Cowboy" movies might be a good alternative. Roy sang, too. Hopalong Cassidy. Tom Mix. You have a lot of old time movies to refer to...usually, the older they are, the more bathed in the myth they'll be (with the standard exceptions proving rule and all).

If you're trying to stick with her having no idea of what I'd call the revisionist West (aka, more like what it was really like), I'd avoid any Western movie done after about the early 1980's, because the realism really started coming on strong then. In the 1970's you could still see what I'd call classic Westerns. (Not dissing the Westen films of the last 25 years, because I like a lot of them, btw.)

Sounds like it's going to be an interesting story!

[Mr. Jinx]

I am also led to wonder: is there a modern equivalent of a six shooter revolver that would be more practical in a situation where ammo and maintenance supplies might be less easy to come by?

Well, if ammunition was becomming scarce I could see a step back to the old cap and ball revolvers. There are still many made today for enthusiasts that are of a high quality.

Reloading takes longer but you dont need a pre-made cartridge for one to function. I think it would depend on how scarce cartridges are in your setting.

[Cav Guy]

Or reloading equipment. Metallic cartridges (so long as they aren't aluminum) can be reloaded pretty easily, and have been for many, many years.

[Mr. Jinx]

a situation where ammo and maintenance supplies might be less easy to come by? Manufacturing will have dwindled to a local level.

This was the part of the message that made me think of cap and ball. I thought from fuzzferatu's description that the reloading equipment might be scarce, but if its not then you are absolutely right.

fuzzferatu - can you share a little more about your setting?

[VeggieChick]

I would suggest some serious research on Siberia, unless in your book the future has changed the environment so much that current data doesn't apply. I'm currently in Siberia teaching English (yep, really), so I can tell you ranches do not exist. Yes, people raise cows here, but not in the typical way you would in America, since the weather and the landscape make it impossible. Just a quick thought.

[Mr. Fix]

I cannot think of the title off hand, but Louis L'Amour did write a novel based on modern Siberia where a Native American Jet Pilot was shot down over Siberia (Cold War Era) and had to return to America without being caught by the Soviets. So my suggestion is to look to Louis L'Amour for background.

(It was titled something like 'The Native Land' I think, referring to an American Indian returning to the 'Native' land of the land bridge crossing.)

Sounds like an interesting story, I'm looking forward to reading more...

[Festus]

Title was "Last of the Breed"