Blackthorne Episode 146

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Blackthorne

Cinemagenic 146

Addendum

Angus said,”They may have taken his trouser snake

addendum, but they cannae take his freedom.”

--Louise Rennison

When a Buck dies, does

weep, and readers get misty-

eyed, sad and woeful.

Many folks have figured out my last episode was the

end of my novel, Rod Buck went out in a blue blaze

of glory.

I set out in 1967, to write an existential Western that

had poetic prose, graphic violence, sex, and

language. I think I succeeded. In 1974, after

graduating from my Actor’s Conservatory, I attempted

to find out if the novel was publishable. I was told by

representatives of the Western Writers of America 

that it was way too off-beat and unconventional, that

I bent or broke almost every rule in the standard

Western format. One letter stated: You have created

something else beyond a Western. It is as if Norman

Mailer or Kurt Vonnegut wrote a Western. Your 

biggest sin was the death of your hero.

I took this as a left-handed compliment. I shrugged

and shelved the manuscript for 40 years. It turns

out that my style was more like an early version of

Cormac McCarthy. It’s not that a Western protagonist

had not perished ever before. Paul Newman died in

both HOMBRE and BUTCH CASSIDY. Alan Ladd was

mortally wounded at the end of SHANE. John Wayne

died in THE SHOOTIST. Gregory Peck died in BILLY

TWO HATS. Kirk Douglas died in LONELY ARE THE

BRAVE. 

Thanks to d’Verse encouragement, and the success of

my 12 episode crime story, LOVE HURTS, I dusted off

BLACKTHORNE, and rewrote it as a Cinemagenic saga,

a “Movie of the Mind”. 

At this point,. I realize that I have gained new respect

for Buck. He has emerged as bigger and more

interesting than I had originally conceived. It seems

now he has more depth, more honor and more

compassion than the character I started with. Some

of you were emotionally moved by him, and are sad

to let him go.

So I am happy to announce that there will be several

more episodes appearing in Open Link Night. I

sincerely hope that you all enjoy the rest of the story.

When an Eagle dies,

everyone wants a wing feather;

beauty and honor. 

Glenn Buttkus

Haibun

Posted over at d'Verse Poet's Pub OLN