Don't know if you all know of Molly Gloss. She's a Portlander writing about the West... women of the West. Tuesday night, she read from her new book "The Hearts of Horses" (Houghton Mifflin), about a young gal who was a circuit rider, a breaker of horses, during WWI in Eastern Oregon. Gloss earlier wrote "The Jump-Off Creek" featuring "tough, smart, independent women" in the West.
In the question/answer period, she mentioned the influence Teresa Jordan's "Cowgirls, Women Of The American West" had on her. Startled me because Annie Proulx may have drawn on Jordan's opening paragraphs (*see below) for the added opening paragraphs of Brokeback Mountain. Two miners in the same mother load.
As Gloss described her research methods, I heard echos of Proulx. Lots and lots of information about lots and lots of stuff before writing a line.
Duly bought a copy of Molly's book for signing. When she asked who to inscribe it to, I said Jack Twist. Are you Jack Twist, she said. Sort of, I said...
Muchly charmed by Molly Gloss and might start riding lessons (again) at the stable she goes to. Started reading her book tonight after the fuss over Dancing With the Stars died down. Yes, I admit it.
(*"Fifty miles from nowhere, Southern Montana... 2:00 A.M. The alarm jangles. Cassie reaches from under the eiderdown and turns it off, then lies for a moment and listens to the wind beat against the windows...
"Cassie rolls out of bed and feels for the pair of Levi's she left on the chair. She pulls them over her long-johns and wiggles into a heavy wool sweater. Then she stumbles to the kitchen, pours herself some coffee from the pot she never unplugs during calving season, and finishes dressing... Only her wedge of brunette hair betrays her sex... She pushes the door against the wind, and steps into the blackness." From "Cowgirls, Women of the American West", by Teresa Jordan. Elisions mine)