11 thoughts on “brettcogburn.com”

  1. Forged Expansion
    Looking out he saw the dark front coming; a rain-wall, iron rails over the landscape scraping up what once: ground sacred and nomad. The tin skin of his coffee- strong and ripe for more- he dusted over the night’s nearly gone coals and mounted his ride, knowing his surroundings eclipsed, never to return. The West had one climax, and he knew he was it. Cowboys, rough-riders, the Red Skins of this Great Nation now will forever eat industrialization and ride Iron Horses.

  2. I rode west and my past lay east. We were both happy with the prairie between us. I had no direction and was happy with that. I knew that if a bullet came to me that it would come from those close to me and not from some shadowy enemy, so I kept riding west because I could, knowing now where the bullets would come from. T.M. Eaton

  3. Corbin Schayne turned his horse west in late afternoon, feeling the fall of each hoof as a marker to his past that now lay like cactus shadow behind him; long grey shapes on a prairie that pushed east as if stretching to find something there when the sun set. He rode quiet, sanguine in the saddle; the sweat-passion squeak of man, fabric and leather and did not look back. He did not know where he was going, nor did he mind not having an idea, even as the Mesa-rocks of some western future took grey-blue evening shadows like painted-lady mascara on the eyes of the winsome whores he remembered and those that he had not met. Schayne knew that the myth of true war was a distant mirage; that the bullets that kill always came from the men he rode with, those who rode behind him; bullets from what men call home: a country, a moral, a duty — not from strangers with no care for his living or dying, their bullets always falling short to lie as voiceless steel in the shadows that lay behind him, but from men who believed that he should die because he rode west.

    --T.M. Eaton

  4. Hi Brett!

    I just read your article about the real Rooster Cogburn….I was thrilled…I love history, especially family history..lol My great grandfather was Bob Cogburn, sometimes called Robert, but he was born Dennis Lafayette Cockburn in 1871. He was the son of James P. Cockburn. There is soo much mystery in regard to my branch…I would love to know if you know of any murder changing the family name from Cockburn to Cogburn? I would love to share the information verbally handed down. Thanks again cuz! lol

    • Great to hear from you, Paula. Yes, the Cogburns were and are an interesting bunch. Drop me an email, and we can chat. I’d just as soon keep family genealogy off the blog, but I’d love to share stories with you, at least what I can before the Rooster book comes out Sept. 1. bc@brettcogburn.com

  5. Hi there Brett. I just came across your site and blog while researching Cherry Weiner. Suddenly it’s two hours past my lunch break and I realize all I’ve been doing is reading your articles. Terrific stuff. I also just recently watched “The Grey.” I remember reading some statistic a while back that said something like in the past fifty years or so there’s been only one documented fatality of a gray wolf attacking a man without provocation. The short story that the movie is based on is pretty entertaining, if not still a little far-fetched.

    “The Devil’s Footprints” sounds fascinating. You don’t see too much short western fiction being published anymore, which is a shame. I’ve just ordered a copy and am looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to “Panhandle.” Have you ever read Annie Proulx’s “That Old Ace in the Hole?” Proulx provides some great history of the Panhandle and paints some very colorful characters, even if her ending, or lack thereof, is a bit disappointing.

    I’m kicking myself for not having found your site/blog earlier. I run the western history website http://www.rockymountainlegends.com, and it appears we write about a lot of the same themes, not to mention share more than a few Frederick Remington images. After three long years I’ve finally finished my first book, a novel of historical fiction about the Mexican crusader Felipe Espinosa. Ever hear of him? It’s an astonishingly unknown story considering the magnitude of the bandit’s crimes. Anyhow, I use the site to promote the book as well.

    -Adam Jones

    • Glad you the blog suited your tastes, Adam. Spread the word to those you think might like it. Thanks for buying a copy of DHP. I’ll give Proulx’s book a look. I’ve put in a lot of horseback miles in the Panhandle, and I soak up anything about it I can.

      The subject matter for your book sounds great. There’s still a lot of little known history out there to be reported or to build a novel around. Get the thang sold and I’ll be glad to put it up on my blog, or help you how I can. I’m looking forward to checking out your website. I’ve found several such sites that I enjoy more than some of the magazines that cover the Old West. I love no frills history, without the trappings of political correctness gone wild, or too many cliches and stereotypes.

    • Thanks, I need all the readers I can get. Have you got a copy of The Devil’s Hoofprints yet? It’s the only one currently out, and has the dedication to your Daddy in it.

  7. Brett
    Got a chance to read the book you gave me. Must say I enjoyed it quite alot and looking forward to reading the next one. Keep up the good work and Good Luck! with all your future literary deeds.