Nelson Miles Twilight Frontier Army
Deep in the untamed Southern Arizona Territory, the United States Army embarks on a final venture to rid the area of the remaining Apache warriors and capture and kill their famed war chief Geronimo. Legendary for their relentless battle tactics and awful survival skills, the Apache make a fearsome enemy, capable to cut down man, woman, and child in silence, and transverse undetected allround the rocky terrain.
General Nelson A. Miles is determined to fetch a swift end to the war versus the Apache. He is also a seasoned Indian fighter, having discomfited the Comanche, Sioux, and Cheyenne to the sound of his creed: “Always advance.” On his side is Sergeant Ammon Swing and a unique, experimental communications system designed to keep the brigade alert to surrounding dangers. Caught in the middle of the Army and the Apache is Jacob Cox, a rancher attempting to fetch peace and a new life to his hard patch of land, and to his sister, Martha.
Martha is a woman utterly suitable to her wild new home, competent to shoot down an Indian and match wits with any soldier. In the unforgiving desert and treacherous mountains of the Arizona frontier, an unexpected love grows amongst Martha and Sergeant Swing. The affair leads Martha, her brother, and the army towards a harrowing encounter with the Apache, where a lot of will meet their ends with the blast of a shotgun, while others will rise to become honored heroes.
From BooklistReminiscent of a John Wayne movie– suitable since Swarthout adapted his father’s story The Shootist for film–this good old-fashioned cavalry yarn features a host of wily Apaches, a crusty veteran popular and his authenti sergeant, a beleaguered rancher, and an intrepid young woman/love interest. All these intimate characters are interwoven into a compelling–if recycled–tale of passion and valor on the western frontier. Set in the wilds of post-Civil War Arizona, the narrative pits the U.S. cavalry–represented in fine fashion by General Nelson A. Miles and his sidekick Sergeant Ammon Swing–against Geronimo and his band of fierce and experienced warriors. Caught in the middle of the conflict are rancher Jacob Cox and his plucky sister, Martha. When romance blossoms amongst Ammon and Martha, the stakes grow all of a sudden higher for all concerned. Inspired by a short story penned by the author’s father, novelist Glendon Swarthout, this stirring adventure is a writer’s tribute to both his old man and a time-honored literary and film genre. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Miles Hood Swarthout was born in Arnn Arbor, Michigan, the only child of writer/teachers. His mother, Kathryn, taught grade school in East Lansing, while his novelist father, Glendon, taught originative writing at Michigan State University while writing two bestsellers that became huge films — They Came To Cordura (Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth/Columbia) and the original of the beach pictures, MGM’s hit Where The Boys Are. The family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, for Miles’ high school, where he captained the tennis team and his parents collaborated on six young adult novels including Whichaway, which has seen three editions and been optioned three times for television. Miles majored in English at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, while his dad authored the biggest-selling novel ever set in Arizona, Bless the Beasts & Children, which Stanley Kramer filmed around Prescott. After stints modeling clothes, appearing in TV commercials and as a DJ on Phoenix rock radio, Miles expended a year as a VISTA Volunteer on the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico. He then got a Masters degree in Telecommunications from the University of Southern California and has since taught screenwriting and film history at his alma mater, CMC, and Arizona State University.
As a screenwriter, Miles adapted his father’s Spur-winning novel, The Shootist, which garnered him a Writer’s Guild nomination in 1976 for Best Adaptation and went into cinema history as John Wayne’s final film. After a CBS TV-Movie, A Christmas To Remember, and other script sales, both adaptations of his dad’s 16 novels and originals, Miles became a filmmaker himself in 1997 with Mulligans!, a 35mm. short comedy which has become a hit, playing 42 film festivals, winning 8 prizes internationally and airing 50 times on the Women’s Entertainment cable network. Besides writing a good deal of articles for magazines and film reviews for The Roundup, the magazine of the Western Writers of America, Miles edited a collection of his late father’s short stories, Easterns and Westerns, for Michigan State University Press in 2001. One of his dad’s stories Miles expanded into his initial Western novel, The Sergeant’s Lady, for Forge Books in 2003, which he also thinks would make a dandy movie. Swarthout lives in Playa del Rey near the Los Angeles airport, where he enjoys body surfing, tennis, chasing starlets and riding the occasional horse.
Nelson Miles Twilight Frontier Army Photo
Nelson Miles Twilight Frontier Army Photo
Nelson Miles Twilight Frontier Army Image
Nelson Miles Twilight Frontier Army Picture
Most helpful client reviews
2 of 2 humans found the following review helpful.
 Old traditions, new stories
By Ron Franscell, Author of ‘Delivered from Evil’
Miles Hood Swarthout comes by his western sensibilities honestly: His father, Glendon Swarthout — author of “The Shootist” and “Bless the Beasts and the Children” — was in the vanguard of the “new” western literary novelists who blended history, landscape and reputation in a fresh way.
Miles’ new novel, “The Sergeant’s Lady,” is in a literal sense in that tradition, based upon one of his father’s stories. It has all the hallmarks of a good, traditionalisti western adventure, and the literary flourish of contemporary western writers. His gorgeous writing and fast-paced action-adventure take us back to those golden days of yore, when good stories had both.
For fans of the Old West, the Indian Wars, or just good fiction, this is a marvelous addition to your bookshelf.
1 of 1 persons found the following review helpful.
Those Apaches!
By Theodore R. Kennedy
Apache Indian warriors were among the greatest mounted fighters of the 19th — and perchance any other — century. In attacking they shot underneath the horse’s neck, keeping themselves on the horse with their left foot. It was out of the question to catch an Apache, unless you were another Apache. They were also at or near the top of the list when it came to stealing and marauding.
For a bright picture of this dramatic and murderous tribe, read Mile Hood Swarthout’s book, The Sergeant’s Lady, a skillful elaboration of a short story written by Miles’ father, Glendon Swarthout, famous for his stories of the American West.Published by Forge, the book is a fast and arousing and attention holding read, giving a bright picture of America’s Southwest in the era after the Civil War.
T. R. Kennedy, Prof. Emeritus, Mich. State University
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
All That and More
By Kay Benjamin
Other reviewers and readers have aptly summarized the plot and basic ingredients of Miles Swarthout’s “Sergeant Lady.” I recognise reviewers have been ask to focus on content.
As a writer and a teacher of writing, I may, however, have yet another perspective with regards to the “contents” of the novel.
I believe I recognise substance and style in all genres and forms of writing whether it appears in a novel, a poem or a drama. Certainly, the best of writing in any form holds the parts of the others.
Swarthout’s novel manages to do this. It has moments of thought provoking, sensory imagery of poetry as well as the solid, critical characters and action so important to drama. Content and form are solidly merged, person sentences and paragraphs flow, quicken and then burst into emotions and actions. Dramatically, the characters’ actions are true to their personalities.
Finally, while all this is rather literary, readers, including high school students from very diverse backgrounds, plainly like a good story. Let’s hope “The Sargeant’s Lady” is not too narrowly sensed as just a “Western,” but is likewise seen as a humane drama with a wide appeal, a outstanding book and one with the visual distinct features and drama just meant for movie-making. …..Member of the National Writing Project, Endowment of Arts and Humanities.
See all 6 client reviews…
|