Hot Coffee and Cold Truth: Living and Writing the West

By W.C. Jameson

Book Overview

This collection of essays is from some of Western Americana's best-loved and most-read writers, including Margaret Coel, Elmer Kelton, Don Coldsmith, Robert Utley, and David Dary.

Editor W. C. Jameson began the project after reading Elmer Kelton's The Time it Never Rained. "I longed to ask Kelton how he did what he did. Where did he come up with the words? How did he know how to coax them onto the page and arrange them with such skillful expertise? I wanted to ask him how the Western landscape sparked his imagination, inspired his ideas, and influenced his style. I yearned to know more about him, about his obvious, intimate connection to the land, a relationship that he adroitly manifested between the covers of his books." Jameson encountered many authors, some successfully published and some just beginning their careers, who had similar questions for other known writers.

There are three basic threads that run through these pieces: first, each writer has an intense and memorable connection to the land; second, each possesses a keen curiosity, a desire to seek out other people and times, a wanderlust to discover what lies beyond the limits of the cities; and finally, they all have a passion to write.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082634061X
• ISBN13: 9780826340610
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Practical Inspiration

Most books about writing seem more like revenue generators for the author or editor than they are helpful to beginning authors. Most have little practical information that a beginning writer can apply. "Hot Coffee and Cold Truth" is not only a very practical guide for beginning writers but is a great read. W.C. Jameson has done a masterful job in selecting the contributors for this anthology. The book draws its strength from its focus on writers that love the American West in all of its many facets. The breadth of the scope of primary interests of the various contributors is comprehensive. But, throughout the articles contributed by the various writers, there are commonalities that bind them and provide guidance for beginning writers. It is apparent in reading the selections that if one is going to write about the West, one must have a passion for it. There are no formulas and the techniques of the various contributers are quite different. All of them manifest a true independence of mind and a disregard for the politically correct. After reading the articles, one comes away with the feeling that it would be a real privilege and pleasure to sit down and converse with any of the authors. They are an extraordinary group opf people to be sure. Of particular benefit in reading the pieces by each author is the recommendations they make about the sort of books that need to be read by beginning writers. The practical inspiration for writing, regardless of publishing success, is the primary benefit that will be drawn from this book.