Shootout at the roadhouse

The boom that followed the sudden flash shook the shutters on the thick bullet-proof windows. That was followed quickly by two more shotgun blasts. Most of the vets and their ladies ducked down behind the tables, and two couples took cover behind the big brick fireplace in the railroad-tie reinforced front wall. The women were staring at the men, and the men were staring at the front door on the far end of the room, where Kelly was already off his bar stool and running, an automatic in each hand.

(from Egypt Burning)

Bad Times in Little Egypt

"I think you said a truck-load of strike breakers had just got shot up over between Carbondale and Marion."

"Oh yeah-- that's right. Ol' Lester figures he'll bring in some reinforcements and to Hell with everbody. Well, Colonel Hunter heads over to the Sheriff's office and finds out that he's gone over to where the fellas had ambushed the truck. And his deputies had no idea how to get hold of him. Then the Citizens' Committee gets word that all Hell's about to break lose."

(from Egypt Burning)

I still think the best cowboy song I know is "When the Bloom Is on the Sage." I even like the Tom Mix version. 

Realism, romance, romantic-realism and realistic-romance

I like to read and write romantic-realism, not realistic-romance, and not just realism or romanticism. I think romantic-realism is what Mark Twain wrote.