ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The book you have just read exists because of the contribution of my co-conspirator, Derrick Borte. When the curtain is pulled back on the dark alchemy of collaboration, the process hardly seems any more elucidated. Certainly the craft of fiction writing has been, historically, a solitary endeavor, but in the film business, where Derrick and I learned to swim, collaboration is the name of the game. Several years ago, Derrick told me a brief story, little more than a sketch really, but at its core was a heist, a heist so ingenious, that I wished I’d thought of it. I coveted it, in fact. At the very least, it was gloriously cinematic. Crafting it into a screenplay, however, threatened to be a dubious use of time. The reality is that the shelves of Hollywood’s development offices are lined with screenplays of unproduced Westerns. The thought of sentencing such a promising idea to a fate of irrelevance (not to mention the eventual recycling bin) was more than this writer could stomach. And while I have taken great pains to push the words around to the best of my ability as a prose writer, I was, at the same time, transcribing the film that I saw in my head. 3:10 to Yuma, Brokeback Mountain, Django Unchained, and the revisionist No Country for Old Men are unequivocally great films of the last decade. But to say there’s been a resurgence of Westerns pouring out of Hollywood would be overstatement. More often than not, the scant offerings from the genre are either curious anomalies or hard-fought passion projects that managed by attrition, luck, or a combination of both, to get made. Hollywood spits out one or two (rarely three) Westerns a year. Any film desiring to occupy one of those slots better have something new to say. I don’t know if this book succeeds in that endeavor, but in trying to figure it out, I could not have asked for a more patient, supportive, and enthusiastic partner than Derrick.
I am deeply indebted to a handful of trusted friends whose advice and early readings of the book proved invaluable, notably Laura Gordon and John Rood. I readily took John’s suggestion that I decimate the profanity of that earlier draft and let the remaining cocksuckers breathe more. And when I was sure that I had exhausted every imaginable way to describe a horse, Dr. Cindy Rhea, DVM, informed me that I had barely scratched the surface.
Were it not for the gracious support of Mark Ebner, this book would never have found an agent (and I may never have embarked on writing it). That Mark is a fine writer in his own right, makes that support all the more humbling. Mark has been a champion of my prose writing from its adolescence. It was Mark, who all those years ago, invited me into a network of blogs of which he was a part—paving the way for my very first paying, non-movie, writing gig. And it was Mark, in the spring of last year, who ushered me into his very own agency where he is, by his own admission, their smallest client (a ranking in which I have surely now undercut him) and asked Joel Gottler to take a look.
Thanks go to the two representatives who have been with me from the beginning: my film agent Doug MacLaren and my attorney, David Feldman. They have stood by me through the years, even during the lean times when their faith in my abilities was all I had to go on. Thanks to my business manager, Gary Halpert (and the incomparable Nanette), for showing the greatest faith of all. My manager, Alex Lerner, has proved a welcome addition, providing the nurturing encouragement for my ideas when they are good, as well as the insight to know when they are terrible. My television agent, Hrishi Desai, exerts his talents mainly by telling me my ideas are terrible. I will always be grateful for the guidance and support of my book agents, Joel Gottler and Doug Grad. Joel and Doug are longtime veterans of the book world who have escorted this newbie novelist through the intricacies of publication and laid me gently at the doorstep of Kensington Publishing and my editor, Gary Goldstein. Special thanks to Stephen Breimer for navigating the legalities.
My copy editor, Randy Kaplan, and I spent hours discussing everything from the errant comma to the specific color of New Mexico’s crystalline dust. Randy knew when to rein me in and when to get out of the way, and had the wisdom to know the difference. I am grateful for his exacting eye and unflagging enthusiasm.
Many fine teachers deserve acknowledgment for their contribution to this writer’s education, including: Drs. Brier, Bendixen, Liu, and the entire English department at California State University, Los Angeles; and from Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City: thanks go to Art Atkison, Bob Del Greco, Dr. Martin-Lester, and especially to my friend Edward Quigley, who taught me we are always students, even when we are teachers. Thank you to Robert Carnegie and Tony Savant from Playhouse West for forcing me to pay attention to what really moves me. I will always owe a debt to my old friends Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Those years of heated late-night arguments, fueled by coffee, pastrami sandwiches, and a shared passion for great movies were the curriculum for the finest film school on earth.
Finally, to family, especially my parents, for their love and support. I hope book club is never the same. And to Danielle, for her undying love in the trenches.
Marina del Rey, CA
January 2014
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ISBN: 978-0-7860-3520-5
First electronic edition: September 2014
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