ANDREW McBRIDE interviewed by CAMERON JUDD

 Cameron Judd is the author of many acclaimed novels which can be described as, variously, American historical fiction, frontier fiction and westerns. He was a finalist for the Spur award. He’s also a Facebook friend of mine. He’s also a feature writer and columnist for ‘The Greeneville Sun’ based in Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee – the home county of Davy Crockett no less. In his journalistic capacity Cameron has been kind enough to interview me for ‘The Greeneville Sun’ where we discuss westerns, including my latest novel ‘COYOTE’S PEOPLE’ and a range of topics from the aforesaid Davy Crockett to Robin Hood to Hollywood to vests and/or undershirts!

 

This is an edit of the interview. You can find the FULL INTERVIEW here: http://gstearsheets.greenevillesun.com/editions/gvs_20210130_1_de/pdf/A-06.pdf 

Here you can read my blogs about some of Cameron’s novels:

THE OVERMOUNTAIN MEN

Reviewers called this novel ‘A wonderful, entertaining and enlightening work’ and an 'amazing historical adventure.’

https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2017/09/author-favourites-overmountain-men-by.html

THE SHADOW WARRIORS

'Another great read by Cameron Judd.’ ‘A terrific novel by an excellent author.’

https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2017/11/author-favourites-shadow-warriors-by.html

THE PHANTOM LEGION

‘Historically accurate, fast paced, easy reading.’

https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2017/11/author-favourites-phantom-legion-by.html

SEASON OF RECKONING

‘Awesome.’ 'Great book. Superb author.'

https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2017/11/author-favourites-season-of-reckoning.html

Here’s my edit of the interview. I’ve highlighted my own comments in bold:

 

A BRIT WESTERN WRITER? WHAT’S UP WITH THAT, MCBRIDE?

So what would make a guy born in the northern part of England and now living in the southern part of that same country develop an impulse to write one of the most thoroughly American varieties of fiction: western novels? The kind with cowboys and Indians, saddles and six-shooters, cattle drives and saloons, 10-gallon hats and other not-particularly-British things?

That question always came to my mind with every new social media posting or email from my across-the-pond friend, Andrew McBride, who lives in Brighton, England. So I decided I’d just ask.

 

Why reach all the way “across the pond” from England’s southern coast for subject matter? Why not write about Cromwell and Guy Fawkes and Robin Hood and all those other British characters and leave Billy the Kid, Sitting Bull, et al., out of it?

 

Turns out that you can credit Greene County, Tennessee, for the western writing career of British author Andrew McBride.

 

Well, that’s an exaggeration. It wasn’t exactly Greene County that helped stir Andrew’s interest in the frontier era of us here in the Colonies. It was instead a famous fellow who was born here.

 

You guessed it. Ol’ Davy. Andrew, now 66, was in boyhood a fan of Davy Crockett, as Walt Disney and Fess Parker led boys around the globe to be. With the influence of television westerns thrown in, British schoolboy Andrew became aware of the American frontier and its stories.

Let me let him say it in his own words:

 

“First let me say how honoured I am to be featured in a newspaper from the great state of Tennessee, and from the home county of Davy Crockett, who was my hero when I was a schoolboy.”

David (Davy) Crockett (1786-1836) in 1834

He goes on: “When I was a kid growing up in the 60s, the western was very prominent. U.S. imports made up about half the TV us Brits watched – shows like ‘Man from Uncle’ but also TV westerns, and movies like the John Wayne/ John Ford classics.

 

“The TV western series ‘The High Chaparral’ really struck a chord with me. They filmed a lot on location and I fell in love with the Arizona landscape. I knew other Brits who didn’t particularly like westerns who watched that show because they loved the scenery. It also got me interested in the historical background – the Apache Wars – which led to an interest in the history of the Old West generally, and also Native American culture.

“When I was in my early 20s a friend turned me on to reading western fiction. I particularly liked the McAllister series written by Matt Chisolm – and when I found out that Chisolm was, in reality, English, I thought: if he can do it, why can’t I? I started writing westerns fairly tentatively, but after about 10 years of picking at it, I got my first one published.”

Andrew’s writing interests have not been entirely western-focused. He says: “I’ve written about 16 novels, not just westerns but some thrillers and two historical novels where I attempted to write realistically about what might be the ‘real’ stories of King Arthur and Robin Hood. Oddly enough, only the books in the most ‘uncommercial’ genre – the western – have been published.”

He added, “I’ve also written a few screenplays which Hollywood has shown absolutely no interest in whatsoever – at least so far!”

 

Mentally putting myself into Andrew’s shoes, I wondered about a specific potential challenge facing him and other non-American authors writing about American characters: making the things those characters say sound like words from American speakers. Has that been a struggle?

 

He answered, “Americans and Brits do talk differently, of course. Americans tend to be more direct and economical in speech than Brits. For example, a Brit will say ‘let me go and find out’ while an American might say ‘let me go check.’”

 

There’s an additional layer of challenge, Andrew is aware, when the American speech he’s writing comes from an earlier historical period.

Regarding that, he told me: “I also have to bear in mind that people in the 19th century, regardless of nationality, spoke differently than folks today. I’ve always tried to get my dialogue right. In fact, I have to say, immodestly, that some of my reviewers – including the award-winning western novelist Lucia Robson – have praised my dialogue.”

 

He confessed one language blunder from in his first published western: “I did mess up over a British/American language issue on the second page of my very first novel ‘CANYON OF THE DEAD.’ I have my character wearing a ‘vest’ – I meant what Americans would call an ‘undershirt.’ What Americans call a ‘vest’ we Brits call a ‘waistcoat.’ You could say I blew my credibility on only my second page! Since then, I’ve tried to use American English with regard to detail as well as dialogue.”

Vest (UK)/ undershirt (US)

Waistcoat (UK) Vest (US)

Has Andrew been able to visit the American West he writes about?

Here’s what Andrew had to say about researching the American terrain: “I don’t think you need to physically visit all locations, especially in this internet age when you can watch videos of any far-away place on earth. For example, when Elmore Leonard was writing westerns, he’d never been west of the Mississippi. In my case, I have been to the American West, but not to all the places I’ve written about.”

 

Andrew describes his westerns as “largely outdoor/ wilderness affairs” in which his characters “tend to end up stuck in some remote desert or up an inaccessible mountain – and I’ve not been to all of them.”

 Arizona

What is Andrew’s most recent novel?

“My latest, published by Five Star Publishing, is ‘COYOTE’S PEOPLE.’ it’s based loosely on real events that occurred during the Apache Wars in Arizona in the 1870s,” Andrew says. “It’s a rights-of-passage story about a 17-year-old white boy being thrust into manhood by what happens to him. It’s also a bit of a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ tale in that he falls in love with an Apache girl. They find themselves in the middle of the conflict raging around them, threatened by both sides.”

At the moment, Andrew says, “‘COYOTE’S PEOPLE’ is only available in hardback, with a large print hard back version due to be published in February or March. So you can buy it from the usual bookstores and on sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It’s also available in libraries, so if it’s not in yours, order it in!”

 

A Brit writing westerns isn’t as unusual a phenomenon as it might first appear. Andrew mentioned Matt Chisolm. There were quite a few others, too.

 

Meanwhile, Andrew McBride, thanks, and keep your eyes (and your word processor) aimed westward!