My Heroes Have Always Been Writers…
“MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WRITERS!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
From Yorkshire to Atlantic Canada, I discovered from the beginning that men and women were actually creating those stories I loved.
First, these Writers…
“Among the lonely lakes I go no more, for she who made their beauty is not there; the paleface rears his tepee on the shore, and says the vale is fairest…” – E Pauline Johnson, “The Legend of Qu’Appelle Valley”
“A prairie wolf howled, the pony pricked up his ears and, walking nearer to me, stood with his head down. Then another prairie wolf howled, and another.
“There I lay prone and helpless on the ground, the iron jaws of trap No. 3 closed tight on my left foot…” – Ernest Thompson Seton, WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN
See my PATRIOTIC VOICES OF CANADA: True North Songs, Poems & Stories for more.
And then, these writers…
“The eagle swung away, wheeled sharply with an ominous, harsh rustling of stiffened feathers, and then came at the hawk with a yelp and a sudden tremendous rush. His beak was half open. His great talons were drawn forward and extended for the deadly stroke.
“The eagle’s sound, his shadow — they were doom itself, annihilation to the frightened hawk.
“But the deadly stroke was not delivered. The threat was enough.
“Shrinking aside with a scream, the fish-hawk opened his claws. And the trout fell toward the water, a gleaming bar of silver in the morning light.
“The eagle shot down like lightning, caught the fish and rose in a long magnificent slant, with the tribute borne in his talons.” – Charles G D Roberts, THE KINDRED OF THE WILD
“Till the dogs lay down in their traces, and rose and staggered and fell,” begins this breathtaking ballad.
And continues, “Till the eyes of him dimmed with shadows, and the trail was so hard to see. Till the Wild howled out triumphant, and the world was a frozen hell — Then said Constable Clancy: ‘I guess that it’s up to me.’” – Robert W Service, “Clancy of the Mounted Police”
You great big god of a bear!
“‘You great big god of a bear!’ he whispered. And every fibre in him was trembling in a wonderful excitement as he found voice for the first time. ‘You — you monster with a heart bigger than man!
“And then he added, under his breath, as if not conscious that he was speaking: ‘If I’d cornered you like that I’d have killed you! And you! You cornered me, and let me live!’”
– James Oliver Curwood, THE GRIZZLY KING
“The flowers and the trees were beautiful. God had made them. He made the other creatures, too, that each might have food upon which to live. He made Sheeta the panther, with his beautiful coat. And Numa, the lion, with his noble head and his shaggy mane. He had made Bara, the deer, lovely and graceful.
“Yes, Tarzan had found God, and he spent the whole day in attributing to him all of the good and beautiful things of nature. But there was one thing which troubled him. He could not quite reconcile it to his conception of his new-found God.
“Who made Histah, the snake?” – Edgar Rice Burroughs, JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN
He was as tough as his own huskies…
“He was as tough as his own huskies. A fact he’d taught most of the North through years of doings like those concerned with the murder of Siwash Pratt.
“But the greeting words of Constable Tavistock foreshadowed his having to take a man described as ‘gone crazy’ five hundred dog-sled miles to hospital, in the year’s worst travel season.
“Though he was tired and strung up after a long, hard trip, sick of ‘lunatic patrols,’ longing for the settlement’s Christmas party.
“So he groaned, yet merely asked, ‘Violent?’” – Harwood Steele, THE RED SERGE: Stories of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
“Surra’s color was still sand-yellow, her muzzle and ears foxlike, her paws fur sand-shoes. But she was four times the size of her remote forefathers, as large as a puma. And her intelligence was higher even than those who had bred her guessed.
“Now Storm laid his hand on the cat’s head, a caress she graciously permitted.
“To the spectator the ex-Commando might be standing impassively, the meerkats clinging to him, his hand resting lightly on Surra’s round skull, the eagle quiet on his shoulder. But an awareness, which was unuttered, unheard speech, linked him with animals and bird.”
– Andre Norton, THE BEAST MASTER
For more detailed looks at the essential writers of my youth, see
“The Bear That Thought He Was A Dog” A Complete Short Story by Sir Charles G D Roberts
Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Tribute to Tarzan’s Creator, A Personal Hero
Animal Communication: Pet Stories, Whispering, Telepathy & Andre Norton
Wolf Whelps & Lead Dogs: Tribute to George Marsh, Wilderness Writer
Tom West: Classic Ace Double Western Writer Remembered & Reviewed
DAVY by Edgar Pangborn – A Heartfelt Book Review – Tales of a Darkening World
Happy Birthday, Farley Mowat! Tribute to a Hero
The GREATEST AUTHORS OF NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE FICTION
Writers: Favourite Opening Line?
“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” – Rafael Sabatini, SCARAMOUCHE
Writers: Favourite Quote?
“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be — the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer. Which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.” ― Farley Mowat, NEVER CRY WOLF: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves
Writers: Favourite Songs?
Singer-Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot was my first superhero: he knew about where I came from. Sundown. Carefree Highway. If You Could Read My Mind. Early Mornin’ Rain. Song For A Winter’s Night. Canadian Railroad Trilogy…
And Ian Tyson and his wife Sylvia. Buffy Sainte-Marie. Joni Mitchell. Neil Young. Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
Then Rock hit…
For more, see My Baby Boomer Generation Singer-Songwriters: Our Music of the Sixties & Later
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
TOP IMAGE: “Mountie and Sled Dogs” painting is by Arnold Friberg, renowned for his classic Mounted Police illustrations. For more see Arnold Friberg’s Mounties.
Middle photos from my Literary Image Album.
BOTTOM IMAGE: “Farley Mowat at home” – Peg McCarthy file photo. From NorthumberlandNews.com.
MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WRITERS – Brian Alan Burhoe
