If you're a regular reader of this blog, Richard S. Wheeler is a familiar name. He's a multiple Spur Award winner and undeniably one of the greatest living writers of western novels. I hesistate to say that because that well-deserved, and well-earned, honor tends to ghetto-ize his fiction as cowboy tales when they are far more than that. Which is why it's alawys great when he gets the strong critical praise he deserves. His new novel The Richest Hillon Earth as been winning acclaim everywhere. For instance, Kirkus Reviews says:
Wheeler's work isn't character study, nor is it a shoot-'em-up, hero-centric tale.
It is a mirror to a time and place where copper, for wires, for brass, for war and peace was clawed from the earth by men as disposable as machinery, men left without care or comfort to hide away in the tunnels so they might once more be warm as they cough up their lives.
"The Richest Hill on Earth" is passionate, intelligently written, thoroughly entertaining historical fiction.
The latest rave comes from Bookgasm's Alan Cranis, who says, in part:
Richard S. Wheeler applies his formidable skill of combining Western historical events with fiction in THE RICHEST HILL ON EARTH, his latest stand-alone novel. Here, the story surrounds the battle for control of the rich copper mines during the early history of Wheeler’s home state of Montana.
THE RICHEST HILL ON EARTH ironically reminds us that corporate greed and control of the government — along with the 99 percent who suffer in its wake — is by no means a contemporary phenomenon. This may not have been Wheeler’s intent, but it nonetheless adds another dimension to this fascinating if somewhat downbeat historical novel.
If you haven't read Wheeler yet, this would be fine time to start.
Richard Wheeler is indeed a terrific writer. His Spur-winning book Snowbound is riveting.