The Friends of Pancho Villa: A Novel

by James Carlos Blake

With his debut novel on legendary Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin, The Pistoleer, James Carlos Blake demonstrated a rare talent for western and historical fiction. His second book, The Friends of Pancho Villa, now back in print, further proved his mastery in the genre, taking on an even mightier figure of North American legend—the most memorable leader of the Mexican Revolution.

Violently waged from 1910 to 1920, the revolution profoundly transformed Mexican government and culture. And Pancho Villa was its “incarnation and its eagle of a soul”—so says Rodolfo Fierro, the novel’s narrator, an ex-con, train robber, and Villa’s loyal friend. Killers of men and lovers of life, the revolutionaries fought for freedom, for a new Mexico, for Villa. And in return, they shared victory and death with their country’s most powerful hero. The Friends of Pancho Villa is a masterpiece of ferocious loyalty, bloody revolution, and legends that live forever.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Historical, 20th Century

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

James Carlos Blake was an American writer of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays. His work has received extensive critical favor and several notable awards. He has been called “one of the greatest chroniclers of the mythical American outlaw life” as well as “one of the most original writers in America today and … certainly one of the bravest.” He was a recipient of the University of South Florida's Distinguished Humanities Alumnus Award and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Reviews

[WJEP · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of bad-guy books and I proclaim Rudy Fierro to be the body-count-by-bullet champion. Fierro fought for "the very finest freedom of all: the freedom to kill our enemies, to kill the bastards who’d made our lives miserable."

Blake had a smart idea: Retell the Mexican Revolution through the 1st-person narration of Pancho Villa's terminator. I learned more about the politics of the Mexican Revolution than I wanted to know. The best parts of the book were the many point-blank vignettes about some particular whacking. Fierro's sadism

"I went through three reloads, then paused to piss on him"

was often offset by Pancho's nihilistic punchlines

"A executioner with a sense of thrift!"

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one off my shelves last night. Rescued from somewhere. I wanted to pick a western and here it is, a first-person historical fiction tale. Our narrator is casual, relentless and remorseless killer working for "la Revolution" in the service of Pancho Villa. This is the second book about Villa I've read fairly recently, the first being something I can't remember by Winston Groom. Like that book, this one offers up a tossed-off version of what happened to Ambrose Bierce. It's just guessing at this point anyway. The most common theme of the book is the stunning violence. So many prisoners of war(on both sides) wind up being casually murdered. In real life, this became an issue for the American government, which generally supported the revolutionaries like Villa because the conservative governments of Mexico were so awful. Still, according to this Villa was entreated by American officials to go easy on captured soldiers, not that it did much good. Problem is/was that P.O.W.'s, if they are to be kept alive and NOT returned to resume their role as soldiers AGAINST their former captors, need to be fed and housed and guarded. All that takes resources(and the humanitarian will to do it) and Villa didn't have a lot of either. Anyway, more bloodshed tonight I suppose. So far this book is OK in its lightweight accounting of things, but the author/speaker is no Cormac McCarthy(who gets a shout-out in the form of an epigraph). NO doubt, however, that "Blood Meridian" has been the inspiration for a lot of the "realistic" westerns that have been written since it was published.

Last night's reading had a lot to do with politics. Villa and Zapata are about to enter Mexico City as co-victors over Carranza. It was all downhill from there for both of them. Both assassinated later on ...

Will finish tonight. Zapata got his, and now Villa will meet his maker. Oh, the treachery ... One might be tempted to some sympathy if either of them had been more than glorified bandits and killers. All that violence - ugh!

And so to the end of Pancho Villa. Our narrator speaks to us from 1968 - now that's a survivor! Villa enjoyed a fruitful, if rather brief, retirement. In the end his politics, big mouth, and obnoxious/violent personality got the better of him. As I said before, in my opinion he was primarily a gifted and charismatic bandito, the scope of whose activity was greatly expanded by the opportunities of "la Revolution."

- good but not great book - certainly not a work of legitimate literature = 3.5* rounds down to 3*.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great example of learning history through story telling. I enjoyed this book to no end. Told in first person, your narrator Rodolfo Fierro is an evil man, a killer without remorse. But like watching the Sopranos or Sons of Anarchy, you wind up identifying with Fierro, Pancho Villa, and the other characters from the Mexican Revolution. The writing is tight with a quick pace. You'll probably be so hopelessly hooked after the first few pages that you'll read it all in one or two evenings.

[Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cynical, feral, riotous and utterly bloody-minded book...and a most seriously entertaining read!

There's more Nechaev (with far less scruples) than Jefferson in the depiction of these outlaw revolutionists, who shoot, loot, screw and slaughter at will, supposedly "in the name of the people"--but actually in pursuit of their own cruel, power-mad desires...

If you are a fan of Cormac McCarthy, James Crumley, Edward Bunker or James Ellroy's fiction...you'll dig this book. Recommended!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up a paperback copy of FoPV at a silent auction in Cross Plains, Texas on the weekend of Howard Days (celebrating the legacy of two-fisted Texas writer Robert E Howard). What an apt setting to discover this blood-soaked tale of treachery, loyalty, guns, senoritas, and damn little mercy. I read it in almost a single setting, only exigent demands calling me away prevented me from finishing it at once. Rudy Fierro is the ultimate unreliable narrator. Or is he so reliable we just don't want to admit the truth of his brutal honesty?

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

View James Carlos Blake's novel as a translation of the Mexican Revolution. It's not mere historical fiction. It's not interpretation. It's an artistic adaptation of the facts and lore of the revolution and two central characters, Villa and Rodolfo Fierro, as you can see them culturally transmitted across from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century. Reading this, I constantly thought of Sam Peckinpah's butchered script for Villa Rides, because Yul Brynner wanted a good guy with no ambiguities or compromises. Blake's Villa must be like what Peckinpah imagines. Otherwise, there is the imaginative twist on the "death" of Fierro, which allowed us to get to the end of Villas' story, too. And with what I see as one of the most sardonic happy endings in all of literature, as Fierro/Contreras disappears into the sunset. Fierro, it should be remembered is the Comrade Duch of the Mexican Revolution and to get your readers to share his perspective, if not sympathy, is quite a feat.

[Manny Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

The core of every spaghetti western ever made is here. And certainly Marxist westerns. There’s a frustration in the history. You can revolt and revolutionize but wind up with the same corrupt leaders. This is as close to Blood Meridian as Blake will get. Still one of the best writers today.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A meticulously researched and fabulously realized retelling of the life of Pancho Villa and his revolution through the eyes of Rudolpho Fierro, who might just be the most unabashedly violent character I've ever read. Rudy wins you over in the end through his unflinching honesty; he revels in slaughter and doesn't for a moment pretend otherwise. As he says late in the novel, "You don't fight to become free--to fight is to be free. A man with a gun and the will to use it can't be mastered, he can only be killed. What other reason to fight does a man need? Other than the pure pleasure of it, I mean." For Rudy, it really is pleasure: being gut shot, executing men by the hundreds in an afternoon, and methodically and slowly executing a life-long friend seem to him equally vivifying.

Spoilery Stuff Below:

It's hard to stomach a narrator who feels most alive when killing, and it's a tribute to Blake's craft and especially his humor that--despite hundreds of pages of Rudy's butchery--he is still tolerable. In fact, in the novel's final pages, I was salivating for him to hunt down a few more traitors, to come upon them in the black of some terrible night and shudder them, and the disappointment I felt at the end--when Rudy wisely walks away, electing to forego revenge--might be Blake's most clever trick.

[Benji Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a rough and tumble western with lots of crass language although it gives the reader a fairly accurate insight into the mindset of Mexican Revolutionaries and their attitudes towards all sides (including the US).

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astounding piece of work - an extraordinary re-imagining of the life of Pancho Villa and his companeros.

[John Campos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable, creative, and intriguing storytelling, even for those who aren't from my neck of the woods, which is integral to its theme.

[John of Canada · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read enough history books,but after reading friends,I have become hooked on Mexican and western history.James Carlos Blake is one of the best writers out there.Think Cormac McCarthy.

[Frank Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of us would not want Pancho Villa as a friend. I probably would not. He and his friends were dangerous and unpredictable. One might as easily be sharing a bottle of tequila as stretched on the ground with a bullet in the head. Yet, for some reason, I find him fascinating and have for a long time. I have been able to find few biographies of Pancho Villa, so this fictionalized account – THE FRIENDS OF PANCHO by James Carlos Blake – seemed a good bet. This time I bet right.

Though by no means an expert, to me the general chronology provided by Blake seems accurate: Pancho’s path from a peasant, mistreated at the hands of the landowner, through revolutionary (and almost president of Mexico), bandido, gentleman farmer, assassination in a blaze of gunfire, and finally to legend and myth.

In the story, as told in the voice of Rodolfo Fierro, one of Pancho’s most trusted friends, the band of revolutionaries and bandidos was a curious mix of barbarian – sometimes using executions as a kind of sport – but also with their own code of honor.

“Villa’s enemies had been trying to kill him all his life—it’s what enemies are supposed to do,”Fierro says. “Pancho knew that better than anybody, but he got careless. I was fair game because I was with him. Hell, Salas didn’t know me from Adam; he shot me because I damn sure would have killed him if that worthless .45 hadn’t jammed. They got the jump on us and they won. When they killed Villa, it was over. Revenge—bah! Only women and fools seek revenge for a lost fight.”

Sometimes the code seems almost unbelievably idealistic:

“I would not conspire against the only . . . what? . . . understanding? unwritten law? code?—different men call it different things if they call it anything at all—but it is the only thing in the life of men like us that has absolute value, the only thing, finally, that counts. God damn it, the compact of comrades is all that separates men like us from the rough beasts of the earth, that makes us something more than another random catastrophe of nature like earthquake and fire. Villa knew that. He’d always known it. Urbina knew it too, which is why he couldn’t look me in the eye. He had violated the compact, had deliberately betrayed his friends. He had to be punished. For him it would be penance. For me and Villa it would be fidelity.”

Sometimes punishment for breaking the code is almost unrealistically harsh, as with Tomas Urbino, once a friend who had betrayed them:

“I ordered the boys left with me to set torches to the house. Soon flames were leaping from the roof and bursting through the windows.. I blasted away his left kneecap. He tumbled off the bench, howling and writhing on the ground. The remainder of his side of the proceeding was conducted in screams and spasms. I shot his feet and ankles, then an elbow, then a shoulder. I shot his thieving hands, the other knee, and the points of both hipbones, tearing flesh and smashing bone but sparing the big arteries. I shot the other elbow, then blew off an ear. I pressed the bore of the gun against the side of his nose and shot the whole thing off his face. I went through three reloads, then paused to piss on him, then clapped my hand over his mouth to cut his moaning while I whispered into his good ear: “You’ll never rest in peace, Tomás, never. Not you.” I gave him the last one in the belly, then sat in front of him and watched the light fade slowly from his eyes.”

And the code can be paradoxical:

“When we caught up to the rest of the boys near the Durango border, Villa was entertaining them around a campfire with Tomás Urbina stories. I’d been a part of some of those stories, and I’d heard almost all the others, plenty of times. But on this night they seemed funnier than ever before, and I laughed along with the boys at every story Pancho told. Like Villa, I believed that even though some men did not deserve to go on living, they still deserved to be remembered at their best.

Fierro can sometimes verge on poetry as he tells the stories to the reader:

“As for the misfortune of never finding something to love, I’ll tell you what’s worse: to find it—whether it’s a woman or gold or God, whether it’s power or fame or the exercise of one’s own will—to find it and yet lack facility with it. That’s the greatest tragedy that can happen to a man: to discover his true love and then be no good with it. I saw it happen to many. I suffered no such misfortune. I loved the Revolution. I loved its rolling thunder and brute power, its exhilarating rage. It set free the man I truly am. It let me do what I do best as well as it can be done…”

Pancho might not be a person one would crave to have as a friend. But he is certainly a fascinating person to get to know.

[Clem · Rating 5 out of 5]

A historical novel. How much of this is actually true, I have no idea. This book is written as if it were a live account by one of Pancho Villa’s “insiders” on his revolutionary team, his aide General Rodolfo Fierro. Definitely not the kind of story I read every day. Regardless, this was a very enjoyable book. For a history buff such as myself, I always enjoy learning new things, and learning about new historical events. It’s also good to get a bit of perspective.

True story: My wife has a friend who is a native of Mexico. Imagine the feeling of incredulity when her friend learned that Francisco “Pancho” Villa is regarded as a hero in her native country, yet north of the Rio Grande, the rascal was considered somewhat of a villain. Reading this book is easy to see why opinions differ.

The Mexican revolution, which took place more or less during the first twenty years of the twentieth century, was awfully messy, yet when one looks at the environment, it’s easy to be forgiving of the rebellious inhabitants. Sadly, when revolutions happen, it’s rare to see everyone suddenly unite behind one leader. We see factions, traitorous fighters, bent loyalties, and a lot of greed. Since this is an account of Pancho Villa, it’s somewhat obvious to go along with his emotions and opinions and see the messy world through his eyes.

I hesitate to say this, but this book was also somewhat humorous. I often found myself laughing out loud. My guess is that this was the intention of the author. Yes, there is a lot of fighting and there are senseless killings on just about every page, but when one is immersed in these rebellious Mexican lives that seem to consist of mainly beans, whores, and hangovers, you can’t help but chuckle.

One example: Early in the story, Pancho and his men have a chance to view the new technology of something called a “motion picture” - what we today call a “movie”. When the smelly band of rebels is paying admission to the prefabricated viewing area, one of Pancho Villa’s men insists that he should only have to pay half-price. The reason? He has only one eye, so therefore can only “watch” half as much. Then, once the movie starts, the “action” is a train robbery. So when the bandits on screen pull out their guns and start shooting, the inebriated rebels viewing the picture can’t exactly discern truth from fiction, so they all pull out THEIR guns and start shooting at the screen. Yet one more example of dead and wounded scattered throughout, yet I couldn’t resist howling with laughter.

So a lot of fighting, a lot of women, a lot of soldiers, a lot of attempted intervention from the U.S., and a lot of hot dusty Mexican landscapes. A hard life for sure, yet the author manages to paint his picture with a light brush. I wanted to learn more about Pancho Villa after I finished this novel, which is probably one of the aims of the author, and also a sign of a good book.

I’m sure there are historians that will quickly point out the errors of the narrative; especially since it’s told fictitiously through the eyes of a real person, but I found the whole excursion quite rewarding, and was surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. And I’m certainly glad I didn’t live during that time; especially in the country of Mexico.

[John McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Friends of Pancho Villa
Mysterious Book Report No. 238
by John Dwaine McKenna

LEST WE FORGET:

A little over one hundred years ago, on March 9, 1916, a force of roughly 500 heavily armed men mounted on horseback and under the command of a cattle thief and bandit, rode up and out of the Sonoran Desert from Mexico. Under cover of night, thirty miles North of the international border with the United States, they attacked, looted and burned the little town of Columbus, New Mexico. They killed eighteen American citizens and wounded eight others before disappearing in the gray light of the false dawn. The unprovoked invasion so inflamed the American public and enraged the U.S. Congress that President Woodrow Wilson sent General John J. Pershing and a battalion of Buffalo Soldiers to hunt down and capture or kill the raiders in what was called the Punitive Expedition. From late June 1916 until early January 1917, Pershing—forever after known as ‘Black Jack’ for his command of the African-American Brigade—pursued the raiders without success. Then, with America about to enter World War I, the troops were recalled. The bandito the Americans went chasing after was named Doroteo Arrango. He was a desperado, a lover, a cattle thief, a revolutionary general and a killer. He was called The Centaur of the North; adored by many, despised by some and feared by all. He wrote his name as legend before riding into immortality . . . forever known to all the world . . . as Pancho Villa.

Now, thanks to a lucky turn of events, my wife June came home from the bookstore a few days ago with a gently used copy of a novel detailing the life and times of one of the twentieth-century’s most notorious individuals. As a bonus, it’s written by one of my favorite, although not so well known, authors. NOTE: Published in 1993, and now out of print, it’s hard to find. Try Abebooks.com. Be persistent. It’s worth it.

The Friends of Pancho Villa, (Berkley Publishing Group, PB, $13.00, 258 pages, ISBN 978-0-425-15304-5) by James Carlos Blake details the Mexican Revolution and the life of Pancho Villa as seen through the eyes of his next in command, a man known variously as—El Carnacero, (The Butcher), or El Senor Muerte, (Mr. Death)—Rudolfo Fierro.

Fierro is Villa’s friend, his executive Officer, confederate and the unofficial Lord High Executioner of the legendary Army of the North. He “Loves the revolution, it’s rolling thunder and brute power.” He is undyingly loyal to Villa and lives only to fight and kill those he sees as enemies of Mexico. In the masterful hands of author Blake, the butcher Fierro becomes a faithful and accurate chronicler of Villa and the Mexican Revolution . . . and he almost succeeds in making the unapologetic killer into a sympathetic narrator who blends fact and legend together into an electrifying jaunt through Northern Mexico. It’s a journey the reader won’t forget!

[Freddie the Know-it-all · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Less Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

I always choose a side when I read a book -- either for or against. Sometimes I choose one of each: someone to hate and someone to root for. But sometimes I only pick someone to hate. For example, I always hate Pat Highsmith's henpecked, soyboy husbands, but that doesn't mean I side with the harpy wives.

In case you never noticed, you're better defined by who and what you hate than you are by who and what you love. Everyone loves a medium-rare steak, but only the truly enlightened hate foodies.

The entire cast of this book is beaners, so I had a real hard time picking one to hate. I hated them all. But by about the half-way point I came to see that Pancho Villa himself was the most worthless of them. He wasn't only wolverine-cruel like every other character in the book, he was a monumental bungler. In a land of native-born, incomprehensibly incompetent bunglers he stood out. There is no human or even mammalian flaw he didn't have. He was Joe Biden with a skinning knife (just look at old pics of him, he has that same senile, horny old goat look in his eye that Alzheimer's Joe has).

It took a while, but I sided against Villa. Sure, Fierro the narrator is also a worthless piece-of-shit, but he wasn't as dizzy, as fickle and emotional as the woman-like Villa. Having Villa around was like having a hot-tempered wife in the house, you never knew when he was gonna blow his stack, but you did know it would be over something either stupid or trivial.

I was really looking forward to his assassination, it made me feel real good. Music may be the food of love, but I hate music.

I like learning things I already know, and this book taught me something I already knew: Mexico was the same 100 years ago as it is now. It'll never change. And the reason Mexico will never change is because it's full of Mexicans.

P.S. I haven't heard anything called a "rollicking romp" in quite some time now. Not since about the last time I saw Fauci or maybe even Greta. Rollicking Romps must've gone out of style.

[Ben Denison · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second James Carlos Blake book and this was as good or better than the first (The Pistoleer).

Blake's books appear to all be historical novels. This one on Pancho Villa is written as if his top sidekick is telling the story. I was googling often to see if this or that really happened. But, a lot of novel seems to align with Villa's real-life adventures and revolution.

This was also a good book because it gave me a better view of Villa from a Mexican perspective. Where I think most Americans think of him as a bandit who took on America, his Revolution had way more to do with Mexico and the various Regime changes happening in Mexico City and the various politics and alliances of the territorial leaders (he of Northwest Mexico) as fighting and elections put folks into and out of power bringing him in and out of favor.

I loved the book and James Carlos Blake quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told from the viewpoint of Rudolph Fierro, one of Pancho Villa’s right-hand men and executioners, this is a bloody recounting of the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s. Rudy is a totally amoral killer in the charnel-house that was Mexico at the time where human life was incredibly cheap, but the author makes you feel some sympathy for him, and the hot-tempered Villa and others come across as psychopaths moulded by the times. A great history lesson through the labyrinth of the Revolution with a vivid Mexican setting

[Sam Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend in need is friend indeed. I knew anout Villa and Zapata from school, the were like our Makhno, but in Mexico. So I knew what could I read - blood treason, brave and desperate fights and dead friends and all is lost. Well, not all is competely lost, General Villa is luckier.

And Fierro is mean and uneducated and bloodthisty and rude but he never drunk all money or betrayed Villa. So I salute you both, jefes!

[Dr. Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Pancho Villa and the Mexican revolution. The writing was a solid B movie. I would have liked to know more of the personal life of Villa, but maybe the revolution was his personal life.

[Ernest Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Guao! Brutal, thrilling, funny, like Villa himself. He and the Revolution are now clearer to me. Outrageous--I think that's the right word. Like a over-the-top spaghetti western charging across the border to acid western territory. Yet it feels so real. Gotta read more James Carlos Blake.

[Chris Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. If you haven't read this author, you might start with this one.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Violent, gripping, well paced and an interesting window into Mexico during the same era as the US was facing entry into WWI. A good read.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing is a little off and I'm not a huge fan of antiheroes, but James Carlos Blake does a good job with historical/western fiction and this was an enjoyable, fairly quick read.

[Dan Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life's a bitch, then you die.


That about sums up this book, and I am tempted to let my comments stop there. But....I will add a few more.
Not for the faint of heart, this journey through blood soaked, raped punctuated, betrayal as normality, unacknowledged revenge as revolutionary fervor Mexico tells the tale of violent men waging war with only one real fear: that it will end. The story has a certain historical accuracy, enough to quality as history in a book as much as most text books. Masterfully told, boldly written, this is a timeless tale worth the reading, if only for the bizarre justifications which emerge from the player's mouths. Like listening to jihadists. You have been warned...
Recommended.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was obligated to read this because my boyfriend's brother-in-law shoved it into my hands. I give it two stars only because it finally gets good in about the last third, and it gets good. The first two thirds are the same thing over and over, and I wonder what makes it so damn good to my BBIL. Mostly underwhelming, I had a hard time caring about what I was reading. I grabbed on quickly that the overall theme is the violence and sentimentality of war, and that's intriguing. Now having finished it, I appreciate the use of the book's structure to emphasize how their lives progress. I don't know whether it's actually good or bad, from a literary standpoint. I think it's just not my cup of tea.

[Kookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I know Mexican politics of the time are an important part of the story of Pancho Villa, I wish the author had spent less time explaining them. The parts about Pancho and his men were fantastic, but the politics bogged down the flow of the narrative. Still worth a read.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the first-person narration--from a "friend of pancho villa"--got on my nerves. Next time, I'll just go for the nonfiction.