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Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys
'Cat Person' meets Station Eleven in this apocalyptic depiction of toxic masculinity.
An unnamed man is spending the evening with his ex-girlfriend. She's obsessed with the 1956 John Wayne classic The Searchers, and she recounts the story as a way for them to talk about their histories, their families, maybe even their relationship. But as he gets more drunk and belligerent, she gets more and more uncomfortable with him being in her home.
And then, the next day, a mysterious catastrophic event befalls Toronto, and our protagonist must trek across the city to find Melanie. His quest spirals into increasing violence, bloodshed, and hallucinations as he moves west through the confusion and chaos of the city.
Using the tropes of both the Western and the disaster movie, Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys looks at the violence of our contemporary masculinity, and its deep roots in shaping our culture. A suspenseful and thought-provoking evocation of our current moment.
An unnamed man is spending the evening with his ex-girlfriend. She's obsessed with the 1956 John Wayne classic The Searchers, and she recounts the story as a way for them to talk about their histories, their families, maybe even their relationship. But as he gets more drunk and belligerent, she gets more and more uncomfortable with him being in her home.
And then, the next day, a mysterious catastrophic event befalls Toronto, and our protagonist must trek across the city to find Melanie. His quest spirals into increasing violence, bloodshed, and hallucinations as he moves west through the confusion and chaos of the city.
Using the tropes of both the Western and the disaster movie, Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys looks at the violence of our contemporary masculinity, and its deep roots in shaping our culture. A suspenseful and thought-provoking evocation of our current moment.
ebook
First published June 6, 2023
1 person is currently reading
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About the author
Aaron Tucker
39 books20 followersAaron Tucker is the author of the forthcoming novel Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys with Coach House Books on June 6th, 2023. His essay “A Cowboy’s Work” was longlisted for the 2022 CBC Non-Fiction Prize and is part of a work-in-progress collection of essays.
Tucker’s latest poetry collection is Catalogue d’oiseaux (Book*hug Press, Spring 2021). His novel Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos (Coach House Books) was translated by Rachel Martinez into French as Oppenheimer (La Peuplade) in the summer of 2020. In addition, he is the author of two books of poetry, Irresponsible Mediums: The Chess Games of Marcel Duchamp (Bookthug Press) and punchlines (Mansfield Press), and two scholarly cinema studies monographs, Virtual Weaponry: The Militarized Internet in Hollywood War Films and Interfacing with the Internet in Popular Cinema (both published by Palgrave Macmillan).
He is currently a PhD candidate in the Cinema and Media Studies Department at York University where he is an Elia Scholar, a VISTA doctoral Scholar and a 2020 Joseph-Armand Bombardier doctoral fellow. He is currently studying the cinema of facial recognition software and its impacts on citizenship, mobility and crisis.
He was born in Vernon B.C. and grew up in Lavington B.C., on the lands of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. Currently, he is a guest on the Dish with One Spoon Territory.
Tucker’s latest poetry collection is Catalogue d’oiseaux (Book*hug Press, Spring 2021). His novel Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos (Coach House Books) was translated by Rachel Martinez into French as Oppenheimer (La Peuplade) in the summer of 2020. In addition, he is the author of two books of poetry, Irresponsible Mediums: The Chess Games of Marcel Duchamp (Bookthug Press) and punchlines (Mansfield Press), and two scholarly cinema studies monographs, Virtual Weaponry: The Militarized Internet in Hollywood War Films and Interfacing with the Internet in Popular Cinema (both published by Palgrave Macmillan).
He is currently a PhD candidate in the Cinema and Media Studies Department at York University where he is an Elia Scholar, a VISTA doctoral Scholar and a 2020 Joseph-Armand Bombardier doctoral fellow. He is currently studying the cinema of facial recognition software and its impacts on citizenship, mobility and crisis.
He was born in Vernon B.C. and grew up in Lavington B.C., on the lands of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. Currently, he is a guest on the Dish with One Spoon Territory.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 31, 2024
I tend to hate modern books. (Books with cell phones, pop culture references, overly political agendas, etc etc). So this didn't have a great chance from the get-go, but it was my cousin's pick and I was obligated to read it.
The first half of the book is a conversation between an ex-couple having drinks at Melanie's apartment. The male counterpart of this ex-couple who remains unnamed is an overly clingy, probable alcoholic, unable to move on, jackass. Melanie, the female counterpart, is an overly liberal and somewhat annoying girl, who spends the evening describing a John Wayne classic, the Searchers, and downplaying their past relationship.
The second half of the book takes place two days after the cringe-worthy night of drinks at Melanie's. Some unknown attack befalls Toronto and leaves parts of the city in ruin. So what's or unnamed jackass of a clingy ex-boyfriend do? He sets out to rescue his love, Melanie. This is where it gets weird and bounces in and out of reality and lost me.
If you are going to read this, which I recommend you don't, here's my advice. Skip the first half, instead have a couple drinks, watch John Wayne's movie, The Searchers, but watch it like a real douch bag and try to point out all the culturally insensitive things and all the times John Wayne may have hurt someone's feelings. Oh and don't forget to think about your relationship with your father during all this. Then instead of reading the second half, pick one of your exes and walk to their house, make sure you talk to everyone along the way though. Do all that and you can say you've read this book.
The first half of the book is a conversation between an ex-couple having drinks at Melanie's apartment. The male counterpart of this ex-couple who remains unnamed is an overly clingy, probable alcoholic, unable to move on, jackass. Melanie, the female counterpart, is an overly liberal and somewhat annoying girl, who spends the evening describing a John Wayne classic, the Searchers, and downplaying their past relationship.
The second half of the book takes place two days after the cringe-worthy night of drinks at Melanie's. Some unknown attack befalls Toronto and leaves parts of the city in ruin. So what's or unnamed jackass of a clingy ex-boyfriend do? He sets out to rescue his love, Melanie. This is where it gets weird and bounces in and out of reality and lost me.
If you are going to read this, which I recommend you don't, here's my advice. Skip the first half, instead have a couple drinks, watch John Wayne's movie, The Searchers, but watch it like a real douch bag and try to point out all the culturally insensitive things and all the times John Wayne may have hurt someone's feelings. Oh and don't forget to think about your relationship with your father during all this. Then instead of reading the second half, pick one of your exes and walk to their house, make sure you talk to everyone along the way though. Do all that and you can say you've read this book.
November 17, 2025
I have a weird thing for Westerns where I can’t really watch them because they’re either scary or boring and always racist but I’m low-level obsessed with them. So this novel, in which a man listens to his ex-girlfriend explain a Western she’s obsessed with, and then takes his own lessons, or not, about masculinity from the evening, seemed right up my street.
I did enjoy the first half, both because it describes and analyzes the Western and because the man is full of little toxic traits. One reason he wants to hear all about the film is because Philip, his possible rival, hasn’t been told about it. He keeps harping on about when he and his ex-girlfriend were together; she keeps trying to downplay it. She finds in him a kind of masculinity she finds in John Wayne, and she’s both attracted and repulsed, and he becomes puffed up on the attraction but angry about the repulsion. The toxic masculinity playbook, basically.
The second half occurs a few days later. There has been a disaster. The man decides to cross the city and be a hero and save his girlfriend. I was really hoping this part would be amazing… but sadly nothing really changes. Nothing ups the ante. There’s just more masculinity, underpinned with reasons why he is that way, but no creative take or inversion of expectations. And through it all I could feel an author desperate to know that I knew that he knew that this was bad behaviour, and that he was documenting it but not condoning it, that he wasn’t one of those men. And it is indeed a slippery topic… perhaps a topic that calls, after all, for an unapologetic cowboy to just ride in and trample all over it.
I did enjoy the first half, both because it describes and analyzes the Western and because the man is full of little toxic traits. One reason he wants to hear all about the film is because Philip, his possible rival, hasn’t been told about it. He keeps harping on about when he and his ex-girlfriend were together; she keeps trying to downplay it. She finds in him a kind of masculinity she finds in John Wayne, and she’s both attracted and repulsed, and he becomes puffed up on the attraction but angry about the repulsion. The toxic masculinity playbook, basically.
The second half occurs a few days later. There has been a disaster. The man decides to cross the city and be a hero and save his girlfriend. I was really hoping this part would be amazing… but sadly nothing really changes. Nothing ups the ante. There’s just more masculinity, underpinned with reasons why he is that way, but no creative take or inversion of expectations. And through it all I could feel an author desperate to know that I knew that he knew that this was bad behaviour, and that he was documenting it but not condoning it, that he wasn’t one of those men. And it is indeed a slippery topic… perhaps a topic that calls, after all, for an unapologetic cowboy to just ride in and trample all over it.
August 4, 2023
some jumbled thoughts -
- so many massive themes explored through the thin and precise lens of a single movie. i am obsessed with this method of storytelling/discussing contemporary culture.
- i love love love how much this book is about art and the relationships that we have with art etc etc
- curious to know whether there was any inspiration taken from kiss of the spider woman; i was reminded of that book in a few different ways
- great commentary on masculinity, what is the modern masculine ideal? does the ideal of the modern man even exist, or are men supposed to chase outdated archetypes that don’t really make sense in the current culture? lots to think about, and the framing of the conversation through the john wayne movie is so effective
- the ending sequence is so stunning and strange.
- there is something so visual and cinematic about the experience of reading this book. very cool.
- interested in parallels between melanie and martha. i definitely want to watch the movie now, to see how it interacts with the characters in the book and to see what dialogue emerges between the two texts.
anyway that’s all i enjoyed this lots.
- so many massive themes explored through the thin and precise lens of a single movie. i am obsessed with this method of storytelling/discussing contemporary culture.
- i love love love how much this book is about art and the relationships that we have with art etc etc
- curious to know whether there was any inspiration taken from kiss of the spider woman; i was reminded of that book in a few different ways
- great commentary on masculinity, what is the modern masculine ideal? does the ideal of the modern man even exist, or are men supposed to chase outdated archetypes that don’t really make sense in the current culture? lots to think about, and the framing of the conversation through the john wayne movie is so effective
- the ending sequence is so stunning and strange.
- there is something so visual and cinematic about the experience of reading this book. very cool.
- interested in parallels between melanie and martha. i definitely want to watch the movie now, to see how it interacts with the characters in the book and to see what dialogue emerges between the two texts.
anyway that’s all i enjoyed this lots.
December 26, 2022
Just amazing. Mr. Tucker is a student of the cinema and it comes through in the dialogue, the pacing and the imagery of this fine example of creative writing. Note: it may help to be a John Wayne fan to really get the most out of the first half of the book.
Put this on your summer reading list for '23!
Put this on your summer reading list for '23!
March 16, 2023
I hated how much I related to the main character and his thought process. Great exploration of toxic masculinity.
May 15, 2023
A book of two halves this one as Tucker takes us into a conversation between a man and his ex-girlfriend as she describes her obsession with the film The Searchers as well as the plot and the legacy the film has wrought on culture. In the second half we find the unnamed male protagonist submerged onto the streets of Toronto following an incident that could be a gas leak or a carefully planned terrorist attack depending on which news source he chooses to believe. He decides he needs to get across town and make sure his ex is safe and well.
The first half sucks you in because it is written fully in dialogue that examines the film closely and seeks to understand the relationship between actors and their audience. It looks at how an attitude being portrayed from a hundred years before can seep into society through an on screen portrayal and somehow make it seem alright even if that isn't the intention of the art. Mel is obsessed with it for reasons of personal nostalgia and will still watch it even though she disagrees with much of what goes on in the film such as the casual racism and sexism throughout.
As much as the first part sucked me in, the second part spat me out as we take to the streets of Toronto with a lot of sleepy description and violent goings on that may or may be real. To be honest, it somewhat lost me as we continued to not be sure what was real and what was actually happening other than our unnamed man looking to make up for any transgressions from their previous encounter by becoming a paragon of John Wayne and seeking to save someone who maybe doesn't need saved.
The first half sucks you in because it is written fully in dialogue that examines the film closely and seeks to understand the relationship between actors and their audience. It looks at how an attitude being portrayed from a hundred years before can seep into society through an on screen portrayal and somehow make it seem alright even if that isn't the intention of the art. Mel is obsessed with it for reasons of personal nostalgia and will still watch it even though she disagrees with much of what goes on in the film such as the casual racism and sexism throughout.
As much as the first part sucked me in, the second part spat me out as we take to the streets of Toronto with a lot of sleepy description and violent goings on that may or may be real. To be honest, it somewhat lost me as we continued to not be sure what was real and what was actually happening other than our unnamed man looking to make up for any transgressions from their previous encounter by becoming a paragon of John Wayne and seeking to save someone who maybe doesn't need saved.
February 25, 2024
A startling and immersive look at modern culture and the delusions of toxic masculinity, in an apocalyptic exploration of a Toronto overwhelmed with riots. A nameless man comes over to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in an attempt to reconnect with her, and she enthusiastically tells him about the 1956 John Wayne classic The Searchers, in a reflective chapter titled Fathers. It’s a way for them to contemplate, discuss histories, families, values even, but the man gets progressively more drunk and her discomfort eventually edges him out. Disappointed at the unromantic ending, he returns to his dingy apartment to watch the movie she discussed and fall into a drunken slumber. The following day, in the chapter titled Sons, the reader dives into the man’s rapid spiral into the violence and bloodshed, of his fragmented fantasies of the ideal hero, as the city erupts with unnamed attacks. Hallucinations and confusion follow us, as the chaos with no sense and explanation takes over, and we begin to see the parallels between the media he consumes and the journey he attempts to take.
The novel’s shattered and severed narrative, the splintered pieces of a cinematic vision that weaves throughout the story, is a fascinating thread to follow. The drawing of parallels between contemporary incel culture, rampant racism, and attention economy, is perfectly highlighted by the recounting of the John Wayne Western. It illustrates to us that any claims of progressive change are overwhelmingly optimistic in their exaggeration of difference, even if the scene is different, the tropes of cinema remain the same. This short slim volume asks us to consider what the archetype of the ideal man is like, and whether modern men are supposed to chase a past gone idea and bemoan the fall of civilisation. The consequences, as ever, remain ghastly. The novel’s visual framing is almost cinematic, and many of the small moments seem more apt for a stage direction than a book, as the male protagonist progressively becomes more and more immersed in his role as a movie character, the story takes on an almost comical parody of the action paced cinema world of today. The result would have been hilarious if it was not so heart wrenchingly accurate of the disastrous thought process of so many individuals today.
The better reading experience comes from sitting down in two parts, reading the first part without pause, taking a break and then reading the second. The best experience likely comes from watching the movie in advance and being a John Wayne fan. This is not a work that one can truly appreciate without being a cinema fan, and if you remain a reader above a media consumer, certain moments of this will fall flat, even if you may admire and relish the thinly drawn comparisons to the twenty first century. The first half’s writing in dialogue was not a personal favourite as the writing was not at its strongest, the second half was far more vivid and vibrant. The loss of reality, as the reader follows a man who increasingly can’t distinguish between fact and fiction is a significantly more intriguing puzzle to unpick.
The novel also struggled to consistently keep up with the self created boundaries of pacing and narrative, and this was reflected in the reading experience, certain moments dissolve the poignancy of the critique, and this is not a work you can confidently place on the shelf of favourites. The transitions are occasionally jarring, and the movie-book experience seems incomplete, discomforting and discouraging: it loses its compelling quality, as it feels more like a description than a story, as the author loses grip on the reader. It is not a work you can confidently recommend to anyone, and perhaps I was not the right audience, as someone who watches a movie just a few times per year. I do however feel like the overall show the book put on was although startling and engaging, slightly stretched too thin, and the work lost some of its impact. Similar to when a high budget movie ends up losing its audience because the initial standards do not meet the final outcome. An immersive work, yet not an indisputable masterpiece nor a new favourite. 3/5✨
The novel’s shattered and severed narrative, the splintered pieces of a cinematic vision that weaves throughout the story, is a fascinating thread to follow. The drawing of parallels between contemporary incel culture, rampant racism, and attention economy, is perfectly highlighted by the recounting of the John Wayne Western. It illustrates to us that any claims of progressive change are overwhelmingly optimistic in their exaggeration of difference, even if the scene is different, the tropes of cinema remain the same. This short slim volume asks us to consider what the archetype of the ideal man is like, and whether modern men are supposed to chase a past gone idea and bemoan the fall of civilisation. The consequences, as ever, remain ghastly. The novel’s visual framing is almost cinematic, and many of the small moments seem more apt for a stage direction than a book, as the male protagonist progressively becomes more and more immersed in his role as a movie character, the story takes on an almost comical parody of the action paced cinema world of today. The result would have been hilarious if it was not so heart wrenchingly accurate of the disastrous thought process of so many individuals today.
The better reading experience comes from sitting down in two parts, reading the first part without pause, taking a break and then reading the second. The best experience likely comes from watching the movie in advance and being a John Wayne fan. This is not a work that one can truly appreciate without being a cinema fan, and if you remain a reader above a media consumer, certain moments of this will fall flat, even if you may admire and relish the thinly drawn comparisons to the twenty first century. The first half’s writing in dialogue was not a personal favourite as the writing was not at its strongest, the second half was far more vivid and vibrant. The loss of reality, as the reader follows a man who increasingly can’t distinguish between fact and fiction is a significantly more intriguing puzzle to unpick.
The novel also struggled to consistently keep up with the self created boundaries of pacing and narrative, and this was reflected in the reading experience, certain moments dissolve the poignancy of the critique, and this is not a work you can confidently place on the shelf of favourites. The transitions are occasionally jarring, and the movie-book experience seems incomplete, discomforting and discouraging: it loses its compelling quality, as it feels more like a description than a story, as the author loses grip on the reader. It is not a work you can confidently recommend to anyone, and perhaps I was not the right audience, as someone who watches a movie just a few times per year. I do however feel like the overall show the book put on was although startling and engaging, slightly stretched too thin, and the work lost some of its impact. Similar to when a high budget movie ends up losing its audience because the initial standards do not meet the final outcome. An immersive work, yet not an indisputable masterpiece nor a new favourite. 3/5✨
November 12, 2023
Una exploración súper interesante sobre la masculinidad. Contada en dos formatos, al inicio como una conversación y después una narración en un ambiente “apocalíptico”. Personalmente puso las cosas en perspectiva y lo que originalmente empezó en mi mente como un “woooww que difícil es ser hombre blanco en estos tiempos (con sarcasmo)” se convirtió en una narrativa con la que pude empatizar. Puntos extras por utilizar una película para hacer analogías.
May 22, 2023
I really enjoyed SOLDIERS, HUNTERS, NOT COWBOYS by Aaron Tucker! I liked the format of this novel. Within 150 pages there’s two parts. In part one an unnamed protagonist spends the evening with his ex-girlfriend. She recounts the John Wayne movie The Searchers. I’d never seen that movie before so it was quite interesting to experience the movie in this way. In part two he must travel across the city after a mysterious catastrophe. I liked that element of mystery. I loved the Toronto setting. It was distinctive that the writing style of the dialogue changed between the two parts. There’s one quote on page 34 that I loved:
- You have so many books.
- I find them comforting.
Thank you to Coach House Books for my gifted review copy!
- You have so many books.
- I find them comforting.
Thank you to Coach House Books for my gifted review copy!
November 17, 2023
An intoxicating mix of DeLillo, Bartheleme, and Phillip K Dick. It’s pretty good and something I sat down and read in two long stretches.
January 12, 2023
i finished reading the upcoming novel by aaron tucker from coach house books 'soldiers, hunters, not cowboys' yesterday and let me tell you, this book took me by surprise. the novel is broken into two parts. the first part captures the dialogue between melanie & her ex-boyfriend as she recounts (in vivid detail) the plot to the classic western film 'the searchers' starring john wayne, which allows the pair to talk about their lives, their families, and their past relationship. but as our unnamed narrator gets more intoxicated, mel gets uncomfortable with him being in her home, and she forces him to leave. the second part, set a few days later, follows our narrator in the hours after a catastrophic event befalls toronto, and he takes it upon himself to try and make it to melanie to make sure she's ok, made more complex by the violence and hallucinations that follow him on his journey. this book felt like the mashup of a old timey western and also an 'end of the world' thriller, and it worked surprisingly well. while not being heavy on plot, the way the story unfolds had me appreciating both genres more, and kept me compelled to keep reading. definitely one to check out when it hits shelves in the summer!
December 17, 2023
This book shines as an audiobook experience, particularly in the opening with the dual narrators. However, the switch to the second half is quite jarring. They don't quite mesh well together. The first half is a very close look at this one film, one conversation, in one room. The second feels almost like an entirely separate entity as the narrator wanders the city of Toronto as part of the city burns. The opening is almost like listening in on a podcast, the second as if you're listening to an audio described film.
November 1, 2023
Enjoyed the dialogue in the first half of the book. The second half of the book had an interesting premise but it didn't demand my attention. May revisit the second half of the book at a later time and see if I feel differently.
July 6, 2023
Read an excerpt from Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys on Send My Love to Anyone: https://sendmylovetoanyone.substack.c...
May 30, 2024
The first story was mildly good. I abandonded it during the second.
January 6, 2026
Potential of this book > execution
Sauna read
Sauna read
December 14, 2023
Soldiers, Hunters, not Cowboys by Aaron Tucker is one of my favorite books I've read so far this year.
The book's description didn't really prepare me for the impact of what I was going to read. I read this in a few hours, if you total the reading time over two days. That's not common for me but that's just a reflection of how engrossed I was in the story I was from the jump.
The book is cleverly divided into two parts. For myself, the first part of the book brings on a sort of claustrophobia that you might only recognize if you've ever encountered someone like the guy character in the story. Too relatable. This first part is a string of conversation that doesn't stop for a beat. It's a smart dance of words and comparison by a woman trying to express something to a man she cared, or cares for hoping that this guy is smart enough to get the hint or is able to look past the toxicity. There's a hope and no hope. Also, I only know about John Wayne from Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (also mentioned in the book), but you don't need to know westerns or John Wayne to grasp what's going on and what parallels are being made.
At first I felt a disconnect between first part and the second part, which is a dizzying and wild search through the City of Toronto during a cataclysmic event in search of the ex-girlfriend. However, as the story progressed and the ending hit, I felt both parts were harmonious, holding hands, running down some a chaotically colored and beautiful hill of prose.
The writing is spot on. 100. Vivid. So smart. Cinematic.
My mind sort of went wild trying to piece together what's really going on. Is there really something apocalyptic at play? Is this some alcoholic fever dream fueled by past trauma? Is it the breakdown of this man after he commits some violent act? I felt bad for this kid and yet I didn't.
My brain is everywhere, can't quite pin down all of my feelings in this AMYtalk about how great this book was for me and that just shows again, as I often mention here, the power of books and good writing shows when you're left with a mess of questions, thoughts, and feelings.
The book's description didn't really prepare me for the impact of what I was going to read. I read this in a few hours, if you total the reading time over two days. That's not common for me but that's just a reflection of how engrossed I was in the story I was from the jump.
The book is cleverly divided into two parts. For myself, the first part of the book brings on a sort of claustrophobia that you might only recognize if you've ever encountered someone like the guy character in the story. Too relatable. This first part is a string of conversation that doesn't stop for a beat. It's a smart dance of words and comparison by a woman trying to express something to a man she cared, or cares for hoping that this guy is smart enough to get the hint or is able to look past the toxicity. There's a hope and no hope. Also, I only know about John Wayne from Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (also mentioned in the book), but you don't need to know westerns or John Wayne to grasp what's going on and what parallels are being made.
At first I felt a disconnect between first part and the second part, which is a dizzying and wild search through the City of Toronto during a cataclysmic event in search of the ex-girlfriend. However, as the story progressed and the ending hit, I felt both parts were harmonious, holding hands, running down some a chaotically colored and beautiful hill of prose.
The writing is spot on. 100. Vivid. So smart. Cinematic.
My mind sort of went wild trying to piece together what's really going on. Is there really something apocalyptic at play? Is this some alcoholic fever dream fueled by past trauma? Is it the breakdown of this man after he commits some violent act? I felt bad for this kid and yet I didn't.
My brain is everywhere, can't quite pin down all of my feelings in this AMYtalk about how great this book was for me and that just shows again, as I often mention here, the power of books and good writing shows when you're left with a mess of questions, thoughts, and feelings.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews