Skyrider: Wings of Courage and Romance: A Thrilling Tale of Early Aviation and Pioneer Dreams

Skyrider #1

by B.M. Bower

Skyrider is a western novel penned by B. M. Bower. Bower was an American writer who wrote novels, fictitious short stories, and texts about the American Old West. "Johnny Jewel, moved by the fluctuating determination of the young, went to bed that night fully resolved that he would not quit a good job just because untoward circumstance compelled him to herd with a bunch of brainless clowns. He, who had a definite aim in life, would not permit that aim to be turned aside because various and sundry roughneck punchers thought it was funny to go around yelping like a band of coyotes. Mary V, too—he did not neglect to include Mary V. Indeed, much of his determination to remain was born of his desire to crush that insolent young woman with polite, pitying toleration."

Genres: Westerns, Romance

164 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Bertha Muzzy Sinclair or Sinclair-Cowan, née Muzzy, best known by her pseudonym B. M. Bower, was an American author who wrote novels, fictional short stories, and screenplays about the American Old West. Her works, featuring cowboys and cows of the Flying R Ranch in Montana, reflected "an interest in ranch life, the use of working cowboys as main characters (even in romantic plots), the occasional appearance of eastern types for the sake of contrast, a sense of western geography as simultaneously harsh and grand, and a good deal of factual attention to such matters as cattle branding and bronc busting.

Born Bertha Muzzy in Otter Tail County, MN and living her early years in Big Sandy, Montana, she was married three times: to Clayton Bower, in 1890; to Bertrand William Sinclair,(also a Western author) in 1912; and to Robert Elsworth Cowan, in 1921. Bower's 1912 novel Lonesome Land was praised in The Bookman magazine for its characterization. She wrote 57 Western novels, several of which were turned into films.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnny is a cowboy working on a southern Arizona ranch during WWI years but before America entered the war. Johnny wants to be an aviator. More than anything else in the whole world Johnny wants to fly. If he could fly, he would go across the pond and help in The Fight.

Mary V is the rancher's daughter: spoiled, headstrong, selfish, and foolish at times but also brave, and very much at home on a horse or with a gun. Mary V cannot admit even to herself that she is interested in Johnny, and teases him constantly. I didn't much care for her; the immaturity in her words and actions was too grating for me, even if she did use one of my favorite words in a conversation. Not many people use the word 'piffle' these days, so she got brownie points for that.

Sandy is Johnny's horse. I am mentioning him because Johnny rides him into Mexico to see a downed plane he had been told about. With Sandy's help Johnny had found the perfect hiding place earlier (Sandy had thought he was looking for cattle that may have been hiding in that particular canyon) but neither of them were quite prepared for what happened when they got close to the plane:
Now Sandy had discovered the secret hangar for Johnny without having the slightest imagining of the use which Johnny hoped to make of it. That he should ever have to face a thing like this was beyond his most fevered imagination. He had been a tired, sweaty, head-hanging horse when he started down the slope. He had trotted along with his half-closed eyes on the ground before him, picking the smoothest path for his desert-weary feet. He did not look up until Johnny pulled sharply on the reins and gave a startling whoop built around the word "Whoa."

Sandy's bulging eyes got a full-front, close-up view of the "thing what set." He saw a wicked nose with a feeler about twice as high as he was. He saw great, terrible, outspread wings and a long slim body. It looked poised, ready to come at him and snatch him with one frightful swoop, as he had seen prairie hawks snatch little birds from the grass.

Sandy forgot that he was a tired, sweaty, head-hanging horse. He forgot everything except the four unbroken legs under him. He wheeled half away and went lunging up the far side of the little basin as if he felt the horrible creature close behind him.

I've said it before ~~ Bower knows her horses, and has a wonderful ability to make them real. It is one of the things I most enjoy about her books.

And I would love to know if there ever was truly a plane that went down right across the border during those years. This is at least the third time in different author's works I have seen such a thing mentioned. Hmm....

But back to Skyrider. Will Johnny manage to get the plane in flying shape? Will he be able to fly it if he does? Wasn't it handy for that hobo he met to have the talents he had? Will there be a romance for anyone in this story or will we have to wait for the sequel? And one last question.....who is stealing the horses that Johnny is supposed to be guarding?!

Bower allowed herself to express some opinions about the war here. Johnny wants to go and gives an eloquent speech about why; and Mary V is just as eloquent on the reason for him not to go and for America to continue neutral. I wonder which was Bower's own opinion?

I'm already set up to start the sequel, titled The Thunder Bird. I am too curious about what happened after The End of this one to put it off, even though I had planned on reading something much different next.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unusual Western novel: a young cowboy dreams of flight and thinks he’ll learn in time to be ready to go to the front lines in his airship when the US enters WW1. But before that can happen, he needs a few things, the first of which is...an airship. When a cowboy he works with realizes that need can be capitalized on for his own gain, a plot is hatched and a snare laid for Johnny Jewel’s unsuspecting feet.

Mary V is the dashing heroine of the piece, a fearless rider of the canyons and a saucy young lady. I particularly loved the scene when she runs across some would-be kidnappers...so funny.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cowboys and airplanes go together better than you would think. This is an entertaining contemporary Western, written and set during WWI (in the book, the war in Europe is mentioned but the U.S. has not yet entered the conflict). Revolution is going on in Mexico, which slightly touches the plot of this story, set on a Southwestern ranch just on the U.S. side of the border. Modernity lends a touch of humor, too, with a ranch owner grown too stout to ride horseback following his mounted crew over rough ground in a Ford automobile, much to his own disgust.

The protagonist, Johnny Jewel, works as a cowboy but his ambition is to be an aviator; he spends much of his time studying and dreaming about the subject of flying. While stationed at a solitary line camp, he learns of a damaged plane abandoned in the desert on the Mexican side of the border, and comes up with a plan to salvage it and put it into working order, with an unemployed aviator of rather dubious character to help him. What Johnny doesn't realize is that a clever gang of rustlers are taking advantage of his passion for flying in order to distract him from his job of keeping guard over the ranch's horses.

In the meantime, the ranch owner's spunky daughter, who takes more of an interest in Johnny's affairs than she'll admit to anybody (least of all herself), has noticed some odd goings-on around the ranch and engages in some detective work. When matters eventually come to a head, and Johnny realizes the extent of the disaster that his carelessness has caused, he makes an attempt at salvaging the situation by means of the airplane itself. It's a classic case of an impulsive young protagonist learning some lessons the hard way, and builds to a nicely bittersweet and fitting ending.

[Mitzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read - it was kind of slow to start, but once the story really started to kick in I enjoyed it. Not my favorite B.M. Bower novel, but I am glad I checked it out.