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Born Savage
VERY GOOD to LIKE NEW. A crease on the back cover. Otherwise almost NEW. Same day shipping from AZ.
- GenresWesterns
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
3 people want to read
About the author
William Hopson
109 books3 followersWilliam Lee Hopson (1907 - 1975) was primarily a Western author. He was sometimes published under the name William L. Hopson and used a pseudonym, John Sims, for at least four Western novels.
After joining the U.S. Marines, Hopson served as a weapons instructor during World War II. Afterwards, he had various jobs as a coyote hunter and trick flyer. At the same time, he wrote crime novels and Western stories for pulp magazines between 1938 and 1958, as well as several novels, some of which were reworkings of previous short stories.
At a presentation in a newspaper in 1954, Hopson said he began by determining the background and reading in on time and place, and then sketching out his main character to give him a problem to solve. When this was done, he believed that the book was basically writing itself. Hopson's publishers wanted nine books a year, but Hopson got it down to six and was happy if it was four or five annually.
After living family life in Arizona for eight years in the 1950s, Hopson moved to California, where he lived until his death in 1975.
After joining the U.S. Marines, Hopson served as a weapons instructor during World War II. Afterwards, he had various jobs as a coyote hunter and trick flyer. At the same time, he wrote crime novels and Western stories for pulp magazines between 1938 and 1958, as well as several novels, some of which were reworkings of previous short stories.
At a presentation in a newspaper in 1954, Hopson said he began by determining the background and reading in on time and place, and then sketching out his main character to give him a problem to solve. When this was done, he believed that the book was basically writing itself. Hopson's publishers wanted nine books a year, but Hopson got it down to six and was happy if it was four or five annually.
After living family life in Arizona for eight years in the 1950s, Hopson moved to California, where he lived until his death in 1975.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 21, 2021
“He stood silence as four figures carried a gagged, bootless, twisting, writhing, terrified rapist and killer toward then flag pole…”
William Lee Hopson (1907-75) was an ex-soldier who earned his living for a while as a prolific western writer, first as a short storyist, then as a novelist.
In Born Savage , Hopson gives us Channon Ordway, a rancher who is driving his cattle into Mexico when he is bushwhacked and back-shot and he has his cattle stolen. Unfortunately for his enemies he survives and completely recovers. As he gets another herd together and starts back to his home town of Tulac, he is ambushed again. This time by Britisher Eric Randolph, and his niece Vernell, who believe that Ordway had murdered Eric’s brother, and Vernell’s father.
And to drive the cattle, and to help the Randolphs, Eric has hired Orday’s lifelong enemies, the outlaws Sonny Shackleton and Red Waldo and their gang.
It is through them that he learns that his friend, the sheriff, back in Tulac, has been murdered and Shackleton & Waldo had installed their puppet to be in charge.
It’s obvious that the bunch have no real interest in getting Orday back to Tulac alive. When the bunch get back to the Randolph’s ranch house, Orday promises to burn it to the ground, and soon finds a way to escape.
Circumstances have put a chip on Orday’s shoulder and he starts to put his grievances under his boot, and to make things right, and if you’ve read any westerns in the past, then you know that the bad guys are going to go down in flames at the end.
And yes, there is a love interest, while gone, his sweetie and fiancé has been told he was dead, so she marries one of the bad men, who promptly starts beating her. Also, as Vernell begins to realize that Orday is innocent of murdering her father, she starts to fall in love with him.
In-the-end however, what we get is a below average oater. This novel originally appeared in 1960 as part of an Ace Double. Ace Doubles were paperbacks that published two short books; novels, collections, anthologies, back-to-back, and in the detective, crime, science fiction, and western genres. Born Savage shows the effects of a longer work that seems to have been chopped down to a shorter word count to fit this format.
This novel gives the impression that it is a sequel to another work, as Born Savage constantly references earlier events, events that aren’t ever really explained. They’re just mentioned, and never explained.
Another problem is that there seems to be huge chunks of the novel missing. This ties into the above complaint, but as I was reading this short novel, I kept getting the impression that I was only getting part of the story. The characters are shallow, and things constantly happen with no explanation.
The whole novel often comes across like the second half of a long movie that has been edited for commercial tv. While Hopson has yet to write a top-flight novel that I’ve read, everything else ( Killers Five, Hangtree Range , and Bullet Brand Empire ) have been much better than this. Born Savage barely rates a two-star rating.
William Lee Hopson (1907-75) was an ex-soldier who earned his living for a while as a prolific western writer, first as a short storyist, then as a novelist.
In Born Savage , Hopson gives us Channon Ordway, a rancher who is driving his cattle into Mexico when he is bushwhacked and back-shot and he has his cattle stolen. Unfortunately for his enemies he survives and completely recovers. As he gets another herd together and starts back to his home town of Tulac, he is ambushed again. This time by Britisher Eric Randolph, and his niece Vernell, who believe that Ordway had murdered Eric’s brother, and Vernell’s father.
And to drive the cattle, and to help the Randolphs, Eric has hired Orday’s lifelong enemies, the outlaws Sonny Shackleton and Red Waldo and their gang.
It is through them that he learns that his friend, the sheriff, back in Tulac, has been murdered and Shackleton & Waldo had installed their puppet to be in charge.
It’s obvious that the bunch have no real interest in getting Orday back to Tulac alive. When the bunch get back to the Randolph’s ranch house, Orday promises to burn it to the ground, and soon finds a way to escape.
Circumstances have put a chip on Orday’s shoulder and he starts to put his grievances under his boot, and to make things right, and if you’ve read any westerns in the past, then you know that the bad guys are going to go down in flames at the end.
And yes, there is a love interest, while gone, his sweetie and fiancé has been told he was dead, so she marries one of the bad men, who promptly starts beating her. Also, as Vernell begins to realize that Orday is innocent of murdering her father, she starts to fall in love with him.
In-the-end however, what we get is a below average oater. This novel originally appeared in 1960 as part of an Ace Double. Ace Doubles were paperbacks that published two short books; novels, collections, anthologies, back-to-back, and in the detective, crime, science fiction, and western genres. Born Savage shows the effects of a longer work that seems to have been chopped down to a shorter word count to fit this format.
This novel gives the impression that it is a sequel to another work, as Born Savage constantly references earlier events, events that aren’t ever really explained. They’re just mentioned, and never explained.
Another problem is that there seems to be huge chunks of the novel missing. This ties into the above complaint, but as I was reading this short novel, I kept getting the impression that I was only getting part of the story. The characters are shallow, and things constantly happen with no explanation.
The whole novel often comes across like the second half of a long movie that has been edited for commercial tv. While Hopson has yet to write a top-flight novel that I’ve read, everything else ( Killers Five, Hangtree Range , and Bullet Brand Empire ) have been much better than this. Born Savage barely rates a two-star rating.
Displaying 1 of 1 review