A Word of Thanks to Larry...

It took a while, but I just finished reading the last entry of Larry McMurtry’s ‘Thalia’ books. I started reading them in 1972. A good friend was reading a copy at the beach that year, and once he was done with it, I picked it up and lost myself in the wonderful coming of age tale that featured a very small, North Texas town and two best friends who loved the same girl. That book was titled: 'The Last Picture Show', and it remains, even to this day, my all time favorite book.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read hundreds of great books. A really great book for me is one that I’ll pick up and read again, and again, and never lose the feeling that the tale gives me, and always leaves me wishing it had not ended. Picture Show did that for me, still does.

In 1987, I walked by a bookstore shelf and found ‘Texasville’, the second book that followed the story of Duane and Sonny. The town had become a little crazy by this time; the oil boom had hit and most of Thalia’s citizens had invested and made a ton of money, but found that their little part of the world held little to entertain them. Characters that were rich and alive in Picture Show came back in this second offering. I’ve wondered if Larry was trying to tie it all up and put Duane’s place and all his people to rest. But, like a lot of things, I was wrong.

A few years later, I moved to Texas. I came here to write, if for no other reason.

By 1999, I was a long time, firmly entrenched fan of Mr. McMurtry. My own dream of writing still in its pitiful beginnings, I was awed by his work, realizing that most people had no idea that the man who wrote ‘Lonesome Dove’ (Pulitzer Prize winner) also wrote ‘Terms of Endearment’, and many, many others. He also penned many screenplays during his march through time, scored by his literary hand. So, I was ecstatic when I came across Duane’s Depressed, which continues the tale of Duane Moore. His buddy Sonny has long since passed, as has his old high school girl friend Jacy. His wife, Karla, whom I became familiar with in Texasville, is killed just after Duane decides that he has had it with driving around in pick up trucks. He parks and begins to walk everywhere as he attempts to sort out what life has left him with.

In 2007, a small work appeared that drew a great deal of my attention. Thinking that Mr. M had already written one of the most poignant trilogies ever, I was stunned to see yet another story about Duane: As the Light Fades. A short piece, it doved nicely with the others and soon found its place in my growing collection of McMurtry. I had already torn through most everything else he wrote, including his commentaries and autobiographies. So, when the final book came along, my wife, knowing what a fan I am, grabbed me a first edition of Rhino Ranch, in which we are allowed to send Duane off from the toil of this world. I can safely say I will always miss Duane, he feels like a friend that I’ve known a long, long time.

Larry McMurtry is, and will always be my favorite author. I know, I should care as much about many others who were his contemporaries (Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey to name a few) but it’s McMurtry who holds my greatest respect.

Thanks Larry, for all your work.

· 1961 - Horseman, Pass By - adapted for film as Hud
· 1963 - Leaving Cheyenne - adapted for film as Lovin' Molly
· 1966 - The Last Picture Show - adapted into a film of the same name
· 1968 - In A Narrow Grave
· 1970 - Moving On - This 1970 book was given high reviews by several women's organizations for its unflinching depiction of the main character Patsy Carpenter.
· 1972 - All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers
· 1974 - It's Always We Rambled (essay)
· 1975 - Terms of Endearment - adapted into a film of the same name
· 1978 - Somebody's Darling
· 1982 - Cadillac Jack
· 1983 - Desert Rose
· 1985 - Lonesome Dove, 1986 Pulitzer Prize winner, and first of what became a series
· 1987 - Texasville - adapted into a film of the same name - A continuation of the story begun in The Last Picture Show
· 1987 - Film Flam
· 1988 - Anything For Billy
· 1988 - The Murder of Mary Phagan - TV story
· 1989 - Some Can Whistle
· 1990 - Buffalo Girls - adapted into a TV movie
· 1990 - Montana - TV movie
· 1992 - The Evening Star - adapted for film as The Evening Star - A continuation of the story begun in Terms of Endearment
· 1992 - Memphis - TV movie
· 1992 - Falling from Grace
· 1993 - Streets of Laredo, another in the Lonesome Dove series
· 1994 - Pretty Boy Floyd (with Diana Ossana)
· 1995 - Dead Man's Walk, another in the Lonesome Dove series
· 1995 - The Late Child
· 1997 - Comanche Moon, the last as of 2007 of the Lonesome Dove series
· 1997 - Zeke and Ned (with Diana Ossana)
· 1999 - Crazy Horse
· 1999 - Duane's Depressed - A continuation of The Last Picture Show and Texasville story
· 1999 - Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen
· 1999 - Still Wild: A Collection of Western Stories
· 2000 - Roads: Driving America's Great Highways
· 2000 - Boone's Lick
· 2001 - Sacagawea's Nickname (essays on the American West)
· 2002 - Sin Killer - The Berrybender Narratives, Book 1
· 2002 - Paradise
· 2002 - Johnson County War - TV mini-series
· 2003 - The Wandering Hill - The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2
· 2003 - By Sorrow's River - The Berrybender Narratives, Book 3
· 2004 - Folly and Glory: A Novel - The Berrybender Narratives, Book 4
· 2005 - Brokeback Mountain (with Diana Ossana) - Oscar-winning screenplay (adapted from the short story by E. Annie Proulx)
· 2005 - The Colonel and Little Missie: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley & the Beginnings of Superstardom in America (May)
· 2005 - Oh What A Slaughter! (Nov)
· 2005 - Loop Group (Dec)
· 2006 - Telegraph Days (May)
· 2007 - When The Light Goes (Feb) - A continuation of The Last Picture Show, Texasville, and Duane's Depressed story
· 2008 - Books: A Memoir
· 2009 - Rhino Ranch: A Novel (Aug) - Last book of the The Last Picture Show, Texasville, Duane's Depressed, and When The Light Goes story
· 2010 - Boone's Lick - McMurtry will be co-writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of his 2000 novel