Zane Grey was one of the prominent authors of America who used to write his novels based on the western fiction genre. He was born as Pearl Zane Gray on January 31, 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio, United States. Zane died on October 23, 1939 at the age of 67 in Altadena, California. His unique style of writing was based on the adventure and fiction novels that showed the idealized view of the Old West. Zane’s birth town Zanesville was founded by the forefathers of his mother. Having spent his growing years in Zanesville, he developed keen interests in baseball, fishing and writing. All these hobbies later added to his fame. Zane Grey joined the Pennsylvania University after winning a baseball scholarship. He studied dentistry at the university as per the wish of his father and graduated in the year 1896. Continuing his interest in baseball even after graduation, he began to play for a small league team for a short while in West Virginia. He was usually joined by his brother Carl Grey, who continued to play under the Pittsburgh Pirates until 1902. Zane used to visit Lackawaxen in Pennsylvania frequently to fish in the Delaware River, while studying dentistry. During one such event of fishing, he came across Lina Roth, who later became his wife. Lina proved to be a great motivation for Zane, who not only helped him to focus on his writings but also encouraged him in his work. With the help of Lina, Zane published his first story based on fishing in the year 1902. Zane and Lina got married in the year 1905 after which they moved to Lackawaxen. In the year 1907, Zane Grey became extremely excited about visiting the West after visiting there for the first time on a mountain expedition in Arizona along with one of his friends. It was in the year 1910 that his first novel based on western fiction got published. Lina played an important role in it too. The novel went on to become a bestseller which propelled Zane to write and publish popular novels one after the other. In the year 1912, he wrote the best book of his life and with the success of it he managed to start a motion picture company. However, after a few years Zane sold the company to Paramount Pictures’ owner Jesse Lasky.
The Paramount Pictures made numerous movies based on the writings of Zane. As every other novel written by Zane stared becoming successful after its publication, Zane went on to become one of the millionaire authors of his time. After several successful novels, he had it a habit to travel for the initial days of the year and then spend the remaining days of the year to write books based on his experiences from the adventurous travels. During that time he had built cabins beside the rivers in Oregon and Arizona, where he used to spend time thinking about the plots of his future novels. In his entire career as an author, Zane has written over 90 books, many of which became bestsellers and widely popular all over the world. A Bay in New Zealand was established as a famous fishing game region because of the efforts of Zane through his novel Tales of the Angerfs El Dorado. He visited New Zealand for the first time in the year 1926 on a fishing trip. Zane managed to catch several varieties of fishes such as Mako shark and several other large fishes. He also formed a base at the one of the bays which became famous as a gathering point of the rich and popular personalities. Zane continued with his stint of fishing in New Zealand and writing prolific articles on the game of fishing for a few years. His articles were highlighted in a number of international sporting magazines of his time. When he was at the peak of his career, Zane Grey made a number of world records in novel writing and fishing. He died in the year 1939 and his body was buried at the Union Cemetery in Lackawaxen in Pennsylvania. The government of of Pennsylvania has developed a museum in his name close to the Union Cemetery.
One of the initial novels written by Zane was titled ‘The Spirit of the Border’, which was published in the year 1906 and was republished by the Banner of Truth publishing house in the year 1981. The novel was based on the historical events that occurred in the Ohio River Valley during the late 18th century. The novel depicted the exploits of Lewis Wetzel, whose only motive was the destruction of the Native Americans and had dedicated his whole life for this purpose. He was also determined to protect the nascent settlements of the white people in the valley. The plot of the novels also shows the attempts of the Moravian Church missionaries to convert the Indians and make them follow the Christian religion. The story of the novel also dealt with the lives of two brothers, who tend to take different paths after they arrive at the border. The novel gave an account of a highly romantic plot and was the second of The Ohio River Trilogy, the first of which was titled Betty Zane, which revolved around the life of Jonathan Zane, one of the ancestors of Zane Grey. The other novel among the initial novels written by Zane was ‘The Light of Western Stars’. This novel was published in the year 1913 and was republished by the Echo Library publishing house in the year 2006.
The plot of the novel deals with the life of the primary character named Madeline Hammond and is set in New Mexico. The opening sequence of the novel shows Madeline Hammond as getting down from a train at the El Cajon railway station in New Mexico. It was during the time of midnight when she stepped down from the train. She realized that the place was nothing less than a big dark space filled with cool winds. The place was strangely empty with silence spread everywhere over a large distance on all sides. The conductor tells her that she will not find anybody over there to which she replies that she brother was coming to pick her up. She asked him if she could find a hotel or lodge in case her brother does not turn up. The conductor informs her about the nearby lodges and hotels and warns her that the place was not safe for her to be alone. He informs her that the town is mostly filled with Mexicans, miners and cowboys during the night time and they can be dangerous at times. He tells her to quickly find some hotel in order to be safe from the tense situation that has arisen because of the revolution across the border.
I absolutely love the Zane Grey books, actually I would hate to think how many I have. Yes I have some ” old ” hard backs and a lot of repeats of paper backs. My first one was ” The Spirit of The Border ” I was hooked. I will look at the list of books to see just how many I do have. Thanks so much want to visit his museum in Iowa possibly next summer. Will keep in touch.
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The first and only westerns Ill ever read and I want toread them all!
Did Zane Grey ever write a book about a downed pilot in Russia who evades capture?
It’s possible you are thinking of Last of the Breed by Louis L’Amour? https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/louis-lamour/
I absolutely love the Zane Grey books, actually I would hate to think how many I have. Yes I have some ” old ” hard backs and a lot of repeats of paper backs. My first one was ” The Spirit of The Border ” I was hooked. I will look at the list of books to see just how many I do have. Thanks so much want to visit his museum in Iowa possibly next summer. Will keep in touch.