Sixteen in Nome

When friendship turns to hatred, two men will brawl over just about anything: a woman or even a sled dog. And so it is with Hugh Massey and Arnie Calmont. Nome, Alaska just isn't big enough to contain their dislike of each other. Young Joe May rides along as the two men nearly kill each other across the frozen land and then join together to hunt a former companion, a king of dogs, that captured the heart of these lost souls.

Sixteen in Nome was copyrighted back in 1930 and it feels just like one of those dime-store frontier tales but perhaps with a little more heart. It's a fast read because the action hardly stops and it was just the kind of one-night vacation I needed.

Set in the gold rush period of Alaska at the turn of the last century, the book opens in Nome with narrator Joe May bemoaning that "sixteen is a bad age for a boy" - no longer a child, but not quite a man, either. Joe is in Alaska to earn a stake so he can buy a ranch and a herd back home in Arizona, but is, instead, starving. He is taken in by Hugh Massey, famous throughout Alaska for the ongoing feud he has with his old partner, Arnie Calmont, over a dog. In fact, there was even a court judgement ordering the two men not to fight with one another when Massey was awarded custody of the dog. When Massey also ends up harboring Calmont's woman - won fair and square in a public auction - he decides to take her across Alaska to Forty Mile, show more near the Canadian border, hoping to draw Calmont into a pursuit. Either Calmont will attack him first, forcing Massey to fighting in self-defense, or they can cross over into Canada and fight legally. Joe comes along to act as chaperone, and Alec the dog heads up the team pulling the sled. Most of the rest of the story chronicles the dangers and adventures that occured on the trip. Of course, they eventually meet up with Calmont, but that doesn't quite go as planned. Late in the book, Joe is contemplating that the three most important things in Massey's life are the woman Marjorie, the ongoing fight with Calmont, and Alec the dog. Massey's highest priority of all these, though, is the dog.

A fun, tradional Western adventure story. Fairly short and easy to read. I didn't realize that Max Brand was anyone special, though. Turns out, Max Brand is a pen name for Frederick Faust, one of the most prolific writers in the 20th century - selling many of his works to be adapted for the screen. He was the creator of the characters Destry and Dr Kildare. Anyway, I enjoyed this book. show less