Toppin'
Out from Working Ranch by Tim O'Byrne 
Western
Horseman, October 2009
Bill
Reynolds, Author
and Western aficionado ...Lists top Western Reading for every "Buckaroo's
bookshelf. Last Buckaroo #3. Click here to read article.American
Cowboy....April / May 2009  The
Last Buckaroo, By Mackey Hedges BookSurge, 394 pages, $20
Out of print
for nearly 15 years, this classic cowboy tale has been republished for a new generation
of readers. Dedicated to "the handful of men who know the only future that
life holds for them is a dirty bedroll and a worn-out saddle," the novel follows
the adventures of narrator Tap McCoy and his partner, Dean McCuen, as the two
define what it means to be a buckaroo. Author Mackey Hedges, a dyed-in-the-wool
cowboy, writes with a colloquial tone and short, clear-cut sentences that read
as though he were telling the story around a campfire. It's a tale that will
keep you entertained long after the embers have cooled. Nicholas LoVerde

Last
Buckaroo (Fiction) Mackey Hedges, $20.00 By: Phyllis Morreale-de
la Garza 01/01/2009 Tap McCoy, an aging buckaroo, tells about his travels
from ranch to ranch as he earns his living the cowboy way. With a keen sense of
humor and careful attention to detail, he relives his experiences with bucking
horses, pack mules, deadly accidents, ornery bosses, barroom brawls and even some
ladies of the night. Tap and his young friend Dean travel across the West in a
dilapidated pickup truck. From California feedlots to Arizona's Apache country,
they live a footloose and fancy-free lifestyle most of us only dream about. This
memorable book is written by a true storyteller. Cowboy devotees will like it.
Guaranteed. True
West Magazine - March 2009 Edition on Shelf february 2009 Comments
From Readers(1)
A classic...a must read by the real deal, not some posing
Montana or wannabe dink that is trying to pass off as a buckaroo, or some
clinic-raised preening wuss usin' a back cinch...nope. Mackey is the real thing
and you can tell by what he writes. If you read one book this year, this should
be it..... Straight up good reading and goes fast - you don't want it to end.
This is what REAL buckaroos did and how it was...before all the hype and all the
PC garbage.... posted by on 1/30/09 @ 12:36 p.m. See
Article and AD In this issue!
Hear
Mac on Radio KWNA
- Nov 11, 2008
READ ALL THE REVIEWS CLICK BELOW TO VIEW LIVING COWBOY
ETHICS WEBPAGE Review New January Edition - Click Banner Last
Buckaroo by Mackey Hedges www.lastbuckaroo.com Hailed as one of the most authentic
narratives of the life of a contemporary buckaroo, Mackey Hedges book, The Last
Buckaroo, is the story of the real deal. The book was originally published in
1995 and became an immediate must-have for those who loved the life of the high-desert buckaroos.
As a niche publisher released the book initially, the print run sold out quickly
and was not reprinted in any quantity. The reputation of the book flew around
the west and with the advent of the Internet; copies could be found only on auction
sites, sometimes ten-times its original price. Enter entrepreneur and western
aficionado, Robert Sigman. Through his help and guidance, Mackey was able to re-gain
his copyright and re-package the book this time with charming line drawings
by another legendary westerner, the late artist, Joelle Smith. Now available
once again, The Last Buckaroo has found its rightful place amongst the classic books
of the west. So enthused about having his book back in print, Mackey is working
on a sequel sort of a part two that will be out in 2009. The
Last Buckaroo should be in every westerners book shelf right up there
with Will James, Ivan Doig and Thomas McGuane. Bill Reynolds - Living
Cowboy Ethics January 2009
Vernal, Utah
Dec 23, 2008 Book Signings - Gails Office Supply and XXXXXXXXXX
Award-winning
author visits Vernal by Tabatha Deans Buckaroo Mackey Mack
Hedges, author of The Last Buckaroo, which received the National Cowboy
Symposium Working Cowboy Award, advises other writers to write about what
you know and what youre passionate about. (Gary Parker/Vernal Express) Buckaroo
Mackey Mack Hedges, author of The Last Buckaroo, which
received the National Cowboy Symposium Working Cowboy Award, advises other writers
to write about what you know and what youre passionate about.
(Gary Parker/Vernal Express) slideshow Anybody can write a book. You
dont even need to know how to spell if you have a word processor,
says award-winning author Mackey Mack Hedges who was in town Dec.
23 for a book signing for the re-release of his book The Last Buckaroo.
Hedges was visiting his son Jed and his family for the holidays
and combined the visit with the book signing. The Last Buckaroo was
the winner of the National Cowboy Symposium Working Cowboy Award and the Mormon
Letter Fiction Award. Hedges shies away from the fame that comes with being an
award-winning author and says luck and circumstance had more to do with his success
than talent. I dont know anything about writing a book, he says.
I couldnt even write my name. Hedges story began in the
spring of 1990, when, he says, he got busted up while riding a horse
named Pegasus. After being bucked, then dragged by the horse for several hundred
feet, he rode back to the ranch and continued herding cows until the evening.
His wife, Candace, took him to the doctor, and after receiving X-rays, Hedges
discovered his pelvis was broken. When I told the doctor
that I rode home with a broken pelvis, he didnt believe me, says Hedges.
He spent the next two months in a body cast, waiting for his wounds to heal. Within
two days we were out of the house, says Jed. He was driving us all
crazy. Hedges wife, Candace, a writer, was concerned
about her husband being depressed and was anxious to find something for him to
do. She brought him a computer and instructed him to write some little stories
for the children while he was recuperating. I wrote a few stories,
and then I thought, they wont want to read this, says
Hedges. So I added a little fiction and excitement to the tories.
Hedges says his stories are based on real-life experiences. I can only write
about what Ive seen, or what Ive done, he says. If the
character is tall in real life, I make him short in the story. If hes a
little man in real life, I make him big in the story. After
finishing a manuscript, Hedges began distributing it to people he knew. He received
rave reviews from those who read it but says he didnt feel his work was
print worthy. His work became increasingly popular, and Hedges recalls the first
time someone called, interested in getting more copies. She called and asked
for 17 copies, he recalls. I told her to just print them off, and
she asked what about the copyright? I said, whats a copyright? Even
though established author Baxter Black reviewed his manuscript and penned a personal
letter of recommendation to a publisher, Hedges did nothing with the manuscript
for five years. When he finally decided to submit it to a publisher in Utah, along
with the letter of recommendation, he says he was in the right place at the right
time. I have to say it was more luck than talent, says Hedges. Everything
that followed was like pulling the handle of a slot machine and winning four or
five times in a row. Hedges, whose second book is due
out in 2009, says he still has a hard time considering himself a writer. I
still dont know anything about writing a book, he says. Everything
you learn in a class about English and grammar, is trumped by my writing.
He does believe, however, that anyone interested in writing
should give it a shot, and offers these two bits of advice: Write about
what you know about, so people who read it dont think youre trying
to sell them a bill of goods, he says. And be passionate about what
you write. tdeans@vernal.com  
November
2008 As featured @
Other Books, Recordings, Publications, and News of Western
Interest See a roundup of what's New in 2008. Mackey Hedges' acclaimed
novel, Last Buckaroo, has been reissued, thanks in great part to the efforts of
entrepreneur and strategic business consultant Robert Sigman. From a press release:
A
former head of a major Hollywood studio and avowed lover of western life and culture
is giving readers a second chance to hear from the real deal. Past President and
CEO Robert Sigman has spearheaded the republishing of noted buckaroo and author
Mackey Hedges' acclaimed western novel Last Buckaroo. The fascinating, authentic
and action-packed tale has become a collectors' item classic after going out of
print in 1995.
"I read the book a few years back and called Hedges
out of the blue to tell him how much I had enjoyed it," Sigman said. "My
life was enriched by this story and by the man who crafted it, and now I want
others to have that same experience. Republishing this book is a labor of love
meant to honor a quintessentially American way of life and a man who truly embodies
the cowboy ideal." Last Buckaroo is a rollicking, gritty, and always entertaining
look at what goes on in the life of a cowboy. Told through the perspective of
the larger-than-life narrator, Tap McCoy, the book covers the entire panorama
of western lore, from bucking bronks to eccentric cowboys who dance on saloon
tables, participate in spontaneous rodeos and more. Readers meet an array of bizarrely
real characters, from stoic Indians to ladies of the evening to cowboys of every
possible sort imaginable.
The publishers quote a True West magazine
review: Authentic buckaroo Mackey Hedges has written the western novel,
the buckaroo's own version of what goes on in cow camps, ranches, pack stations,
feedlots and trails of the west. Through the persona of Tap McCoy, larger-than-life
narrator, tales of bucking broncos, a horse falling into and hanging upside down
from the branches of a pine tree, eccentric cowboys who pull knives at the drop
of a hat, barroom brawls, drunken cowboys dancing atop tables, spontaneous rodeos,
and horse wrecks are spun. A cast of bizarrely real characters parade through
the exploits of Tap and Dean. Practical jokers, stoic Indians, burly, reclusive
buckaroos, egomaniacs, and brothel madams-all sides of human nature are examined
through the unrelenting yet forgiving eyes of Tap McCoy. This is a side of the
West that only buckaroos have known in the past - rollicking, gritty, wacky, dusty,
dangerous, nerve-wracking.
The book's cover features the late Joelle Smith's
stunning "Riata Man" painting. (Joelle Smith's art graced the first
Cowboy Poetry Week poster and the 2006 edition of The BAR-D Roundup. Read more
about her in our feature here.)
Read much more about how the Last Buckaroo
and its reissue came about; more about the author, Mackey Hedges; more about the
cover artist, Joelle Smith; find a discussion of "Vaqueros, Cowboys and Buckaroos";
order information, and more at the book's web site, www.lastbuckaroo.com.
Last
Buckaroo is available for $20 plus postage from www.lastbuckaroo.com, Amazon,
and other booksellers.
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