Outlaws, rampant sin, gold fever, and adventure. Land for the taking, gold (supposedly) just lying around waiting to be seen, a fresh start. Cowboys, cattle ranches, range wars, Indian wars. Those are all things I think of when I think of the Wild West, or the Old West. What are words or phrases that come to your mind? Do you have any favorite Westerns?

Well, in all honesty the only things I know about the Wild West is what I see in the films, so it's probably not true to fact. But I think of cowboys, ranches, desert, horses, stagecoaches, and bounty hunters.

I love watching westerns, in fact I watched a John Wayne the other day and it reminded me of how much I enjoy them. I need to find some good ones to watch, I never know which to pick though.

My favourite is a toss up between The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West. Both have a few questionable things in, if I remember rightly, but I really enjoyed them minus those parts.

John Wayne movies are good. (most of the time) I also like the TV series's Bonanza and Gunsmoke, though I haven't seen much of either. Movies and TV shows are not the most accurate for rather obvious reasons. Even some books will not be historically accurate.

Some of my favorite Western books are: Never by J. Grace Pennington, Brionne by Louis L'Amour, Chancy by Louis L'Amour, the Sackett Series by Louis L'Amour, any of Karen Witemeyer's books.

I've heard of Bonanza, and I think I have seen a couple of episodes.

Book wise I haven't read a lot of Westerns but the ones I've enjoyed are by Jack Borg and John Robb. But they're quite old books that I picked up in old book shops. I'm afraid I am not sure how accurate they are historically.

I like some of the old western TV shows, especially The Wild Wild West, Rawhide, The Restless Gun, and The Rifleman. Bonanza has some good episodes, too. I haven't read many western books or watched many western movies, though. I want to read and watch more, since I enjoy the genre.

I don't think I've heard any of those ones, Jon.

I don't read a lot in that genre either, but I do love Westerns so it's definitely something I should read more of as well.

One of my favorite genres, obviously. I've watched plenty of Western movies and TV (my dad has always been a John Wayne fan, so that's pretty much how I got started), and in recent years have read a lot of Western fiction. My favorite movies are Rio Grande (1950) and The Tin Star (1957), and my favorite TV series is The Virginian (the early seasons, anyway). I've also seen some Wagon Train, and used to watch Bonanza quite a lot when I was younger. (I'm also quite fond of musical B-Westerns, but that's another story altogether. )

My favorite western authors are B.M. Bower, O. Henry, Elmore Leonard, Dorothy M. Johnson and Henry Herbert Knibbs, and I've also enjoyed books by Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Louis L'Amour, Max Brand, and occasionally Zane Grey. Grey is apt to be rather melodramatic, and while Brand is a fantastic writer, plot is not his strong point. My favorite novels are B.M. Bower's Chip of the FLying U and Tiger Eye, L'Amour's Last Stand at Papago Wells, and for short story collections, Elmore Leonard's collected stories and Dorothy M. Johnson's The Hanging Tree.

I know cowboys, outlaws and gunfighters have pretty much dominated the genre for a long time, but the more I read, the more I find there are fascinating stories to be told about all sorts of ordinary people in the West. One of the things I've found most helpful (and enjoyable) for research is reading diaries and memoirs - I've compiled a long list of them here on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/21195.The_Old_West_in_First_Person