New book Fistfuls of Dollars in Almeria. Just purchased it but haven’t read it yet. Thumbing through it, it reads pretty much exactly what the title says: a brief history of the genre as it relates to the town of Almeria. Anyone have it? Thoughts? I got it on Barnes and Noble. Amazon didn’t carry it at all.
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Here’s the DB page
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Fistfuls_of_Dollars_in_Almeria
It appears to be what’s known as ‘Vanity Press’ aka no legit publisher / homemade.
The first few pages seem ok (on display at Amazon) … but is this just translated text from other similar books ?
The title is as trite as it could be … and the front cover graphic uses an image from a scene not shot in Almeria … Andalusia yes, but about 70 miles off, La Calahorra, near Guadix - Wonder if the author has permission to use that screen capture ?
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Wow I’ve never seen that still on the cover of a SW book before…
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It defintely has the feel of an almost “print-at-home” book. Published by the author himself. I don’t know if any passages are lifted directly from other sources or originally written. I will check if there is a sources page at the end.
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I got my copy a few weeks ago and read it. Very impressed because it covers Almeria and the behind the scenes activities of the production of the films. Yeah it mentions a lot of the familiar films and goes into a little detail on them but it is more on the the budgets, producers etc. not covered in most books on the subject. Highly recommended.
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Thanks for the review Tom. I have it but have not yet read it. Now I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks very much for the review Tom. Especially after the rather spiteful and silly comments from some of the other contributors here. Sorry about the poor formatting of the book and too many typos. I got a friend to set it up for me while I was in Almería, as I wanted to get the authorities there interested. I will improve it soon for the ‘second edition’. It’s based largely on Spanish and Italian sources. If you want the sources and bibliography, let me know. Thanks again, as I really respect your contributions to the study of the genre. You have made an old limey happy.
Dr Terry Denman
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If you want the sources and bibliography, I can email them.
Dr Terry Denman
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Guadix, though technically in Granada, was always considered part of the Almerían cinematographic area. As I explain in the book.
Dr Terry Denman
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Hello Dr. Denman,
If you are going to publish a second edition and include the sources and bibliography I’ll be buying it. If you aren’t going to include them in the second edition then yes I’d love to see them and you can e-mail them to me at your convenience at tbetts26@yahoo.com.
Once again you did a great job on the book and it was very informative with new information I had not seen before.
Best of luck,
Tom Betts
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Welcome aboard Dr. Denman. I’m glad I posted the initial post on your new book. Looking forward to reading it. And you can’t get a better seal of approval than from Tom B!
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I agree with Tom on this. I also purchased the book off Amazon and recommend it very highly. Would loved to have seen the endnotes included with the book, but maybe in a future release. Wonderfully written in an engaging style and informative. Well worth the purchase.
Thanks Mike. Sorry about the many typos. If you want the sources, please give me your email address.
Terry Denman
I finally got around to reading the Denman book. I enjoyed it. If I ever visit Almeria (which is on my bucket list) I will be bringing it along for reference.
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If you want a specific guidebook for Almeria with suggested routes and gps locations try to get hold of the book below, available in a Spain (English/Spanish language)
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Is this book available anywhere currently? I’d love to get hold of a copy.
Thanks!
Welcome to the ‘SWDB’, mcnof… 
I got the book from Librería Bibabuk in Almeria city🤠
Just returned from the Almeria province, where I had the immense pleasure to wander some of the unique locations near San Jose and also Tabernas (I qualify as a kind of regular Almeria visitor by now, I guess).
During my trip, I read your book, Terence Denman – what a pleasure it gave me and what a bunch of insights I learned from it. The layout could certainly be improved a little (and some movie/ location photos would have helped), but the rich and detailed (and very well researched!) telling gave me a great time. Highly recommended!!
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