ven't read yet. I
can't figure out where all the new magazines go. The ones in here always
seem to be exactly two months old."

"Here's this month's _Western Stories_. I just finished it. It had some
pretty good stories in it."

"No, thanks, the wrong side always wins in that one."

"The wrong ... oh, I forgot. I guess they don't write stories where your
side wins."

"It's not really a question of 'my side'. My tribe gave up the practice
of tribal life and tribal customs over fifty years ago. I had the same
education in a public school as any other American child. I read the
same newspapers and watch the same TV shows as anyone else. My Apache
ancestry means as little to me as the nationality of his immigrant
ancestors means to the average American. I certainly don't consider
myself to be part of a nation still at war with the 'palefaces'."

"Then what's wrong with Western stories where the United States Cavalry
wins?"

"That's a different thing entirely. Some of the earliest memories I have
are of listening to my grandfather tell me about how he and his friends
fought against the horse-soldiers when he was a young man. I imagine he
put more romance than historical accuracy into his stories. After all,
he was telling an eager kid about the adventures he'd had over fifty
years before. But at any rate, he definitely fixed my emotions on the
side of the Indians and against the United States Cavalry. And the fact
that culturally I'm descended from the Cavalry rather than from the
Apache Indians doesn't change my emotions any."

"I imagine that would have a strong effect on you. These stories are
really cheering at the death of some of your grandfather's friends."

"Oh, it's worse than that. In a lot of hack-written stories, the Indians
are just convenient targets for the hero to shoot at while the author
gets on with the story. Those stories are bad enough. But the worst are
the ones where the Indians are depicted as brutal savages with no
redeeming virtues. My grandfather had an elaborate code of honor which
governed his conduct in battle. It was different from the code of the
people he fought, but it was at least as rigid, and deviations from it
were punished severely. He'd never read Clausewitz. To him, war wasn't
an 'Instrument of National Policy'. It was a chance for the individual
warrior to demonstrate his skill and bravery. His code put a high
premium on individual courage in combat, and the weakling or cow