Ten Sleep is a little town (pop. 300) at the base of the Bighorns that has drawn some attention as the nearest settlement to the country that likely inspired Proulx, who visited the area.

"It's a charming little place," said Diane Shober, director of Wyoming's state travel office. "It is absolutely breathtaking."

Nearest sizable town is Worland (pop. 5,200), 25 miles west. Mike Willard is executive director of the Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce.

"Hopefully, it will have a positive effect," Willard said. "We've got beautiful country out here, and a lot of great people, and we're very open to everybody and anybody--and come on out and visit."

Some of those great people, evidently, are more open than others.

"In this area," said Darell Ten Broek, who operates Ten Broek RV Park, Cabins and Horse Hotel in Ten Sleep, "we don't deal well with--whatever you want to call 'em. Not that it doesn't go on. There's a couple that have been in this town since I've been here and everybody leaves them alone, but it just isn't very well accepted here."

Ten Broek, 62, has been a rancher, cowboy, competed in rodeos.

"I've lived within 300 miles of here all my life," he said. He hasn't seen the movie, he said, and he won't.

"And I think most people that I talk to around here feel the same way about it. They don't feel it's depicting Wyoming or real cowboys or real ranchers at all. It's just kind of a slap in the face."

Mirroring the response of some Wyoming residents to "Brokeback Mountain," much of Savannah was scandalized by "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," whose story involved murder, high society, homosexuality and prominently featured a black drag queen.

"When the book first came out," said Backus, "people did have that feeling about it, like, `Oh, my God, they've aired all our dirty laundry.'

"But then people started to say, `Hey, there's 10 million people in town eating at our restaurants, shopping in our shops, patronizing our businesses.'"

So it became . . .

"`Sure, we have voodoo and crazy people in this town--and we love it!'"

Backus' message to Alberta and, yes, to Wyoming:

"Embrace what you can. Everyone benefits. All tourists are good tourists."