The Northwestern story emerged full-blown from the pen of Jack London, and his ?The League of the Old Men? is a fitting introduction to these rigorous action tales, in which the inhospitable climate strips away civilized veneer and individuals must live or die by their cunning, instinct, and sometimes ruthlessness. The bond between man and dog and the character flaws revealed under the stresses of extreme isolation are just two of the classic themes explored in these works. The collection comes to a fitting climax of a century?s worth of development with a new story by Tim Champlin, commissioned for this volume. Most of these stories were originally published in magazines and were heavily edited to meet space and style concerns. Stories of the Far North restores each work to its original form, uncut and as each author intended.
Louis L’Amour brings the Wild West back to life in three unstoppable adventures! “Mistakes Can Kill You” is the story of Johnny O’Day. Half-dead from pneumonia and on the brink of giving up, he was taken in as a boy and nursed back to health by a young couple. Growing up, Johnny harbored nothing but resentment and jealousy of their biological son, Sam. But now Sam is in big trouble, and it seems that Johnny may be the only person who can come between his half brother and a pair of gunmen. Ross Haney is “The Rider of Ruby Hills.” At twenty-seven, he’s broke, armed, and ready to settle down. But when a feud breaks out between the owners of two of the biggest spreads in Ruby Hills, it looks like the fair town is on the brink of destruction. Ross was a loner at first, but now he’s got allies and a plan . . . In the title story, Krag Moran is a rider who becomes involved in a range war among ranchers and nesters. The town is divided, and by the time shots are fired and the body count starts to rise, Krag will have a lot of explaining to do to the wrong people. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction that takes place in the old West. Westerns—books about outlaws, sheriffs, chiefs and warriors, cowboys and Indians—are a genre in which we publish regularly. Our list includes international bestselling authors like Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour, and many more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
In his early forties, Richard Wheeler had never given a thought to writing fiction. By his early seventies, he had written sixty novels. And these were being published while he was climbing the masts of a sinking ship. This late-in-life novelist didn’t tackle high literature, but the sweaty world of genre fiction, where the publishers’ advances barely paid the rent. He wrote western fiction, and when that genre began to ship water, he leapt over to historical novels, and finally biographical novels, where he found himself in an odd literary corner, without competition. This is a memoir of literary struggle, of agents and editors, of jackets and publicity and book tours. This is also a story about the astonishing help he received along the way from friends, best-selling novelists, agents, editors, and publishers. Writing may be a lonely profession, but Wheeler discovered that the world of genre fiction writers is populated with caring and wise colleagues. Here, Wheeler evokes his early struggles, which somehow prepared him for a life as a successful novelist. He discusses shattered dreams and sudden joys. And running through his narrative is his passion to write about the West in new ways. RICHARD S. WHEELER is the author of sixty novels of the West, the winner of five Spur Awards, and the recipient of the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the literature of the American West. Many of his novels are now in trade paperback editions from Sunstone Press.
Louis L’Amour was the most decorated author in the history of American letters and a recipient of the Medal of Freedom. Now collected here in a single book are several of Louis L’Amour’s finest Western stories the way Mr. L’Amour wrote them. At the time Louis L’Amour was writing, it was common practice for editors to rewrite the manuscript to fit certain publishing criteria. The text of The Strong Land has been restored, and the stories within it appear as Mr. L’Amour intended for them to be read. Whether you’re new to the thrilling frontier fiction of Louis L’Amour or one of his legions of fans, these six short stories will assure you that you are in the hands of a master storyteller. Included here are: “The One for the Mohave Kid,” “His Brother’s Debt,” “A Strong Land Growing,” “Lit a Shuck for Texas,” “The Nester and the Paiute,” and “Barney Takes a Hand.”
To this structural analysis he adds a new account of the genre's history and its relationship to the myths of the West which have played such an influential role in American history."--BOOK JACKET.
From the master of Western storytelling comes a collection of six action-packed tales sure to please Louis L’Amour’s legion of fans. In “Trap of Gold,” Wetherton has been three months out of Horsehead when he finds his first color in a crumbling granite upthrust that resembles a fantastic ruin. The granite is slashed with a vein of quartz that is literally laced with gold! The problem is that the granite upthrust is unstable, and taking out the quartz might just bring the whole thing tumbling down. But Wetherton could really use the money for his family. Should he chance trying to mine that gold? In “Keep Travelin’, Rider,” Tack Gentry has been away for a year when he returns to the familiar buildings of his uncle John Gentry’s G Bar ranch. To his amazement, the ranch has a new owner, who is unimpressed when Tack explains that his uncle was a Quaker, didn’t believe in violence, and never carried a gun. His advice to Tack is to make tracks—but Tack has other plans. In “Big Medicine,” old Billy Dunbar has discovered the best gold-bearing gravel he’s seen in a year, but now he is down flat on his face in a dry wash, hiding because a small band of Apaches has shown up. It will be just too bad for him if they catch sight of his burros or notice any of the prospect holes. He’s going to have to figure out a pretty good strategy to get out of this one alive. In “Trail to Pie Town,” Dusty Barron rides his steel-dust stallion at full gallop out of town. Behind him a man lies bleeding on the floor of a saloon. Dan Hickman had called him yellow and gone for a gun, but Dan was a mite slow. Maybe if Emmett Fisk and Gus Mattis hadn’t appeared just as he was making a break from the saloon, he could have explained himself. But they reached for their guns when they saw him, and Dusty had hit the desert road. The dead man has relatives in the area, and now it looks like Dusty is going to be facing a clan war. In “McQueen of the Tumbling K,” Ward McQueen is foreman for Ruth Kermitt, owner of the Tumbling K Ranch. He finds traces of a man, apparently wounded, who has sought shelter in the hinterlands of the Tumbling K, but he is unable to locate him. When McQueen rides into town, he is shot down by gunmen and left for dead. But they made a critical mistake, because McQueen is not dead—and he’s looking to get even. In “Dutchman’s Flat,” it all seemed a simple matter to the six men in the posse. A squatter named Lock gunned down Johnny Webb in the Bon Ton, shooting him in the back. Now, once they catch him, there isn’t going to be any trial. However, as the posse heads out after him, it becomes only too clear that Lock knows the desert better than they do, and he knows how to pick them off one by one.
Louis L’Amour’s Western stories are beloved worldwide. Now, collected together for the first time in a single volume, are three of his finest tales of the West. The texts have been restored to their original appearances in magazines. In “The Lion Hunter and the Lady,” Cat Morgan is plying his trade—trying to bag a mountain lion alive in order to sell it to a circus or zoo. As he and Long John William try to lure the cat from a tree, they’re interrupted by a lynch posse, the leader of which accuses Cat and Long John of running off his horse herd—and they intend to hang them right where they stand! “The Trail to Peach Meadow Cañon” tells of Mike Bastian, who has been raised by an outlaw chief, Ben Curry, and trained in frontier skills by Curry’s most trusted associates. Jed Ashbury was stripped and forced to run the gauntlet by the Indians in “Riding for the Brand.” Able to outfit himself from the contents of a covered wagon that had been attacked and left behind, Jed also learns what the mission of those killed in the attack was and determines to push forward with it—regardless of the consequences. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction that takes place in the old West. Westerns—books about outlaws, sheriffs, chiefs and warriors, cowboys and Indians—are a genre in which we publish regularly. Our list includes international bestselling authors like Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour, and many more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Centuries ago the Picture Rocks were painted by a tribe of Arizona Indians that since have vanished, leaving behind the powerful figures on the virtually inaccessible cliff walls. For many years the Picture Rocks basin has sheltered the Jore family from the law. The basin also shelters a fabulous palomino stallion called Black Wing. The Jores have left him to run free with the wild herd, but Race Coulter has a different plan. He has convinced a young kid named René Rand to help him steal Black Wing. But when Rand is befriended by the Jores after a serious illness, he learns lessons that will change the direction of his life.
