Short Story Collections

Edited and with an Introduction by Lawrence Clayton. 192 pages, including a Kelton Bibliography (compiled by Elmer Kelton).

Collects twelve classic stories of the Texas frontier including "Fighting for the brand," "O'Malley's wife," and "Jailbreak"

Seven winners of the Spur Award--including Elmer Kelton and Loren D. Estleman--come together to document the life of the legendary Lyle Speaks, from his tormented childhood to his years as a cattle rancher and his regrettable exploits in between. Original.

The Western novel is unique to America, its characters diverse, and its canvas of subject matter infinitely broad. The authors in this story collection make up a perfect model of these criteria. Elmer Kelton, who wrote primarily about Texas, is regarded by his peers as the best to ever write in the genre. Literary scholars have considered his novel The Time It Never Rained a classic American work. Multi award-winning author John D. Nesbitt is noted as one of the fresher voices writing Westerns today. In 2009 and 2010, Nesbitt won three back-to-back Spur Awards for his novels and short fiction. Best-selling author Don Bendell has featured his character Joshua Strongheart--and Strongheart's Native American heritage--in both his military thrillers and his historical Western novels. Bendell is often compared to the iconic Western writer Louis L'Amour. Texas author Mike Kearby , winner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award, has become a favorite of Western fans world-wide. Kearby also has a strong youth following and has ventured into graphic novels. Steven Law 's novel Yuma Gold was a number one best-seller on Amazon.com, and his fans have labeled him the twenty-first century's best Western writer. D. B. Jackson , whose debut novel, They Rode Good Horses, won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for 2012, was declared by his editor to be the heir to Elmer Kelton's readers. Also included in this collection is a special treat from literary scholar and Texas native L. D. Clark. Taken from his novel A Bright Tragic Thing, Clark has penned a screenplay based on the Civil War hangings in Gainesville, Texas, which claimed the life of his great-grandfather. This anthology is a clear representation of the classics of Western writing, but also for now, and for the future.

Compiled for the first time in book form, seven-time Spur Award-winning author Elmer Kelton's short story collection, Wild West. From rodeos to rustlers, from ranch life to the outlaw trail, Elmer Kelton’s take on the human condition shows us life in Texas as it was back then: simpler, but harder, with danger always present. Readers will meet several unforgettable characters, including a young veteran who overcomes his PTSD to fight a fire ravaging his town, a sheriff who continues to chase bandits despite having lost his job, and a frontier housewife who refuses to let her home be held hostage by dangerous criminals―even when all seems lost. Equally fascinating are the rancher and his wife who protect their adopted son when his abusive biological father returns unexpectedly, and the two women whose argument over a prospective lover leads to a no-holds-barred rodeo barrel race. As in all of Elmer Kelton’s work, readers will, once again, encounter the timeless strength of the human heart and the human spirit when everything else has gone awry. Filled with adventure and imbued with a love of the time, the people, and the place, these stories take us from the earliest days of the Wild West well into the twentieth century, each one embodying a passion for life that’s as wide as Texas sky.

Bandits, outlaws, romance, and adventure abound in Hard Ride , a collection of tales of the American West from renowned, seven-time Spur Award-winning author Elmer Kelton Each of Elmer Kelton’s superb stories of the West showcase the strength and power western spirit. They are filled with marvelous characters―from a rodeo clown who seeks redemption via romance, to an outlaw who comes to the aid of ranchers with no other recourse to justice. Powerful Western women feature as importantly as the menfolk here, including a cattle buyer’s daughter who can hold her own with any man on the trail, a renowned lady outlaw who rules her gang with her gun, and a judge’s daughter who is determined to end local mob rule, as “the day of the gun is almost over.” You will meet characters whose devotions and decisions enthrall you long after you put the book down. Imbued with an adventurous spirit, Hard Ride is filled with many heartfelt glimpses into the authentic experience of the American West. These stories encompass an enormous array of scenes from the early days of the Wild West into the twentieth century. Readers of all ages can enjoy these tales, each one filled with a passion for life that’s as vast as the Texas prairie.

No one writes the old west like Seven-time Spur Award-winning author Elmer Kelton. In The Cowboy Way, Kelton captures the action, adventure, brotherhood and betrayal of the old west, chronicling the highs and lows of cowboy life in these sixteen stories, collected together for the first time.

An action-packed collection of stories of the old West, Law of the Land includes the never-before-published "Biscuits for a Bandit." Sixteen stories, where good meets bad, and everything in between, from the legendary author of the west, Elmer Kelton. The Law of the Land chronicles some of his most exciting and dangerous tales of the old west, collected together for the first time.