Elmer Kelton Collection

Physical Address:3000 Sandage AveFort Worth, Texas 76109 Mailing Address:TCU PressTCU Box 298300Fort Worth, Texas 76129Office Fax: 817.257.5075

The Elmer Kelton Collection

and many more!

bestselling author of contemporary western fiction

ELMER KELTON is the author of over forty novels, published over more than fifty years. Three of Kelton’s novels have appeared in Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. Four books have won the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City: The Time It Never Rained, The Good Old Boys, The Man Who Rode Midnight, and the text for The Art of Howard. Seven have won the Spur award from Western Writers of America: Buffalo Wagons, The Day the Cowboys Quit, The Time It Never Rained, Eyes of the Hawk, Slaughter, The Far Canyon, and The Way of the Coyote. Western Writers of America, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the Western Literature Association have honored him for lifetime achievement.

The Day the Cowboys QuitElmer Kelton

“The Day the Cowboys Quit was inspired by an historic event, a strike against large ranches on the Texas high plains, when the encroachment of an Eastern corporate mentality drove freedom-loving cowboys to drastic measures—no matter the cost.” --Elmer Kelton

In later years people often asked Hugh Hitchcock about the Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883.

Wagon boss Hugh Hitchcock knows the cowboy life better than most: In 1883 if you’re a cowboy, you can’t own a cow and you are stigmatized as a drunk. Worse, you are exploited by the wealthy cattle owners who fence the range, replace traditions and trust with written rules of employment, refuse to pay a livable wage, and change things “that ought to be left alone.” The cowboys working in the Canadian River country of the Texas Panhandle decide to fight back, to do the unthinkable: go on strike.

In this celebrated novel, Elmer Kelton uses the true but little-known Canadian River incident to focus on the changes brought to ranching by big-money syndicates.

978-0-87565-053-1 cloth$22.506x9. 248 pp.

The Good Old BoysElmer Kelton

Hewey Calloway has a problem. In his West Texas home of 1906, the land of the way of life that he loves are changing too quickly for his taste.

Hewey dreams of freedom--he wants only to be a footloose horseback cowboy, endlessly wandering the open range. But the open range of his childhood is slowly disappearing: land is being parceled out, and barbed-wire fences are spring up all over. As if that weren’t enough, cars and other machines are invading Hewey’s simple cowboy life, stinking up the area and threatening to replace horse travel. As Hewey struggles against the relentless stream of “progress”, he comes to realize that the simple life of his childhood is gone, that a man can’t live a life whose time has passed, and that every choice he makes--even those that lead to happiness--requires a sacrifice.

978-0-912646-96-1 cloth$26.506x9. 272 pp.

SlaughterElmer Kelton

In the 1870s, buffalo hunters moved onto the High Plains of Texas. The Plains Indians watched hunters slaughter the animals that gave them shelter and clothing, food and weapons. The battles at and near the ruins of a trading fort, Adobe Walls, became symbolic of the struggles between hunters and the Comanche.

In this aptly titled novel, Texas novelist Elmer Kelton shows his uncanny ability to present both sides of a clash between cultures. With a firm grasp of Comanche life, Kelton presents The People as very human and very threatened. Equally clear is the picture of Anglos found on the high plains in those days—Jeff Layne, a Confederate veteran and now a fugitive; Nigel Smithwick, an English “second son” and gambler, Arletta, the lone woman among these men.

978-0-87565-371-6 cloth/paper$26.506x9. 384 pp.

The Time It Never RainedElmer Kelton

In the 1950s, West Texas suffered the longest drought in the memory of most men then living. By that time, Charlie Flagg, the central character of this novel, was one of a dying breed of men who wrested their living from the harsh land of West Texas. The struggle made them fiercely independent, a trait personified in Charlie’s persistence throughout the seven dry years, his refusal to accept defeat, his opposition to federal aid programs and their inevitable bureaucratic regulations, his determination to stay on the land he loves and respects even as he suffers with that land. Charlie is by no means the typical cowboy hero. Self-sufficient, courageous, with a strong sense of right and wrong, he is also old and overweight, a thoroughly believable human being who has trouble communicating with the wife who loyally struggles to keep life in its pattern, the son who has no feel for the land but yearns for the rodeo circuit, the Mexican family who has worked for him for years and whose help he can no longer afford. Although Charlie never loses his dignity and never quits, he does not win out in the end. When the drought breaks, it has lasted too long and he is too old.

There is no surprise ending to this story, no magical solution to the harsh realities of life in West Texas. The reading of this novel lies not in what happens next but in the unfolding depth of a strong character and the clear picture of a time and a place.

978-0-912646-91-6 cloth/paper$32.506x9. 392 pp.

The Far CanyonElmer Kelton

The Far Canyon is the sequel to Slaughter. In The Far Canyon, Kelton masterfully unveils for his reader the finality of the buffalo’s demise, the beginning of a time when cattle would replace the American bison on the southern plains and ultimately end the Plains Indian culture. The novel reveals the history of the period, not in a general grand swoop of the pen, but rather, up close and personal, so his readership can judge the impact of the period upon his characters.

The novel’s first chapter introduces Comanche warrior Crow Feather, whose situation is emblematic of a common recurring theme in all of Kelton’s works . . . change. Protagonist Jeff Layne is faced with the very same dramatic problem, the devastating threat to one’s self-concept inherent in change. Layne, the hide hunter from Slaughter is weary of killing and death. He decides to return to South Texas, determined to earn his living with the newest resource on the plains, cattle. And the cultures collide.

Kelton eloquently reveals the impact of hide hunters on Plains Indian culture. Crow Feather realizes that no matter how many whites the Comanche kill, there will always be more “coming back.” Crow Feather also understands that his life and the lives of his wives and children will never be easy again. Are Layne and Crow Feather of a character that will allow them to escape a predetermined fate by reaching that far canyon, or will they simply perish under the cultural dictate of their historical time?

978-0-87565-412-6 cloth$26.506x9. 344 pp.

WagontongueElmer Kelton

As a slave, Isaac Jefford went to war and saved the life of his master, Major Lytton. As a free man, Isaac became one of the major’s top cowhands, respected—but never totally accepted—by fellow cowboys: when they gathered around the fire to eat their dinner, Isaac took his food and sat on the wagontongue alone.

When Pete Runyan, a bitter southerner, joins the crew, Isaac has to swallow his rage more than once. But then Pete and Isaac are assigned the task of getting cash—profits from the sale of the herd—safely to the Fort Worth bank before a foreclosure deadline. Time and three gunmen on their trail are against them, and their journey becomes a race to prove who is the best man.

First published in 1972 by Bantam as a mass market paperback, Wagontongue is one of Elmer Kelton’s classic novels, exploring racial relations on the West Texas plains in the low-key, wry, and compassionate voice that characterizes Kelton’s novels. The novel grew from a short story, included in this volume.978-0-87565-166-8 cloth/paper

$19.956x9. 248 pp.

ManhuntersElmer Kelton

As he flees to the sanctuary of Mexico, Chacho Fernandez is unaware of the fuel he has added to the already simmering racial hatreds in and around the quiet town of Domingo, Texas. Through events set in motion by a misunderstanding, Chacho becomes a folk hero to his people and a dangerous fugitive to a group of zealous lawmen.

First published in 1974 by Ballantine Books, Manhunters, the tale of Chacho’s legendary flight, was inspired by the story of controversial Mexican fugitive Gregorio Cortez. In 1901 Cortez, a young horseman, shot a sheriff during an argument, leading to the largest concerted manhunt in Texas history.

This novel is alive with the idiom of Kelton’s native West Texas and freely punctuated with his trademark wry humor. His characters, both the ignorantly petty as well as the quietly strong, ring true.

978-0-87565-132-3 cloth/paper $19.956x9. 208 pp.

The Man Who Rode MidnightElmer Kelton

Aging cowboy and bronco-buster Wes Hendricks just wants to be left alone on his poor ranch, even when town developers offer him big money to sell it. Wes’s grandson reluctantly tries to convince him to give up his home, but that was before he, too, succumbs to the ranch’s--and a young cowgirl’s--wild beauty.

978-0-87565-048-7 paper$19.956x9. 196 pp.

Dark ThicketElmer Kelton

In this novel, Texas novelist Elmer Kelton returns to the Civil War period, once again examining the effect of the war on Texans at home. Even while the conflict raged to the east, several groups of Texan Union loyalists hid out across the state, trying to avoid the anger and violence of the confederate-sympathizing “home guard.”

Kelton bases this story on a group who lived in a then-huge thicket on the Colorado River near present-day Columbus, although the characters, incidents and town of the book are of Kelton’s invention. As he always says, fiction writers are liars and thieves. Owen Danforth, a wounded Confederate soldier, comes home to Texas to recover, intending to return to his regiment. His family is torn apart by the war—two brothers dead, one uncle, a Union sympathizer, shot in the back by the home guard. His father—also a Unionist—hides out in the thicket with his remaining family because the home guard, led by “Captain” Phineas Shattuck, has sworn revenge on the Danforth clan. Torn between duty and family loyalty, Owen Danforth faces difficult decisions until a violent encounter leaves him only one choice.0-87565-207-7 cloth/paper

$21.956x9. 200 pp.

The Smiling CountryElmer Kelton

In the 1978 novel The Good Old Boys, Hewey Calloway could not abandon the footloose cowboy way of life and settle down to farming, even for Spring Renfro, the woman he loved. Twenty years later, in this sequel, Elmer Kelton brought Hewey back, older, wiser, and badly banged up trying to break a renegade bronc. His wandering days are over, because of his injuries, because of fences that cut up the range, because of trucks and automobiles. But, how will Hewey handle the new circumstances of his life? And how will Spring react to his return? Readers who fell in love with Hewey will delight in seeing him back and following his new and different adventures.

978-0-87565-328-0 cloth/paper$22.506x9. 272 pp.

The Wolf and the BuffaloElmer Kelton

This is the poignant story of a freed slave who goes west with the army and confronts much more than the hostilities of the Comanche and Kiowa.

The Civil War has ended and Gideon Ledbetter is feed from slavery. Like many, he has no land, no money, and no means to make a living. Gideon is drawn into the army by a recruiter who paints an alluring picture of cavalry life out in the west. The Indians called the black men “Buffalo” soldiers, as their tightly twisted hair reminded them of the large animals that they hunted for survival. Gideon is drawn into a conflict with a Comanche warrior, Gray Horse Running, which leads to a shattering confrontation on the plains of west Texas. This is the story of two men drawn together amid the blood and the fury of a conflict not of their making.

978-0-87565-058-6 cloth/paper$29.506x9. 426 pp.

Honor at DaybreakElmer Kelton

Caprock, Texas, is a sleepy cow town until oil is discovered in the 1920s. Suddenly thousands of people stream in to find their fortune. Some are honest folk like Elise and Victor Underwood, who pray for a little luck with their daily bread. But too many are two-bit swindlers. And then there’s frontier mobster Big Boy Daugherty. Sheriff Dave Buckalew faces a whole different set of circumstances as his town springs to life—in good and not-so-good ways.

The town of Caprock is loosely based on Crane in West Texas, where Kelton grew up, although Crane did not exist until the oil boom.

Honor at Daybreak represents a departure for Kelton. There is no single dominant figure. Although Sheriff Buckalew represents a quiet strength that binds his town together, this is a book in which an entire community joins together to save itself.

978-0-87565-254-2 cloth$21.956x9. 408 pp.