The Best Western Stories of Loren D. Estleman (G.K. Hall large print book series) [Large Print] [Paperback]

Loren D. Estleman (Author), Bill Pronzini (Author), Martin Harry Greenberg (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Series: G.K. Hall large print book series | Publication Date: June 1990

Few writers recount tales of the old West as deftly as Pulitzer Prize-nominee and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, Loren D. Estleman. Now, some of Estleman's finest work comes to life in this collection of vivid and richly detailed Western short stories. Included are "The Pilgrim," a colorfully detailed historical tale of one Easterner's experience in the untamed wilds of the West, and "Hell on the Draw," an unsettling combination of frontier living and the supernatural. This is a compelling collection.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co; Lrg edition (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816148481
• ISBN-13: 978-0816148486
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,424,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hell of a Book, July 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best Western Stories of Loren D. Estleman (Audio Cassette)

I've never really thought of myself as a fan of the 'Western' genre, but soon found that this was not required in order to thoroughly enjoy "Hell On The Draw:Best Western stories by Loren D. Estleman". While each story is indeed rooted in the West, they are by no means your run of the mill 'shoot-em-ups.' Each one is completely different in mood and style, from lighthearted humor to dark twists of fate, from romance to a touch of the supernatural. The author fills each tale with people you'll find yourself wishing that you had known or vey glad that you didn't. The vividly described settings along with fine attention to historical details of events, people, equipment and weapons, pull you inside and make you feel as if you are there. Aside from the complete enjoyment of the stories themselves, this audio version features a variety of gifted voice talents well suited to the telling of these tales of the West.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Ecletic Assortment of Fates., August 4, 2006

By 

Betty Burks "Betty Burks" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Western Stories of Loren D. Estleman (Audio Cassette)

These stories have a western flavor, though the one I liked best, 'A Web of Books,' was downright scholarly. He has a book collector on the run who had bought a ten dollar version of a volume of Shakespeare's tragedies from an old bookstore out West. He has been followed by another book collector to obtain a valuable rare volume entitled 'The Midnight Sky' which had been published in Scotland in 1758. There are murders along the way as the killer is bound to have what he thinks he deserves. Instead, he is found out by the crafty bookseller.

He is my kind of writer who hates to have his work edited in any form or fashion. When he tried to get 'The Pilgrim' published, a crazy editor rankled him by changing a tad too much by using this as a scapegoat to vent all the vitriol accumulated in his job. He completely revamped it, omitting some of the necessary parts of the work. When he was demoted from that publisher to "Reader's Digest" it was a 'fitting punishment,' according to this author who had to almost rewrite the whole thing to satisfy this man's demands. Here, it is in the original state for the reader to decide on the changes.

'Kate' was most interesting because this story gives the background of one of the important participants in the Wyatt Earp legend. She was born in Budapest but came to Davenport, Iowa, in 1863. She watched as the trains brought the alarming chain of coffins from Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Antitem, something which upset a young impressionable girl. And so she ran away and stayed in a convent for six months before marrying a 'professional' to get out of there. They went to Vicksburg, then to Atlanta, where things were all in a mess after Sherman's fateful March. In 1877, in a small town, she became acquainted with a personage of our history, one Doc Holliday and was just one of his women there in the saloon (like Gunsmoke's Miss Kitty). Before the big gunfight at the OK Corral, she became known as his wife.

In 'Hell on the Draw,' the town of Persephone, out west, was taken over by the Devil on horseback. He bought the gambling house called Brimstone, and things went from bad to worse as he carried out his mission of death. It took a "retired" gunfighter named Marlowe (how about that?) to set things right again by not fighting fair. Whoever said that life is fair? I don't usually read short stories as they don't have the depth for elaboration as a novel, except for this writer. They may be based in the Old West, but they are varied and each a gem on its own.