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Sunday, October 11, 2015

Short Stories

I've read some good short stories over the last couple of months while sitting in the car and waiting for Number One to finish her shopping. This group was published in 1963 by the Western Writers of America in The Pick of the Roundup, edited by Stephen Payne. The stories are listed here:

The Fort Greer Mules by Bill Burchardt
Mountain Man on a Mule by William R. Cox
The Far Cry by Max Evans
The Promise of the Fruit by Ann Ahlswede
Melody on the Range by John Shelley
The Deep Valley by Lucia Moore
Comanche Woman by Fred Grove
They Walked Tall by T. V. Olsen
Uncle Jeff and the Gunfighter by Elmer Kelton
Beat the Drums Slowly by Richard Wormser

My favorite of these was Melody on the Range because it had the most humor. A new and pretty school teacher comes to town and pretty soon all the cowboys are taking music lessons, trying to "learn" how to play some instrument or another. This leads to some funny events in the daily lives of the cowboys, one involving cattle stealing with trucks and other funny happenings. A clever story.

Another good one was Uncle Jeff and the Gunfighter with its strange turn of events where the gunfighter vanishes.

I enjoyed all the stories, but those two stood out for me. Which one(s) did you like most?

6 comments:

  1. Oscar, barring Max Evans and Elmer Kelton, I'm not familiar with any of the writers. I love short stories.

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    1. Prashant, they are both excellent writers and so are the others. I hadn't read most of them either before this book.

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  2. Have not read any of these stories, that I remember, but there are several writers here I have read. Fred Grove is a writer that doesn't always get his due, I like his stuff and Kelton is a long time favorite of mine.

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    1. I like Fred Grove having read a couple of his books, but you never hear of him like Kelton. .

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  3. I haven't read any of these either!

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  4. I love some good western short tales. have to have a look for these.

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