Texas Showdown: Two Texas Novels

By Elmer Kelton

Book Overview

Elmer Kelton writes of his beloved home country of West Texas in these two novels of cowmen and cow country. In "Pecos Crossing," two young cowboys, Johnny Fristo and Speck Quitman, have been cheated of six months' hard-earned salary by their rancher boss Larramore and intend getting what is due to them. In "Shotgun," Texas rancher Blair Bishop has to contend with a rival cowman who is turning his herd loose on Bishop's land, and with a mean customer named Macy Modock, who Bishop sent to prison ten years past. Modock is out of the hoosegow and has returned determined to get even with the man who sent him up the river.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765311526
• ISBN13: 9780765311528
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Forge Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 1.1" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Vintage Kelton

There is a reason why Elmer Kelton has won so many major awards as a Western book author, and this book, composed of two previously told stories, demonstate why. As is stated below, the first story is rerun of Horsehead Crossing, which lest anyone doubt, is an actual place on the Pecos River in West Texas (My family and I have been there)that is very infamous or famous----depending on what point of history one uses---and is a good old fashion Western, as is the second story. I have read everything Mr. Kelton has written over the years, and can recommend this book without reservations

Two Classic Kelton Paperback Originals Now in Hardcover

The essential thing for you to know, whether you're a new or established Kelton fan, is that this volume is an essential book in the Kelton Catalog, unlike most of the other "twofer" offerings which are readily available in hardcover singles. "PECOS CROSSING" is actually "HORSEHEAD CROSSING," a Ballantine Paperback Original which came out in 1963 and has NEVER been available in hardcover. But the real gem here is "SHOTGUN," which is the rarest (I didn't say the best!) of all Kelton's fiction. It was published under the "house name" of "Alex Hawk" in July of 1969 for Paperback Library (Coronet) with an absolutely hideous bare-chested Clint Eastwood-gone-zombie cover. This book is extremely hard to come by, and not a bad read. Of the two, I think PECOS (HORSEHEAD) the better novel, but both typify 1960s Kelton--good action, believable characters, and a wonderful sense of period Texas. (While you're picking up essential Kelton in hardcover don't miss out on the Tom Early / SONS OF TEXAS trilogy (arguably better than his most recent extended saga), two of which are now available, with the final installment coming out in November.

Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton is the finest western writer ever. His stories are down to earth versions of the real west. I read everything that he writes. This is two of his older stories reissued and well worth reading. This is a great format and I hope that he does more of these older reissues.

Solid western

It's easy to see why Elmer Kelton continues to win awards for his writing. In these two novels that are set in Texas, Kelton gives readers fast paced action stories. Pecos Crossing and Shotgun are classic stories of right and wrong, good and bad. Like most novels of the Western genre, these are morality stories. And that's not bad, especially when they're a good read. In Pecos Crossing, young cowboys Johnny Fristo and Speck Quitman have come off a six month cattle herding job and are eager for their pay. But cow trader Larramore wasn't honest in his dealings with the young cowboys. He didn't pay them. During a scuffle with Larramore, who was hoping to leave town before the cowboys reached him, a shoot-out results in the accidental death of Cora Haggard. She and former Texas Ranger Milam Haggard had just married and were leaving to start a new life. Haggard's dogged vengeance keeps him trailing Fristo and Quitman with a few close calls including Haggard being wounded. They eventually meet at Pecos Crossing. How it plays out tests the characters' mettle and keeps the reader guessing. In Shotgun, a story of retribution is woven. Macy Modock spent 10 years in jail for rustling Blair Bishop's cattle. A free man, Modock plots a scheme to pay Bishop back and end up with his and a neighbor's land and cattle. The neighbor, Clarence Cass is no friend of Blair, who has stored water in a land suffering from drought. Complicating the struggle is the developing love story between Jessie Cass and Blair Bishop's oldest son Allan. Modock and Cass join forces to ruin Bishop. They begin by laying claim to land where Bishop grazes cattle. It is the beginning of what boils into an unstoppable confrontation. Modock plays each of the characters against one another to develop his scheme. As events play out Modock's plans begin to fall apart when innocent men are killed and Clarence Cass realizes he's been used. More men will die before things are set aright. With lifelike characters and situations, Kelton remains in top form as a Western writer who tells a good story. Readers of Western novels, and especially those by Elmer Kelton, will be rewarded with Texas Showdown.