The Steamboaters

By Bill Pronzini

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449127230
• ISBN13: 9780449127230
• Release Date: May 1986
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 229 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Adventure on the rivers

Not all Western heroes (and villains) rode horses. Some of them rode boats. In the 19th Century rivercraft plied streams that no pilot of today would consider poking his boat's nose into. From the Colorado to the Columbia to the Big River itself, the waters of the West floated a freight of adventure and emotion enough to fill a library of books. Here are nine stories and a poem by writers ranging from Henry Herbert Knibbs to Norman A. Fox to Brian Garfield, originally published 1946-81, gathered together to make the sixth volume in the Best of the West series. Among the offerings: "Poker Dell," by William R. Cox (the story of the strange and subtle revenge of a young Southerner betrayed by a friend); "The River Smeller," by James Stevens (a seriocomic tale of a pilot turned riverboat cook and how he saved his craft--twice); "Only the Dead Ride Proudly," by Norman A. Fox (a cashiered and disgraced Army officer, working as a deckhand aboard the steamer Far West, finds an opportunity to clear his name--but will he take it?); "Sacramento Run," by Tom W. Blackburn (after his brother's murder, a young man must defeat two unscrupulous rivals to save their boat company); "Riverboat Fighter," by Brian Garfield (a gambler aboard a Colorado steamer encounters an old love and an old enemy); "Sternwheeler," by Michele McQuaid (two partners face deadly rivals and a corrupt Army officer); "The Cruise of the Praire Queen," by D. D. Beauchamp (the humorous story of a historical re-enactment gone slightly askew); "River Reckoning," by Steve Hall (as the Sacramento rises in flood, a riverman is drawn into the search for a trove of stolen gold dust); and "The Tinhorn Fills His Hand!," by John Jakes (a gambler rebels against the dishonest captain on whose boat he has sailed). These are all high-quality stories with the real flavor of the river trade, and thoroughly enjoyable. A superior entry into this series of anthologies.