The Riot at Bucksnort and Other Western Tales (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
Robert E. Howard turned to writing comic and dialect Western tales only late in his career, but he found an immediate and continuously successful market for them, and they are in many respects his most accomplished and polished works. The sixteen tales collected here are some of the best of his stories, featuring Breckinridge Elkins, Pike Bearfield, and Buckner J. Grimes?three inimitable characters who lead well-intentioned lives of perpetual confusion, mischance, and outright catastrophe. Fifteen of the stories were published between 1934 and 1937 in Action Stories, Argosy, or Cowboy Stories; the other remained unpublished for more than thirty years. Many of these stories were rewritten for book publication and have never been reprinted in their original form. They are reminiscent of traditional southwestern tall tales, told in dialect, featuring larger-than-life characters, swift action, broad satire, and wry humor.
The Riot at Bucksnort and Other Western Tales (The Works of Robert E. Howard) Accessories
 The End of the Trail: Western Stories (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
Boxing Stories (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
The Black Stranger: And Other American Tales (The Works of Robert E. Howard Series)
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
Kull: Exile of Atlantis
Bran Mak Morn: The Last King
The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 3)
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: The Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All Time!
The Complete Action Stories
The Riot at Bucksnort and Other Western Tales (The Works of Robert E. Howard) Reviews
Grimes,is yet more realistic and the stories not as funny,in fact "A Man Eating Jeapord" is a good straight foward western with some humor thrown in. Elkins absorbs more lead,cuts, and bashing in one brawl than ten ordinary men,usually before he leaves home.His horse Cap'n Kidd is the only thing on two or four legs thats a match for him and the story "Meet Cap'n Kidd",is one of the best in the book.The character in the next three stories, Pike Bearfield is not quite as outrageous as Elkins,and the stories a bit more realistic,but Howards use of dialect and humor is still very entertaining.The story "The Riot at Bucksnort" is written as a series of newspaper articles, letters and telegrams,and is indeed a riot.In the last three stories,Buckner J. If you like Howard, humor, westerns, or just good entertainment I think you will enjoy this. The stories go beyond comedy, into slapstick tall tales. I think this collection of REH westerns is some of his best work.The hero of most of the stories,Breckinridge Elkins,is,to quote Howard, "of the Pecos Bill style".
But lots of laughs, too. By accident. Fine Westerns, don't get me wrong. Each & every story reads like the Saturday Night Live crew playing the Man With No Name. But this collection of Western tales proves his talent wasn't limited to that. Robert E Howard's Western heroes create hilarious chaos wherever they go, from devastation at a crooked Election Day to the insanity produced by a young giant of a man going into a civilized town for the first time in his life. Robert E Howard is most famous for his "Conan The Barbarian" creation. And darned near leveling the whole community.
|
