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Elmer Kelton Books In Order

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Publication Order of Tales of Texas Books

Captain's Rangers (1968)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Joe Pepper (1975)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Long Way to Texas (1976)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Texas Tradition Books

The Day the Cowboys Quit (1971)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Wagontongue (1972)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Manhunters (1974)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Wolf and the Buffalo (1980)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Stand Proud (1984)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Dark Thicket (1985)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Man Who Rode Midnight (1987)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Honor at Daybreak (1991)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Sons of Texas Books

Sons of Texas (1989)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Raiders (1989)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Rebels (1989)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Hewey Calloway Books

The Good Old Boys (1982)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Smiling Country (1998)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Six Bits a Day (2005)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Unlikely Lawman (With: ) (2022)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Texas Rangers Books

The Buckskin Line (1999)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Badger Boy (2001)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Way of the Coyote (2001)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Ranger's Trail (2002)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Other Men's Horses (2002)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Lone Star Rising (2003)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas Vendetta (2004)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Jericho's Road (2004)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Hard Trail To Follow (2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas Standoff (2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Buckalew Family Books

Massacre at Goliad (1965)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
After the Bugles (1967)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Hot Iron (1956)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Buffalo Wagons (1957)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Bitter Trail (1959)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas Rifles (1960)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Donovan (1961)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Pecos Crossing (1963)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Horsehead Crossing (1963)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Shotgun Settlement (1969)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Bowie's Mine (1971)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Time It Never Rained (1973)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Barbed Wire (1980)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Eyes of the Hawk (1981)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Llano River (1982)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Shadow of a Star (1984)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Hanging Judge (1988)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Slaughter (1992)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Best Christmas (1993)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Indian in Frontier News (1993)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Far Canyon (1994)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Pumpkin Rollers (1996)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Cloudy in the West (1997)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Christmas at the Ranch (2003)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Shotgun (2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Many a River (2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

There's Always Another Chance, and Other Stories (1986)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Big Brand (1986)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Legend (1999)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
ReadWest (2011)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Wild West (2017)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Hard Ride (2018)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Cowboy Way (2020)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Law of the Land (2021)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Looking Back West: Selections form the Pioneer News-Observer (1972)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Permian: A Continuing Saga (1985)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Elmer Kelton: 30 Years of Western Fiction (1985)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Living and Writing in West Texas: Two Speeches (1990)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Art of Howard Terpning (1992)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Art of Frank C. McCarthy (1992)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Art of James Bama (1993)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Elmer Kelton Country: The Short Nonfiction of a Texas Novelist (1993)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
My Kind of Heroes: Selected Speeches (1995)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas (1995)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas Cattle Barons: Their Families, Land and Legacy (1999)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Prairie Gothic (By:John R. Erickson) (2005)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer (2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Tom Lovell: Storyteller with a Brush (2020)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Ralph Compton Western Books

with Robert J. Randisi, Livia J. Washburn, Kevin D. Randle, Jory Sherman, John Edward Ames, Matthew P. Mayo, Jackson Lowry, Ralph Compton, Carlton Stowers, Robert Vaughan, Dusty Richards, Joseph A. West, David Robbins, Marcus Galloway, Paul Ledd, R. Lake, E L Ripley
Clarion's Call (By:Robert Vaughan) (2001)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Blood and Gold (By:Joseph A. West) (2004)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
For the Brand (By:David Robbins) (2005)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Rio Largo (By:David Robbins) (2006)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Guns of the Canyonlands (By:Joseph A. West) (2006)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas Empire (By:Ralph Compton) (2006)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
By the Horns (By:David Robbins) (2006)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Deadwood Gulch (By:John Edward Ames) (2006)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Bloody Trail (By:Marcus Galloway) (2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
A Wolf In the Fold (By:David Robbins) (2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Bluff City (By:David Robbins) (2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Blood Duel (By:David Robbins) (2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Death of a Bad Man (By:Marcus Galloway) (2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Ride the Hard Trail (By:David Robbins) (2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Bullet for a Bad Man (By:David Robbins) (2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Convict Trail (By:Joseph A. West) (2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Rawhide Flat (By:Joseph A. West) (2009)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Outlaw's Reckoning (By:Marcus Galloway) (2009)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Man From Nowhere (By:Joseph A. West) (2009)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Bounty Hunter (By:Joseph A. West) (2009)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Fatal Justice (By:David Robbins) (2009)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Stryker's Revenge (By:Joseph A. West) (2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Death of a Hangman (By:Joseph A. West) (2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
North to the Salt Fork (By:Ralph Compton,Dusty Richards) (2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Rusted Tin (By:Marcus Galloway) (2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Burning Range (By:Joseph A. West) (2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Last Manhunt (By:Joseph A. West) (2011)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Stranger from Abilene (By:Joseph A. West) (2011)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Ghost of Apache Creek (By:Joseph A. West) (2011)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Dead Man's Ranch (By:Matthew P. Mayo) (2012)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Slaughter Canyon (By:Joseph A. West) (2012)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
One Man's Fire (By:Marcus Galloway) (2012)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Tucker's Reckoning (By:Matthew P. Mayo) (2012)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Down on Gila River (By:Joseph A. West) (2012)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Brimstone Trail (By:Marcus Galloway) (2013)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Straight Shooter (By:Marcus Galloway) (2013)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Hunted (By:Matthew P. Mayo) (2013)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Hard Ride to Wichita (By:Marcus Galloway) (2013)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Cheyenne Trail (By:Jory Sherman) (2014)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Double-Cross Ranch (By:Matthew P. Mayo) (2014)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Comanche Trail (By:Carlton Stowers) (2014)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Dangerous Land (By:Marcus Galloway) (2014)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Vigilante Dawn (By:Marcus Galloway) (2014)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Evil Men Do (By:David Robbins) (2015)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Straight to the Noose (By:Marcus Galloway) (2015)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Shotgun Charlie (By:Matthew P. Mayo) (2015)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Law and the Lawless (By:David Robbins) (2015)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Brother's Keeper (By:David Robbins) (2015)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Texas Hills (By:David Robbins) (2015)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Outlaw Town (By:David Robbins) (2016)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Phantom Hill (By:Carlton Stowers) (2016)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Hellbound Posse (By:Robert J. Randisi,Ralph Compton) (2021)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Anthologies

New Trails: Twenty-Three Original Stories(1994)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Best of the American West II(1999)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
A Century of Great Western Stories(2001)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Noah’s Ride(2006)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Lost Trails(2007)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Way of the West(2008)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Law of the Gun(2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Ghost Towns(2010)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Elmer Kelton (born 29th April 1926 – 22nd August 2009) was a bestselling American writer and journalist famously known for his western novels. He was born at a place known as Horse Camp located on the Five Wells Ranch in Andrews County to Robert William Kelton and Neta Beatrice Kelton.

When Kelton was about three years old, his family relocated to the McElroy Ranch located in the counties of Upton and Crane, Texas next to the city of Crane and southwest of Midland. The remainder of his childhood was spent at three distinct homesteads on the McElroy where his father worked for 36 years. After graduating from Crane High School, Kelton went on to join The University of Texas from 1942-1944, 1946-1948 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. Subsequently, he served in the United States Army from 1944 to 1946 where he got the exposure of the World War II.

Kelton married Anni Lipp from Austria, and they were blessed with three children, one of which was Anni’s son whom Kelton adopted. The other two were a daughter and son namely, Kathy Kelton and Steve Kelton. The author also had three brothers Bill Kelton, Merle Kelton, and Eugene Kelton.

From 1948 to 1963, Kelton worked as a ranch and farm editor in the Harte-Hanks for the San Angelo Standard Time. For five years he also worked as an one of the editorial staff for Sheep and Goat Raiser Magazine, and for over two decades also used to work for Livestock Weekly as an editor and retired in 1990. Kelton memoir, Sandhills Boy was issued in 2007, and three of his books have appeared in Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. Eight of Kelton books have won Spur Award awarded by the Western Writers of America. The peers in the Western Writers of America named him as the greatest Western writer of all time. Three other books, The Man whom Rode Midnight, City: The Time it Never Rained, and The Good Old Boys have won Western Heritage Awards.

The Good Old Boys was adapted into a 1995 American western adventure movie by the same name. The film featured Tommy Lee Jones and Sissy Spacek and produced by Edgar J. Scherick Associates.

Kelton was awarded Owen Wister Award in 1977 for lifetime achievement. The author was working on another novel but developed several health problems during the spring of 2009. The book was not complete before his death on 22nd August 2009.

The Time It Never Rained

To the farmers and ranchers of 1950’s, man’s worst enemy is one that he cannot control. With their entire livelihood on the balance of a dry or a wet year, drought has the capability of crushing down their entire enterprise to determine who falls and whom standing remains, and take grab food from the mouths of the workers as well as their families.

To Charlie Flagg, a decent, honest & cantankerous rancher, the drought of the early 1950s is an adversary that he must confront on his grounds and decline the questionable assistance of the federal aid programs, Charlie and his family fight to make the ranch to survive until the time when the rains return again.

The Time it Never Rained is a novel set West Texas and inspired by actual events when a severe drought that forever remains in memories of many ranchers and farmers pressed them to their out limits of endurance and courage. Kelton, the author of the book, was there but not as a rancher but as an agriculture journalist. He covered this state of complete emptiness on a daily basis and was familiar with what it meant for the residents who were forced to cope with its calamitous manifestations.

The protagonist in this novel is Charlie Flagg, a broad-shouldered man who dug his postholes, carried his sacks, and flanked his calves. His ranch was a midsized one and consisted of 15 sections, owned three sections and leased the rest. Unlike other ranchers, who often accepted government aid during the drought, Charlie could not welcome it. He often described that when a man takes government help, it is like selling freedom.

The Good Old Boys

For Hewey Calloway, he is faced with a problem in his West Texas home of 1906. The landscape and the way of life that he adores are rapidly changing for his taste. He only dreams of freedom- and want to be a horseback cowboy wandering in the open range land. Unfortunately, the open rangeland of his childhood is disappearing too quickly. The land he ought to wander in are soon being parceled out, and barbed wire fences are established all over. Furthermore, to Hewey disappointment, cars and more machines are occupying his simple cowboy life, making the whole land stink and also threatening to take over the place of horse travel. As the dreamer struggles against the never ending stream of progress, he comes to becomes aware that his simple childhood life is gone and that a man cannot live a life that time has forgone and that every choice that he makes requires a sacrifice.

Kelton did a great job in The Good Old Boys; you will not find unexpected plot twists or some blazing shootouts. Even though there are some aspect of romance, the books mainly emphasize on friendship, love, determination, sacrifice and integrity. It is a good story of the 20th century where ranchers and farmers butted heads, were good water and land was scarce and when the automobiles invaded the land of horses.

The Day the Cowboys Quit

The year is 1883 in Texas when the Cowboys refuse to be condemned as alcoholics and exploited by the wealthy cattle owners who do not pay any good wages. The ranchers are also determined by taking away cowboy rights to owning cattle since the ranchers believe that it would lead to thieving. In 1883, a decree is set that if you are a cowboy, that you cannot own a cow. However, when the rumors of such order travel from one wagon to another, the cowboy decides to rally and fight for their rights to own cattle- so they gather and strike.

Book Series In Order » Authors » Elmer Kelton

One Response to “Elmer Kelton”

  1. Susan Harms: 2 years ago

    I love his books because I love Texas and history. this ordered list is helpfu.

    Reply

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