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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
To most readers, Louis L'Amour is the quintessential writer of westerns; few know that among his 118 published volumes are stories set far from sagebrush country. In this volume of 10 previously uncollected short stories written early in his career and issued now, 13 years after his death, with an afterword by his son, Beau, L'Amour's broader interests are on display. Two of the tales, "Red Butte Showdown" and "The Cactus Kid" do indeed evoke the frontier settings L'Amour is best known for, but three of them, "Making It the Hard Way," "Fighter's Fiasco" and "The Ghost Fighter," are about prizefighting and indicate the influence of writers like Jack London and Ernest Hemingway. No less surprising in their modern California settings are "A Friend of a Hero" and "The Vanished Blonde," which echo Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett; Hemingway's themes are again reflected in "May There Be a Road" and "Wings Over Brazil," two yarns set against the volatile backdrop of war and revolution far from the purple mountains of Montana or the desolate plains of the Dakotas. The title story (never before published) unfolds in a rough-riding Tibet. Though influenced by other writers, each story follows L'Amour's patented formula, evident already in this early work. A tense situation is revealed, brief characterization and background follow, then the tale is tied up in a sequence of hard-hitting action sequences. These are professionally written stories, minor gems collected from the dustier corners of L'Amour's oeuvre. (May 8)Forecast: Banking on the enduring appeal of L'Amour, the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club are making his latest posthumous offering an alternate selection, and sales should be strong. One more volume of stories is yet to come before the well runs dry.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Booklist
This is an eminently readable and enjoyable collection of 10 previously unpublished short stories by the late L'Amour. In"The Ghost Fighter," Bat McGowan is the world heavyweight boxing champion. He is also a drinker, womanizer, and carouser. His managers have a chance to make some money off the title by staging matches in small towns, and decide to employ look-alike Barney Malone as a stand-in. As the exhibitions progress, Malone proves that having the title of champ and actually being one are two different things. Other stories feature a detective searching for a missing woman; another fighter who takes a gambler's payoff; and a young Tibetan lord who battles treacherous terrain and the pursuing Red Army to save his love and also the legacy of his people's way of life. Many posthumous collections consist of substandard works that probably should never be blessed with publication, but such is not the case here. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wide Range of Exciting Adventure/Human Interest Stories,
By
This review is from: May There Be a Road (Mass Market Paperback)
This is my first Louis L'Amour book and certainly not my last. I prefer short stories because I can read each quickly and not be caught up for too many hours, trying to find out what happened. All ten short stories captured my interest and each was very different from the other, altogther a thoroughly enjoyable read. The main appeal of this compilation for me is the wide range of stories that occur within unique settings: Hawaii, Tibet, Brazil, Mexico, and the Southwest, USA. There are several stories about boxing/prize fighting, which amazingly, I enjoyed. The key to this author's writing is how he builds suspense, gradually reveals his characters, and keeps the reader hooked, wanting to know more, as the story unfolds in unexpected ways. The author has a keen grasp of human nature. He knows the human condition which he reveals in its myriad of aspects in each story. One of my favorite stories is "May There Be a Road" which is about the courage shown by Tohkta, a young Tibetan, when he is planning to capture his future wife, but ends up unexpectedly fighting the Communists, and doing a very daring deed to save his village. Serendipty strikes, as I read the words, "Yol Bolsun", an old Tibetan greeting, meant for those who took the old mountain trails. It means, "May there be a road" and is the title of a recent CD by Sevarah Nazarkhan (Uzbekhistan) which I bought [and reviewed]. The other favorite is "The Cactus Kid". Reading this story is like watching an old TV Western from the 1950s. It is just as satisfying. Nesselrode Clay, aka, "The Cactus Kid", inadvertently stumbles upon a dastardly plot by the Uncle of a beautiful senorita. He plans to swindle her out of very expensive land. Of course, "The Cactus Kid" saves her from this awful fate. My highest recommendations. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
1.0 out of 5 stars
UNFORTUNATE ATTEMPT AT POSTHUMOUS PROFIT,
By A Customer
This review is from: May There Be a Road (Mass Market Paperback)
Sadly the legacy of the great Louis L'Amour is being tarnished by members of his family who have dug up stories that, in some cases, were never published, and released them under the title May There Be A Road. It becomes rapidly apparent as to why they were never published. My hope as I waded through this dreary offering was "may there be an ending!" May There Be A Road is an unfortunate effort to posthumously profit from the L'Amour name while offering nothing to the reader. L'Amour's masterpieces are readily available in paperback and continue to offer the best in western story telling. Don't waste time on May There Be A Road when you can enjoy The Shadow Riders, Crossfire Trail, The Last of the Breed or Haunted Mesa.
1.0 out of 5 stars
An Almost Complete Waste OfTime,
This review is from: May There Be a Road (Hardcover)
If the name Louis L'Amore was not on this book it would not sell one copy in my view. The writing is merely adequate. The tone is out of date. Instead of being satisfied with the honors and the fortune generated by the late Louis L'Amour, the publisher and the author's family continue to publish old stories from the author's youth, milking the name for every cent it can generate. I am a died-in-the-wool L'Amour fan and have purchased just about every book he has written. But watching these poor early efforts being published with his name is agonizng. Let the man rest in peace; God knows he wrote some wonderful stories. But the ones in this collection are not worth purchasing or reading unless you are a L'Amour biographer or critic.
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