Synopses & Reviews
The Far Canyon, the sequel to
Slaughter was published in 1994 and won Elmer Kelton his sixth esteemed Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. By 2002 Kelton had not only earned his seventh Spur Award with
Way of the Coyote, but had also won three Western Heritage Awards. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum honored Kelton for
The Time it Never Rained in 1974,
The Good Old Boys in 1979, and
The Man Who Rode Midnight in 1988. With such accomplishments, it is easy to understand why, in 1995, the Western Writers of America voted Elmer Kelton the greatest western writer of all time.
In The Far Canyon, Kelton masterfully unveils for his reader the finality of the buffalos demise, the beginning of a time when cattle would replace the American bison on the southern plains and ultimately end the Plains Indian culture. The novel reveals the history of the period, not in a general grand swoop of the pen, but rather, up close and personal, so his readership can judge the impact of the period upon his characters.
The novels first chapter introduces Comanche warrior Crow Feather, whose situation is emblematic of a common recurring theme in all of Keltons works . . . change. Protagonist Jeff Layne is faced with the very same dramatic problem, the devastating threat to ones self-concept inherent in change. Layne, the hide hunter from Slaughter is weary of killing and death. He decides to return to South Texas, determined to earn his living with the newest resource on the plains, cattle. And the cultures collide.
Kelton eloquently reveals the impact of hide hunters on Plains Indian culture. Crow Feather realizes that no matter how many whites the Comanche kill, there will always be more “coming back.” Crow Feather also understands that his life and the lives of his wives and children will never be easy again. Are Layne and Crow Feather of a character that will allow them to escape a predetermined fate by reaching that far canyon, or will they simply perish under the cultural dictate of their historical time?
The question is a thematic dilemma that Kelton excels at and it is what transforms his writing into serious literature.
Synopsis
Under the veil of one of the oldest and most tragic myths known to humankind, a king is born. Magnus King, the son of a well-born English woman, continues his familys aristocratic legacy on the frontier of the American West until the night a deadly shooting changes everything.
Young Earl Ransom, a man found long ago on the Cheyenne prairie with no memory of his past or of how his destiny is linked to that of Magnus King, finds his way through a tale as old and tragic as the Greek myth of Oedipus.
King of Spades is the final volume of Frederick Manfreds acclaimed five-volume series, The Buckskin Man Tales. For this Bison Books Classic edition, Joel Johnson provides a new introduction.
About the Author
Frederick Manfred (1912-94) is the author of twenty-four novels, including the five-volume series The Buckskin Man Tales, which includes
Lord Grizzly (finalist for the 1954 National Book Award),
Riders of Judgment,
Conquering Horse, and
Scarlet Plume, all available in Bison Books editions.
Joel Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Government and International Affairs at Augustana College.