Conned out of his money and land, Hard Luck Yancey stumbles upon black Telluride gold beneath a Sisters of Charity miners' hospital, a discovery that pits him against ruthless mining barons and greedy outlaws.

A riveting story of feuding brothers in a fight to the death from an early master of the western genre. Years ago, Owen Daybright was an orphan on a railroad crew when old Arch Stobie took him under his wing at the Acorn ranch. He needed the quiet, hardworking Owen for a special job: to act as a friend and be a calming influence on his fiery-tempered son, Lee. But, instead, the boys showed an immediate hatred for each other that never waned. Only out of loyalty to Arch did Owen cover for Lee’s stupidity and carelessness. But now Lee’s crossed the line. There are some angry men after him for disgracing their sister. And he’s put a target on Owen’s back. Unless Owen is very fast and very careful, he’s going to end up taking a bullet for the brother he’d like to kill himself. Luke Short, a winner of the Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman Award from the Western Writers of America, blazed the trail for authors such as Louis L’Amour and Elmore Leonard. Vengeance Valley is one of his most compelling tales of western adventure.

This was the first bibliography and guide to the American mass market paperback book, and it remains one of the most definitive. The major index is by author, and lists: author, title, publisher, book number, year of publication, and cover price. The title index lists titles and authors only. The publisher index provides a history of that imprint, with addresses, number ranges, and general physical description of the books issued. This is the place that all study of the American paperback must begin.

A round-up of favorite westerns from "Aces and Eights" to "River of No Return," from "Colorado Sundown" to "Under California Stars," from "Big Calibre" to "The Yodellin' Kid from Pine Ridge." Featured stars include Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bill Boyd, Charles Starrett, Buck Jones, Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, Rex Bell, Tex Ritter, Ken Maynard, Tim McCoy, Jack Perrin, Johnny Mack Brown, Robert Mitchum, Randolph Scott.

In their heyday, pulp westerns were one of America's most popular forms of entertainment. Often selling for less than 50 cents, the paperback books introduced generations to the "exploits" of Billy the Kid and Jesse James, brought to life numerous villains (usually named "Black" something, e.g., Black Bart and Black Pete), and created a West that existed only in the minds of several talented writers. It was only natural that filmmakers would look to the pulps for stories, adapting many of the works for the big screen and shaping the Western film genre. The adaptations of seven of the pulps' best writers--Ernest Haycox, Luke Short, Frank Gruber, Norman A. Fox, Louis L'Amour, Marvin H. Albert, and Clair Huffaker--are analyzed here. Insightful and humorous, the work looks at how the pulp novels and the movie adaptations reflected the times in which they were produced. It examines the cliches that became a part of the story: the rescue of the heroine, the gunfights, the evil banker or rancher ready to steal the land of the good, law-abiding citizens, and the harlot with a heart of gold. A critical examination of how the books were interpreted--or frequently misinterpreted--by filmmakers is included, along with commentary on the actors and directors who put the pulps on screen.

Film Composers in America is a landmark in the history of film. Here, renowned film scholar Clifford McCarty has attempted to identify every known composer who wrote background musical scores for films in the United States between 1911 and 1970. With information on roughly 20,000 films, the book is an essential tool for serious students of film and a treasure trove for film fans. It spans all types of American films, from features, shorts, cartoons, and documentaries to nontheatrical works, avant-garde films, and even trailers. Meticulously researched over 45 years, the book documents the work of more than 1,500 composers, from Robert Abramson to Josiah Zuro, including the first to score an American film, Walter C. Simon. It includes not only Hollywood professionals but also many composers of concert music--as well as popular music and other genres--whose cinematic work has never before been fully catalogued. The book also features an index that lets readers quickly find the composer for any American film through 1970. To recover this history, much of which was lost or never recorded, McCarty corresponded with or interviewed hundreds of composers, arrangers, orchestrators, musical directors, and music librarians. He also conducted extensive research in the archives of the seven largest film studios--Columbia, MGM, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century-Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros.--and wherever possible, he based his findings on the most reliable evidence, that of the manuscript scores and cue sheets (as opposed to less accurate screen credits). The result is the definitive guide to the composers and musical scores for the first 60 years of American film.

In Search of Western Movie Sites is a compilation of 64 articles written for the bi-monthly newsletter Western Clippings by Carlo Gaberscek and Kenny Stier. They are profoundly convinced of the fundamental importance of landscapes and natural exteriors in westerns. These articles are listed regionally, starting with the Southwestern states (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada), progressing to California, the Northwest, Midwest, and Southern states, followed by Canada, and finishing with Mexico. They focus on the making of both A and B-westerns in a single state or a specific area of a state, and contain selected filmographies and detailed information on the locations. They envision a vast atlas of western cinema, a map of both real and imagined places constructed by Hollywood. This book, which includes over 200 stills and photos taken on location, is a guide to thousands of western film locations.