The nameless drifters and aimless riders who traveled the back roads and trails of the American West have been described as fiddlefooted. In this illustrated autobiography, I characterize myself as a modern day Fiddlefoot, applying the term to my own wanderings as I searched for meaning, satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment in life. My search takes me to a series of locales, from my boyhood home in Wisconsin westward through several stops in California, Oregon, British Columbia, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona; and occupations ranging from student to farmer, logger, surveyor, factory worker, ranch hand, college and university instructor, social worker, and State and National Park Ranger. My search includes living and working in cities, towns, on farms, in cooperative communities, and my experiences and explorations involving religion, politics, marriages, parenthood and travels in the U.S., Canada, Guatemala, the British Isles and continental Western Europe. I wrote it as a way in which my wives, children, grandchildren, friends, acquaintances, and perhaps total strangers, could know and understand who is that man, and why is he like he is?

A hard-charging tale of oppression and revenge by an award-winning author who helped define the western genre. Frank Chess didn’t care for much in this world. Especially himself. So taking a job for local big shot Rhino Hulst was an easy choice. Each day drifted into the next: running Rhino’s crooked errands, blowing his meager pay in the nearest poker game, drinking it down in the closest saloon, and handing it over to the next soiled dove. All because Rhino killed a man in cold blood, pinned it on Frank, and now holds the hangman’s rope over him. And who would give a damn? Frank came into town a drifter—a fiddlefoot, they called him—worth nothing to no one. He didn’t matter. But none of the townspeople know Frank. Where he came from. What he’s done. And when he finally remembers what it’s like to care about something, they have no idea how much hell he’s about to bring down on them all. Along with legendary authors like Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour, Luke Short helped transform the stories of the American West from dime-store pulp into a respected and immensely popular literary genre. Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, Fiddlefoot combines Short’s plainspoken style with the hard-edged authenticity that marks his novels as true classics of western adventure.

The nameless drifters and aimless riders who traveled the back roads and trails of the American West have been described as "fiddlefooted." In this illustrated autobiography, I characterize myself as a modern day Fiddlefoot, applying the term to my own wanderings as I searched for meaning, satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment in life. My search takes me to a series of locales, from my boyhood home in Wisconsin westward through several stops in California, Oregon, British Columbia, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona; and occupations ranging from student to farmer, logger, surveyor, factory worker, ranch hand, college and university instructor, social worker, and State and National Park Ranger. My search includes living and working in cities, towns, on farms, in cooperative communities, and my experiences and explorations involving religion, politics, marriages, parenthood and travels in the U.S., Canada, Guatemala, the British Isles and continental Western Europe. I wrote it as a way in which my wives, children, grandchildren, friends, acquaintances, and perhaps total strangers, could know and understand 'who is that man, and why is he like he is?' -- Bryce Babcock, January 2013.

Two rip-roarin' Westerns for one low price. Hammerhead Range: Buck McKee and Tortilla Joe cross the desert to help Jack Perry--only to find him hanging from a tree--and a posse of desperadoes ready to gun them down. The Tall Texan: Jim Parker drifts into a Texas border town looking to even an old score with a crooked rancher. But the rancher's hired a ruthless gang to take care of Jim for good.