>> archiveStowers pens final Ralph Compton western

Western writer Ralph Compton died in 1998 at age sixty-four, but Signet Books has continued churning out shoot-’em-ups under his name but written by other notable authors.

My friend Carlton Stowers, author of more than forty of his own books and co-author with me of 101 Essential Texas Books, evidently has written the last of the Ralph Compton novels—Phantom Hill ($6.99 paperback). I asked Carlton if he had been retained to ghost-write any more Compton tales, and he said the publisher has decided to retire the Compton name.

Well, it’s a good one to go out on. Phantom Hill (in small type on the cover it says, “A Ralph Compton Novel by Carlton Stowers”) is a generally upbeat story set in a tiny West Texas frontier village that is struggling to put its name on the map.

The problem is that rancher Lester Sinclair, who pretty much controls the Phantom Hill economy and most of the nearby ranch and farm land, doesn’t want to see the community prosper. He likes it just the way it is, where his bully son Pete can beat up anyone who might think of confronting the Sinclairs. Lester hires henchmen to steal cattle and intimidate farmers who won’t sell out to him.

Then Coy Jennings comes to town. Coy isn’t fond of bullies and isn’t afraid to take on the Sinclair family, which also includes a younger, more agreeable son everyone calls Repete. Soon Coy finds himself appointed sheriff, and he deputizes several upstanding folks in town to help bring the Sinclairs to justice. But, of course, Lester and Pete aren’t about to go down peacefully.

It’s a good story about how a frontier town can either find the courage to confront evil or just give up.

Stowers’s other “Ralph Compton” novel is Comanche Trail, which came out a couple of years ago—an action-packed adventure set in 1873 featuring young Thad Taylor, who sets out to track down the Bender family that brutally murdered his father and other settlers.

Texas workbook: My Texas by Matt Koceich (Prufrock Press, $9.95 paperback) is an informative workbook for children in grades 4 through 8 to teach them about Texas history and culture. The book includes facts, lessons and activities related to Texas geography, Native Americans, immigrants, history, nature, famous Texans, sports, travel, government, and universities.

Koceich, who has taught fourth through sixth graders for seventeen years, lives in Mansfield. He says the book is intended to be “a comprehensive social studies curriculum aligned with state standards that teaches and entertains at the same time.” For more information, see prufrock.com.

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Glenn Dromgoole is co-author, with Carlton Stowers, of 101 Essential Texas Books Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit

 Texas Institute of Letters names Bird as 2016 Lon Tinkle award; announces other award finalists

Austin novelist Sarah Bird (below) will receive the Lon Tinkle Award at the annual Texas Institute of Letters’ award reception and banquet on April 15 and 16, 2016, the literary group announced Thursday.

The Lon Tinkle award is presented to a distinguished writer with a career in letters associated with Texas; previous winners include Larry McMurty, John Graves, Rolando Hinojosa, and Lawrence Wright.

The group also announced the finalists for its other awards:

Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction ($6,000): Karen Olsson, All the Houses (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, Barefoot Dogs (Scribner); Elizabeth Harris, Mayhem: Three Lives of a Woman (Gival Press)

Steven Turner Award for Best Work of First Fiction ($1,000): Mary Helen Specht, Migratory Animals (Harper Perennial); Melissa De Carlo, The Art of Crash Landing (Harper Paperbacks); Chaitali Sen, The Pathless Sky (Europa Editions)

Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction ($5,000): Michael Mewshaw, Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); Randy Fritz, Hail of Fire (Trinity University Press); Jan Jarboe Russell, The Train to Crystal City (Scribner)  >>READ MORE

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