{"id":475,"date":"2018-12-31T12:26:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=475"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:26:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:26:56","slug":"glenn-dromgooles-texas-reads-column-appears-weekly-at-lonestarliterary-com-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=475","title":{"rendered":"Glenn Dromgoole’s Texas Reads column appears weekly at LoneStarLiterary.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

3.20.16\u00a0\u00a0 Stowers pens final Ralph Compton western<\/h1>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>Western writer Ralph Compton died in 1998 at age sixty-four, <\/span>but Signet Books has continued churning out shoot-\u2019em-ups under his name but written by other notable authors.<\/p>\n

My friend Carlton Stowers,<\/span> author of more than forty of his own books and co-author with me of 101 Essential Texas Books,<\/span> evidently has written the last of the Ralph Compton novels\u2014Phantom Hill<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($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.<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s a good one to go out on. Phantom Hill<\/span> (in small type on the cover it says, \u201cA Ralph Compton Novel by Carlton Stowers\u201d) is a generally upbeat story set in a tiny West Texas frontier village that is struggling to put its name on the map.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019t sell out to him.<\/p>\n

Then Coy Jennings comes to town. Coy isn\u2019t fond of bullies and isn\u2019t 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\u2019t about to go down peacefully.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good story about how a frontier town can either find the courage to confront evil or just give up.<\/p>\n

Stowers\u2019s other \u201cRalph Compton\u201d novel is Comanche Trail, <\/span>which came out a couple of years ago\u2014an 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span>Texas workbook<\/span>: My Texas<\/span><\/a><\/span> by Matt Koceich<\/span> (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.<\/p>\n

Koceich, who has taught fourth through sixth graders for seventeen years, lives in Mansfield. He says the book is intended to be \u201ca comprehensive social studies curriculum aligned with state standards that teaches and entertains at the same time.\u201d For more information, see prufrock.com<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> is co-author, with Carlton Stowers, of 101 Essential Texas Books<\/span><\/a><\/span> Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> <\/span>Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole 3.20.16\u00a0\u00a0 Stowers pens final Ralph Compton western Western writer Ralph Compton died in 1998 at age sixty-four, but Signet Books has continued churning out shoot-\u2019em-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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}