Glendon Swarthout

"The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a gunfighter at the turn of the twentieth century who must confront the greatest Shootist of all: Death. Most men would end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a gunfighter has a third option, one that Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner. As word spreads that the famous assassin has incurable cancer, an assortment of human vultures gathers to feast on the corpse?among them a gambler, a rustler, a clergyman, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even an admiring teenager. What follows is the last courageous act in Books?s own legend." -- from publisher's website.

The Shootist

Four women in the isolated frontier territory go mad, and it is up to the unlikely combination of homesteader Mary Bee Cuddy and ne'er-do-well Briggs to escort them east to safety.

A Novel

The Homesman

11h14

Au tournant du XXe siècle, John Bernard Books est l'un des derniers survivants de la conquête de l'Ouest. Après des années passées à affronter les plus grandes gâchettes du Far West, il apprend qu'il est atteint d'un cancer incurable : il ne lui reste que quelques semaines à vivre. Les vautours se rassemblent pour assister au spectacle de sa mort, parmi lesquels un joueur, un voleur de bétail, un pasteur, un croque-mort, une ancienne maîtresse, et même un jeune admirateur. Mais Books refuse de disparaître sans un dernier coup d'éclat et décide d'écrire lui-même l'ultime chapitre de sa propre légende.

Le tireur

Ryan Blanchard

Bless the Beasts and Children is the story of six 'misfit' boys who leave their childhood behind and set off on a mission with deadly consequences. Along the way, despite society's narrow view of success, they learn something about what it means to be a man. It is the story of transformation. This group of boys - nicknamed The Dings by fellow campers- discover that they are not the flawed and faulty children they've been deemed by others but are in fact powerful beings with the opportunity to make a difference and that they don't need to be cowboys or soldiers to show real bravery. The story's unexpected climax is designed to encourage us to take action to protect the voiceless the powerless and the doomed.

Bless the Beasts and Children

In his only collection of short fiction, Glendon Swarthout, author of The Shootist, Where the Boys Are, and Bless the Beasts and the Children, reveals in microcosm the heroic and gritty themes that characterized both his novels and films. Stories such as "Mulligans" and "A Glass of Blessings" explore the seedy underbelly of human desire, while "A Horse for Mrs. Custer" quietly celebrates the dedication of men and women who act above and beyond their capabilities during war and upheaval. Although these stories were written over a span of three decades, their themes of generational conflict, hypocrisy, loss, sacrifice, love, and war remain fresh and startling. Alternately funny and uncomfortable, Swarthout captures the postwar tensions of twentieth-century Americans. This collection reveals the versatility, range, and skill of one of America's great storytellers. Easterns and Westerns includes one unpublished novella and thirteen stories, some of which have appeared in national magazines such as Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. One of these, "A Glass of Blessings," was an O'Henry Prize Short Story in 1960. Another, "A Horse for Mrs. Custer," became a 1956 Western film for Columbia Pictures; 7th Cavalry, starring Randolph Scott and Barbara Hale. A third story, "Mulligans," has been made into a short comedy film.

Short Stories

Easterns and Westerns

Break-out

Luck and Pluck

The neglected attendees of the Box Canyon Boys Camp find their lives turned around by Cotton, who, in a hot-wired pickup, challenges them to join efforts to save a herd of buffalo and discover themselves in the process.

Bless the Beasts & Children

Őrület és szerelem

Nebraska, 1850. Boeren en goudzoekers trekken steeds verder naar het westen maar de winter is zo onbarmhartig dat vier vrouwelijke pioniers hun verstand verliezen en naar de bewoonde wereld moeten worden teruggebracht. De ongetrouwde Mary Bee Cuddy heeft geen andere keus dan de rol van homesman op zich te nemen, en wordt tegen wil en dank bijgestaan door George Briggs, een onverbeterlijke schooier. Zo begint een bizarre reis vol beproevingen: Mary en George delen de zorg voor een groep krankzinnige vrouwen, maar binden ook de strijd aan met de elementen, de eenzaamheid en, bovenal, elkaar.

Glendon Swarthout

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