Guns and a River

This is a partial re-run of an article I posted on November 26, 2009, entitled Books.

By the Gun, a collection of short stories by Richard Matheson and published in 1994 by Berkley, had some exciting and brutal stories but that's what you would expect from the title. The one about the sixteen-year-old taking some cattle to market, but couldn't cross some land without giving up some of them in payment was especially good. And the first one in the book about a city boy going west to make a name for himself was also worth the time it took to read it. Mr. Matheson is the author of Journal of the Gun Years (a Spur Award winner) and The Gunfight. He writes sci-fi novels, too, like The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, and others in the horror and sci-fi genre, and more westerns and movies and TV.

Another book from my shelf is Reminiscing Along the Sweetwater by Ruth Beebe, published in 1974 by Johnson Publishing Company, Boulder, CO. This particular one is autographed by Ms. Beebe, and I don't know from what used book store I procured it. The author gives some history of the area and enumerates the farmers and ranchers along the river and its tributaries from the first settlers to the present day (1974), giving an abbreviated history of each rancher. A valuable tool for researchers, historians, and writers in my humble opinion.