The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-07

[00:00:08][music] [music] Well, howdy buckaroos, cowboys, and cow gals. Here we are in June, and that means it's finally time to start June on the Range. that wonderful reading event created by Michael K. Von where we saddle up and read westerns and other kinds of related fiction or non-fiction uh essays, books about the Old West, whatever you want to read or novels, short stories, anything like that in the genre. Now, the only requirement is that you read one western in the month. June on the Range has been running for several years now. It's one of the most popular book events uh for readalongs I think out there. And the only kind of request he puts out is that you try to read one Louis Lamore book and one Zane Gay book.

[00:01:03]Kind of the two kings of the Old West as far as fiction is concerned. Don't have to, just if you would like to try to.

[00:01:12]Now, I've haven't been getting into Zay Grey yet myself, but I do like me some Lulu Lamore, and that's what I'm here to talk about today. but not Louis Lamore's novels, but Louis Lamore's collected short stories. So, from about 2003 to 2009, Banttom Books, who put out all those great Lou Lamore paperbacks of several of which I have and that I like with the great covers, they put out in hardback these editions of the collected short stories of Louismore. Now not all of them are westerns but five out of the seven volumes in the set are westerns contain western nollas novelletes short stories mostly short stories but some of them are longer works very nicely made and put together with nice dust jackets and good binding and this one's a little bit creased here and there but you know nice looking hardback hard cover and I have the first four volumes. I just in fact I just ordered volume two. I realized I didn't have volume two. I thought I was missing a different volume and I thought it was about time I ordered another volume of these stories. I've read some of the ones from volume one. Some of those stories. Those were uh excellent stories. A lot of really good stories in there and I'll talk about them in a moment. I've had volumes one, three, and four for quite some time. And I still need to get volumes five, six, and seven. That's a lot of stories that Louis Lamore wrote, and that's not even counting his 120 or so novels or so that he's that he wrote. So, let me talk a little bit about these editions. The first three are all western stories or as they are termed here collected short stories of Louis Lamore volume one the frontier stories and some kind of cool little art there even though it's quite small and I'll just read you a little bit about the kind of stories that are in here right and of course a little blurb there's the usual you know kind of fan wank to big up Mr. Lamore, but he was with at the time for quite a while for several decades one of the most widely read and popular writers out there. His books were ubiquitous everywhere, truck stops, bookstores, new and used, you know, anywhere you would go, thrift stores, etc., you would find them. So, no one more vividly captures the rugged majesty and enduring spirit of the American West than Louis Lamore.

[00:03:50]Now drawn together in this handsome keepsake volume are 35 classic frontier tales from the legendary master of the genre. The first anthology in a series that will stand as a definitive collection of Lamore's short stories.

[00:04:04]Now I should say that these hard covers you can get them still at least used on Amazon marketplace and I think some are even still available in new copies. But Bantam went on and released these in paperback mass market paperback. I prefer to get the hardbacks though. I think I found the first couple at a halfp price books. In fact, there's a halfp price books uh bookmark still in let me get it right way up. Still in this third volume that uh I found in Seattle I believe in one of the house half price books maybe in South Center near the SeaC airport when I was shopping there with a friend. Anyway, they are available in other editions, but these are the ones I recommend, especially if you like short stories and you want just a little bite-size taste of western adventure here and there.

[00:04:54]These are really good reads. There's a lot of variety in them as well. And they're not, like I said, they're not all western stories. I'll talk about my big thick volume for the adventure stories in a moment, but let me just talk about in this first volume, okay?

[00:05:08]some of the stories in their general oneline synopsis, just some of them.

[00:05:15]These stories bring us face to face with heroism in unexpected places in the form of a single mother facing down an Apache war party or a whiskey soaked drunk who wakes to find he's the only hope for a town surrounded by marauders. They reveal the many faces of justice. From the fitting punishment a prospector left to die in the desert exacts on his betrayers to the gauntlet of double and triple crosses, four escaped convicts must run in a hunt for gold that will leave only one of them alive. Here too are stories of faith and mysticism. As a reverend comes to a small town to bring something more than just salvation. and a desperately wounded man stranded in the wilderness finds his soul companion in a spirit of the silent hills. And as always, there is pure adventure from a woman whose future hangs on the outcome of a card game to a down on his luck actor who impersonates a legendary gunfighter in a one night stand he prays he'll live to tell about. Brimming with history, unforgettable characters, and the pride of place that is that his readers have come to expect. This first volume of the collected short stories of Lululemore is a testament to the nobility and resilience of the American spirit and a lasting tribute to one of the greatest short story writers of all time. Now, again, a lot of people who read Louis Lamore think of him more as a novelist, and of course, he was. He wrote, like I said, over a hundred novels, but uh he published a lot of short stories, too. And many of those short stories were collected in book form. Which leads me to volume two, the one that I just got recently from Amazon Japan. Actually, the collected short stories of Louisie Lamore or Lewis Lamore or Lou Lammore. One of my co-hosts here, Thomas McNolte, a western writer of Note himself, actually sent an inquiry to an email, I guess, to Bo Lamore, Louis Lamore's son, to say, did he actually call or go by Louie? did he go by Lewis? And Bo Louie Moore's son wrote back and said, well, he didn't mind Louie. And he didn't mind people calling him Lewis, but his usually was called Lou by his friends. So, I thought that was a really neat piece of information that uh some primary research that that Thomas McNelte did.

[00:07:33]Thomas McNelte has a great channel. I recommend everyone go check his channel out. He's one of the co-hosts writing the trail, one of the deputies here during this book event, Jude on the Range. Anyway, as you'll see, there's a slight color gradation for these covers.

[00:07:47]They're very similar look and livery. We have the first volume is uh, you know, got this kind of deep wine red maroon kind of color and this one has uh a blue and like navy blue cover. Now, this I think I probably paid about 15 14 15 bucks for this. It's got a little ding on the front, but otherwise it's in good shape. The dust jacket is fine. And that's just the dust jacket. The book itself is really well put together. and of course comes with a list of many of Lamore's books. So last year's June on the Range 2025, I reviewed a couple of Louis Lamore books. One was a novel and uh the the Key Man and the other was a short story collection Bodri about a Texas Ranger and these were all short stories. I believe there are about seven short stories in here. I read this book, reviewed it on the channel, really really enjoyed it. Bodri is quite a or Budrey or however you want to pronounce his name. Quite [snorts] a character, quite a tough young marshall working on his own to look into what a lot were a lot of mysteries really kind of western mysteries where you weren't 100% sure who the culprit was of a particular dastardly deed happening in the Old West until towards the end of the story. They always had plenty of fights, gunfights, fist fights. All almost all of Louis stories are pack in the action. He's an expert hand at action writing, very clear and easy to follow. A lot of fist fights. Louisie Lamore himself was a uh I believe a bantamweight boxer in his youth. So he knows and how to describe fights very well. He describes uh you know gunfights and chases and you know escapes and things of that nature very well as well as the uh sense of the wilderness and the weather and the strong character of the people that made that carved out a living there in the harsh wilderness including Native Americans. Anyway, back to Bodri Bodri.

[00:09:46]There was a second collection of short stories published in Bantam paperback called Bodri's Law. Now, all of the Bodri stories are in this volume, too.

[00:09:56]They're not all in the same order that they were in the paperbacks, but I believe there's 10 in the se sequel and there's seven in the first one. So, that's like 17 short stories. So, a big chunk of this one is about Chick Bodri, the Texas Ranger. So, this is also Frontier Stories. This was published in 2004, the first volume in 2003. And I'll just read a little bit of description of what's in here as well. The short stories of Ludimmore are the heart and soul of his life's work. These frontier tales go far beyond the typical western to embrace the universal themes of heroism, honor, sacrifice, and survival that Lamore made uniquely his own.

[00:10:35]Inside you'll find adventures and individual courage like that of a young man sent alone into a blizzard with just rope and a branding iron to face a deadly stampede or a law man who finds the bullet ridd body of an infamous Mexican bandit and knows duty demands he tracks down a far more dangerous predator. Here are the stories that make men legends. From a mining town stocked by a hidden killer to a rancher mercilessly hunted by enemies who will stop at nothing until he faces them.

[00:11:05]Here too are dramatic moments of truth that can change a life or end it in a heartbeat. From a rainstorm that flushes out a killer among six men and a young woman who take cover in a shanty to the hardened frontier fighter who comes to rest at a place called horse heaven where there's one last death to avenge.

[00:11:25]Featuring Lulule's signature stories of Texas Ranger Chick Boundry, this collection captures men and women on the crossroads of friendship and suspicion, trust and betrayal, a handshake or a gun.

[00:11:39]Now we come to the third volume, the third collection of his short stories, and these are also frontier stories.

[00:11:44]Now, I know this one with its green nice green dust jacket uh about the similar livery with the nice little bit of art on the front there came out the volume 3 came out in 2005 and I know I picked this one up in the halfp price books because I have the halfp price bookmark in there. And this one, uh, open this volume anywhere and you'll discover classic stories you'll never forget, like that of the man who finds a gruesome mystery at the site where a friend's ranch has vanished into thin air. Or the one about the softspoken young suitor accused of cowardice who proves his courage when the guns are against him without firing a shot.

[00:12:25]Shades of Destry, Destry rides again, if you've seen that movie or familiar with that movie. very different from the original novel. I think you'll read stories of ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances.

[00:12:39]From the drifter who poses as a murdered man to solve a mystery to the grizzled recluse who protects a runaway from a brutal quote unquote guardian with the law on his side.

[00:12:52]Whether following the exploits of a couple taking refuge in a cabin with a group of outlaws who don't intend to let them see sunrise or a man on horseback battling sleeplessness, Indians and a cold-blooded killer in a life and death race through a harsh wilderness. These gripping tales all have one thing in common. You won't be able to put them down until the last page.

[00:13:16]All right. Now, those three first three are western stories and so are very fitting for June on the range. The next one I'm going to show you does not have anything to do with westerns, but Louis Lmore didn't just write westerns. He wrote all kinds of fiction for the short story in Pope Market. And he also wrote some books, especially later in his life, that were more historical adventures or sweeping uh kind of romance uh swashbuckling uh you know, pirates tales of piracy and uh adventures at sea, etc. And this one and it's at least as thick double thickness or two or 300 pages more than the others. This one is his the collector short stories of Lulu Lemore, the adventure stories. And then you'll see a steamer in the picture there. Now, this was the very first volume I picked up because I had read some of Lulu Lamore's adventure fiction and I loved it and I wanted to get this collection. So, these ones are really fun. And this is, you know, a whopper of a this is a chunker. This this goes over to like 660 or so pages and packs in the stories.

[00:14:23]Okay, so the fourth volume of Lula Moore's collected short stories contains all of his masterful tales of adventure.

[00:14:29]All of his masterful tales of adventure, including for the first time in print in more than 70 years, his first story ever to be published. This unique collection is guaranteed to thrill and delight readers again and again, proving why Louis Moore remains America's favorite storyteller. Well, perhaps not these days, but he was for many decades.

[00:14:52]Perhaps never before has a single volume contained so many breathtaking thrills.

[00:14:57]From the down on his luck fortune hunter who risks everything to save a married couple in the wilds of Borneo to the mysterious hero aboard a downed airliner dangling 600 ft above certain doom.

[00:15:10]You'll trek across the harsh steps of East Asia with an American widow and her young son. And you'll relive a harrowing tale of survival at sea against thirst, madness, and the elements as a common seaman redefineses extraordinary courage as simply doing his job. Whether joining an American captain navigating a cargo ship through pirateinfested Japanese controlled waters during World War II or marveling at the resourcefulness of a young woman pushed to the limits of endurance as she flees a killer through a primeval forest. These adrenaline laced tales of mystery, suspense, murder, and survival will keep your heart pounding long after the final page. From stories numbering just a few intense pages to novella length works, the tales in this action-packed anthology bear all the trademarks of the master's touch. The historical accuracy, memorable characters, and timeless themes that have earned Louis Lamore his unique place among American writers.

[00:16:08]Now, I've read a lot of the stories in here. Some of these involve a character called Pongo Jim Mile, who I believe is an Australian merchant captain of a vessel that gets involved in all sorts of scrapes in World War II. Um they kind of have these separated in little sections. You'll see uh here, you know, beyond the great snow mountains. I think these are more just kind of adventure tales. And we get into some uh kind of like uh tales of the gold monkey, guys who some guy who flies a kind of sea plane around and has various adventures. a captain of a merchant vessel, Congo Jim Mayo. Like I mentioned, lots and lots of very cool tales, including some World War II adventure tales, etc. Highly recommend that volume if you can track it down.

[00:16:59]Like I said, all of these, as far as I'm aware, have been put out in mass market paperback and split volumes. Now, I only have the first four volumes. There were three more. So, volume five, the the adventure stories came out in 2006.

[00:17:12]In 2007, volume five, the Frontier Stories, another volume of Frontier Stories came out. In 2008, and this is another one I really want to get. This is the crime stories. Now, this collects all of Louis's boxing stories, crime stories, and other kind of noir kind of tales. I know he uh Lamore put out a collection in paperback called The Hills of Homicide, which are his private eye stories, and those might not be up there with the best of his westerns, but they're pretty cool stories. And so, I really want to get that volume, volume six. And then finally, volume seven came out in 2009. That was the last one that published the very last gasp, I guess, of his stories. I'm sure there's quality is still high. And that was also Frontier Stories. So, one of these days, hopefully this summer when I go back to the States on my upcoming trip, I'll be able to track down those remaining three volumes and I'll be able to complete my set of these very cool hardback editions of Louismore's. See if I can hold these up here. They're of these Louis Lamore short story hardback volumes. They're pretty hard to hold all together.

[00:18:25]Anyway, just a little something, a little taste of something different for June on the Range. I know a lot of people are reading short stories, maybe in some anthologies, but uh these Louis Labore collections are really cool. I know I've read a handful of these frontier stories, uh including the very first story, The Gift of Coochis, which I remember being a real banger. And again, really nicely put together edition. So I'm going to read a couple of these short stories uh in a couple of these volumes including the volume that I just got some Chick Bodri stories that from the second collection Bodre's Law that I didn't read before or haven't read before uh for this June on the Range this month as well as some novels. I'm in halfway through or a little more than halfway through a Louis Lore novel right now as I record this Utah Blaine. I'm really enjoying it. hoping to get to some other writers, not just Lamore.

[00:19:20]It's not going to be all Lammore all the time here on June on the Range this year, but I do like Louis Lamore. I recommend if you tried a Louis novel in the past and you didn't really get on with it, thought it was a little too square or whatever, try his short stories. As you could tell from those synopsies that I read, they're very different. Lots of different a variety of tales. They all feature strong men and women fighting adversity and finding connection maybe amidst all this adversity and struggle and strife of the frontier life or other times where they were having adventures. So adventure with a capital A is usually what Lula Moore stories are all about. So if you want some good escapism, a guy who can really spin a yarn, a born storyteller, that's Louismore. So check these out.

[00:20:06]Thanks for watching. Please let me know in the comments below if you've read any of these short stories, if you have any of these short story collections by Louis Lammore, or if you have some uh other writers that you recommend or that you're reading right now for Juno on the Range. I hope you're having a lot of fun with whatever you're reading for this event. And I will check you later in the next video. Take care.

[00:20:32]Heat. Heat.

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