The Last Mustang: Western Stories

by Frank Bonham

Book Overview

A mountain-bred mustanger gets much more than he bargained for when confronted by a case of cattle rustling.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786237791
• ISBN13: 9780786237791
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Five Star (ME)
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Eight Western Gems from a Master!

Frank Bonham (1914-1988) was a multi-talented writer of westerns, mysteries, children's and YA titles. His western stories and novels rank with the best, being characterized by innovative plots and settings, historical accuracy and marvelous use of the English language. Eight delightful Bonham short stories are brought together in this volume from Five Star Publishing. As mentioned above, Bonham's stories are marked by non-standard settings. "River Man," for example, is the story of a cub riverboat pilot engaged in an exciting Civil War voyage down the Missouri River. "Good Loggers Are Dead Loggers" relates how one Oregon cattleman reluctantly branches off into lumbering. "Bronc Stomper" deals with an aging rodeo star who finds himself at a crossroads in life courtesy of a high-spirited horse and an equally high-spirited woman. The desperate efforts of a group of ranchers to stop a plague of grasshoppers is the subject of "Burn Him Out!" A doctor, haunted by personal demons, finds a new lease on life in an Arizona town in "Payment Past Due." And "The Last Mustang" is a surprisingly sweet story of an aging, footloose mustanger trapping wild horses who mets his match in the form of a woman rancher. Whatever the setting and circumstances, Bonham's descriptions are dead on. Likewise his characters are real people and endearing in their own ways. Bonham has a wonderful flair for the language. Describing a horse and its female owner, for example, Bonham writes: "They were two of a kind, she and the mare, dainty and spirited, but well-schooled in the proprieties." In describing one old riverboat pilot, Bonham writes: "But always old Tom's heart was up in the wheelhouse, with the clean breeze against his face and the spokes under his hands." Another character is described as: "...a drunken old printer and newspaperman who still dreams in the coals of an ambition that had brought him from Connecticut to Orgeon." The manager of a New Mexico ranch, described as having "a face with more wrinkles than a concertina," complains that "Right now I haven't got a man I'd trust to pour whisky out of a boot." Marvelous stuff! Few Western writers can lay a glove on Bonham. In terms of new and interesting settings, multi-dimensional characters, historical accuracy and gifted storytelling, Bonham is one of the best. Read and enjoy!