High Iron: A Western Trio

by Frank Bonham, Bill Pronzini (Editor)

Here, for the first time in book form, are three of Bonham's best Western short novels. "The Sin of Wiley Brogan" is the good-humored tale of a young horse-breaker fed up with his lot in life, whose chance meeting with an entrepreneurial postal official leads him into a riotous new profession involving stagecoach competition for the delivery of mail in eastern Oregon. "Texicans Die Hard" has a south of the border locale and an intricate plot in which a Texas cowhand inherits an old Chihauhuan rancho. His decision to work the ranch with his sidekick leads him into a series of conflicts. "High Iron," a saga of epic proportions, tells of the men who built the Central Pacific Railroad through the High Sierras, and of the multiple hazards, both natural and man-made, that they faced and overcame. Frank Bonham made significant contributions to Western fiction. Bill Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California.

301 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2006

About the author

Frank Bonham (February 25, 1914 – 1988) was an author of Westerns and young adult novels. Bonham wrote 48 novels, as well as TV scripts. Bonham was born in Los Angeles. He was a UCLA graduate. Bonham was known for his works for young adults written in the 1960s, with tough, realistic urban settings, including The Nitty Gritty and Durango Street, as well as for his westerns. Several of his works have been published posthumously, many of which were drawn from his pulp magazine stories, originally published between 1941 and 1952. Durango Street was an ALA Notable Book.