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Nothing but a drifter
When a chance encounter leads a drifter to become foreman of the Forked P Ranch, little does he realize he'll soon be facing angry Cheyenne, rustlers, and intense family jealousies that may just be the biggest threat of all.
- GenresWesterns
187 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
Lee Hoffman
57 books4 followersAlso published books under the name Georgia York
"My mother was born in High Springs, Florida in 1899, my father in Frankford, Pennsylvania in 1898, and my brother in Savannah, Georgia in 1922. I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1932, shortly before the end of the Hoover administration.
By 1938 my parents had decide to relocate. They liked Lake Worth, Florida, the very small town where my mother's folks were living at the time. Taking me along, my mother went to Lake Worth to try to set up in the tourist business. My Dad had a job in a radio factory in Chicago. Since this was during The Great Depression and he didn't want to take any chances, he stayed there to collect a regular salary while my mother got the business established. My brother, then in high school, stayed with him to finish the school term before he came south.
My mother rented a large rooming house on the federal highway and hung out her shingle, but her timing was bad. That winter there was record cold. The tourists went further south, or back to their fireplaces and furnaces in the north. The next winter she rented a smaller place, but the same thing happened. Even so, my father left his job and joined us.
Things looked so unpromising in Florida that they decided to go to Savannah. That's where they'd met and married and built a small house. They still owned the house so they figured whatever happened, they'd have a roof over their heads. We arrived in the fall of 1940. My father landed a job as a radio repairman. Based on past experience, I figured we'd be moving again before long but we didn't. My parents settled in and stayed for the next twenty five years.
I'd done my first two years of grammar school in Florida. I got the rest of my formal education in Savannah. After I finished high school, I went to the local junior college. In grammar school, my ambition had been to become a cowgirl. In high school I decided I wanted to follow in the family footsteps and become a radio technician. In college, I got involved in the local theater scene, and wanted to do that for a living. By the time I graduated in 1951, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
My brother had gone into the Air Corps in WWII, had been stationed in England and had come home with a bride from London. He apprenticed to my father under the GI Bill. By the time I got out of college, they were partners planning to open their own radio & TV service business. I didn't yet realize it, but I was fated to work in the store for them until I left home.
My job was minding the counter, answering the phone and doing clerical work. Much of my time in the store was spent waiting for something to happen. With all that time to kill, I read a lot. When I got tired of that, I amused myself by writing my own books. Although I was an avid science-fiction fan, it was the western that came most naturally to me. I'd finish one and send it to be read by an out-of-town friend who liked westerns. Once I sent one to another friend who'd made some book sales. He thought it was salable and told me to send it to his agent. It bounced back without a word. I decided I was not ready to become a professional author. I was right. Years later, I looked back at those manuscripts and was glad so few people had ever seen them.
While still in college, I got into science-fiction fandom. I did some amateur (fanzine) publishing and went to several conventions. After I started working, I began spending my vacations on cattle ranches instead. Then in the fall of 1955 I decided to go to the World Science-Fiction Convention in Cleveland. That's where I met Larry Shaw, editor of the new science-fiction magazine, Infinity.
Larry and I spent much of the convention together and began a rapid-fire exchange of letters afterward. In one of them, he proposed marriage. I accepted. He came to Savannah to meet my folks and in the spring of 1956, I went to New York to get married. In retrospect, I think we were a little hasty. In 19
"My mother was born in High Springs, Florida in 1899, my father in Frankford, Pennsylvania in 1898, and my brother in Savannah, Georgia in 1922. I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1932, shortly before the end of the Hoover administration.
By 1938 my parents had decide to relocate. They liked Lake Worth, Florida, the very small town where my mother's folks were living at the time. Taking me along, my mother went to Lake Worth to try to set up in the tourist business. My Dad had a job in a radio factory in Chicago. Since this was during The Great Depression and he didn't want to take any chances, he stayed there to collect a regular salary while my mother got the business established. My brother, then in high school, stayed with him to finish the school term before he came south.
My mother rented a large rooming house on the federal highway and hung out her shingle, but her timing was bad. That winter there was record cold. The tourists went further south, or back to their fireplaces and furnaces in the north. The next winter she rented a smaller place, but the same thing happened. Even so, my father left his job and joined us.
Things looked so unpromising in Florida that they decided to go to Savannah. That's where they'd met and married and built a small house. They still owned the house so they figured whatever happened, they'd have a roof over their heads. We arrived in the fall of 1940. My father landed a job as a radio repairman. Based on past experience, I figured we'd be moving again before long but we didn't. My parents settled in and stayed for the next twenty five years.
I'd done my first two years of grammar school in Florida. I got the rest of my formal education in Savannah. After I finished high school, I went to the local junior college. In grammar school, my ambition had been to become a cowgirl. In high school I decided I wanted to follow in the family footsteps and become a radio technician. In college, I got involved in the local theater scene, and wanted to do that for a living. By the time I graduated in 1951, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
My brother had gone into the Air Corps in WWII, had been stationed in England and had come home with a bride from London. He apprenticed to my father under the GI Bill. By the time I got out of college, they were partners planning to open their own radio & TV service business. I didn't yet realize it, but I was fated to work in the store for them until I left home.
My job was minding the counter, answering the phone and doing clerical work. Much of my time in the store was spent waiting for something to happen. With all that time to kill, I read a lot. When I got tired of that, I amused myself by writing my own books. Although I was an avid science-fiction fan, it was the western that came most naturally to me. I'd finish one and send it to be read by an out-of-town friend who liked westerns. Once I sent one to another friend who'd made some book sales. He thought it was salable and told me to send it to his agent. It bounced back without a word. I decided I was not ready to become a professional author. I was right. Years later, I looked back at those manuscripts and was glad so few people had ever seen them.
While still in college, I got into science-fiction fandom. I did some amateur (fanzine) publishing and went to several conventions. After I started working, I began spending my vacations on cattle ranches instead. Then in the fall of 1955 I decided to go to the World Science-Fiction Convention in Cleveland. That's where I met Larry Shaw, editor of the new science-fiction magazine, Infinity.
Larry and I spent much of the convention together and began a rapid-fire exchange of letters afterward. In one of them, he proposed marriage. I accepted. He came to Savannah to meet my folks and in the spring of 1956, I went to New York to get married. In retrospect, I think we were a little hasty. In 19
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 24, 2017
Nice plot with an interesting ending. Recommend it to anyone that loves western stories and movies. My kids like it too.
July 27, 2011
I picked this one up at the dollar store on a whim. I'd never read a straight-up western before, only western historical romances, so I thought I'd give one a try. This one was small, coming in at only about 200 pgs, so I thought it'd be quick and easy to get through. Plus, within the last year or so, my guy's gotten me into watching western movies, and we've been slowly collecting DVDs that look interesting. I especially love the Clint Eastwood ones. So I thought to try a western novel. Our story starts out with the drifter, Brian, coming down from the mountains after being holed up all winter. As we meet him, he's lost his pack-horse in an avalanche, and he and his roan are getting gaunt. He comes upon two cowhands fighting to get a steer unstuck from a mud-pit, so he sits and watches for a while, especially interested once he notices one of the cowhands is a girl. The two hands get the steer unstuck, but then he turns ornery, and lashes out with his horns, goring the man in the process. Brian sees this and rushes in to help, feeling guilty that he didn't step in to help earlier and maybe save the guy the pain of getting gored. They get the steer tied down, and Brian learns the man is the owner of the Forked P ranch, Sam Pearson, and the girl is his daughter Laurie. Brian fashions a travois and they haul Sam home, and Laurie goes off to fetch the doctor. Once back at the ranch, Brian meets Hildy, Sam's wife, and she offers him the job of foreman on the ranch while Sam's laid up recovering. There's been trouble on the ranch, the barn's burnt down, and the prize bull they've just bought to improve their herd has been shot down for no good reason by persons unknown. Also, the herd of cattle, along with a neighbor, Bailey's, herd is looking a lot smaller in number than it should. Brian reluctantly agrees to stay on. He meets Sam's sons, Eddie, a young boy, and Jump, a teenager trying to become a man. At first there's trouble between Jump and Brian, because Jump doesn't want to be babysat, he wants more responsibilities and to prove himself. Brian also meets the owner of another neighboring ranch, Frank Hunt, an older ex-soldier who's been courting Laurie. Frank and Brian take an immediate dislike to each other, at odds at once. There's also some Indians, Bent Knee and his crew, who are friendly with the Pearsons. They have news of the Beef-Killer they saw kill the bull, as well as news of the missing cattle being kept in a nearby canyon. So Brian goes off to investigate, and finds the cattle being drove by a group of men that he wintered with and befriended. They claim they paid for the beef fair and square, bought the whole lot off of Frank Hunt. They say Hunt claimed to have rights to sell them, even the ones that weren't his own brand. So when Bailey and Brian and Laurie and these "rustlers" get together with Hunt, it turns out that the "Hunt" who sold the cattle was the real Hunt's hired man, Pike Coster. So Hunt kills Pike, and everyone thinks the mystery is solved. But later that evening, as Brian heads back to the Forked P, Hunt comes up behind him and tries to kill him. He confesses he was the one causing all the trouble, because he wanted the Pearsons to have a bad year. That would ensure they couldn't afford to send Laurie back East to school, and she would be forced to accept his proposal for lack of any other options. Brian hogties Hunt and takes him back to the ranch so the Pearsons can hear his confession too. In the end, Brian contemplates staying on and giving up his drifting life. He plans to wait until Laurie goes to school and back, and seeing if she's still interested in him after she gets to see some more of the world and gets some new experiences besides the ranch life. I thought it was a very good book. It was easy to get into and imagine the scenery and clothing and such. There was good action and descriptions. I also liked the little mystery of who was causing trouble, though it was easy to figure out. All in all, it was good, and I'd like to find more books by this author, and more westerns in general.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews