Ghost Towns

by Louis L'Amour, Elmer Kelton, William W. Johnstone

The sound of a crowded saloon...The cry of a train coming through the night...The pounding of horses ridden by friends or foe...From the searing sun to snow-steeped winters, towns called Sentinel, Iron Mountain, and St. Elmo stood strong and fierce - before they finally died. Now, these ghost towns return to life under the spell of such great Western tale-tellers as Louis L'Amour, Elmer Kelton, William W. Johnstone, Bill Brooks, Loren D. Estleman, Johnny D. Boggs, and "New York Times" bestseller Margaret Coel. From a soldier on the run from the fires of war...From a gambler who has long since played his last hand...To a solitary, singing rifle man protecting a besieged town...With dreamers and schemers, with men and women of courage, conscience, and faith, here is an unforgettable round-up of astounding adventures fuelled by a passion for the West the way it really was - and the way it lives on forever.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Short Stories, Historical Fiction

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2010

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Doug Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology of western-themed "ghost" stories from a cadre of prominent authors from the genre.

As with all collections of stories, several were very good and a few were less so. My intent in picking up this title from the charity store was not to time it with Halloween, but the timing sort of fell in to place (like a body in to a six-foot grave). Ooh. Spooky.

Fifteen bite-sized nuggets of western tales really hit the spot in my ongoing interest of stories from places set over a century ago and in towns where ghost towns were regarded as such because of the spirits noted of the time. Today, of course, the book's title gives different meaning to historical locations that used to be.

[Clay Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for this time of the year. Some of the short stories had a supernatural element to them and others did not.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very uneven collection, has 15 stories from 15 different authors. They all have a "spooky" element to them in some way, some have actual ghosts, others have a hint of the supernatural that ends up with a more rational explanation.

There are a couple of authors that I will look up more of their works and the usual suspects (L'Amour, Kelton, etc) had solid stories. However a lot of the stories were just not that good and just didnt grab my attention. All I could say about those were that at least they were short.

Overall cant recommend, I like the ideal of the theme with haunted westerns (or at least westerns that have a hint of spookiness). Though this collection just had to many stories that were just not worth reading in my mind. Unfortunately they out weigh the enjoyable tales in the collection.

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a variety of ghost town stories--several of which relate to the Old West tangentially. This is not a collection of Westerns set in or about ghost towns. It's a collection of ghost stories, some of which involve towns. There's an uneven quality to the writing--some of the stories make less sense than others.

2.5 stars rounded up for the stories I did like.

[larry brashear · Rating 3 out of 5]

So-so!

I was not impressed with this book. I guess it comes from my beliefs about life and death. It was well written!

[Bob Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enj0yed this collection of short storeys by Famous western writers that form this collection.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A genre never read before. Was pleasantly surprised. Don't know if I would ever pick up a western again but this was a good read and met the requirement for my reading challenge!

[gordo n robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stories

[M1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this collection a lot. Only one story fell flat for me.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a good collection of western ghost stories. Most of them were fairly short, which was great for short reading periods. I could finish one story and then put it away for a day or two. Most of the stories were well written and each brought a different aspect to the collection. There were stories about the progress of the railroads, lawmen hunting criminals, abandoned towns, and Indian/American relations. Overall pretty good.

[Erika Schoeps · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, what a terrible read. I really had high hopes, but the stories were easy to predict, the characters stereotypical, and the metaphors and writing super cheesy. I put it down halfway through the second story. NO MOREEEE.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good way to check out various western writers.