Riley McDaniels is growing up. He can even almost outlast Spud, the tough-as-nails ranch hand, at sawing lumber. But, is he ready to defend the ranch against the possible return of escaped jailbirds, Joe McGreggor and his gang?
After Riley and Grampy fight their way home through a blizzard, they are greeted with the ominous news that Sparrow’s notorious former sheriff, Joe McGreggor, is back on the loose! Not only that, there’s been a bank robbery in Sparrow. When suspicious tire tracks are found on the McDaniels’ ranch, the clues begin to add up. With the help of their friend Aaron Kaplan, the McDaniels family sets out to defend their ranch against the desperate trespassers. But, it soon becomes clear that the escaped McGreggor is a bigger danger than anyone imagined!
Will Riley be able to protect his ranch? Find out in this exciting third book in the Riley McDaniels series.
Frankie McWhorter grew up in Bob Wills Country and bought his first fiddle with his cowboy wages in 1950. He played with Clyde Chesser and the Texas Village Boys and the Miller Brothers Band before being asked to join Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. McWhorter tells stories of touring with these bands and of his hours spent listening to Wills tell his stories. He also reveals his adventures and misadventures as a working cowboy....(more info)
For more than a hundred years, Amercian cowboys made their living through the skilled use of horse and rope. Whole libraries have been devoted to the horse, but no one, until now, has written a thorough study of the origins and evolution of ranch roping-which differs from arena roping as practiced by rodeo cowboys....(more info)
Through Time and the Valley is the story of a river--its history, its lore, its colorful characters, the comedies and tragedies that valley ranchers, outlaws, frontier wives, moonshiners, and cowboys have spun yarns about for generations....(more info)
This contemporary "log of a cowboy," to borrow a term from Andy Adams, reveals the daily life of a cowboy during the years 1979-81.
Readers of Erickson's Hank the Cowdog books will recognize names, locations and incidents which the author used for that series: Tuerto, Drover, ...(more info)
Panhandle Cowboy is a sensitive, admirable straight-forward book about the texture of modern cowboying in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
These truthful and affectionate descriptions of life and work in that severe locale serve to reinforce an old point: that hardship and risk are woven deeply into the appeal of cowboying....(more info)
Erickson's articles and essays have been published in Texas Highways, Oklahoma Today, Livestock Weekly, The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Times Herald, and American Cowboy.
Many of the pieces are anecdotal, based on Erickson's experiences and observations on ranches....(more info)
“The American cowboy is a mythical character who refuses to die,” says author John R. Erickson. On the one hand he is a common man: a laborer, a hired hand who works for wages. Yet in his lonely struggle against nature and animal cunning, he becomes larger than life. Who is this cowboy? Where did he come from and where is he today? (more info)
Prairie Gothic is rich in Texas history. It is the story of Erickson s family, ordinary people who, through strength of character, found dignity in the challenges presented by nature and human nature. It is also the story of the place instrumental in shaping their lives the flatland prairie of northwestern Texas that has gone by various names (High Plains, South Plains, Staked Plains, and Llano Estacado), as well as the rugged country on its eastern boundary, often referred to as the caprock canyonlands....(more info)
In his new book, Story Craft: Reflections On Faith, Culture, and Writing By the Author of Hank the Cowdog, John R. Erickson says that one of the biggest challenges he faced as a young author was figuring out, "What is a story, and what is it supposed to do?"
Those were simple questions, he says, but they didn't have simple answers....(more info)
