Group 1-215

Multiple creases across both front & rear covers, plus wear & chipping to edges & corners, with scratches, page corner folds, minor tears, browning pages, indentations, rub-wear, soiling etc -- spine leans to right, with slight bowing, & 2 top to bottom spine creases -- penciled code & price at front left inside cover -- overall condition Good

The WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA was formed in 1953 in order to promote and preserve the creation of well-crafted and literate American Western novels, short stories, TV programs, and Western histories.  It was the attempt by the WWA to re-create the image of Western story-telling, in order to drive out and purge the market of so much of the bad "pulpish" Westerns that had proliferated for decades, and particularly after the end of World War II.  The WWA intended to attract a new breed of writers that actually were SERIOUS about their writing styles, and not just filling up pages with "run-of-the-mill" stories that lacked any sense of depth or inspiration.  Every year since 1953, the WWA awards their Spur Award to the best short stories, novels, poems, scripts and songs to the best Western creators in those fields -- and here is a selection of the "best" from 1968:

Contents --

WILL HENRY (aka HENRY WILSON ALLEN) -- Introduction

S. OMAR BARKER -- Bad Company

FRED GROVE -- Comanche Woman

HENRY WILSON ALLEN -- Isley's Stranger

PEGGY SIMSON CURRY -- The Brushoff

BILL GULICK -- Thief In Camp

JOHN PREBBLE -- A Town Named Hate

LOLA SHELTON (essay) -- Log Studio Of C. M. RUSSELL

NOEL M. LOOMIS -- Grandfather Out Of The Past

THOMAS THOMPSON -- Blood On The Sun

BILL GULICK -- The Shaming Of Broken Horn

WILL HENRY (pseudonym for HENRY WILSON ALLEN) -- The Tallest Indian In Toltepec

DOROTHY M. JOHNSON -- Lost Sister

S. OMAR BARKER (poem) -- Empty Saddles At Christmas

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