Elmer Kelton (1926–2009)

Author of The Time It Never Rained

117+ Works 4,154 Members 71 Reviews 8 Favorited

About the Author

Elmer Kelton was born on April 29, 1926 in west Texas. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and served in Europe during World War II. He worked as a livestock and farm writer for The San Angelo Standard-Times and later as an editor for the specialized publications show more Sheep and Goat Raiser magazine and Livestock Weekly while writing part-time. He wrote more than 60 books which earned him numerous awards and recognitions. He won the Spur award from Western Writers of America six times for his titles Buffalo Wagons, The Day the Cowboys Quit, The Time It Never Rained, Eye of the Hawk, Slaughter, and The Far Canyon. Four of his titles have won the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City. In addition, he received the Barbara McCombs/Lon Tinkle Award and the Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman Award from the Western Writers of America. His title The Good Old Boys was made into a television movie in 1995. Kelton also wrote under the pseudonyms Alex Hawk, Lee McElroy and Tom Early. He died on August 22, 2009 at the age of 83. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Kelton-E, Tom Early, Elmer Kelton, Elmer Kelton, Elmer Kelton (Lee McElroy)

Image credit: Credit:Larry D. Moore, 2007 Texas Book Festival, Austin, Texas

Series

Kelton's Texas Rangers Series

Kelton's Sons of Texas Series

Tom Early's Sons of Texas

Hewey Calloway

Buckalew Family

Season Rising

Works by Elmer Kelton

Popular Recent

The Time It Never Rained (1973) 314 copies, 10 reviews

The Good Old Boys (1978) 166 copies, 2 reviews

The Day the Cowboys Quit (1971) 145 copies, 2 reviews

The Buckskin Line (1999) 106 copies, 2 reviews

The Way of the Coyote (2001) 105 copies, 1 review

Sons of Texas (1989) 98 copies, 1 review

Badger Boy (2001) 93 copies, 1 review

Stand Proud (1984) 91 copies, 1 review

Jericho's Road (2004) 90 copies, 2 reviews

The Pumpkin Rollers (1996) 89 copies, 1 review

Hard Trail to Follow (2008) 86 copies, 1 review

The Smiling Country (1998) 85 copies, 4 reviews

Ranger's Trail (2002) 84 copies, 1 review

Six Bits a Day (Hewey Calloway) (2005) 81 copies, 1 review

The Wolf and the Buffalo (1980) 80 copies, 1 review

Lone Star Rising: The Texas Rangers Trilogy (2003) 79 copies, 1 review

The Rebels (1990) 77 copies, 1 review

Buffalo Wagons (1957) 76 copies, 1 review

The Raiders (1989) 74 copies

Texas Rifles (1980) 72 copies, 1 review

Texas Vendetta (2004) 70 copies, 1 review

Other Men's Horses (2009) 69 copies, 4 reviews

Cloudy in the West (1997) 69 copies, 3 reviews

Many a River (2008) 67 copies, 2 reviews

Long Way To Texas (1976) 65 copies, 1 review

Captain's Rangers (1981) 63 copies

The Man Who Rode Midnight (1987) 61 copies

Llano River (1966) 60 copies, 4 reviews

Hot Iron (1956) 58 copies

Eyes of the Hawk (1981) 57 copies, 1 review

Bitter Trail (1962) 56 copies

The Far Canyon (1994) 54 copies, 1 review

After the Bugles (1967) 48 copies

Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer (2007) 47 copies, 2 reviews

Hanging Judge (1969) 47 copies, 2 reviews

Two novels of the Texas Republic (2008) 46 copies

Pecos Crossing (1963) 46 copies, 1 review

Dark Thicket (1985) 46 copies

Barbed Wire (1957) 43 copies, 1 review

Slaughter (1992) 43 copies

Joe Pepper (Tales of Texas) (1975) 42 copies, 1 review

Texas Showdown: Two Texas Novels (2007) 41 copies, 1 review

Honor at Daybreak (1991) 40 copies

Massacre at Goliad (1965) 39 copies, 2 reviews

Ranger's Law: A Lone Star Saga (Texas Rangers) (2006) 38 copies, 1 review

Texas Standoff (2010) 38 copies, 1 review

Shadow of a Star (1959) 37 copies, 1 review

The Art of Howard Terpning (1992) 37 copies

The Art of James Bama (1993) 37 copies

Bowie's Mine (Buckalew Family) (1971) 36 copies, 1 review

Manhunters (1982) 33 copies

The Art of Frank C. McCarthy (1992) 30 copies

Donovan (1961) 28 copies, 1 review

Shotgun (1969) 28 copies

Brush Country: Two Texas Novels (2006) 26 copies

Christmas at the Ranch (2003) 23 copies, 1 review

Wagon Tongue (1972) 22 copies

Hard Ride (2018) 20 copies, 2 reviews

Texas Rifles and Massacre at Goliad (2013) 19 copies

Wild West: Stories of the Old West (2017) 18 copies

The Big Brand (1986) 18 copies

Texas Cattle Barons: Their Families, Land and Legacy (1999) 17 copies

The Cowboy Way: Stories of the Old West (2020) 17 copies

Donovan and Dark Thicket: Two complete novels (2012) 14 copies

Hot Iron and The Time It Never Rained (2019) 13 copies

Ranger's Trail [and] Texas Vendetta (2014) 13 copies

My Kind of Heroes: Selected Speeches (1995) 13 copies

Jericho's Road [and] Hard Trail to Follow (2018) 12 copies

Buffalo Wagons and Cloudy in the West (2015) 12 copies

Elmer Kelton Country: The Short Nonfiction of a Texas Novelist (1993) 12 copies

The Proud (1992) 11 copies

Aspect of winter (2015) 11 copies, 1 review

The Bold (1992) 10 copies

There's Always Another Chance and Other Stories (1986) 9 copies

Other Men's Horses [and] Texas Standoff (2018) 8 copies

Badger Boy and The Way of the Coyote (11b Westerns (Parade)) (2015) 8 copies

The Pumpkin Rollers and The Buckskin Line (2015) 8 copies

Captain's Rangers and The Day the Cowboys Quit (2019) 7 copies

The Good Old Boys and The Smiling Country (2016) 7 copies

Shadow of a Star and Pecos Crossing: Two Complete Novels of the American West (2019) 7 copies

After the Bugles and Llano River (2017) 7 copies

Stand Proud and Eyes of the Hawk: Two Complete Novels of the American West (2018) 6 copies

Bitter Trail and Barbed Wire: Two Complete Novels (2018) 6 copies

El Lobo y el Búfalo (Frontera) (Spanish Edition) (2021) 6 copies

Sons of Texas and The Raiders: Sons of Texas: Two Complete Novels of the American West (2020) 5 copies

Permian: A continuing saga (1985) 5 copies

Joe Pepper and Many a River: Two Complete Novels of the American West (2019) 4 copies

Law of the Land: Stories of the Old West (2022) 4 copies

Story Teller With A Brush (2005) 4 copies

The Way of the West (2008) 4 copies

The Best Christmas (1985) 3 copies

The Indian in frontier news (1993) 3 copies

The doorway God (2017) 3 copies

The Time It Never Rained (Chisholm Trail Series) by Elmer Kelton(2006-11-10) 3 copies

Fiction Writers Are Liars and Thieves (1995) 2 copies

The Defiant (1993) 2 copies

Living and writing in West Texas: Two speeches (1988) 2 copies

Looking back West;: Selections from the Pioneer news-observer 1 copy

Ranch Romances, 3rd April issue of 1952; Elmer Kelton story "No Epitaph for Me" 1 copy

Elmer Kelton - Brush Country (1 of 2) - Barbed Wire (2011) 1 copy

Rebel's Progress (1979) 1 copy

Buckskin Line, Thre 1 copy

RANCH ROMANCES VOLUME ONE SOFTCOVER EDITION: COLLECTING THREE ISSUES RETRO COMIC REPRINTS PULPS #6 1 copy

The Ghost Of Two Forks 1 copy

Os Anos da Seca I Livro 1 (1989) 1 copy

No Dia em que Os Cowboys Pararam Livro 1 1 copy

The Way of the Coyote [Dramatized Adaptation]: Texas Rangers, Book 3 (2020) 1 copy

6 Western novels and story collections 1 copy

Elmer Kelton 5 book set: Stand Proud/The Way Of The Coyote/Ranger's Trail/Jericho's Road/Many a River (2008) 1 copy

The Best of Texas Folklore 1999 (2 Audio Cassettes) (2000) 1 copy

The Last Rebel 1 copy

Pioneer News Observer January 1971 Vol 1 No. 8 1 copy

Riffelrytterne (Texas Bog 154) 1 copy

Across The Pecos 1 copy

ReadWest: Stories of the American West (Elmer Kelton) (2012) 1 copy

Sons of Texas 1: Men of the Cane (2011) 1 copy

Pioneer News Observer November 1970 Vol 1 No. 6 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

A Century of Great Western Stories-An Anthology of Western Fiction (2000) — Contributor — 113 copies

Cowboy Lingo (2000) — Foreword — 41 copies

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1978 v04 (1978) 39 copies

Ghost Towns (2010) — Contributor — 32 copies, 1 review

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1980 v04 (1980) — Contributor — 29 copies

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1987 v05 (1987) 27 copies

The Cowgirls (1990) — Afterword — 27 copies

Lost Trails (2007) — Contributor — 24 copies, 1 review

Law of the Gun (Pinnacle Westerns) (2010) — Contributor — 23 copies, 1 review

Legend (1999) 23 copies

New Trails: Twenty-Three Original Stories (1994) — Contributor — 17 copies

The Best of the American West II (1999) — Contributor — 16 copies, 1 review

The Western Hall of Fame Anthology (1997) — Contributor — 12 copies

Unbridled Spirits: Short Fiction about Women in the Old West (1994) — Contributor — 10 copies

The Golden Spurs: The Best of Western Short Fiction (Western Writers of America ) (1991) — Foreword — 10 copies

Noah's Ride: A Collaborative Western Novel (2006) — Contributor — 7 copies

Ace Reid and the Cowpokes Cartoons (1999) — Introduction, some editions — 7 copies

Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Windmills of the Gods • Hot Money • The Man Who Rode Midnight • The Tunnel (1988) — Author — 2 copies

Best of the West: Classic Stories from the American Frontier, Volume 2 [Audiobook] (2003) — Contributor — 1 copy

Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Final Approach • The Charm School • Snow on the Wind • The Man Who Rode Midnight 1 copy

Reader's Digest Condensed Books: A Stranger is Watching / The Miracle of Dommatina / Return to the River / Surface with… 1 copy

Tagged

adult (23) American West (30) anthology (18) art (30) cowboys (24) Elmer Kelton (61) fiction (356) Fiction / Roman (17) Forge (43) H (14) have read (49) historical fiction (41) history (23) History - Texana (20) Kelton (32) L (23) Large Print (21) literature (19) mmpb (30) my-books (21) N (14) non-fiction (19) novel (33) paperback (22) R (30) ranching (15) read (26) short stories (38) signed (25) Texas (233) Texas fiction (21) Texas Rangers (27) to-read (89) West (25) western (737) Western Fiction (58) Western Paperback (18) Western row 9 (32) Westerns (63) wild west (14)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Kelton, Elmer
Legal name: Kelton, Elmer Stephen
Other names: McElroy, Lee (pseudonym)
Hawk, Alex (pseudonym)
Early, Tom (pseudonym)
Owens, Tom (pseudonym)
Birthdate: 1926-04-29
Date of death: 2009-08-22
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Horse Camp, Texas, USA
Place of death: San Angelo, Texas, USA
Places of residence: Horse Camp, Texas, USA
Upton County, Texas, USA (childhood)
Crane County, Texas, USA (childhood)
Austin, Texas, USA
San Angelo, Texas, USA
Education: University of Texas (BA|1948)
Occupations: journalist
editor
novelist
Relationships: Kelton, Anna (wife)
Organizations: The San Angelo Standard-Times
Sheep and Goat Raiser
Livestock Weekly
United States Army (WWII)
Awards and honors: Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award (1990)
Saddleman Award (1977)
Owen Wister Award (1977)
Spur Award (1957, 1971, 1973, 1981, 1992, 1994, 2002)
Western Heritage Award (1974, 1979, 1988)
American Cowboy Culture Association Life Achievement Award (2010) (show all 9)
Barbara McCombs/Lon Tinkle Award (1987)
Lone Star Award for Lifetime Achievement (1998)
honorary member, German Association for the Study of the Western (1996)

Members

Reviews

Other Men's Horses by Elmer Kelton

Great little book

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earthwind | 3 other reviews | Jul 10, 2024 |

Long Way to Texas, Eyes of the Hawk, Joe Pepper by Elmer Kelton

Brings together three rare Kelton novels, all with Texas roots.

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earthwind | Jul 10, 2024 |

Other Men's Horses by Elmer Kelton

An engaging narrative of a young Texas Ranger on the trail of a man who allegedly killed a horse thief. There are several side plots that don't confuse but enrich the story, including a woman in search of her husband, and a Buffalo Soldier on the run for the shooting of a white man. It's a really good tale, recommended even if you've not read any previous books in the series.

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fuzzi | 3 other reviews | Apr 23, 2024 |