T. H. Elkman

by Eric H. Heisner, Al P. Bringas (Illustrator)

1800’s American West-a place where men find themselves in harsh and cruel circumstances and where lives are short lived. Where women are hard as the steel of a gun, and the sweet burn of whiskey eases the rough, ratted edges. Where death is a pill that must be swallowed, and senses are developed beyond true human comprehension . . .Honest work on the frontier was sometimes hard to acquire. Traveling independently on the expansive road through the west, cowboy and westerner Tomas H. Elkman is a man of the times. To ease the loneliness of the trail while searching for gainful employment, Elkman warily teams up with a fight-prone, good-timing gambler by the name of Jefferson McGredy. This strange pairing of men is hired to deliver an assemblage of horses to a ranch in the untamed northern territory. The rancher sends his young son, Kent Martin, to accompany the horsemen on their travels through mountains and rivers, across primitive landscapes, and into remnants of mining boomtowns. The journey becomes a constant challenge to their moral fiber as they face the overwhelming hardships of hostile weather, rustlers, and natives . . .T. H. Elkman is a story of frontier grit, moral simplicity, individuality and consequential violence in the American West.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction that takes place in the old West. Westerns-books about outlaws, sheriffs, chiefs and warriors, cowboys and Indians-are a genre in which we publish regularly. Our list includes international bestselling authors like Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour, and many more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Genres: Westerns

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2014

About the author

Eric H. Heisner is an award-winning writer, actor, and filmmaker who has a special affinity for the Western genre. With his first novel, West to Bravo, he continues to broaden his skills as a teller of stories from the mythology of the American West. Heisner resides in Austin, Texas with a ranch in Llano, TX.

Reviews

[Thomas Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, moving story of two men who meet in New Mexico and ride together to take horses to Montana.

[peter handley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a newcomer to the Western genre i enjoyed this book

The loner Elkman and gambler Mcgreedy are an unlikely pairing as trail partnership but have complementary talents that work together. They take on contract to deliver horse stock through unsettled country despite challenges of rustlers and hostile indians. Their contract complete they go their separate ways each resuming the lifestyle they lived previously. The story does not romanticize the tough lives lived by the men who lived in those times

[Glen J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, rough, rowdy, rewarding

Mr Heisner brings a wonderful western tale. Cowboys with all the danger and romance we can imagine. Getting those 15 horses to Montana will require skill, luck and more trouble than 3 cowboys need. Beautiful use of language.

[Lynn Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

You keep using waif/waifs when it should be waft/wafts.

Good story and characters. The Western accent is a little distracting. Solid plot. I recommend it to anyone that likes the Old West.

[Richard detuncq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cowboys

I have always liked cowboys. There determination to do the right thing because it was the thing has and will be a standard for people to live by.

[Jim McCulloch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The (slow) pace, backdrop, characters, and historical accuracy of this story is consistently believable and well written. The action, when it happens, is sudden, violent, and over nearly as quickly as it began. I assume this was much like life in the untamed wildness of the 19th century.

I enjoyed the characters and their interaction despite their being oddly and loosely connected. There is a heartwarming yet bittersweet tug to the story that keeps it flowing as their lives likely did.

The author's use of period dialect was a little disconcerting and challenging to read. As even linguistic anthropologists debate language use, none of us really know how verbal language was used in the wild parts of the country at the time, Mr. Heisner's version is likely as good as any guess. However, having lived in Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado, I found it somewhat inconsistent with what my ideas would have produced, and that slowed down my reading.

[Ericka Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an OK Read

It's a good story, but the author seems to use too many adjectives. I got lost in the worldliness and couldn't read for more than a few minutes at a time. Overall I would call it a very average book.

[Gerry Morcom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of Boring

Just a little too much conversation. The action was rather slow and contrived. Ellkman needs be a little more disposed to action, and not so much easy going.

[Robert Cour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed

Easy, but exciting paced read. Always enjoy a good western read and this is one of them.
Looking forward to finding more by Mr. Heisner.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first western book! It was refreshing and I really enjoyed it! Great characters!

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started to read this book because I wanted a change from the books I had been reading and a Western can be a lot of fun. This one was strangely unsatisfying and I'm not really sure why. Maybe it was because there was no resolution and the characters showed no growth in the story. At the end they are exactly what they were when we first see them: aimless wanderers with no real purpose in life. While I am sure there were people like that in the period the book takes place, who would chose to read about them or for that matter, write about them?

[Isaac (Ike) Standifird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realistic Western.