The Louis L'Amour Companion

by Louis L'Amour, Robert Weinberg

Here is the book that Louis L'Amour fans everywhere have been eagerly awaiting. The Louis L'Amour Companion chronicles the extraordinary life and career of America's favorite storyteller, from his early days as a pulp fiction writer to his well-earned place as one of history's best-selling authors.



Biographical sketches, rare out-of-print articles, previously unpublished correspondence, and personal recollections and reviews by fellow writers such as Harlan Ellison, Ed Gorman, and Judith Tarr reveal as never before the larger-than-life story of the real man behind the legendary fiction. Inside you'll find a treasure trove of information unavailable in any other single source,



L'Amour's first published story--never before collected in book form.



A complete chronicle of L'Amour's novels and short stories, including synopses, publication dates, and histories.



A listing of rare, still uncollected L'Amour stories.



A checklist of L'Amour novels and stories adapted to film, television, and audiotape.



Rare photos of L'Amour, memories, and memorabilia.



For both collectors and fans of L'Amour's great fiction, The Louis L'Amour Companion is the next best thing to sitting beside the fire with your favorite storyteller.

Genres: Westerns, Biography, Nonfiction

426 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1992

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

[Robert Jr. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Louis L’Amour Companion contains little in the way of serious criticism or even cursory explorations of his work. It is mostly comprised of overwhelming praise, biographical articles that are noted in the book as full of discrepancies and overstatement, and summaries of his various works (especially Hondo mostly concerning the movie) with the occasional bit of actual criticism (always the same criticisms though). These criticisms being: he uses formulaic plots, his characters are one-dimensional, and they often act implausibly. These are mentioned but are dismissed immediately on about half of the occasions that they are brought up in the book with the same excuse - he writes for his readers not critics.
The book is a bit shallow for my liking and has a regular fixation on the number of books sold or his status as a bestselling author more than on anything of substance. There is a bit from it that I do like however, "Louis L’Amour has written competent and exciting Westerns but no great ones" (pgs 382-383).
I have to admit this book was easy reading and maybe the checklists of L’Amour’s work could be useful if I were a collector. However, if you are looking for a reliable resource on the author’s life or exploration of his work in any capacity then I cannot recommend this book at all.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot and read it straight through over a couple of days even though it is a pretty long book. The book is a collection of essays by various authors about L'Amour's life and work, along with various annotated checklists of his short stories and books. The essays were mostly short and easy to read. I learned a few things I didn't know, although I already had a fair amount of familiarity with L'Amour. The checklists are handy to have, although the book was written in 1992 so there are additional L'Amour materials that have been published since that time.

[Shawn Cote · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're loging for a hagiography of Louis L'Amour, this book will do nicely. But if you're looking for serious criticism, good writing, and in-depth analysis of the author's works, it's sure to disappoint. The best thing in it, I think, is Harlan Ellison's essay, which is a nice enough snapshot of Mr. L'Amour by a fellow writer who knew him casually, but doesn't say much about the work.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting background on and writing advice from one of America's greatest storytellers. Fascinating stuff.

[Sandra Munger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting info on Louis LAmour one of my favorite authors