Luke Short (1908–1975)

This novel has all that I look for in a Western Pulp story. The consummate tough cowboy rides into town with a specific job in mind then a slaughter occurs, and the hero finds he’s all knotted up in the middle of something else. There’s a nasty set piece involving stampeding cows and a cliff, there are a few gunbattles, and the villain is smart and has the hero on the ropes for most of the novel even when the hero thinks he is closing in on him. There are a few twists and lots of backstabbing involved.
Otherwise, the book was a quick read, and I was never bored. However, there was a single instance of a casual racist phrase near the beginning. Fortunately, I did not run into any other instances in the narrative. Unfortunately, this is to be expected in a lot of Western Pulp written in the 1930s. Despite this, the narrative moves at a decent pace, the landscape is present though not romanticized to the level that I typically prefer, and the characters are clearly defined and make intelligent choices based on what they know at the time. The two romances in the book are somewhat believable, one more than the other, but not too much time was committed to either in favor of the action and scheming. I don’t come to these for romance, so I think that’s a plus.
I liked this book and would recommend this to anyone looking for classic Western Pulp. I am looking forward to reading Luke Short’s other works that wait patiently on my shelves.… (more)

Originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, Luke Short’s psychologically complex tale of a man standing alone in a bitter range war is one of the greatest westerns ever penned. Made into an underrated film with Rod Cameron in the role of Will Ballard, it made it into the Top 25 Westerns of all-time in a poll of the Western Writers of America, coming in at #16. Since Short has two in there, I might move it up to #10 where Vengeance Valley sits, but you could just as easily make the case that one of Short’s other Westerns could fill either spot. He was just that good.

The former newspaperman from Illinois also spent some time as a trapper in Canada during the very early 1930s. Times were so lean he tried his hand at pulp western writing. But by 1938 he was being published in Collier’s, and three years later his novel, Blood On the Moon (Gunman’s Chance) was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. That noir western would eventually be filmed, like a lot of his popular books, but Short has somehow fallen out of vogue, and out of print, in our day. Perhaps it is the darker shadings to some of his stories, or the complex subtleties of plot. But there will be no doubt after reading Ride the Man Down, or any of his fine novels, that he was one of the best Western novelists of all time.

Will Ballard is the foreman for Hatchet, a spread everyone wants to move in on once Phil Evarts is dead. His brother has taken over responsibility for the 70 thousand acres of Hatchet land, but everyone knows he’ll be reasonable about giving some of it up. It is Will Ballard that Bide Mariner will have to worry about. Things quickly shape up into a range war as Ballard seems to be the lone man fighting to hang on, even against the owner. While this sounds typical, it is anything but, due to the complex underpinnings and masterfully hued personalities. A contrast is slowly drawn between Celia Evarts, and the schoolteacher, Lottie, whom Will is set to marry. The shadings revealed in their characters as things escalate is deftly painted by Short with a light stroke, until no doubt is left as to who they are. The romantic entanglements of Will and Celia are given a rich and mature depth, making both the people and the situation real. There are no picnics or buggy rides here, simply two people gradually realizing through circumstance just how much they were meant for one another.

The range war story itself is exciting, filled with action and danger. An act of vengeance by Will when Evart’s brother is killed, will prove the catalyst for everyone to pick a side. Which side is picked will reveal the character of each man and woman involved. Will brings things to a head by a clever strategy placing anyone encroaching on their range on the wrong side of the law. But hatred and jealousy will prove to be stronger motives than land in the end. Those motives lead to one final deadly confrontation in this fabulous Western, which was made into a very underrated film starring Rod Cameron. Short balances a rich and mature narrative with all the traditional elements that make a Western exciting, and fun to read. Low-key, gritty, this is one of the finest novels about a range war ever penned.… (more)

This was a truly great read which I could not put down. Cordelia Traver asks Reeves Cable to come and see her at her ranch. When he gets there, he learns that a local lawyer is dragging Cordelia's name through the mud because she will not marry him. The lawyer, Jud Rankin is being promoted to the President for appointment as a Federal Judge and Cordelia's dead husband had always suspect Rankin of bribing a juror to create a hung jury so a corrupt mining company would escape punishment over unsafe mining practices.

Reeves job is get the proof of the bribery.… (more)

Giff Dixon is brought into Corazon with a stomach full of buckshot. A month later he is recovered but broke and no one will give him a job. Then he is offered a job as a cook and guide for a government team of surveyors who are checking for fraudulent homesteading claims followed almost immediately by another job offer from the biggest landowner in the area. Thinking the there is a connection, he delves into what is going on and soon finds himself in danger.

The local newspaper is being run by an attractive young woman who seems to be helping him but also stays aloof. The newspaper connection involves false entries of homestead claims and a search for back issues that could put the fraud ring in jail.

Non stop action kept this reader glued to the pages. A winner.… (more)