Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Another William Heuman Western


Prompted by the previous post, a friend of mine sent me a scan of the cover from this William Heuman novel. I like it so much I decided to go ahead and post it. I feel like I ought to know who the artist is, but I can't read the signature on the scan. I own a copy of this book but have never read it. I may have to dig through the stacks and piles of books and see if I can find it. In addition to Westerns, Heuman also wrote some YA sports novels, and I'll bet they're worth reading.
UPDATE: Thanks to Steve Lewis, I can confirm that the cover of this book was painted by Lou Kimmel.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The list isn't complete, but here are the William Heuman novels I own. He wrote a ton of short stories for the pulps also, westerns, sports, adventure and so on.

WILLIAM HEUMAN -

Bullets for Mulvane (Ace T-486; c.1960)
Gunhand from Texas (Avon 569; c.1954)
Hardcase Halloran (Ace Double F-254; c.1964)
Heller from Texas (Gold Medal 681; c.1957; 1st pr., June 1957)
Hunt the Man Down (Gold Medal 187; c.1951)
Mulvane on the Prod (Avon T-144; c.1962)
Mulvane’s War (Avon T-386; c.1960)
My Brother the Gunman (Ace Double D-380; c.1959)
On to Sante Fe (Gold Medal 287; c.1953; 1st pr., Feb 1953)
The Range Buster (Gold Medal 944; c.1954; 2nd pr., Nov 1959)
Red Runs the River (Gold Medal 216; c.1952)
Ride for Texas (Gold Medal 992; c.1954; 2nd pr., Apr 1960)
Roll the Wagons (Gold Medal 146; c.1951)
Then Came Mulvane (Avon 855; c.1959)
Wagon Train West (Gold Medal 842; c.1959; 1st pr., Jan 1959)

I don't know who Mulvane is, but I see that he was in at least three of them.

James Reasoner said...

Thanks, Steve. I've read MY BROTHER THE GUNMAN, which I recall has a very nice twist about halfway through it, and at least one more Heuman novel, I think GUNHAND FROM TEXAS. Obviously I don't remember that one as well, but I know I liked it. I have at least some of the Mulvane books but don't recall ever reading any of them.

Anonymous said...

Looks an old Wildcat O'Shay cover, doesn't it? Sort of.

RJR

James Reasoner said...

Yeah, I can see the resemblance.

Al said...

I have just recently discovered HEUMAN, but I like him a lot. I was actually led to him by a comment from JOHN JAKES, who stated-- in some introduction to something-- that HEUMAN was his fave writer from the old pulp days, and that he [JAKES] could never understand why there was no cult following for him today.

After I found and read a few old paperbacks I could see what JAKES meant. In particular, HEUMAN seems to be very effective at evoking a given and specific historical time and place in all his westerns: there is always a strong sense of location and period... probably an influence on JAKES' own writing to be sure.

I would also like to recommend one book that was actually available through my local library system in a recent large-print edition. It is called KEELBOATS WEST and is a very exciting Mississippi boat-race story.

Anyway, thanks for posting.

Al

James Reasoner said...

Al,

Thanks for the comment. I have several more Heuman books to read, including KEELBOATS WEST, and I always pick up his books when I come across them.