Son of Texas

Sons of Texas was my introduction to Elmer Kelton - as soon as I'd read the first page I knew that I liked this writer. The characters, particularly that of Michael became so real to me that I became involved with the story on a deep emotional level - the sign of a very good storyteller indeed. Since then I've read maybe a dozen of his titles, most recently Six Bits a Day, and haven't found a weak title among them. Mr. Kelton's work has that special something that grabs the reader from the first line and refuses to let go till the tale is told. He was the natural successor to Louis L'amour and indeed many people feel that he was in fact better than L'amour. It was Kelton after all who the Western Writers of America voted the best western writer of all time.


His works are rich in period detail but to my mind his greatest strength is his characters. They become real people to the readers and act realistically so any events seem natural and not merely a device to push the plot forward.

Mr Kelton has left an impressive body of work behind so in many ways he can never truly die, his work is out there full of living breathing characters. And will always be there as long as people have a need for rich exciting stories.







Mr. Kelton was born in 1926. His formative years were spent on a ranch. The western lifestyle was in his blood, even if he was more comfortable sat before a typewriter than on a horse. He served with honours in World War II. He spent his army life in Europe during the worse of the hostilities.

In 1947 Elmer married Anna Lip of Austria. He became an agricultural journalist for the San Angelo Standard Times in 1949. Elmer started to sell stories to the pulp magazines and for some time he balanced the journalism jobs with freelance fiction work.

All in all Elmer wrote over forty books. He has won multiple Spur awards and was voted the best western writer of all time by The Western Writers of America.

Mr. Kelton had been ill for some time but had seemed to be making recovery. However he passed away early yesterday morning.