The Rider of the Ruby Hills

A WORD FROM LOUIS L'AMOUR

"Almost four decades ago, when my fiction was being published exclusively in `pulp' western magazines, I wrote a number of novel-length stories, known back then as `magazine novels'. In creating them, I lived with my characters so closely that their lives were still as much a part of me as I was of them long after the issues in which they appeared went out of print. Proud as I was of how I presented the characters and their adventures in the pages of the magazines, I wanted to tell the reader more about my people and why they did what they did. So, over the years, I revised and expanded these magazine works into novels that I published as full-length paperbacks under different titles.

"These particular early magazine versions of my books have long been a source of considerable speculation and curiosity among many of my readers, so much so of late, that now I've decided to bring four of my `magazine novels' back into print in this latest volume of my short fiction."

"I hope you enjoy them."

THE RIDER OF THE RUBY HILLS CONTAINS
-- "Showdown Trail;' the original version of the novel THE TALL STRANGER
-- "A Man Called Trent:' the first telling of THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY WAR
-- "The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon;' which became SON OF A WANTED MAN
-- "The Rider of the Ruby Hills:' which was expanded to WHERE THE LONG GRASS BLOWS