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These collected tales--some taller than others--offer revealing glimpses into how and why West Texans are different. Rugged enough to make the harshest of environments their own, this species thrives in hundred-degree-plus heat and near-zero humidity. Folks like the crop duster who nearly sets his plane down in the bed of a pickup, the ''boll weevil'' whose naivete is tested in the oil patch, and Frank the ''Goofy Roofer,'' who enters a bullfight with nothing more than a denim jacket and a bottle of beer, are far from rare.

All these yarns contain a grain of truth, and some of them actually happened just as related. Most of them have a humorous bent; some are reasonably serious; a few are totally outrageous. But all of them illustrate the character of this distinctive region of the Lone Star State. Whether they concern ranchers, farmers, or oilfield hands; weather, work, or play, all reflect the essential nature of West Texans.

Weaver s lively anecdotes prove several truths about Texas west of the hundredth meridian: you may learn how not to haul hogs, ride in rodeos, conduct bullfights, or drill oil wells--and you may well meet petroleum promoters, coon hunters, chuck-wagon cooks, cotton farmers, and even college professors--but you won't encounter an uninteresting character where things get hotter than Pecos. ... Read more

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A 'must' for any collection strong in American regional folklore
Hotter 'n Pecos And Other West Texas Lies is a 'must' for any collection strong in American regional folklore: it offers collected tall tales offering insights into how and why West Texans are different. Yarns offer a grain of truth and some facts and offer lively stories perfect for any collection strong in storytelling.
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Dan Harrigan and Angus MacTee were once friends, but their mutual love for a woman turns them into enemies. MacTee will do anything to win her love, including framing Harrigan for murder. ... Read more

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Ballantine did his best for 10 years to provide for himself and his younger brother and sister, but everyone thinks he's a failure. Well, Ballantine will show his family and the town that he isn't someone to be taken for granted. ... Read more

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Three men, each traveling alone, head for the town of Loomis, where they will meet in a violent confrontation that will leave one of them dead by morning. ... Read more

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John Banner arrives in the Yukon with a price on his head and plans to lose himself in the arctic wilderness. But in the small town of Dyea, he experiences a baptism of blood that alters the course of his life. ... Read more

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Chapters: Barry Corbin, Bud Andrews, Glenna Goodacre. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 21. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: (1) Marie Elyse Soape (2) Susan BergerLeonard Barrie Corbin, known as Barry Corbin (born October 16, 1940), is an American actor with more than one hundred film, television and video game credits. Corbin began his career as a Shakespearean actor in the 1960s, but today he is more likely to be seen in the role of the local sheriff, military leader, or some other authority figure, though on occasion, he has effectively portrayed murderous villains as well. To moviegoers he is well remembered as General Beringer in WarGames, John Travolta's uncle in Urban Cowboy, co-starring with Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way You Can, or Roscoe Brown, who was July Johnson's bumbling deputy, in the acclaimed western Lonesome Dove. He also had a role in 2008's Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men. In 1983, Corbin co-starred in the famed television mini-series "The Thorn Birds". Corbin played Mary Carson's stockman "Pete", who teaches the Cleary's sons how to shear sheep on their aunt's gigantic sheep station Drogheda, in Australia. In 1983-1984, Corbin played Merit Sawyer in the NBC television series Boone. Corbin's role was that of a stern father to the young actor Tom Byrd, who played Boone Sawyer, an aspiring singer. The program was set in rural Tennessee during the 1950s and was created by Earl Hamner, who had great success earlier with CBS's The Waltons. From 1990 to 1995, Corbin portrayed former astronaut Maurice Minnifield on CBS's Northern Exposure, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 1994, Corbin narrated the acclaimed TBS documentary MoonShot, telling the story of the 1960s space race from the first-person viewpoint of Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1344223 ... Read more

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Provides teachers with specific guidelines to establish an optimal learning environment for teenagers and offers case studies that illustrate how to translate theory into workable classroom practice. ... Read more

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Whether it's a snowy nude sprint down Main Street, the mysterious appearance of a long-lost relative, or the improbable death of yet another of Maggie's boyfriends, life's never dull in the remote hamlet of Cicely, Alaska. Colorful characters and quirky plots propelled "Northern Exposure" into the hearts of millions of viewers, earning the CBS "dramedy" series seven Emmy awards between its 1990 debut and its demise six seasons later.\nIn season 1, we meet Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), an urban New York yuppie who consents to four years of rural servitude after Alaska pays his medical-school tuition. Joel's fish-out-of-water adventures drive the show, but it's the quirky ensemble of characters--Chris, the DJ/philosopher (John Corbett), Holling, the bartender (John Cullum), Maurice, the town patriarch (Barry Corbin), Ed, the filmmaker (Darren E. Burrows), and Maggie, the bush pilot (Janine Turner), among others'Äì-that keeps the series consistently entertaining. The town develops its own offbeat personality as well, a Mayberry-meets-Twin-Peaksblend of Native mysticism, Aurora Borealis-induced dreams, unlikely tales of long-lost family members, and rumors of a Bigfoot-like creature known simply as "Adam." \n"Northern Exposure" provides a utopian escape--a place where life is interesting but never dangerous, everyone's insightful, the mystical becomes real, and nobody's burdened with a mundane 9-to-6 desk job. Cicely is a delightful place to visit, even if it's only for an hour at a time. \nA mid-season replacement, season 1 consists of just eight episodes on two DVDs. Each episode includes 5-10 minutes of outtakes and deleted scenes. "--Shane Burnett" ... Read more

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"Some of those men will stop at nothing to be victorious---not even murder."

This Audio book combines the great talents of Max Brand's story writing with Barry Corbin's reading abilities ;resulting in an excellent yarn in typical Western style.
Originally written in 1924,it holds your attention and is filled with excitement from beginning to end. I don't generally listen to Audio Tapes as I find I tend to get distracted by other things around me;but I was looking for something to entertain me for 90 minutes on a hot summer evening. With a couple of long cool drinks ,I put my feet up,turned the lights down,and sat back on my porch and just let these two gentlemen entertain me---and enjoyed every minute of it.By the way,my dog beside me,seemed to enjoy it as well. ... Read more

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It is 25 years since Neil Armstrong made man's first triumphant lunar landing. Now Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, two pioneering astronaughts, reveal the human cost of the bitter struggle between the Superpowers to be first on the moon. In this unique first-hand account of the space race the authors dislose facts about events that made headlines across the world including the hideous truth about Apollo 1 and a navigation error that nearly resulted in Neil Armstrong and his crew being stranded on the moon in Apollo 11. And yet this book is also a powerful story of intense human drama, focusing on the men behind the heroes - the successes, the disappointments and even the tragedies that shaped the world of those men that risked everything to launch and fly America's spaceships. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

A little bit of space fights from Mercury to Apollo -Soyuz. Deke and Alan Shepard's fight for flights
Moon Shot is a great book. An easy read with good pictures. I've already read Deke about Deke Slayton and Light This Candle about Alan Shepard. I liked those books too. I've read many of the astronaut books...check my reviews.

Moon Shot gives a little run down about each of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights. Also Moon Shot goes a little into the Astronauts and some of the Cosmonauts lives too.

We see both Deke Slayton (Air Force pilot) and Alan Shepard (Navy aviator) are super hot shot fliers and become jet test pilots. Both get secret orders to report to the new NASA. Both pass the mustard, are the best of the best and become Mercury 7 astronauts.

The two themes of the book are the race between the US and Russia for space dominance and both astronauts getting grounded and their fights to get back into space.Deke had a heart fibrillation and Alan had an inner ear loss of balance disease.

Alan becomes America's first man in space with his Mercury flight but then is grounded for years. He later gets an operation and is flight cleared. Deke as the head astronaut helps Alan get A moon shot. Alan trains and trains and is the commander for Apollo 14 and is the 5th man on the moon.

Poor Deke never gets to go up until after he is over 50 with the last Apollo mission. By going on a vitamin regiment his heart fibrillation goes away and he is cleared by top cardiologists for space fight. He enjoys himself in weightlessness in space with the other 2 Apollo astronauts and 2 Cosmonauts in the Apollo-Soyuz docking mission.

Sadly so many of my boyhood heros have passed away. Deke Slayton, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee, Wally Shirra, Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad and other astronauts and cosmonauts... All heroes that gave much for the exploration of space.

I'm an amateur astronomer of over 40 years who looks into the vastness of space with my telescope and agrees 100% with the ending of the book. We should populate many regions of space to ensure our species survival if our planet gets destroyed. Both Deke and Alan see from space how small and fragile our Earth is and how we should cherish and protect it but also as a human race expand into the Cosmos for our lasting survival.Deke says in the largeness of time about us going forward into space, the little he did for space exploration may be just be a blink of the eye.

More detailed information can be found with individual biographies of the astronauts but Moon Shot is great for getting a little info on many of the astronauts. 5 star

poorly written rehash of the early space program
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book doesn't fill any particular niche satisfactorily.It gives only the most superficial information about the two authors' backgrounds, emotions, and thoughts, but on the other hand it fails to address the space program in a comprehensive manner.The last three Apollo flights merit only about a paragraph each!Essentially all of the information found in this book can be found in other, more carefully written narratives (e.g., Andrew Chaikin's A Man in the Moon).The principal exception is the information on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

What hasn't received as much comment is the exceptionally poor writing style of this book.Even for someone with a good understanding of the moon program, the text is at times confusing because of imprecise wording.Mixed metaphors, cliches, and sentence fragments abound.Worst of all, the writing is so florid that it becomes distracting.Everything is described in hyperbole, which makes it difficult to differentiate episodes of true drama from other events.Of course, the history of the moon program has plenty of inherent drama; there is no need to resort to overblown prose to convey this.

For example, here's a passage describing the launch of Freedom Seven.The event itself was momentous; the writing style is typical of the entire book.

"In Cocoa Beach, people left their homes to stand outside and look toward the Cape.They went to balconies and front lawns and back lawns.They stood atop cars and trucks and rooftops.They left their morning coffee and bacon and eggs in restaurants to walk outside on the street or on the sands of the beach.They left beauty parlors and barber shops with sheets around their bodies.Policemen stopped their cars and stood outside, the better to see and hear.Along the water, the surfers ceased their pursuits of the waves and stood, transfixed, swept up in the fleeting moments.

"It was a moment in a town when time stood still.

"Fire was born, the dragon howled, and the Redstone levitated with its precious human cargo.

"That was but the beginning.When the bright flame came into view, even before the deep pure sound washed across the town, something happened.

"Something...wonderful.

"Men and women sank slowly to their knees.Praying.

"Other stood praying.

"Crying.

"There was no holding back.

"All that moved in Cocoa Beach were beating hearts and falling tears."

(pp. 113-114)

Apart from the text, there are some interesting photographs in the book - especially some showing astronaut training.Unfortunately, many of the events depicted are never addressed in the text.One photo, which purports to show Alan Shepard's famous lunar golf drive, is a fake.

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon - Best book yet!
Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon - You would just know that Al Shepard's book would be the best yet by the astronauts.This book tells the inside story of the original seven astronauts, but tells it up to and including the Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous and docking of 1975.I don't know if the great narration was due to Al, Deke or the two writers who assisted them, but this book was the best written of all the astro books I have read. The stories, as written, capture all the excitment of both good sci-fi and space history!

Moon Shot
This was an excellent book for anyone who is interested in the efforts to be the first to reach the moon. I have been a space junkie from the times my Mom would keep us home from school to watch the Mercury and Gemini launches. I was reminded of many things I observed and realized that my memories of the flights were from the perspective of a child. Hearing about the same events from the perspective of those who participated was very rewarding.

Two Grounded Astronauts Achieve Their Dreams to Fly in Space
This book is much more than a history of the space program from about 1957 to 1975. It includes the inspirational determination for Shepard to fly again and for Slayton to fly even once. I had the pleasure of meeting Alan Shepard and getting his autograph on this book.

The book captures the intensity of the space race. When Shepard saw Sputnik 1 (or, more probably, the upper-level rocket stage also in orbit), he chagrined at the fact that it didn't have "Made in the USA" written on it. Later, the Soviets were sad that the men circling the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 didn't have Russian names.

Some seldom-discussed information is provided in this book. For instance, the US could have orbited a satellite over a year before Sputnik (p. 45). Were it not for an overcautious NASA, Shepard could have beat Gagarin into space by a month (p. 89, 91). The dog, Laika, is said to have lived for several days in space (p. 44). We now know that she died several hours after launch--from an overheated cabin.

The authors discuss the politics behind the space program. For instance, the grounding of Deke Slayton had been for political and not medical reasons, as there was no evidence that Deke's heart irregularity would interfere with space flight. Rather, the fear was that, were Slayton's flight to end in disaster for any reason, his heart condition would automatically be suspected, and those who cleared him for flight would face automatic recrimination. The authors also allege that politics was behind the choice of Houston as the site for the Space Center. Both astronauts also had to contend with politics in the wake of the Apollo 13 near-disaster, notably the call, by some politicians, to cancel all remaining Apollo moon flights. Shepard also realized that, were his Apollo 14 to fail to land on the moon, there most probably would be no further Apollo flights.

One is thrilled by Alan Shepard finding a surgical treatment for his Meniere's syndrome, and getting restored to flight status. Up to that time, he had considered himself an eagle whose wings had been clipped and who had been forced to be a turkey--in more ways than one.

Then, over ten years after his grounding, Deke Slayton got his chance...in a joint US-Soviet flight that would have been equally unimaginable at the time of his grounding.
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Max Brand Western Series
If you like stories of the Old West, you will love these tapes. Barry Corbin has the ability to make you think you are sitting around the camp fire listening to someone who was there when it happened. I have listened to these time and again and still enjoy them as much as I did the first time. ... Read more

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The beloved tale of a family carving out a new life on the Americanfrontier.

They made a home on Birdsong Creek, back in the 1980's, out in the Texas wilderness where a man and a woman could build a dream. These were people who took their joy, their courage, their greatness from the land.

There was Ma and Pa and little Arliss--and Travis, the fourteen-year-old whose father had left him to take care of things, and protect his mother and small brother while Pa was away driving a herd of cattle up to Abilene. It was hard work: plowing, chopping wood, tending the garden, hunting for food, and trying to keep Arliss in line. It was too big a job for a boy to do alone. It took that boy and a big, ugly, yellow dog who showed up out of nowhere one night--a dog that would bring them love and laughter and, in the end, a terrible heartache.

Old Yeller is more than just an account of a boy's love for his dog, more than just a tale of frontier life. It is a powerful journey into the heart and emotions of a boy faced with decisions that lift him from childhood to manhood. Evocative, touching, powerful--Old Yeller is a classic tale of challenge, adventure and love.
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Customer Reviews (143)

old yeller
Never order anything from Home school family. They never shipped the book to me. They said that they shipped it to the wrong custumer but never sent a email to me explaining the situtation. My son really needed this book for his School book report. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM BUYING ANYTHING FROM HOMESCHOOLFAMILY. I am still waiting on a refund. Its been over a month now..They are crooks and liers...

A Tale of Hate and Love and Coming of Age
Old Yeller is a tale that takes you from the excitement of Little Arliss finding a scraggly yeller dog and dragging it home to the disgust and downright hatred that older brother Travis seems to have for this mut.We watch and read as Travis moves from this position to embracing the dog with love and loyalty after it saves his little brother.And then we walk with Travis through the heart-wrenching realization that he alone is the one to give old yeller that final moment.

Your heart will race with excitement and break with tears as you follow the tale of this young man learning about love and responsibility in the brutal world of the old West.This book is among ones that should be required reading in every elementary school in our country.

Walt Disney made a fine adaptation of this tale but the book itself lends far more to the reader and will last longer in his or her heart. Let your children hear you read this book to them and then encourage them to read it on their own at a later time. Don't miss Old Yeller.

Great Book! Animals lovers beware!
This I have recently read was great. Only the only problem is that animal lovers might not like this book.

This book is about a boy meets a dog but when he meets him, he starts to beat him up. His name is Travis. Then, his mom comes out and says to stop beating up the dog. His little brother, Little Arlis says he wants to keep the dog so they did.

Soon after, Travis and Old Yeller had a bond. One day, a man came and said that was his dog. Little Arlis was sad. He said you can keep him if they give him a big dinner. So,they gave him a big dinner. He left and they still had Old Yeller.

One day, They were bugging boars and one of the boars came out and attacked Travis and Old Yeller. Travis went back home and his mom said to stay in but Travis wanted to save Old Yeller so he went on his horse and saved Old Yeller.

This book was great. I couldn't stop reading it. It was an awesome. So go get this book at your library or if you have it, read it!

Highly recommended especially for public library audiobook collections
Peter Francis James lends his narrative talent to an unabridged audiobook production of Old Yeller, the classic, award-winning young adult novel about the bond between a boy and his beloved dog. Set in Texas hill country, Old Yeller remains as emotionally powerful today as when it was first published in 1956. Though created for a young adult and teenage audience, Old Yeller remains a dramatic story of sacrifice that resonates in adult readers as well, and is highly recommended especially for public library audiobook collections. 3 CDs, 4 hours.

A Book Review
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson is about golden retriever that is very playful.The storyhassix maincharacters they are Mama, Arlis, Travis , Old Yeller,Burn Sanderson, and Lisbeth .



The story takes place in a place called Birdsong Creek.Papa has to leave and Travis has to take his place and do his duties while he was gone. He has to hunt deer for meat so that mama can cook it for dinner.Every time Travis hags the meat Old Yeller comes and takes it right back off.Old Yellerkeeps Arlis thelittle rascal of Mama's hands.Travis doesn'tlike him all that much . Hewants to sell him butArlis won'tlethimso he has to learn to like him.Everyday Arlis alwaysgetsin some kindof trouble,One dayOld Yeller gets in troubleand Mama and Travis have to go and save him. A few weeks later Old Yeller gotcase of rabies from a wolf bite.Travis goes outside and says get me my gun and tragically he has to shoot him They get a dog Papa comes homeand they are a family again.
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