Stories of the Far North (Bison Book) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803294344 ISBN 13: 9780803294349

Publisher: Bison Books, 1999

Synopsis

The Northwestern story emerged full-blown from the pen of Jack London, and his “The League of the Old Men” is a fitting introduction to these rigorous action tales, in which the inhospitable climate strips away civilized veneer and individuals must live or die by their cunning, instinct, and sometimes ruthlessness. The bond between man and dog and the character flaws revealed under the stresses of extreme isolation are just two of the classic themes explored in these works. The collection comes to a fitting climax of a century’s worth of development with a new story by Tim Champlin, commissioned for this volume.

Most of these stories were originally published in magazines and were heavily edited to meet space and style concerns. Stories of the Far North restores each work to its original form, uncut and as each author intended.

About this title

About the Author:

Jon Tuska has written and edited numerous works about the American West, including The Western Story: A Chronological Treasury (Nebraska 1995).

From Kirkus Reviews:

Western editor Tuska follows up his Morrow Anthology of Great Western Short Stories (1997) with a volume of nine stories, this time moving the venue somewhat north to bring us to Alaska during the Klondike gold rush of 1898. In this collection of stories of the Far North, it is no coincidence that northwest is the direction in which these authors takes us, remarks Tuska in his fine introduction. It can be a metaphor for an odyssey of the human soul. Indeed, it is striking just how much fiction was written about this now-obscure period of American history: writers as celebrated as Jack London and Robert Service started their careers writing about the Klondike, and dozens of pulp magazines devoted themselves to stories about the Far North well into the 1930s. London and Service are both represented here, of course, but most of the authorsJames Oliver Curwood, Max Brand, Rex Beach, Dan Cushmanare now as obscure as the Klondike itself, and Tuska is to be commended for bringing them (some were bestsellers in their day) back into print. While many of the stories are somewhat two-dimensional and saccharine, readers who like old-fashioned adventure yarns will plenty to sustain them. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bison Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0803294344
• ISBN 13: 9780803294349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 146
• Editor: Tuska Jon