A Man Called Trent

Early in Louis L'Amour's career, he wrote a number of novel-length stories for 'pulp' Western magazines. '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,' he said. 'I wanted to tell the reader more about my people and why they did what they did.' So he revised and expanded these magazine works to be published again as full-length novels. Here is one of his early creations, which have long been a source of great speculation and curiosity among his fans.

A Man Called Trent opens on nester Dick Moffitt lying dead where he was killed by King Bill Hale's riders. His son Jack and adopted daughter Sally, who witnessed the murder, go for safety to a cabin owned by a man called 'Trent'-an alias for Kilkenny, who is seeking to escape his reputation as a gunfighter.

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) was an American author whose Western stories are loved the world over. Born in Jamestown, North Dakota, he was the most decorated author in the history of American letters. In 1982 he was the first American author ever to be awarded a Special National Gold Medal by the United States Congress for lifetime literary achievement, and in 1984 President Reagan awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the nation. He was also a recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.