SHORT STORIES

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31588, 27 January 1968, Page 4

SHORT STORIES

Powderhorn. By George Byram. Barrie and Rockcliff e. 191 pp. The author is a close observer and gifted chronicler of the part of Western America which is his home. In “Tomorrow’s Hidden Season” he gave a comprehensive account of horse-breeding; in this book of short stories, which all centre on the township of Powderhorn he introduces his readers to people who are convincingly real. There is Charlie, a bit of a rascal, whose hotel-bar never lacks patrons, and who counts annually on making a large haul from the old sheepherder, Garnet who, after spending many lonely months every year by himself, comes into town craving for company. Garnet fully intends to bank his pay of $1125 but is regularly diverted from this admirable purpose by hosts of “friends,” and returns home a few days later, broke and with a prize hangover, declaring that he will bank his money 'next year.” There is an epic story “The Nine Days of Night” in which a social misfit with a deathwish, deliberately faces a raging blizzard to take food to a herd of sheep. There are touching tales of good-neigh-bourliness, and one very funny one, “Mouse Mix,” in which the egregious Charlie is badly discomforted, and a pack of cattle-stealers are outwitted once and for all, by means of a most ingenious plot. Each of these stories is a masterpiece, and the book makes enthralling reading throughout.