A Hewey Calloway Adventure, Book 5
Western Adventure
Date Published: 12-03-2024
Publisher: Forge Books
Elmer Kelton’s Hewey Calloway, one of the best-loved cowboys in all of Western fiction, returns in this novel of his middling years, as he looks for work―but not too much work―in 1904 West Texas.Hewey Calloway had intended to pass straight through Durango, Colorado, en route to visit a friend several miles northeast of the city. He had left his home range about a year before, with a herd of young horses. It was supposed to be a relatively straightforward affair; deliver the horses, collect the payment, and return home with the money. Things got out of hand, however, and there he was in Durango a year later with plans to go north rather than south. Oh, well, he thought, he had always wanted to see new country.
It isn't long before his travels lead him to a cabin on a rainy night. There he meets a young man, sick as a dog, who weakly tries to send him off. And for good reason: the man has smallpox, and soon enough, Hewey catches the deadly disease. The man cares for him in turn, and it's just as he is feeling better that the man disappears. The next morning a Pinkerton detective turns up with posse, looking for a wanted bank robber.
As he travels north, Hewey seems to run in with both the young man who tended to him, as well as the detective. But something seems off about the Pinkerton detective, and Hewey keeps his mouth shut. When he reuinites with his friend Hanley, they do everything they can to get to the bottom of the mystery that threatens both theirs and this young man's life.
Interview with John Bradshaw
What is your favorite part of the book?
I can narrow it down to two. The first is the scene in which Hewey helps the old horseshoer shoe two difficult mules. Hewey isn’t much of a horseshoer, and the old man teases him mercilessly. The other is the showdown toward the end of the book. Hewey, Hanley and Bob finally end things with the supposed Pinkerton detective and the crooked banker.
Does your book have a lesson? Moral?
I don’t know that it’s necessarily a lesson or moral, but Hewey is a footloose cowboy with no desire for responsibility, any of which makes him feel tied down. He believes others are slaves to their possessions, and in his mind, his greatest possession is his freedom.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
Hewey Calloway, the main character, was created by Elmer Kelton many years ago. Hanley Baker, another central character, was created by Steve Kelton in book two of the series. I came up with several new characters in The Familiar Stranger. Most came entirely from my imagination, although I did take traits from real people and sprinkle them in. I named the old horseshoer, Harold Thomas, after an aging horseshoer I knew in New Mexico. The character’s personality, though, was concocted.
Of all the characters you have created, which is your favorite and why?
Although Hewey Calloway was created by Elmer Kelton, I’d have to say he’s my favorite. I studied Hewey, in both Elmer’s and Steve’s books, and while writing The Familiar Stranger and later The Blessing, Hewey came alive in my mind, to a surreal level. It was as if I’d known Hewey my entire life, like we were friends. I have since created several characters I really enjoy, but Hewey will always be at the top of my list.
What character in your book are you least likely to get along with?
In The Familiar Stranger, Hewey meets a man named Kelly, who is a brash, boastful bully. Hewey couldn’t stand him. I invented that character after meeting a similar person, so I know for certain I wouldn’t have got along with Kelly.
What would the main character in your book have to say about you?
I’d hope that Hewey Calloway would say he likes what I’ve done with his character, that I kept him true to Elmer’s and then Steve’s vision. But knowing Hewey, he’d probably tell me not to take myself so seriously and just have some fun.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
I had the honor of co-writing the fifth and sixth books in the Hewey Calloway series, so that’s certainly a body of work. I have since written most of a contemporary western and already have plans for a prequel and sequel to it, so it’s following the same pattern. And like Elmer Kelton, I apparently don’t like to write them in chronological order.
About the Author
John Bradshaw is a native of the small town of Abernathy, Texas. He is an award-winning journalist with well over a thousand published stories. Elmer Kelton’s The Familiar Stranger, co-authored with Steve Kelton, is his first book.
Bradshaw attended South Plains College followed by Texas Tech University. He spent several years shoeing horses for a living as his writing career progressed.
While the desire to write books was always there, Bradshaw first pursued a career in journalism. He wrote numerous stories for ranching, horse and horseshoeing magazines.
Growing up, Livestock Weekly came in the mail once a week, as it does for most in the livestock industry. Writing for Livestock Weekly was always a goal, and in 2005 Bradshaw’s first story was published. It was a profile of Brownie Metzgar, a humorous cowboy still working in a feedlot while in his late 80s.
In 2007 Bradshaw accepted a fulltime position with Livestock Weekly. While with the paper he had over a thousand stories published, as well as enough market reports to give him permanent nightmares.
Horses have always played an important role in his life. The son of a horseshoer, he has spent a significant amount of time either on or under a horse. He still shows in both ranch horse and reined cow horse competitions.
He and his wife, Sara, live outside Abernathy. Sara owns an architecture firm, SK Architecture Group, and they raise Spanish goats, hair sheep and cattle.
In 2013 the couple had a stillborn son, Fox Joaquin Bradshaw. After several years of heartbreak they adopted an infant boy, whom they named Julian Boone Bradshaw. Boone died in his dad’s arms following an accident at the barn five days before his sixth birthday.
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1 comments:
The book sounds very interesting. I love Westerns!
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