Classic Stories of the American West
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This collection features a selection of classic short stories and poems by legendary Western authors Stephen Crane, Bret Harte, and Jack London.
Stephen Crane
“The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” read by William Windom“The Black Riders” (poem) read by Stefan Rudnicki“The Five White Mice” read by Arte Johnson“The Blue Hotel” read by Stefan Rudnicki“His New Mittens” read by Robert Forster“A Newspaper...” (poem) read by Stefan Rudnicki“The Little Regiment” read by Stephen HoyeBret Harte
“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” read by William Windom“Mary’s Album” (poem) read by Stefan Rudnicki“Brown of Calaveras” read by Stephen Hoye“The Society upon the Stanislaw” (poem) read by Stefan Rudnicki“Tennessee’s Partner” read by Robert Forster“The Luck of Roaring Camp” read by Stefan Rudnicki“The Pony Express” (poem) read by Stefan Rudnicki“The Idyl of Red Gulch” read by Rex Linn“Lines to a Portrait” (poem) read by Stefan Rudnicki“How Santa Claus Came to Simpson’s Bar” read by William WindomJack London
“That Spot” read by Arte Johnson“War” read by David Birney“Moon-Face” read by William Windom“To Build a Fire” read by Stefan RudnickiCalificaciones y opiniones
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American author Stephen Crane (1871-1900) won international fame with The Red Badge of Courage, which was acclaimed as the first modern war novel. Crane's works introduced realism into American literature, but his innovative technique and use of symbolism gave much of his best work a romantic rather than a naturalistic quality. Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1871, the fourteenth child of a Methodist minister. He started to write stories at the age of eight, and at sixteen he was writing articles for the New York Tribune. Crane studied at Lafayette College and Syracuse University, then moved to New York, where he lived a bohemian life and worked as a freelance writer and journalist. While Crane supported himself by writing, he lived among the poor in the Bowery slums to research his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Later, he became a war correspondent and traveled to Greece, Cuba, Texas, and Mexico to report on war events. His short story "The Open Boat" is based on his personal experience aboard a ship that sank en route to Cuba in 1896. Crane spent several days drifting in an open boat with a few other passengers before being rescued. Unfortunately, this experience permanently impaired his health. In 1898, Crane settled in Sussex, England, where he lived with an author and the proprietress of a well-known brothel. In 1899, while in Greece, Crane wrote Active Service, which was based on the Greco-Turkish War. He then returned to Cuba to cover the Spanish-American War. However, shortly thereafter, the tuberculosis and malarial fever that he contracted during his Cuban shipwreck experience overcame him. Crane died on June 5, 1900, at the age of twenty-nine in Badenweiler, Germany.
Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, in 1836 and was raised in New York City. He had no formal education, but he inherited a love for books. In 1857, Harte moved to California and eventually wrote for the San Franciscan Golden Era paper. There he published his first condensed novels, which were brilliant parodies of the works of well-known authors, such as Dickens and Cooper. Later, he became clerk in the U.S. branch mint. This job gave Harte time to also work for the Overland Monthly, where he published his world-famous "Luck of the Roaring Camp" and commissioned Mark Twain to write weekly articles. In 1871, Harte was hired by the Atlantic Monthly for $10,000 to write twelve stories a year, which was the highest figure paid to an American writer at the time. He moved to New England after resigning a professorship at the University of California. There he was welcomed as an equal by such writers as Longfellow and Holmes, and he received continued praise for his works. However, laden with personal and family difficulties, his work suffered. In 1878, after an unsuccessful attempt on the lecture circuit, Harte accepted consulships in Germany and, later, Scotland. In 1885, he retired to London, where he died in 1902.
Jack London (1876-1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. London was a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers. His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush.
David Birney has read a number of works for Theatreworks, NPR Playhouse and BBC dramatic recordings, including The Diary of Anne Frank, Star Wars, and Julius Caesar. His audiobook credits include narrating several Orson Scott Card books as well as reading for many AudioFile Earphones Award winning titles. Birney is also an award-winning actor and director. He has starred in many television films, among them Love and Betrayal, Long Journey Home, The Deadly Game, High Midnight, and The Champions. His extensive stage credits include starring roles on Broadway and major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival, New York's Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre, the New York Shakespeare Festival, Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, Washington, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre and numerous regional theatres.
Robert Forster has appeared in a wide spectrum of roles in television, theater, and film over the past four decades. He received an Academy Award® nomination for his portrayal of Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, based on Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch; and starred in the television series Karen Sisco, based on characters created by Leonard.
Arte Johnson is a popular comedic actor who began his television career in the 1950's. He is best known for his work on the television series Laugh-In, for which he received an Emmy. His audiobook performances include Ben Bova's Mercury, Gabriel Brownstein's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale A Confederacy of Dunces. He has also appeared in a host of television shows, including It's Always Jan, December Bride, The Danny Thomas Show, and Hennesey.
Stephen Hoye has won thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and two prestigious APA Audie Awards, including one for the New York Times bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. A graduate of London's Guildhall and a veteran of London's West End, Stephen has recorded many other notable titles, such as Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong and The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed.
Stefan Rudnicki is an award winning audiobook narrator, director and producer. He was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks and has participated in over a thousand as a writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Ray Bradbury Award. He received AudioFile’s award for 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Along with a cast of other narrators, Rudnicki has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels. He worked extensively with many other science fiction authors, including David Weber and Ben Bova. In reviewing the twentieth anniversary edition audiobook of Card’s Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take." Rudnicki is also a stage actor and director.
Emmy Award winner William Windom is a consummate actor whose long career has won him critical acclaim and audience approval, although he prefers to describe it as “95 percent approval and a few arrows along the way.” His television credits include Star Trek, All in the Family, Highway to Heaven, and My World and Welcome to It, for which he won an Emmy Award as Best Actor a Comedy series. Windom lives in Northern California with his wife Patricia and youngest son, Rebel, and near (perhaps too near!) his three grown children.
Rex Linn, a winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2014, is an American film and television actor best known for his role as Frank Tripp in the television series CSI: Miami. Besides numerous other television roles, he has had roles in Django Unchained, Trial by Fire, and other major films. He was born and raised in the Texas panhandle and earned a BA in radio, television, and film from Oklahoma State University.
