eBay

THE BEST OF JACK O'CONNOR JACK O'CONNOR THE AMWELL PRESS: NEW JERSEY No date, circa 1979. It is stated 1977 on the title and colophon pages but the biography on the dust jacket and an editorial note after the Foreword state that the author died in 1978. Most sellers on here and other sites incorrectly state this is the first edition, limited to 1000 copies, they are wrong. Those many readers who have read Jack O'Connor steadily and with pleasure over the years may tend to bristle at the work "best" used in connection with this writer's consistently excellent output. After all, "best" implies that some of O'Connor's writing might be ranked lower, and his many devotees would probably strongly protest this very notion. So perhaps "best" should be replaced by "most exciting" or "most fascinating" or even "most engrossing." For this is a book that many readers will read through in a single sitting, beginning with the excitement of the tales excerpted from three O'Connor novels. "The Fight at the Stage Station", "The Discovery of the Silver Lode" and "Fun and Games" But beyond this hard-driving unsentimental fiction lies the real meat of this book, the action-packed thrilling stories of the chase. From a ram hunt in the high country to leopard and lion kills in Africa, the reader is borne along on a current of adventure by the master of them all. CONTENTS Foreword Introduction PART ONE/THE BOOKS The Fight at the Stage Station (from Conquest, 1930) The Discovery of the Silver Lode (from Boom Town, 1938) Fun and Games (from Horse and Buggy West, 1969) PART TWO/MORE FUN Letters to Jim Hack (from The Gun Digest, 1971) How K. R. Balz Won the Krautbauer Trophy (from The Gun Digest, 1968) PART THREE/THE SOUTHWEST Sonora and Arizona Rock Pile Bucks Santiago and the Lady Hunter We Shot the Tamales Up to Our Necks in Deer Dollar-a-Day-Deer PART FOUR/THE HIGH COUNTRY Packing Back Shooting Gallery Rams A Day in Ram Heaven Rams in the Snow A Ram to Begin On Stone Rams in the Cassiar PART FIVE/AFRICA Prelude Lions Don't Come Easy Big Day on the Tana Leopard at Long Last Lion on the Kilombero The Big Lion of Mucusso Gemsbok in the Kalahari Cliff-Hanging Lion Big Kudu in Southwest PART SIX/ASIA India • Prelude A Tiger Has Killed The Bold, Bad Tiger of Gatpeparia Iran • Prelude Driving For Wild Boar The Ram and the Silver Bullet A Lesson in Sheep Hunting Hail and Farewell • Epilogue ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jack O'Connor, who died in 1978, lives on as one of the most talented and exciting outdoor writers this country has ever produced. Holder of many big game trophy records, O'Connor spent three decades as Arms and Ammunition Editor of Outdoor Life and many of the tales included in this book were first published in the magazine.