Luke Short

Luke Short (real name Frederick Dilley Glidden) was a popular Western writer. Born (1908) in Kewanee, Illinois Glidden attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two and a half years and then transferred to the University of Missouri at Columbia to study journalism.

Following graduation in 1930 he worked for a number of newspapers before becoming a trapper in Canada then later moved to new Mexico to be an archeologist's assistant.

After reading Western pulp magazines and trying to escape unemployment he started writing Western fiction. He sold his first short story and novel in 1935 under the pen name of Luke Short (which was also the name of a famous gunslinger in the Old West, though it's unclear if he was aware of that when he assumed the pen name.)

After publishing over a dozen novels in the 1930s, he started writing for films in the 40s. In 1948 alone four Luke Short novels appeared as movies. Some of his memorable film credits includes Ramrod (1947) and Blood on the Moon (1948). He continued to write novels, despite increasing trouble with his eyes, until his death in 1975. His ashes are buried in Aspen, Colorado, his home at the time of his death.

THE FEUD AT SINGLE SHOT
1935
8/1/35 - 10/1/35

Adventure magazine
(pulp - 5 part serial)

1936, 1937 Grosset & Dunlap (reprint)

1945 Western Novel Classic #45 Digest Size

1950 Bantam #791 1st paperback edition

THE BRANDED MAN
1936

9/36 - 1/37
Adventure magazine
(pulp - 5 part serial)
as "Rustler's Range"

1956 Dell First Edition #A122 Paperback Original

THE MAN ON THE BLUE
1936
(pulp - serial ??)

1954 Dell First Edition #31 Paperback Original

1957 Dell First Edition #A151 reprint

MARAUDERS' MOON
1937
3/6/37 - 4/3/37
Western Story mag
(pulp - 5 part serial)
as "Silver Horn Breaks"

1955 Dell First Edition #70 Paperback Original

KING COLT
1937
7/3/37 - 8/7/37
Argosy magazine
(pulp - 6 part serial)

1953 Dell #647 Paperback Original

1957 Dell #962 reprint

BRAND OF EMPIRE
1937
10/9/37 - 11/6/37
Western Story mag
(pulp - 5 part serial)
as "Red Trail to Black Treasure"

1954 Dell #769 Paperback Original

1959 Dell #D289 - 3rd printing

BOLD RIDER
1938
Chicago Tribune
(serial)
as "Gun-Hammered Gold"

1953 Dell First Edition #7 Paperback Original

SAVAGE RANGE
1938
4/23/38 - 5/28/38
Western Story mag
(pulp - 6 part serial)
as "Trouble Fighter"

1952 Dell #606 Paperback Original

1957 Dell #963 - 3rd printing

RAIDERS OF THE RIM ROCK
1938
8/20/38 - 9/24/38
Western Story mag
(pulp - 6 part serial)
as "Death Rides Tornado Basin"

1939 Doubleday Double D Western 1st Edition

1944 Armed Services Edition #G-195

1945 Western Novel Classic #36 Digest Size

1949 Bantam #258 1st paperback edition

HARD MONEY
1938
(pulp - serial ??)
reprinted in:
Grit Story Section
7/13/41 - 9/7/41
(9 part serial)

1940 Doubleday Double D Western 1st Edition

1945 Adventure Novel Classic #23 Digest Size

1949 Bantam #209 1st paperback edition

BOUNTY GUNS
1939
3/4/39 - 4/8/39
Western Story mag
(pulp - 6 part serial)

1953 Dell #702 Paperback Original

1956 Dell #869 reprint

1960 Dell #D350 reprint

1964 Dell #0758 reprint

WAR ON THE CIMARRON
1939
8/19/39 - 9/16/39
Argosy magazine
(pulp - 5 part serial)
as "Hurricane Range"

1944 Armed Services Edition #R-11

1945 Western Novel Classic #40 Digest Size

1950 Bantam #792 1st paperback edition

DEAD FREIGHT FOR PIUTE
1939
11/18/39 - 12/23/39
Western Story mag
(pulp - 6 part serial)

aka: BULL-WHIP

1940 Doubleday Double D Western 1st Edition

1945 Century Western #50 Digest Size

1950 Bantam #747 1st paperback edition

1957 Bantam #1564 reprint

BOUGHT WITH A GUN
1940
(pulp - serial ??)
as "Gun Bought Grant"

1955 Dell First Edition #68 Paperback Original

BARREN LAND MURDERS
1940
6/40 - 9/40
Adventure magazine
(pulp - 4 part serial)
as "Spy of the North"

aka: BARREN LAND SHOWDOWN

1951 Gold Medal #159 paperback original

1957 Gold Medal #720 reprint

RAW LAND
1940
10/5/40 - 11/16/40
Western Story mag
(pulp - 7 part serial)
as "Gunsmoke Graze"

1952 Dell #562 Paperback Original

1956 Dell #895 reprint

GUNMAN'S CHANCE
1941
3/15/41 - 4/26/41
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)
as "Blood on the Moon"

1941, 1942 Sun Dial Press (reprint)

1944 Armed Services Edition #670

1948 Bantam #204 1st paperback edition

2010 Leisure Books #0-8439-6302-6 movie cover

HARDCASE
1941
4/14/41 - 6/7/41
Chicago Tribune
(serial)

1942, 1943 Sun Dial Press (reprint)

1947 Bantam #112 1st paperback edition

1955 Bantam #1373 reprint

RIDE THE MAN DOWN
1942
4/4/42 - 5/16/42
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)

1942 Doubleday Double D Western 1st Edition

1947 Bantam #82 1st paperback edition

1952 Bantam #1063 reprint

1961 Bantam #A2183 reprint

SUNSET GRAZE
1942
(pulp - serial ??)
as "The Sunset Graze"

aka: THE RUSTLERS

1942, 1943 Sun Dial Press (reprint)

1949 Bantam #702 1st paperback edition

RAMROD
1943
3/27/43 - 5/8/43
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)

1943 Macmillan 1st Edition

1945 Armed Services Edition #874

1946 Popular Library #114 1st paperback edition

1951 Popular Library #346 reprint

AND THE WIND BLOWS FREE
1943
2/10/43 - 2/25/43
Short Stories mag
(pulp - 2 part serial)

1945 Macmillan 1st Edition

1950 Bantam #748 1st paperback edition

1955 Bantam #1293 reprint

1959 Bantam #1916 reprint

CORONER CREEK
1945
5/19/45 - 7/7/45
Saturday Evening Post
(8 part serial)

1946 Macmillan 1st Edition

1948 Bantam #140 1st paperback edition

TRUMPETS WEST
1945
7/45
Argosy magazine

1951 Dell 10 cent Book #1 paperback original

FIDDLEFOOT
1946
3/2/46 - 4/13/46
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)

1949 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1950 Bantam #854 1st paperback edition

1952 Bantam #1105 reprint

STATION WEST
1946
10/19/46 - 11/30/46
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)

1947 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1948 Bantam #139 1st paperback edition

1955 Bantam #1356 reprint

HIGH VERMILION
1947
5/31/47 - 7/5/47
Saturday Evening Post
(6 part serial)

aka: HANDS OFF!

1948 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1949 Bantam #703 1st paperback edition

1956 Bantam #1446 reprint

AMBUSH
1948
12/25/48 - 2/12/49
Saturday Evening Post
(8 part serial)

1949, 1950 Houghton Mifflin Co. Book Club Edition

1950 Bantam #853 1st paperback edition

1952 Bantam #1104 reprint

VENGEANCE VALLEY
1949
12/3/49 - 1/14/50
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)

1950 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1951 Bantam #911 1st paperback edition

1956 Bantam #1485 reprint

PLAY A LONE HAND
1950
11/4/50 - 12/9/50
Collier's magazine
(6 part serial)

1951 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1952 Bantam #1075 1st paperback edition

SADDLE BY STARLIGHT
1952
6/7/52 - 7/19/52
Collier's magazine
(7 part serial)

1952 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1952 Ballantine #4 Paperback Original

1953 Ballantine #4 reprint (variant cover)

1959 Bantam #A2036 reprint

SILVER ROCK
1953
8/21/53 - 10/2/53
Collier's magazine
(7 part serial)

1953 Houghton Mifflin Co. 1st Edition

1953 Ballantine #43 Paperback Original

1959 Bantam #A2006 reprint

RIMROCK
1955
4/16/55 - 5/28/55
Saturday Evening Post
(7 part serial)
as "Fool's Treasure"

1955 Random House 1st Edition

1956 Bantam #1466 1st paperback edition

THREE COMPLETE WESTERN NOVELS
1956
omnibus volume
3 complete Western novels

1956 Bantam #F1417 PBO 1st thus

THE WHIP
1956
12/21/56 - 1/4/57
Collier's magazine
2/9/57
Saturday Evening Post
(3 part serial)
as "Doom Cliff"
Note: Collier's magazine folded before part 3 was released, SEP released the 3rd part.

1957 Bantam #1668 paberback original

SUMMER OF THE SMOKE
1958
Paperback Original

1958 Bantam #1866 paberback original

FIRST CLAIM
1960
Paperback Original

1960 Bantam #A2057 paberback original

DESSERT CROSSING
1961
Paperback Original

1961 Bantam #A2330 paberback original

LAST HUNT
1962
4/29/62 - 5/13/62
New York Daily News
(serial)

1962 Bantam #A2437 paperback original

THE SOME-DAY COUNTRY
1963
New York Daily News
(serial)

1964 Bantam #J2713 paperback original

FIRST CAMPAIGN
1965

1965 Bantam #J2886 paperback original

PAPER SHERIFF
1965
7/11/65 - ?/?/?
New York Daily News
(serial)

1966 Bantam #F3144 paperback original

THE PRIMROSE TRY
1967

1967 Bantam #F3349 paperback original

DEBT OF HONOR
1967

1967, Bantam #F3558 paperback original

THE GUNS OF HANGING LAKE
1968

1968 Bantam #F3783 paperback original

DONOVAN'S GUN
1968

1968 Bantam #F3846 paperback original

THE DESERTERS
1969

1969 Bantam #H4734 paperback original

THREE FOR THE MONEY
1970

1970 Bantam #H5563 paperback original

MAN FROM THE DESERT
1971

1971 Bantam #S6914 paperback original

THE OUTRIDER
1972

1972 Bantam #S7386 paperback original

The Outrider

THE STALKERS
1973

1973 Bantam #S7619 paperback original

THE MAN FROM TWO RIVERS
1974

1974 Bantam #N8524 paperback original

TROUBLE COUNTRY
1976

1976 Bantam #Q6487 paperback original

A MAN COULD GET KILLED
1980

1980 Jove Books #Y5588 paperback original

LUKE SHORT'S BEST OF THE WEST
1983
Short Story Collection
(12 stories) includes:
Pull Your Freight!
Gunslick Gold
Lead Won't Lie
The Warning
Bounty Hunter
The Doctor Keeps A Promise
High Grade
Trumpets West
Court Day
Payoff at Rain Peak
Rough Shod
Top Hand

1983 Arbor House 1st Edition

1986 Zebra Books #1443

THE MARSHAL OF VENGEANCE
1986
Short Story Collection
(6 stories) includes:
The Marshal of Vengeance
The Ghost Deputy of Doubletree
Death Cold-Decks a Tinhorn
War Fires Light the Stage Trails
Hideout
Exile

1986 Critic's Choice #55547 paperback original

FLOOD WATER ----- is a reprint of HARD MONEY
GAUNTLET OF FIRE
THE GOLD RUSTLERS ----- is a reprint of BOLD RIDER
HURRICANE RANGE ----- is a reprint of WAR ON THE CIMARRON
MISERY LODE
TRIGGER COUNTRY
WEARY RANGE ----- is a reprint of THE BRANDED MAN
WESTERN FREIGHT ----- is a reprint of DEAD FREIGHT FOR PIUTE

Below is a list of four Bantam paperback original short story collections edited by Luke Short, though his name is shown boldly on the front cover and spine of each book, none of them contain stories by Luke Short. I have also included in this list a short story collection edited by Don Ward, because Luke Short's name is shown on the cover of the book as an endorsement.

CATTLE, GUNS & MEN
1955 - Short story anthology
Stories by:
Bennet Foster "The Zinnia Kid's Shotgun Round-Up"
Jack Schaefer "Hanging's for the Lucky"
Thomas Thompson "Son of a King"
Elmore Leonard "You Never See Apaches"
Will C. Brown "He's Death on Nesters"
Verne Athanas "Maverick in the Bunkhouse"
L. L. Foreman "The Rawhiders"
S. V. Seavy "Ride the Wild One"
Norman A. Fox "Hell Waits at Dodge!"
Dee Linford "Gunman's Errand"

1955 Bantam #1346 paberback original

FRONTIER: 150 YEARS OF THE WEST
1955 - Short story anthology
Stories by:
Bill Gulick "Indian Trap"
Bennett Foster "Woman Business" & "You'll Have to Kill Me First"
N. B. Stone, Jr. "Oregon - or Starve!"
Verne Athanas "The Pioneers"
Will C. Brown "Red Sand" & "Trail Man's Bluff"
Allan R. Bosworth "Stampede"
Marvin DeVries "Outlaws in Town"
Elmore Leonard "Saint with a Six-Gun"
Dee Linford "Bunch Quitter"
N. E. Snoke "Ride the Red Killer"
C. Lyn Fox "My Brother Bill"
John Cunningham "Outlaw's Partner"

1955 Bantam #A1401 paberback original

COLT'S LAW
1957 - Short story anthology
Stories by:
Will C. Brown "Drive to Glory"
Thomas Thompson "That Bloody Day in Matamorro"
Frank Bonham "Loaded"
Dan Cushman "Killers' Country!"
John M. Cunningham "McCreery and the Colonel's Shirt"
Van Cort "Blood Money"
Elmore Leonard "Moment of Vengeance"
David Markson "White Apache"
Bennett Foster "The Outlaws Are in Town"

1957 Bantam #1680 paberback original

RAWHIDE AND BOB-WIRE
1958 - Short story anthology
Stories by:
Conrad Richter "As it Was in the Beginning"
Frank Condon "Where There's Gold"
Peter Dawson "The Homestead"
W. R. Burnett "Nobody's All Bad"
Frank Gruber "The Road to Nowhere"
Ernest Haycox "Night on Don Jaime Street"
Bob Obets "The Deserters"
Allan LeMay "Under Fire"
Ross Santee "With Bated Breath"
H. L. Davis "Flying Switch"

1958 Bantam #1865 paberback original

BRANDED WEST
1958 - Short story anthology
Stories by:
Todhunter Ballard "The Builder of Murderer's Bar"
S. Omar Barker "Trail Fever"
Tom W. Blackburn "Pelado"
Will C. Brown "The Marshal and the Mob"
Peter Dawson "Long Gone"
Allan Vaughan Elston "Message Delayed"
Hal G. Evarts "Legend in the Dust"
Bennett Foster "Killer at Bay"
Kenneth Fowler "The Law and the Gun"
Bill Gulick "The Marriage of Moon Wind"
Elmore Leonard "The Hard Way"
Rutherford Montgomery "The Voice of Jerome Kildee"
William Byron Mowery "Corporal Nat"
Stephen Payne "Shaggy Lays Off"

1958 Signet #S1533 paberback original

"Guns For a Peacemaker"

1936

2/36

Star Western magazine

(short story)

1995 Gramercy Books 1st Edition

"Bandit Lawman"

1937

3-4/37

Big-Book Western magazine

(short story)

1995 Barricade Books 1st Edition

"Court Day"
1939
5/20/39
Collier's magazine
(short story)

1982 Mentor Books #ME2086 paperback original

"The Doctor Keeps a Promise""

1940

3/2/40

Collier's magazine

(short story)

1948 Bantam #256 paberback original

"Top Hand"

1943

10/30/43

Saturday Evening Post

(short story)

1948 Bantam #200 paberback original

1960 Random House 1st Edition

1982 Arbor House 1st Edition

1994 Galahad Books 1st Edition

"Trumpets West"
1945
7/45
Argosy magazine
(short novel)

Scholastic Book #TK939 - 1968 1st printing

"The Drummer"

1960

Rawhiders & Renegades (The Fall Roundup)

Dell #D367

(A NEW short story)

Not previously published. This story was produced on TV by the Four Star Playhouse on the Bristol-Myers Stage 7 Show on June 12, 1955, under the title of "Traveling Salesman"

Dell Books #D367 - 1960 1st printing

Back Cover

"Pull Your Freight!"

1956

Riders West

Dell First Edition #A110

(A NEW short story)

1956 Dell First Edition #A110 Paperback Original

"The Hangman"
1967
Iron Men and Silver Stars
Fawcett Gold Medal #T2701
(A variant version of this story appeard under the title "Pull Your Freight!" in Riders West in 1956)

1967 Fawcett Gold Medal #T2701

SHOW THE COLORS
1989 (March)
Paperback Original

1989 Dell #20267 1st Edition paperback original

THE JACKLEG SHERIFF

1989 (April)

Paperback Original

1989 Dell #20305 1st Edition paperback original