By the Gun

The closing American frontier comes to grips with the encroaching forces of civilization in this compelling and historically accurate anthology by the author of Journal of the Gun Years. Central to most stories is the notion that civilization has brought with it a new sense of order that is in direct conflict with the previously existing one; now most gunfights are to establish or preserve one's personal sense of honor rather than to protect one's life. In one story, a young Easterner, enthralled by newspaper accounts of fast-gun heroes, is determined to make a name for himself as a gunslinger, only to pay for his recklessness with his life. In another story, a deranged gunman, unable to cope with a changing economic and social climate, holds a saloon hostage in a tense and eventually bloody standoff. A cycle of violence is set in motion in another story in which a chance gunfight marks its reluctant victor as a target for everyone who wishes to prove his hand is the fastest. Originally written in the mid-1950s, when Matheson was writing screenplays for television programs, including The Twilight Zone , these stories appear fresh, due in part to the spare prose and restrained use of action. (Feb.)