The Tenderfoot

Versatility was a key talent of author Frederick Faust using the pseudonym Max Brand. Two of his top selling western novels, The Untamed and Bull Hunter, are Blackstone audiobooks narrated by John Rayburn. This story is part of this prodigious output, a tale of a hapless youth seemingly with no talents or work ability. He fell into bad hands and was captured, accused of murder, and scheduled for execution. A pardon led to freedom and a happy ending. Faust used twenty-one different pen names because one of his outlets, Western Story, would sometimes print several of his stories in one issue and it was thought using the same name for all of them would be poor marketing. Faust had labored on brutal ranches in California during an orphaned boyhood. This led to his vast knowledge of what it was like in the days of the old West and its inhabitants. He was able to bring to literary life an exciting period of the nation’s history. Writing literally millions of words he became known as “The King of the Pulps.” He wrote not only westerns, but such diversified tales as legends, allegories, romance, even some poetry. A restless nature led to him becoming a war correspondent in WWII when he was fifty-years-old. He went to the front in Italy, joining soldiers in rain and mud. He was hit by shrapnel during a battle and died of his wounds at age fifty-one. What you’re about to hear is one of his lesser known stories that ranks as a prime example of his stupendous ability.