Ralph Compton the Palo Duro Trail

Ralph Compton stood six-foot-eight without his boots. He worked as a musician, a radio announcer, a songwriter, and a newspaper columnist. His first novel, The Goodnight Trail, was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for best debut novel. He was the USA Today bestselling author of the Trail of the Gunfighter series, the Border Empire series, the Sundown Rider series, and the Trail Drive series, among others.

Jory Sherman (1932–2014) was the Spur Award–winning author of hundreds of novels, including the westerns The Medicine Horn, Song of the Cheyenne, and the Pulitzer Prize–nominated Grass Kingdom. He was also the recipient of the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature.