The Ranchman

Charles Alden SeltzerProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 412K words
Chapters: 42

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Ranchman by Charles Alden SeltzerAuthor: Seltzer, Charles Alden, 1875-1942,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 25, 2011

Editor's review

The Ranchman is a Western novel by the American writer Charles Alden Seltzer, part of the ranch and frontier vein he was known for. Born in the United States in 1875, Seltzer was long known for Western novels, and his works mostly revolve around ranch life, character and frontier conflict. As a free public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it appears in the original English, and the barrier to reading lies in the language rather than the cost of access. For readers who enjoy traditional Western stories, it offers the typical narrative of ranch life, confrontations between characters and frontier order, with brisk pacing and direct plot development, making it a light choice for commuting or leisure reading. Note that this is an early Western genre novel, and its characterization and values bear the marks of its time; readers may treat it as a sample of early twentieth-century American popular literary taste without judging it by contemporary standards. It is advisable to read the opening chapters first to see whether the narrative style suits your taste before deciding whether to read it through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Genre readers who love traditional American Western novels
Leisure readers who want an easy English public-domain novel
Readers interested in ranch and frontier life
Readers who want to understand early American popular literature

Not a good fit for

Readers of serious fiction who prefer literary depth and complex structure
Readers sensitive to Western genre conventions and the limitations of the era
Readers with weak English reading skills who need annotations

Reading tips

Read the first two or three chapters to get a feel for the pacing and character relationships before deciding to read through or select chapters
Proceed chapter by chapter, and after each one briefly note the characters' positions and the progress of the conflict
When you meet unfamiliar words, first guess from context, and look them up together afterwards if they do not hinder the main thread
Read alongside similar Western novels and note the shared and differing genre elements

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners?

Not really for complete beginners or elementary readers. It is the original English text; the narrative is direct, but it still contains early English expressions and Western life vocabulary without annotations. It suits readers with intermediate English reading ability who can follow the context.

Is it a series or a standalone story?

According to the available information, this is one Western novel by Seltzer, and the materials do not indicate that it belongs to a series that must be read in order. Readers can start directly with this book without prior knowledge of other works.

What is the reading experience like as a public-domain eBook?

The Project Gutenberg edition is mainly the plain-text English original, free to obtain and easy to read on various devices, but it has no hardcover layout or detailed annotations. It suits readers who value the content and can accept a plain layout; try the opening pages before reading.

Comments

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About the author

Charles Alden Seltzer Author · American · 1875–1942

Charles Alden Seltzer (1875–1942) was an American writer of Western fiction, born in Janesville, Wisconsin, and died in Cleveland, Ohio. In his early years he drifted through various jobs and kept writing for more than a decade before getting published. Over his lifetime he wrote about forty Western novels and a large number of short stories. Set mostly on the Western frontier, his works are tightly plotted and action-driven; representative titles include The Two-Gun Man, The Trail to Yesterday, and The Range Boss, and several were adapted into films. The library holds ten of his works, commonly classified under inspirational growth. In his later years he served as mayor of North Olmsted, Ohio.