Frank Bonham (February 25,
1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
– December 16,
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicentenn ...
) was an author of
Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referr ...
and
young adult novels
Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults.
The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...
. Bonham wrote 48 novels, as well as TV scripts.
Bonham was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He was a
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
graduate.
Bonham was known for his works for
young adult
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
s written in the 1960s, with tough, realistic urban settings, including ''
The Nitty Gritty'' and ''
Durango Street'', as well as for his westerns. Several of his works have been published posthumously, many of which were drawn from his
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
stories, originally published between 1941 and 1952. ''Durango Street'' was an
ALA Notable Book.
Bonham died on his ranch in Arizona.
Novels
*''Lost Stage Valley'' (1948)
*''Snaketrack'' (1951)
*''Blood on the Land'' (1952)
*''Night Raid'' (1954)
*''The Feud at Spanish Ford'' (1954)
*''Rawhide Guns'' (1955)
*''Border Guns'' (1956)
*''Defiance Mountain'' (1956)
*''Hardrock'' (1958)
*''Tough Country'' (1958)
*''Last Stage West'' (1959)
*''The Outcast of Crooked River'' (1959)
*''Sound of Gunfire'' (1959)
*''Burma Rifles: A story of Merrill's Marauders'' (1960)
*''One for Sleep'' (1960)
*''The Skin Game'' (1961)
*''The Wild Breed'' (1962)
*''War Beneath the Sea'' (1962)
*''Trago'' (1962)
*''By Her Own Hand'' (1963)
*''Deepwater Challenge'' (1963)
*''Honor Bound'' (1963)
*''The Loud, Resounding Sea'' (1963)
*''Cast a Long Shadow'' (1964)
*''Logan's Choice'' (1964)
*''Speedway Contender'' (1964)
*''Durango Street'' (1965)
*''Mystery in Little Tokyo'' (1966)
*''Mystery of the Red Tide'' (1966)
*''The Ghost Front'' (1968)
*''Mystery of the Fat Cat'' (1968)
*''Nitty Gritty'' (1968)
*''The Vagabundos'' (1969)
*''Viva Chicano'' (1970)
*''Chief'' (1971)
*''Cool Cat'' (1972)
*''The Friends of the Loony Lake Monster'' (1972)
*''A Dream of Ghosts'' (1973)
*''Golden Bees of Tulami'' (1974)
*''The Missing Persons League'' (1976)
*''Hey, Big Spender'' (1976)
*''Bold Passage'' (1977)
*''Rascals from Haskell's Gym'' (1977)
*''Devilhorn'' (1978)
*''The Forever Formula'' (1979)
*''Break for the Border'' (1980)
*''Fort Hogan'' (1980)
*''Gimme an H, Gimme an E, Gimme an L, Gimme A P'' (1980)
*''Premonitions'' (1984)
*''The Eye of the Hunter'' (1989)
*''Burn Him Out'' (1998)
*''Furnace Flat'' (2000)
Short Story Collections
*''The Cañon of Maverick Brands: Western Stories'' (2001)
*''Stage Trails West: Western Stories'' (2002)
*''The Last Mustang: Western Stories'' (2003)
*''Outcasts of Rebel Creek: A Western Quartet'' (2004)
*''Dakota Man: Western Stories'' (2007)
*''Devil's Graze: Western Stories'' (2008)
*''The Dark Border: A Western Quartet'' (2009)
References
External links
Bibliography at Fantastic Fiction
1988 deaths
1914 births
American writers of young adult literature
American children's writers
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
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