Beau L'Amour Answers Frequently Asked Questions

Is all of the material in Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures Volumes 1 & 2 unfinished?

The short answer is no. Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures Volumes 1 & 2 include completed treatments and stories. Here are the tables of contents describing what is in each book.

Volume 1:

  1. What is Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures?
  2. Lost Treasures Intro Volume One
  3. Jeremy Loccard: The Beginning of a Western Horror Novel
  4. Trail of Tears: The First 7 Chapters of a Historical Novel
  5. A Woman Worth Having: A Treatment for an Adventure Story
  6. Johnny Banta: Three Beginnings to a Western Novel
  7. Java Dix: The Beginning of a Crime Story
  8. Investment In Character: A Treatment for a Western Story
  9. The Golden Tapestry: The Beginning of an Adventure Novel and a Treatment
  10. Louis Riel: The Beginning of a Historical Novel
  11. Llano Estacado: The Beginning of a Western Novel
  12. Shelby Tucker: The Beginning of a Western Novel
  13. Citizen of the Darker Streets: The Beginning of an Adventure Story
  14. Where Flows the Bangkok: A Treatment for an Adventure Story
  15. Vanderdyke: The Beginning of a Historical Novel
  16. Mike Kerleven: Notes for a Crime Story
  17. Stan Brodie: The Beginning of a Western Novel
  18. Jack Cross: The Beginning of an Adventure Story
  19. China King: The Beginning of a Crime Story
  20. Tap Talharan: The Beginning of a Western Story
  21. The Dark Hole: The Beginning of a Crime Story
  22. Samsara: Three Beginnings to an Adventure Novel and a Treatment
  23. Journey to Aksu: The Beginning of an Adventure Novel

In Volume 2:

  1. What is Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures?
  2. Lost Treasures Volume Two Intro
  3. The Bastard of Brignogan: Two Beginnings to a Historical Novel
  4. Mac Ross: The Beginning of a Western Novel
  5. Dam and Timber: Notes for an Adventure Story
  6. The Quest for the Bear: A Complete Adventure Story
  7. Kills Bear: The First Three Chapters of a Frontier Novel
  8. Ben Mallory: The First Seventeen Chapters of an Adventure Novel
  9. The Death of Peter Talon: The Beginning of a Western Novel
  10. The Jade Eaters: A Treatment for a Motion Picture
  11. The Freeze: The Beginning of a Science Fiction Story
  12. Ben Milo: The Beginning of a Crime Story
  13. In The Measure Of Time: A “Complete” Adventure Story
  14. The Papago Kid: The Beginning of a Western Novel
  15. Krak des Chevaliers: A Treatment for an Adventure Story
  16. The World of Ibn Batuta: A Proposal for a Non Fiction Book
  17. Shanty: Two Beginnings to a Western Novel
  18. Krag Moran: The Beginning of a Boxing Story
  19. Stan Duval: The Beginning of a Crime Story
  20. Lowie: The Beginning of a Western Story
  21. South of Panama: A Treatment for an Adventure Story
  22. The Rock Man: Notes for a Television Series
  23. Borden Chantry II: The First Ten Chapters of a Western Novel

Really . . . ???
That's where the story ends?

“Yes.  That is really where that story ended.”  Sometimes materials in this book will end in mid sentence or thought.  Louis either knew what he was going to write next and so didn’t need to hint at what it would be or he didn’t know what he was going to write next and he ripped the page out of the typewriter and moved on to something else."

 

Will you ever complete any of these stories?

“No. With a possible few exceptions, we are not going to have anyone finish these manuscripts or otherwise change them from what you see here.  We are intentionally leaving this as the final form for many of Louis L’Amour’s unfinished materials."


Is "everything" in the Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures books? What else can we look forward to?

The Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures Project includes not only the three books AND all of the Bonus Material Post Scripts which will be added to many of Louis’ already published works, but also a great many additional items which will be made available exclusively on the web site.

Louis experimented with various genres of fiction including Science Fiction, Horror, Historical and Contemporary fiction. He wrote down literally thousands of one or two line notes, quotes, or ideas for future reference. For many years, he kept a record of all of the books he read. He started story after story only to move on for one reason or another reason often after only a few lines of IBM Selectric ink had reached the page.

Much of the amazing wealth of ideas and information Louis left us with, while very intriguing, were too short, or too inconclusive, to be appropriate for the new Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures books.  Some of these drafts and notes were also not related to any previously published stories and so can't be part of the Bonus Feature Post Scripts added to his already released books. We have reserved some of these fragments, "pieces of Louis' mind," lists of books read, photos and memorabilia for this special section of Website Exclusives.


Is "No Traveler Returns" unfinished?

"No Traveller Returns" is a complete novel written by Louis L'Amour and
Beau L’Amour.

"No Traveller Returns" was written in pieces between 1938 and 1942 but was never fused into a whole and complete novel.  With the original elements as his foundation, and using his in depth knowledge of his father’s life and work, Beau L’Amour completed the book, filling in the gaps and continuing the trajectory that had been set for many of the characters and themes.

"No Traveller Returns" is both a work of multigenerational co-authorship and forensic restoration.  Truly a treasure hunt where the secrets shared between father and son revealed the final destination and lead to the "X" that marks the spot!


What is Beau L'Amour's role in the Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures Project?

After his father’s death, Beau L'Amour waded into Louis' office and took on the monumental task of sorting, cataloging, preserving and archiving all of Louis' personal effects as well as anything and everything related to his professional life. Notes, journals, articles, maps, research, books, treatments, outlines, contracts, magazines, newsletters, and artifacts all had to be organized in some coherent manner. From this wealth of information, Beau began to see a pattern which began to lend some insight into the workings of Louis’ mind. Within that myriad of discoveries were the materials that form the Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures project.

Beau has woven together the contents for Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures Volumes One and Two by mixing his father’s writings with a series of personal essays expressing his in-depth knowledge of his father’s life, memories and experiences in the publishing business.  This commentary includes information from Louis' notes on the various stories as wel l as his personal journals, correspondence, and conversations to give you the most complete picture of his father’s life and work.

In many ways the Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures project is the story of Louis’ professional and creative life detailed story by story.

Will every Louis L'Amour book contain a Lost Treasures Bonus Material Postscript?


No.  We don't have information on everything that Louis ever wrote.  We are trying to dig up as much as possible, and it is an ongoing job, but we also don't want people to spend their money frivolously.  If we think we have an amount of material that is large enough or interesting enough to include as a Postscript we will publish it, and if we don't, we won't.  Sometimes Postscript material that relates to a number of books may be all published in the most likely title.  For example all the notes, sequel drafts and the like concerning the character of Lance Kilkenny will be published in the Postscript to the novel Kilkenny rather than broken up into small amounts and released as part of each of the many Kilkenny titles.

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