Piccadilly Publishing / Who is Tom Buchanan?

JUST WHO IS TOM BUCHANAN?

Tom Buchanan is a gentle giant of a man—coming in at six foot six—of Irish descent. Born and raised on a ranch where his father is killed by bank robbers. In his 1956 debut, The Name's Buchanan, the 30-year-old loner returns from Mexico where he'd spent two years as a mercenary in Mexican revolution. At his core, he is a peace-loving man, minds his own business, isn't overly ambitious, but life has left him riddled with knife and bullet scars.

As the loner with the ready smile, he moves across the West, forever heading in a laconic pace toward San Francisco. At every turn, he finds himself placed in situations where he's pushed to his limits. The nice, easy-going guy gives way to one huge, remorseless destroyer of evil.

Buchanan remains outside of society. As in other westerns, we are reminded that "civilization" is in the East. Society in the West lives in the little towns that have sprung up in the westward post Civil War surge. Between them a man travels alone in an existential wilderness where there is no good and evil, only life and death. The hero finds evil in the pockets of society.

Buchanan might be flippant but it's a flippancy from a man secure with himself, a man who knows who he is, has simple but well-defined set of values and wants simply what is right and just.

His creator, William Ard, was in fact was fully aware of the duality of the romantic and realistic hero. In The Name's Buchanan, Maria Del Cuervo sees him as a knight. The Indian girl sees a man. Ard neatly slices right down the middle of the two extremes in a speech Buchanan makes to those trying to honor him: ". . . the truth is, as I know Tom Buchanan, he's not quite so worthless as Lew Agry painted him . . .and not nearly the man the Del Cuervo family would like to imagine. Buchanan is a bum. He's a restless, rootless drifter who knows a little bit about everybody else's business but not one damn thing about his own."

Buchanan seems a natural extension of Zane Grey's Lassiter and The Virginian. He's a ragged knight, destined to wander the West's dusty trails, remaining poor and bound to assist the helpless.

William Ard was the author of the first six Buchanan novels. Although the last chapter of Buchanan on the Prod was actually written by Robert Silverberg. Both Brian Garfield and William R. Cox continued the series until its end in 1986.

THE BUCHANAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

As Written by William Ard and Published by Fawcett Gold Medal Books

The Name's Buchanan (1956) was originally titled Buchanan

Buchanan Says No (1956) was originally titled Buchanan's Last Fight

One Man Massacre (1957), was originally titled Buchanan Gets Mad

Buchanan Gets Mad (1958), was originally titled The Wild Man

Buchanan's Revenge, (1959), was originally titled Buchanan Comes A'Killing

Buchanan on the Prod, (1959) was the only book whose title remained the same from contract to publication. The last chapter of which was written by Robert Silverberg.
As Written by Brian Garfield

Buchanan's Gun (May 01, 1976)
As Written by William R. Cox currently in digital editions by Piccadilly Publishing

Buchanan's War (1970)

Trap for Buchanan (1971)

Buchanan's Gamble (1972)

Buchanan's Siege (1972)

Buchanan on the Run (1973)

Get Buchanan (1973)

Buchanan Takes Over (1974)

Buchanan Calls the Shots (1975)

Buchanan's Big Showdown (1976)

Buchanan's Texas Treasure (1976)

Buchanan's Stolen Railway (1978)

Buchanan's Manhunt (1978)

Buchanan's Range War (1979)

Buchanan's Big Fight (1981)

Buchanan's Black Sheep (1984)

Buchanan's Stage Line (1986)

*With thanks to Dennis Miller

JUST WHO IS TOM BUCHANAN?

THE BUCHANAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

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All rights reserved 2019
For information, please contact the webmaster