The Computer & The Cowboy

By C.A. Rodenberger, Ph. D.

Have you seen a beautiful color photo of Elmer Kelton projected on a large screen in an auditorium? I tagged along with my wife, who is a member, to the annual meeting of the Western Writers of America in June at Albuquerque. One of the meetings was dedicated to the use of the Internet for writers. The demonstration used a PC log-on to the Internet and the image was projected via an overhead projector onto a large screen. The session was entitled "Moseying the Internet," and had a panel of western writers discuss their use of the Internet. Several writers now have their own home pages with information about their books.

Last year at the meeting in E1 Paso, Elmer received the Spur award for best book from the governor's wife, Laura Bush. At the Albuquerque meeting I saw Elmer every day but could never talk to him because he was always surrounded by a crowd who wanted to talk to him or have him autograph his books that they had purchased.

When I returned home, I logged on the Internet and used the World Wide Web browser on AOL (America On-Line) by entering Elmer&Kelton into the search box. I hoped that the "&" would give me only references to Elmer, but it found every Kelton and every Elmer on the net, and there are a bunch of them. I chose the Talley Press-Elmer Kelton books. This screen came up with a good black and white photo of Elmer, which wasn't the one I had seen at the meeting. I found another button labeled Texas West, which sent me to the San Angelo Standard Times home page that has a complete section on Elmer. It lists all the recent stories that have run about him in the newspaper, lists other Internet sites such as Texas Monthly's Elmer Kelton page. They have a bulletin board where you can send your comments on his latest novel. They will post the comments on the board. You can e-mail Elmer at Texas West and he will answer your letters. I have a feeling that Elmer is going to be mighty busy when more of you get computers and find his page.

One disappointment was that when the large color photo

appeared on the screen, it wasn't Elmer. Photos on the Internet appear in segments that scroll down the screen. The fellow who shows up first is his son, Steve, then the screen fills in with Elmer sitting down at his old desk at the Livestock Weekly. The photo was a 1990 file picture by the Standard Times.

If you don't have that PC yet, you are missing out on the latest Elmer Kelton updates.