Staff report written from press release
Bloomington, Indiana – September 26, 2023
Johnny D. Boggs, the distinguished author with nine Spur Awards and 15 Spur finalist honors, is set to captivate literary enthusiasts with his latest book, “Longhorns East.”
The acclaimed novelist will share insights and autograph copies of his new book on Monday, October 2, at 6:30 p.m., at Morgenstern Books in Bloomington.
“Longhorns East,” published by Kensington and priced at $14.95, transports readers back to the 1850s, immersing them in the cattle drive journey undertaken by Illinois cattleman Tom Candy Ponting. This tale unfolds as the cattle herd embarks on a historic journey from Texas to the bustling streets of New York City. The trail led them across the Wabash River at Attica, Indiana, and on to Muncie, Indiana. The cattle were taken by rail from Muncie to New Jersey before Ponting swam the herd across the Hudson River, ultimately reaching their destination at the New York stockyards.
New York Times bestselling author Sandra Dallas heaped praise upon Boggs’ work, writing in her Denver Post review, “‘Longhorns East’ is as expansive a narrative as the vast expanse of Texas itself. Boggs, an artist in the realm of Western literature, elevates the genre with his storytelling prowess, and ‘Longhorns East’ may very well be his magnum opus.”
A native of South Carolina, Johnny D. Boggs transitioned from a successful career in sports journalism at the Dallas Times Herald and Fort Worth Star-Telegram, spanning from 1984 to 1998, to become a prolific author. His literary achievements include Spur Award-winning titles such as “A Thousand Texas Longhorns” (Pinnacle, 2020), chronicling Nelson Story’s iconic 1866 cattle drive from Texas to Montana; “Return to Red River” (Pinnacle, 2016), a sequel to Borden Chase’s celebrated novel that inspired the 1948 Western film classic “Red River,” starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift; and “Camp Ford” (Five Star, 2005), a narrative that revolves around a remarkable baseball game between Union prisoners of war and Confederate guards at an East Texas POW camp near the Civil War’s end. His novel “Spark on the Prairie” (Signet, 2003), which revisits the gripping 1871 Jacksboro, Texas, murder trial of Kiowa leaders Satanta and Big Tree, earned him the prestigious Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
In addition to his novels, Johnny D. Boggs has made contributions to film history with publications like “Jesse James and the Movies,” “Sports on Film,” and “American Newspaper Journalists on Film: Depictions of the Press during the Sound Era.”
For further details about Johnny D. Boggs and his works, please visit www.JohnnyDBoggs.com or www.MorgensternBooks.com.
