Beau L'Amour Answers Frequently Asked Questions
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: 
In Volume 2:
“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."
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“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."
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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. |
"No Traveller Returns" is a complete novel written by Louis L'Amour and "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! |
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.
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