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THE STORY

Henry Handsome was an outlaw cowboy—at least that's how the legend goes. Henry Handsome Lived & Died examines the creation, evolution, proliferation, dissemination and degradation of American folklore. Through 30 different short stories, the character, vague idea, false memory, misattributed anecdote or influence of the titular Henry Handsome does everything from change the course of American media to sculpt modern day knowledge of manifest destiny. Together, the collection represents the stories that create and define a culture, how those stories are told, if they ever were to begin with—and if any of that matters at all.

“Henry Handsome Lived & Died retells the origins of American folklore—and makes up its own along the way.”

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THE AUTHOR

ELLIOT MATSON

Elliot Matson has always been a devotee of Western media. From Hondo to Lonesome Dove to Blazing Saddles he set out to re-examine the roll the telling—and retelling—of these same stories and tropes play in our culture. He wanted to take his character, Henry Handsome, an amalgamation of dozens of Western outlaw anti-heroes, sculpt him into existence, and then shatter him across time and space. The result is the fragmented, contradictory, falsified and spurious origins of a tall tale.

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THE SETTING

AMERICA, MOSTLY

Henry Handsome Lived & Died stretches the bounds of American mythology, telling and retelling bits and pieces of the same story across the country and over hundreds of years. From 19th-century New York on the verge of industrial upheaval to pre-colonial Utah, present-day Los Angeles to 18th-century North Carolina at the dawn of the Bible Belt, see how the character of Henry Handsome has been passed down transformed and skewed into our lives and the media we consume.

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THE STORIES

The 30 stories that make up Henry Handsome Lived & Died are a pastiche of genre, time periods, settings and characters. All intertwined, they are connected most through their contradictions. They are echoes and refractions, figments and anecdotal details examined through a kaleidoscope.

The Narrator Pulled Up a Stool

The Narrator sits down with you to chat about a commemorative Henry Handsome plaque in the California desert.

Carson Becker Got Abducted by Aliens

In the 1970s, in the kitschy Old West tourist town of Settlersville, CA, teen tour guide Carson Becker feels an odd gravitational pull to an outskirts building with ties to a notorious cult.

Memo Madrigal Broke His Arm in Seven Places

Life is hard in 1980s Wyoming for Nez Perce rodeo rider Joseph Their Many Bison. But a fortuitous accident of the rodeo’s star rider might give Joseph the big break he’s been hoping for.

Henry Handsome Salted the Great Salt Lake

Henry Handsome and the Handsome Gang hijack a locomotive full of East Coast bigwigs on their way to Promontory Summit, Utah, celebrating the terminus of the Transcontinental Railway.

Hobart Jenkins Played a Good Tune

Musical ethnographer Barrett Ford sits down to record old-timer Hobart Jenkins play some fiddle in his rickety Appalachian cabin in the 1950s.

Millie Beaufort Didn't Want Her Good Plates Taken

In 1857, Julius Beaufort collects trinkets for his time capsule in Seneca Village, New York City, while across town, Detective E.R. Stanton is on a manhunt for a murderer.

Alvin Goldstein Created the Best Ad Campaign of All Time

In 1950s Salt Lake City, UT, newly hired creative whiz, Alvin Goldstein, racks his brain to think of a brilliant campaign and mascot for the Great Salt Lake Salt Company.

Olivia Rickenbacker Sent a Text Message

In present-day San Francisco, CA, Ross tries to navigate office etiquette on the first day of his fancy new tech job.

Freddy Quigley Forgot the Twine

It’s winter 1990 in a desolate Manitoba cabin. Freddy Quigley and Rene Boucher took a young woman for ransom and things are going according to plan—until Freddy realizes he forgot something essential.

Henry Handsome Killed a Cavalry with a Single Bullet

The Narrator recaps the thrilling and steamy 2003 romance novel, Outlaw Desires, about two cowboys between a rock and a hard place.

Tito Berra Opened the Wrong Box of Cigars

Tito Berra loves his wife and his family. He just wants a little something for himself. But all the excitement over his friend’s gift of a box of genuine Hernán Guapo cigars vanishes when he opens them up.

Hank Hartford Rode a Log Down the Sultan River

1800s lumberjack, “Wenatchee Hank” Hartford, takes his buddy up on a drunken bet to ride a log down a river in Sultan, WA.

Danitra Rollins Didn't Come to Work on Monday

Giovana Johnston gets called up to the big leagues when she’s asked to temp PA on the set of the modern-day reboot of the 1980s advertising sitcom Golden Hour.

Ike Teraguchi Made Fools Out of Every Last One of 'Em

13-year-old Ike Teraguchi looks after his younger brother as they navigate Japanese-American internment in WWII-era Missoula, Montana.

Caleb Wilson Didn't Know What He'd Gotten Himself Into

Book-smart and street-dumb, Caleb Wilson sits in as his buddies in Albuquerque, NM, go over the plan to knock over a local gas station.

Archer Stevens Misplaced Abe Lincoln's Body for Six Hours

At the terminus of Lincoln’s 1865 multi-city funeral procession, Archer Stevens is hired to guard his beloved President’s body in the Springfield, IL, Town Square overnight. It’s easy-going until Archer wakes up from his unexpected nap and finds the casket is empty.

Kalin Chakravat Rode a Hurricane

In a Baton Rouge, LA, elder care home during a terrible hurricane, Amjad regales his fellow residents about a storm he witnessed just like it.

Henry Handsome Muddied the Mighty Mississippi

Henry Handsome robs a St. Louis, MO, bank in 1865 and escapes into the night. However, it happens to be the same night John Wilkes Booth decides to assassinate Lincoln and the heat is on both of the outlaws.

Jerry Rockheim Jr. Bought a New Pair of Slacks

Leon, a down-on-his-luck Chicago haberdashery salesman in the early 1900s gets the opportunity of a lifetime to be the spokesman for a new brand of whiskey.

Clint Horsnby Ended It All

Cincinnati, OH, children’s television star, Clint Hornsby, has a crisis of faith while filming his beloved show, Mr. Hornsby’s Sunday Stroll.

William Glendenning Met the Devil and Couldn't Stop Running Into Him

In late 18th-century Raleigh, NC, itinerant Methodist Reverend William Glendenning sees the unthinkable—and can’t unsee it.

Colonel Casey Muskogee Died in a Field Precisely at Noon on a Sunday

Colonel Casey Muskogee has dastardly outlaw Dwight Everly and his gang of bandits up against a wall out in the high desert of eastern Oregon.

Louise Fife Saw Jesus Christ in Her Flapjack

Jed lives a meaningless existence as a line cook in Sedro-Woolley, WA. That is, until he makes a flapjack that changes a woman’s life.

Montrose "Silvertooth" Ardenwald Bit Off a Man's Fingers Over a Game of Cards

Handsome Gang henchman, Silvertooth, plays cards with his boss and a traveling banker as a saloon in Colorado.

Elmer Elwood Edison Slept the Whole Day and Then Some

Elmer Elwood Edison works at a Memphis, TN, lumber yard in the early 20th-century. On account of his ailments and slight stature, though, he mostly sings and plays guitar to keep the boys’ spirits high.

Sag'ava'tupuy'chi Had a Vision and Nobody Cared Until They Did

Stoic Paiute man, Sag’ava’tupuy-chi, pleads with his tribal elders about a horrific omen he witnessed in a vision that could destroy their way of life irreparably.