When teachers began inviting Erickson to their schools, Hank found his most eager fans. Since then, every Hank book has been recorded, making Hank the longest-running successful children's series on audio, ever. Not long after that first printing, the book was recorded word-for-word on audiotape. So in 1983, he self-published 2,000 copies of The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog, and they sold out in 6 weeks. When Erickson started getting 'Dear Hank' letters, he knew he was onto something. Erickson began selling books from his pickup truck at cattle auctions, rodeos, and just about any place cowboys gathered. An obvious favorite of readers, Erickson included two of Hank's humorous stories in Maverick Book's first publishing effort, The Devil in Texas (1982). Hank the Cowdog made his debut in the pages of The Cattleman, a magazine for adults. 'I was working out in the cold there was 8 inches of snow on the ground,' he says, 'I had just gotten a couple of rejection slips from New York publishers, and I had a wife with two kids and another one on the way.' So, with $2,000 in borrowed money, Erickson started his own publishing company, appropriately named Maverick Books. In 1982, however, Erickson was at his rope's end. This mixture of true-life experience, fun, and adventure has gained Hank a loyal following of thousands of children and adults. Hank and his sidekick Drover are dogs Erickson worked with on the range. He began to publish short stories in 1967 while working full-time as a cowboy, farmhand, and ranch manager in Texas and Oklahoma. Erickson graduated from the University of Texas in 1966 and studied for two years at Harvard Divinity School. The road to stardom for Hank, however, wasn't all dog biscuits and gravy. Publishers Weekly calls Hank a 'grassroots publishing phenomena,' and USA Today says this is 'the best family entertainment in years.' This series of books and tapes is in school libraries across the country, has sold more than 9 million copies, is a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and is the winner of the 1993 Audie for Outstanding Children's Series from the Audio Publisher's Association. Through the eyes of Hank the Cowdog, a smelly, smart-aleck Head of Ranch Security, Erickson gives readers a glimpse of daily life on a ranch in the West Texas Panhandle. Erickson, a former cowboy and ranch manager, is gifted with a storyteller's knack for spinning a yarn.

Slim's Good-bye by John R. Erickson