A member of the Texas A&M University Consortium

McMurry University, Box 637

Abilene, Texas 79697

(325) 793-4682 w Fax: (325) 793-4754

Storyteller captures the magic of simpler time

Biscuits O’Bryan: Texas Storyteller

By Monte Jones

5x7. 102 pp.

ISBN 1-880510-91-X $18.95 cloth

The character of Biscuits O’Bryan, Texas storyteller and cook for the I.O. Everybody Ranch, was created nearly twenty years ago by Monte Jones. At the time, Jones was rector of the Episcopal church in Sonora and helped launch a civic project to boost the local economy through an outdoor dinner theater with music and storytelling.

Jones has had a split personality ever since, and Biscuits O’Bryan has gone on to become a favorite in school classrooms, Chamber of Commerce banquets, the National Cowboy Symposium, and other venues. In 2003, Biscuits received the Will Rogers Award as Outstanding Cowboy Storyteller/Humorist by the Academy of Western Artists.

In this collection of more-or-less true stories, Jones (aka Biscuits) captures the magic of what it was like to grow up in West Texas in a simpler era when, with a little imagination, children could have the run of the world just beyond their back yard.

Monte, usually accompanied by cousin Don Odam, explored jungles, swam oceans, parachuted from fighter planes, and climbed skyscrapers – all without leaving the confines of San Angelo.

“Life was good,” Biscuits remembers. “We were happy. What more could anyone ask for?”

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the book or to interview the author, contact State House Press managing editor Carly Kahl at 325-793-4697 or ckahl@mcm.edu

State House Press is a member of the Texas A&M University Press Consortium and is operated by the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation in Abilene, Texas. For further information on Biscuits O’Bryan: Texas Storyteller or other State House Press titles, please contact Carly Kahl at (325) 793-4697, by e-mail at ckahl@mcm.edu or visit the web, www.tamu.edu/upress/MCWHINEY/mcgen.html