February’s Read: There Ain’t No Such Animal and Other East Texas Tales by Bill Brett
by Bill Brett
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The stories in this book are the kind you might hear sitting on the porch past dark listening to distant hounds after a fox in the southeast Texas bottoms, tales with some truth and some lies and much pleasure take in the telling and the listening, tales with a strong sense of place and people, rooted firmly in the oral tradition.
Sure enough, there “ain’t no such animal” as a completely honest man, as the title story shows. Other stories tell of justice as swift and sure as a mule’s kick, of epic brawls and the trials of courtship, of poachers, politicians, and preachers, of hogs and dogs and horse traders, of good neighboring and bad blood, of life and death and youth and age in southeast Texas as it was early in the twentieth century.
In the tradition of Frank Dobie and Fred Gipson, Bill Brett writes with the natural humor and wisdom of the folk themselves. His stories will delight anyone with an interest in folk life or with the inclination to stop and “set a spell” and listen to a good yarn.
About the Author:
BILL BRETT has been postmaster of Hull, Texas, oil-well roughneck, cowhand, farmer, rancher, deputy sheriff, truck driver, and “anything else that would help raise a family.” His book The Stolen Steers received the Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Western Heritage Award for folklore.
![[Laura Yohualtlahuiz] wears an elaborate Mexica danza headdress with long feathers radiating outward in orange, red, and pink alongside brown-and-white patterned feathers. A beaded headband with colorful floral and geometric designs frames her face, which is marked with red linear face paint. She wears a gold septum ring and shell earrings, with a tattoo visible on one arm and a green and yellow patterned top. Warm lights glow in the background.](https://texasfolklife.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Laura_Atlachinolli-614x346.jpg)