Dr. Clay Reynolds, director of creative writing at UT Dallas, is known for his stories of small town life in West Texas, for tales of violence, mystery, flatlands and empty skies.

Dr. Clay Reynolds

Dr. Clay Reynolds, known for his depictions of small-town Texas life, is the director of creative writing at UT Dallas.

For his work, Reynolds has been awarded the Spur Award for Best Western Short Fiction of 2012. The award has been given every year since 1959 by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The winning story, The Deacon’s Horse, was published in Texas Soundtracks: Texas Stories Inspired by Texas Music, edited by Terry Dalrymple, published by Inkbrush Press in 2011.

“I am most grateful to have been recognized by the Western Writers of America. The Spur is a much-coveted award, and I am humbled and honored to be listed as a winner,” Reynolds said.

“At the same time, it’s important to say that one does not write to receive awards, but rather to tell a good story that will in some way capture the imagination of a reader for a time. I am pleased that The Deacon’s Horse seemed to have something appealing about it, and I am most indebted to Terry Dalrymple for including it in his collection.”

Monuments novel book jacket     Sandhill County Lines book jacket

Reynolds is the author of more than 900 published works, including 13 books.

The WWA is a national organization founded in 1953 to promote the literature of the West. Previous winners in this category include Thomas Thompson, Will Henry, Max Evans, Loren D. Estleman, and Ben Capps. The awards will be formally presented during the 2012 WWA Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in June 2012.

Reynolds’ most recent work includes a collection of short stories he compiled, The Hero of a Hundred Fights: Collected Stories from the Dime Novel King, from Buffalo Bill to Wild Bill Hickok, which documents Ned Buntline’s body of work as the so-called “King of the Dime Novel.”

Reynolds is author of more than 900 published works, including 13 books. He has edited three anthologies.  He has been named runner-up three times in the WWA Spur Award for the novel and short fiction, and finalist for prizes from PEN Texas and several national writing organizations. He was also a finalist in the Western Heritage Award for 2001. Reynolds is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, has received grants from the Texas Commission for the Arts, and is also a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.