A Gent from Bear Creek is both the title of an original Breckinridge Elkins short story and of the later fix-up novel assembled from revised stories plus new material. The short story was received by Howard’s agent, Otis Adelbert Kline, on November 8, 1933, together with The Ghost with the Silk Hat and Guns of the Mountains; it was later revised to become chapter 5 of the novel.