Classic Western Literature

Harlan establishes himself as the protector of Barbara Morgan and deals out punishment to the girl's enemies through the lightning flash of drawn guns.

Zane Grey's tale shines like the gold in this story. He deftly combines the contemporary history of the border uprising between the United States and Mexico with a fast-moving adventure tale. The prologue describes the finding of gold and the sad plight of the prospectors who discovered it. They will the treasure to the story's heroine. Dick Gale, an eastern college football star, and not much else, teams up with an old friend to rescue the girl and make a man of himself.

Written first as a series of stories in the late 19th century and published later as the quintessential Western novel in the early years of the 20th century, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains by Owen Wister contains elements of breathtaking adventure, courage, grit, conflict, humor, and heartfelt emotions that continue to resonate in the 21st century.

Long Road to Abilene is a classic hero's journey, a western adventure that exemplifies the struggles, the defeats, and the victories that personify the American West. After surviving the bloody battle of Franklin and the hell of a Yankee prison camp, Cade McCall comes home to the woman he loves only to find that she, believing him dead, has married his brother.

Sheriff Ben Stillman knows that every lawman could face sudden death. But that doesn't ease his anger over Marshal Charlie Boomhauer's brutal murder. And ol’ Charlie's shoes have already been filled by his brash, young deputy - who isn't exactly out shaking the bushes to find Charlie's killer or killers. The new marshal is blaming the murder on a band of Gypsies who moved north - or was it south?

With the coming of the railroads, the American cowboy's job changed drastically, as the great trail herds became a thing of the past. Many cowboys faded into history, but there was a place in northwest Colorado and northeast Utah that still prized their skills. Val FitzPatrick's family homesteaded in this region, and Val became a rider for the Two-Bar at the age of 14. In later years, Val wrote many accounts of his life, and The Arbuckle Cafe is a collection of the best of his stories, all classic and authentic insights of what life on the range was really like.

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here's the most varied collection of short stories, by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers.

Robbers and cold-blooded killers won't stop Stillman.... He’s desperate to overtake the robbers and cold-blooded killers before they murder his wife and the doctor. He doesn’t realize just how badly Triber wants that money returned to him...nor what it is for.

When Sheriff Ben Stillman accompanies Judge John Bannon and friends to a wedding in Sulfur, Montana Territory, he aims to have a nice long weekend of rest and respite from law dogging. But Angus Whateley has other plans. The crazy ex-Confederate has just been released from prison, and he’s out to avenge the hanging of his cattle-rustling sons--hangings ordered by Bannon.

Sheriff Ben Stillman has enough of a hard time keeping the peace in the town of Clantick without having to worry about the likes of Matt Parrish. Since his father died, Matt has been responsible for the Circle P Ranch in the Two-Bear Mountains - and his hotheaded streak has been responsible for a lot of trouble with other ranchers...including his future father-in-law, Tom Suthern.

In 1876 the seemingly impossible happened in San Antonio, Texas - Emmett Strong, a prodigy of a pistolero, accidentally shot his own young wife in a showdown gone awry. Five years later, death again visits Emmett's family, and now - want to or not - he's going to have to overcome his reluctance to draw his six-gun if he's to catch and bring to justice the crazed gunman who murdered his brother.

Wild mustangs, ghosts on the ranch, gun-toting outlaws and trailblazing cowboys roam the pages of this collection of 8 classic stories about the American frontier. Travel down "The Road to Hell" with a mysterious ranch builder, face down the "Yellow Devil" mountain lion, travel "Where the Wind Blows Free," and join in on a herd of other adventures that will keep you reading until long after high noon.

Branson Hawk agrees to assist a beautiful woman retrieve her dead brother for burial back home, but the accidental death begins to look suspicious because a fortune in gold is missing. Hawk is thrown into a covert investigation with multiple suspects and danger at every turn. The deeper into the mystery he delves; the more he realizes that no one can be trusted. And the beautiful woman? Well, this is a story about US Marshal Branson Hawk. He always gets his man, but will he get the woman?

Follow Cade McCall as he rides the Chisholm Trail, crosses raging rivers, faces cattle rustlers, and fights marauding Indians while taking a herd of longhorns north to Kansas. He reaches his destination only to be devastated by the most heinous act he has ever encountered. Driven by a rage-filled determination, Cade begins his search for justice, a search that ends with Cade's Revenge.

Black Jack Hollis was a daring outlaw before he was shot down. In the wake of his death, it's discovered that Hollis left behind an infant son. Elizabeth Cornish, coowner of the Cornish Ranch alongside her brother, Vance, takes it upon herself to raise the child as her own. Elizabeth names the boy Terry Colby and gives Terry a fictitious aristocratic background, believing the way the boy is raised will determine the man he will become. But Vance is convinced that Terry is destined to become an outlaw himself.

Fae Prince Alrick of Rune accepts a quest to another time and place with hopes of becoming sole heir to the throne. He must save a Texan beauty whose recent widowing had made it impossible to run her ranch. Little did she know she was being threatened by dark sorcery. Alrick would protect her and fate had brought them together. Fate and Lone Star Magic.

Love and death, bullets and blood.... Sheriff Ben Stillman finds himself in the unenviable position of having to arrest a young man for murder on suspicious evidence. But the cards are stacked against the young firebrand who calls himself Johnny Nevada. One, Johnny has gotten Judge Hoagland’s daughter pregnant, shaming and enraging Hoagland himself. Two, Johnny warned Dave Bliss he was going to kill him because Bliss ordered Johnny to stay away from Bliss’s daughter, Sarah, whom the young Casanova was also sparking. Johnny made the warning public and two weeks later Bliss was dead.

The Classic Sheriff Ben Stillman Series Begins...Playing poker, smoking cigarettes, drinking whiskey - retirement was treacherous business for ex-lawman Ben Stillman. The best of life seemed to be past, but then the past came looking for him. The son of an old friend rides into Ben's life with a plea for justice and a mind for revenge. Up on the Hi-Line in Montana, a rich Englishman is rustling ranchers out of their livelihoods...and their lives. The boy suspects these rustlers have murdered his father, Milk River Bill Harmon, and the law is too crooked to get any straight answers.

Maybe it was a moment of insanity. Maybe it was revenge. Or maybe the Metis Indian, Shambeau, finally had enough of the white man's hatred. Whatever it was, Sheriff Ben Stillman now has a murder case on his hands - and, as the law dictates, he must hunt down and hang the outlaw. But nobody knows the land better than Shambeau. He could be anywhere. Then again...nobody can track a bloodthirsty killer like Sheriff Ben Stillman. And there's no hiding from his swift brand of justice.

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here is the most varied collection of short stories by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers.