Science Fiction Western

More than any writer before or since, Louis L'Amour brought the American West to life. His action-packed stories deal with eternal themes: honor, deceit, passion, betrayal, loyalty, courage, love. His settings are historically accurate, his prose riveting, and his characters colorful: good guys, bad guys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks, and saints.

A Will to Meaning follows Sheriff John Newman in his quest for meaning in the heart of the wild Comanche empire, turned thriving Texas Hill Country, turned desolate and violent and ruthless once more. A harsh landscape and a society without technology, laws, or base human agreements to guide us. Here in the New West, three lives intertwine in a quest for meaning, pleasure, and power.

Act 2 - A Will to Pleasure follows the Colonel as he seeks pleasure in the heart of the wild Comanche empire, turned thriving Texas Hill Country, turned desolate and violent and ruthless once more. A harsh landscape and a society without technology, laws, or base human agreements to guide us. Here in the New West, three lives intertwine in a quest for meaning, pleasure, and power.

Rodger Dodger decides to take on the job of security for the unusual standalone train, only to find the professor's precocious niece has been taken hostage. Join him as he straps on the biggest pair of guns this side of the Mississippi and tracks down the kidnapped damsel, finding his own distress along the way.

Isolated in the Aussie outback with his best mate Nugget, Nugget's sister Mel (who he definitely did not have a thing with), Mel's new latte-sipping boyfriend, and a British backpacker, why isn’t Keat panicked? Because, Keat’s a gamer. And as any gamer knows, there’s always a way to power level. (Also...because he has a giant wombat).

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents - a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother's death in childbirth, so begins a heroine's tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have.

When the world as we know it falls, the New Texas Republic rises to face the harsh realities of holding civilization together one town at a time. Such is the task before Austin Reynolds, Texas Ranger, as he rides into the community of New Hope where a shifty-eyed mayor, his alluring and beautiful assistant, and a blind prophesying preacher complicate an inevitable battle against wild northern raiders. No Kinda Life is a post-apocalyptic adventure and traditional western rolled together into a riveting short novel

Dale Jones has lost everything. He’d lost his job and his money, and now, his wife has been shot and killed by Sheriff Riker. It's enough to break a man, and it does. But while on the run, Dale stumbles across something incredible: a baby animal unlike anything he’d ever seen before. A creature sent by God—or the devil—with the power to exact Dale’s revenge and bring the town of Duke, Arizona to its knees. At high noon, gunslingers on horseback meet sharp claws and bloodstained teeth. Will the sheriff and his men prevail, or will Dale and his new pet rule the West?

An unplanned murder during a bank robbery has another sheriff on the trail of those on the lam.

Troubled by Specters, Ghosts and Phantoms? Fear No More! There Is Help! Call For The Dark Ranger: Ghost Breaking A Specialty! No Spook Too Small, No Fiend Too Fierce! Write Care of: Box 1, Golgotha, Texas. Our Motto: ‘One Wraith, One Ranger.' Meet Sam Hell, former Texas law man, now a professional spook-buster, who, along with his Comanche medicine-woman companion, Pretty Woman, rides the high plains in search of Sangre, the undead conquistador who stole his life and transformed him into the Dark Ranger.

Alistair Jones is an ex-Pinkerton agent roaming the West in search of work. Amy Dunston is an angry widow searching for answers. Who knows what those men with matching mustaches and bowler hats are searching for? But Alistair and Amy would both like to know why there are so many of them, why they all look alike, and why they're impervious to bullets--at least until they meet the business end of Alistair's .52-caliber 1874-pattern Sharps rifle.

When Butch Faro's gang of merciless killers threatens the sleepy Texas town of Sandy Creek, it will take the performers of Professor Phineas Proctor's traveling circus, their golden hued robot-gunfighter, and a brave Mexican blacksmith to thwart their plans and save the town.

The Peña gang ravage the Southwest, plundering and killing with impunity. Until, that is, they kill Ben Morrison’s brother for a fortune in rubies. Ben considers himself a used-up former lawman, but desperate for revenge, he calls on ex-manhunt Duel Winston for help. Duel, though, has settled into a peaceful life of ranching and is reluctant to risk his newfound happiness. Until, that is, the ghosts of his past come a-haunting, and he takes to the trail again.

In this weird western short story, a goblin gets help from an unlikely source to become the richest person west of the Mississippi, but a bigger creature has its canines set on the same goal.

X Caliber is an episodic serial based on the famous age-old tale of King Arthur and Excalibur rebranded as an American western. An adventure of growth, unity, family and survival in the harsh badlands of the Old West brought to life with a full cast, sound effects and music.

This paranormal adventure follows a young adventure-seeker and a curmudgeonly ghost bound together in a combative partnership that escalates to the comedic breaking point. Only by reconciling their differences are they able to defeat destructive forces working against them, and uncover the profound connections that weave their fates together.

For years Johnny Pearl tried to escape his demons by being a gunslinger. With his killer's cool and famous pearl-handled pistol, he made a name for himself in the years following the Civil War as an outlaw. But fame has proved hollow, and Johnny finds himself on the outskirts of the Wyoming Territory, on the verge of taking his own life after one gunfight too many, until he finds redemption in the smile of Katie Small Dove.

After a life of crime, Azri's found a calling as a Weapons Caster, notorious for their powerful dusters and ability to assemble guns only a Weapons Caster can handle. When his old partner in crime comes to town looking for his missing wife, and involves a jealous guild member, Azri may find himself in over his head. The rules of a Caster are strict, but harboring a criminal should be the least of his worries.

When men start getting run over by slow-moving train cars in a gold rush town in the mountains of Idaho, Marshal Duster Kendal must solve the murders. But there might not be a motive besides the fact that Duster Kendal lives. Duster knows exactly what to do about that. And he needs to do it fast before things get much, much worse.

Sometimes a lost gold mine offers up more than just gold. And sometimes a secret should remain a secret. A generational science fiction story from USA Today best-selling writer Dean Wesley Smith. A version of this story by Dean Wesley Smith first appeared in The Secret Prophecies of Nostradamus edited by Cynthia Sternau and Martin H. Greenberg.