Science Fiction Western

Connor Mills is only trying to earn some summer money for school by working the Green River Drift cattle drive in Wyoming. The Fates have something else in mind for him. Thrust into a dark realm both familiar and eerily twisted, Connor finds himself at the center of a struggle between goblin tycoons, corrupt wolf-kin lawmen, and a town full of people who’ve had all the hope wrung out of them. Connor is only one man, but the strange energies of the Faerie world have made him much more than he was.

The Empire of Tiraas has spent ages casting off its sword-and-sorcery shackles in favor of high finance, practical magic, and keeping those with power in power. Everything is malleable in the name of progress. And those that cannot be bent can easily be broken—quite painfully if necessary. But far away on the frontier, anything goes. And the University has not ceased instructing would-be adventurers on the finer points of unlocking their potential as elves, warriors, paladins, pirates, half-demons, and anything else the empire considers a threat.

Young Gavie sometimes "remembers" the future. But as a slave living among those who feel threatened by the powers of the Marsh people, Gavie must hide his abilities. And then tragic events force the grief-stricken Gavie to flee the only world he's ever known. In his perilous quest for freedom, Gavie must learn to harness his unique gifts, or he may never find a place he can call home.

A deal goes bad...and Van Delano is left to die in the desert. But most folk say he’s been cursed with a double-barreled shotgun of mulishness. So, when his first attempt at bargaining for his kidnapped sister’s freedom lands him with a dead horse, a bullet in his leg, and miles of desert between him and the nearest town, he’s not about to give up. He’ll fight and claw, cheat and steal, even kill, if he has to.

Connor Mills is just trying to make a good life in a world he wasn’t born to. He may have broken the goblins’ hold over his town, but the fight isn’t over. The shadowy patron of the fallen goblin tycoon is out for revenge, and Connor has much more to lose now. His ranch is back on its feet, but the forces that rule Faerie aren’t done with him. When the bounty hunters come calling and darker things raise their heads, Connor must find allies to protect the people he holds dear – and take a risk that may cost him everything.

In the aftermath of a chaotic gold rush and the resulting war, a mega-corporation emerges, seizing control of the nation’s gold and the technology produced from it. Those defeated scattered to the coasts, left to fend for themselves. The once vibrant California now contends with radiation, harsh elements, and bandits. Cassidy moves to one of California’s last two surviving towns for one thing: to save her life. Suffering from a mysterious illness, Bell Valley is her last chance at finding a cure. Despite her best efforts to keep her distance, she’s drawn to the town and its locals.

The year is 2393, and the world is almost unrecognizable. Clear warnings of climate catastrophe went ignored for decades, leading to soaring temperatures, rising sea levels, widespread drought, and the disaster now known as the Great Collapse of 2093. Dramatizing science in ways traditional nonfiction cannot, The Collapse of Western Civilization reasserts the importance of scientists and the work they do, providing a welcome moment of clarity amid the cacophony of climate-change literature.

Connor Mills’s ranch and family are thriving, but becoming the mayor of Willow Bend has brought fresh challenges to his life. As much as he’s achieved since coming to Faerie, greater mysteries remain. A harsh winter is putting a heavy strain on forage for the kaltaur, and tensions on the range are reaching the boiling point. When a clash between competing ranches leaves two men dead, Connor has to act quickly to stop an open range war.

Desert Gold is a western romance written by Zane Grey. Listen to learn more.

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.

Penumbra, a haphazard city of outcasts, rebels, and malcontents, has floated around a dead planet in a backwater system for longer than living memory can recall. Its towers abandoned starships melded to an ancient, mysterious core, Penumbra is the last remnant of chaotic individualism in a galaxy where conformity to the will of the all-powerful Galactic Council is paramount.

Captivated by the story of a cowboy hanged as a horse thief in 1890, an independent, modern-day woman travels back in time with only thirty days to save an innocent man. Haunted by an old article about a man hanged over a hundred years ago, Mia Kellogg boards an old steam locomotive and plows right into the arms of the handsome cowboy Dusty Mann. Knowing time is of the essence, her problem is convincing her cowboy he’s in danger?

Gavin could swear he heard maniacal laughter in the terrible and deadly twister outside the shelter they had miraculously found, but he knew it was probably his mind making up greasy thoughts as he came down from the sudden and awful rush of witnessing their impending death in the flashes of brightest lightning.... The Creator is missing from the Spiritual Realm. The Host of ArchAngels, those who are left, are besieged on all sides by an enemy they are only just beginning to understand. Another attack was to come, foreseen by the Father before He departed the Heavens.

Everyone told her that her father wasn’t missing, but Catherine Dalton knew better. That old man could handle his horse like nobody’s business, and not only was he able to survive in the wild—he thrived there. So after many days passed since he headed for the mountains of western Carolina and still hadn’t reached his destination, Catherine knew with certainty something was wrong. Ill fortune had undoubtedly befallen her father. Former outlaw Henry Hardin and his gang weren’t known as the helpful type, but with time and terror mounting, Catherine had run out of options.

Ron and Jessica Stahl are a power couple from California, on a Christmas holiday in Colorado. When they stop for the afternoon in sleepy Lone Cone, they're charmed by the quaint tourist town. But the folksy hospitality will vanish as the sun drops behind the mountains. A winter storm is approaching, and the Stahls couldn’t have picked a worse night of the year to get snowed into this perfect little town with a dark, dark secret.

US Marshal James Creed has known loss, starting from the untimely death of his wife and daughter in a sudden fire. His work, chasing down and arresting outlaws across the Wild West, is all he has left to live for. Then one day, in 1876, the infamous killer Corwin Blake catches Creed by surprise and guns him down. Creed awakes after a mysterious young woman resurrects him in a basement laboratory beneath a brothel. Half alive, Creed feels torn between his need for justice and his desire to fall back into the peace of death. Creed's instincts drive him to protect the city of Santa Cruz, California, from the outlaws it harbors while searching for Blake.

The world she knew is gone. The climate crisis that doomed her future hasn't begun yet, but neither has the fight to stop it. Stranded decades before disaster, Sara must convince a skeptical world to change course before it’s too late.

Paul and Anna McAllister begin to implement their plans to bring a railroad and other trappings of civilization to New Mexico Territory while continuing to build Estancia Dos Santos, reduce the animosity between the Apache and White men, and fight the shadowy foe known as "the Boss". Long trips, spies in their ranks, and increasing violence between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups stretch Paul and Anna's resources in every direction. With the help of their family and friends, they race against time to complete their plans before the incessant drumbeats of war begin in the east.

Young Gav can remember the page of a book after seeing it once, and, inexplicably, he sometimes “remembers” things that are going to happen in the future. As a loyal slave, he must keep these powers secret, but when a terrible tragedy occurs, Gav, blinded by grief, flees the only world he has ever known. And in what becomes a treacherous journey for freedom, Gav’s greatest test of all is facing his powers so that he can come to understand himself and finally find a true home.

Three years have passed, and Three Willows is on the verge of becoming obsolete. The drought that took hold after the departure of the Founders was one thing, but now the new train line threatens to leave the town in the dust. Jessalyn and Sam are determined to keep that from happening, but they're short on ideas.