Short Westerns

From the snow-covered prairie to the remote Australian Outback, a cowboy's loving kiss makes this Christmas merry and bright in each of these novellas.

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.

A remarkable collection of stories, Bad Dirt is filled with the vivid characters for which Annie Proulx has become known. In every story in this book, Proulx displays her wit and her knowledge of the West, of history, and, most of all, of characters who must use sheer will and courage to make it in tough territory.

From Spur Award-winning novelist Wayne D. Overholser comes this collection of Western short stories. This collection includes "The Woman from Cougar Creek", "The Price of Pride", "The Devil and Old Man Gillis", "Shooting for a Fall", "It's Hell to Be a Hero", "The Tongue-Tied Cowboy", "From Hell to Leadville", "The Deputy with a Past", "Judge Peterson's Colt Law", "The Breaking of Sam McKay", "Fugitive from the Boothill Brigade", and "The Man Ten Feet Tall".

Dave Nash smells trouble the moment he rides into Signal. He's only been working for Walt Shipley three weeks, but he feels he owes the man his life for giving him a job when no one else would. Now, Nash will do anything for Shipley—even if it means staring down the barrel of a gun. He'll face any danger for his new boss, but he hasn't reckoned on the most dangerous creature of all: a conniving frontier woman.

When the postman sees the letter addressed to Dave Coyle, he knows trouble is coming to Yellow Jacket and guns will soon be blazing. Coyle's face is plastered all over town on Wanted posters offering $7,000, dead or alive, but there's not a man in the territory fast enough to take him on. As word spreads that Coyle is to return, every man in town grabs a gun. But that won't be nearly enough.

When Callie jumped on a plane to Montana and the ranch of her cousin, she couldn't remember ever having done such a reckless deed before, but looking up into the sexy eyes of Joel Masters, she didn't regret a single thing. Callie knew this vacation would be short-lived, she had an established career in music to return to, but she wasn't sure if that life appealed to her any more. After only a few short days in the vast plains of Montana, living amongst people whose values were based on actions and not appearance.

Johnston McCulley, the author responsible for Zorro, also created the mysterious avenger known as The Whirlwind. A young man leaves behind a life of wealth and privilege in Spain and journeys to California. He builds a new life with a new name, Pedro Garzos. As he settles into his new home, the man known as Pedro discovers tyrants, bandits, and other dangers that threaten the weak and powerless!

Cale Landry: When the man from Wolf Creek leaves his secluded mountain refuge to seek revenge on the thief who robbed him, he never expected he’d end up taking home the wily old bandit’s gorgeous and spirited daughter, Raven. But Cale will never get back what he lost, until he learns to trust in love. Conn Benton: Conn Benton is shocked at the suggestion he should marry a Winthrop - especially that tall, redheaded Emaline - to end the feud between their families. He might marry her and bed her, but he has no intention of loving her.

Four tales of love and adventure in the Old West introduce a cast of characters that includes a brave Texas ranger who risks his life against avenging outlaws to rescue the woman he secretly loves; a beautiful seductress who comes between two brothers; a desperate fugitive who seeks sanctuary with a peace-loving people; and a daring young schoolteacher who journeys West to meet the man who has captured her heart. Included are "The Ranger", "Canyon Walls", "Avalanche", and "From Missouri".

No one tells tales of the frontier better than Louis L'Amour, who portrays the humanside of westward expansion - the good and the bad - before the days of law and order. Collected here are six stories penned by America's favorite Western author.

The lure of the American West is in the spirit of adventure, in the majestic expanse of unconquered wilderness and in rugged individuals on a quest for identity and sometimes for survival. Owen Wister's unsmiling Virginian... Dorothy M. Johnson's, "A Man Called Horse": These are a few of the colorful, even legendary characters who populate The American West in Fiction, a collection of stories edited by Jon Tuska.

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) is a world-renowned novelist and short-story writer noted primarily for his stories of the Western frontier. L'Amour was born in Jamestown, North Dakota, and led an active, world-roaming life as, among other things, a seaman, longshoreman, rancher, miner, lumberjack, and boxer before focusing on writing after World War II. L'Amour was awarded both the Congressional Gold Medal and the Medal of Freedom and is one of America's best-selling fiction authors.

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) is a world-renowned novelist and short story writer noted primarily for his stories of the Western frontier. L'Amour was born in Jamestown, North Dakota and led an active, world-roaming life as, among other things, a seaman, longshoreman, rancher, miner, lumberjack and boxer before focusing on writing after World War II.

He began his life as a slave. During the Civil War he escaped and lived among the Indians in the Oklahoma Territories. He learned to ride, shoot and track prey from his adopted people. When the war ended, he was recruited as one of the first black marshals in the history of the west.

Town of Twenty Triggers opens this new trio of short novels by Les Savage Jr., marking their first appearance in book form. He was known only as the Joker, a portly, chuckling man with a bland smile, a poker face, and an amazing ability to make a deck of cards perform any trick he desired. His traveling companion is Emmet Pierce, a Texan fast with his gun. When this duo arrives in the small ranching town of Benton, the Joker is ready to take it over and claim it for his own.

Felicity wasn't expecting Noah Call to meet her at the train station. She was expecting Peter, the successful rancher and businessman she had agreed to marry. She had put aside everything at home, all on the strength of a few letters, to become a mail order bride. Now the man she had said she would marry couldn't even be bothered to meet her in person. Noah Call is a rough, no-nonsense rancher who doesn't put up with Felicity's high-handed city ways. As she travels to Peter's ranch, she wonders if she has made a terrible mistake. Is she cut out to be a mail order bride?

Room For One In The Back Of The Wagon, is the story about a family traveling West along the Oregon Trail and the many challenges they face along the way. The family bible is their source of inspiration and for one young woman a guide to her growing love for a young man ‘a few wagons over'.

The Luck of Roaring Camp is a collection of short stories from one of the most unusual of Western writers, in that he only spent 18 years of his life in America. First published in 1870, this new Raging Bull Edition contains the original text as well as background articles including: "Bret Harte - A Golden Age Poet" and "The American Gold Rush - California's 19th Century Success".

Collected here are 10 Western short stories by Richard S. Wheeler, the award-winning author who makes storytelling look easy. In "Mugs Birdsong's Crime Academy", celebrated criminal Mugs Birdsong decides to found an academy that will instruct lawmen on the ways and means of lawlessness. "The Last Days of Dominic Prince" is the tragic tale of a cattle baron and his final conflict with the forces of political correctness. "Dead Weight" introduces us to a coffin maker who constructs a work of art.