Short Westerns

She wants the adventure of a lifetime. He needs to heal old family wounds. If they are going to help each other, they cannot fall in love along the way.

A battered woman is the last thing Oliver Chapman expected to see when he was scouting on the range. He knew he had no choice but to take her home to his ranch to allow her to heal. But getting close to Willow is proving more difficult than the horses that run wild on the prairie.

As tense, short story Westerns go, W.C. Tuttle's "Spawn of the Desert", set in the 1850s rugged Southwest mountains, is a splendid, fast-paced example of the classic genre of tales of gold and silver mining towns run by ruthless men, and inhabited by an eclectic population of miners, gamblers, gunmen, drunks, hardscrabble women, and the obligatory "colorful" characters. Tuttle (1883-1969) was one of the most prolific Western writers of his day, with more than 40 novels and short stories to his credit.

Johnson O'Neill joined the Heartsong Ranch to escape his addiction. One night at a friend's wedding, stress causes him to fall off the wagon and into the arms of the woman of his dreams. Debra Donahue lost her husband to alcohol and then pulled herself up by her bootstraps, becoming a real estate agent selling million-dollar properties. One night with a sexy cowboy and a bottle of whiskey, Debra falls hard.

Maria has left everything she knows to travel to French Gulch, California, to find a husband, but none of the potential matches seem to work out. Adam is focused on his job and has no intentions of finding a wife among the women who traveled to French Gulch to find love. Together, they learn that the Christmas is full of surprises that can overcome personal intentions and rescue those in need.

Tessa and Jake had known each other since infants. But it took one drunken night for them to realize that they were made for each other. The Cowboy's Bride by Danielle Lee Zwissler is one of 2013's sweetest love stories. It takes an arch, a romantic cowboy and a dream of forever for this couple to get together.

Written by the Amazon best-selling science fiction and fantasy author John Daulton, "Auction Yard" represents a break from tradition for this writer. This novella is a quick listen and has garnered nothing but five-star reviews. Auction Yard is a romantic story about aging, love, desire, and relationships. It is about honorable people living real lives in a complicated world. A great story for lovers of animals, nature, and human dignity.

Buck, Snort, and Skeeter are still trailing a herd of dragons to Skrintax in hopes of selling them for enough to get off Terul and maybe get better pay, easier work, and something to drink. But the obstacles keep mounting - including a tcheka-smoking interlude, hungry dragons, insolent Terullians, and... well, you'll see.

Unemployed ranch hand Jim Dailey only wants some matches when he rides up to a store in Willow Grove, Kansas, on a dusty, fateful summer day. What he gets when he steps inside, though, is anything but. Faced with two bloodthirsty outlaws and no other choice, Dailey pulls his six-shooter... and sets himself on a long and twisted path of triumph and tragedy.

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

What is a lineshack? It's a small cabin used by ranch hands, a place of refuge during storms. Sometimes the only place within miles, a place that can mean the difference between life and death, especially when a winter storm is about to bare down on you. This winter is no different...except that this time there's three murderous brothers, the sheriff, and a group lost skiers who may just need the same lonely building. Then from out of no where surfaces another, a man out of time, out of place.... Who will survive this New Years Eve.

It's 1867. Firestone, Montana, is the setting for a long-awaited wedding. After their harrowing experience in the wilds of the Western Frontier, Ginny Douglas and Manly Forsythe finally come to the church to join their lives together forever. In the midst of their joy and excitement, unforeseen circumstances conspire to foil their plans. A man with Ginny in his sights resurfaces and threatens everything she hoped to gain by marrying Manly.

Hannah Keane is tired of being on the road. She's eager to move home and live a quiet life, writing music and teaching at the local kids' center. For David Quinn who is in no hurry to find love, she is the very last person on his list. Hannah even seemed to look down her nose at him the last time she saw him, like she did back when they were in high school. But, David starts to worry that something else is going on - that Hannah is running from something and won't be able to stay in Quinn Valley after all.

Maggie Quinn loves her role as bartender and co-owner of Quinn’s. Calling Charlie Keane to place her weekly order is something she looks forward to. It’s no secret to her friends and family that Maggie has a crush on Charlie’s voice. She’s eager to meet him in person, but Charlie keeps rescheduling their business lunch - and he may have waited too long for his own good.

Cambridge professor and renowned historian Anthony Pagden covers a vast subject in a compact package with Peoples and Empires. This wide-ranging and intellectually stimulating work examines the origins and history of the West with terse, efficient prose. With a captivating narration by Robert O'Keefe, listeners will find this work enjoyable and utterly absorbing.

Nothing has gone easy in Alexis Bandit’s life. On a trip to rescue mistreated puppies and drive them to their forever homes, she meets up with a tuxedo-clad cowboy on the run and offers him a ride. Jason Fields thought he had it all - a beautiful fiancée, a loving family, and great job - until he overheard his future father-in-law talk about arranging his murder. Now he’s on the run, without money, a phone, or a credit card. With a killer on their tail, four mischievous pups, and many miles of highway, what could go wrong?

Six stories continuing the search for treasure and the questions of the Old West as seen through various perspectives. Total of 28K words, this is part 2 in the series, and the stories are interconnected.

Greeley, Texas - a frontier town with a bad attitude and a reputation to match. Who lived in such a wicked place? Several compelling answers spring to life in this short story collection spanning more than a century of life, love, and lust in the West Texas dust. The time line stretches from the Civil War to the aftermath of Vietnam. Sin, it seems, never goes out of style...

Barren Landscape is just one town, but it defines an entire region. Follow an eclectic mix of characters as they navigate the towns and deserts of New Mexico en route to a mysterious game, whose prize strikes the imagination of the hard men and women of the land. A series of non-sequential, linked stories that tell the tales and fate of hired guns, quick draw artists, cutthroat businessmen, and simple townspeople.

In his extraordinary career Louis L'Amour captured the spirit of America as few writers ever have. A storyteller whose universal themes of bravery, pride, adventure, and self-reliance have echoed across generations, L'Amour set a standard that has yet to be matched. "Fighter's Fiasco" exhibits the unbridled passion, the unsurpassed range, and the sheer genius of a true master working at the peak of his creative powers.