Science Fiction Western

This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So listen on, for after all, magic has no borders.

Van Delano is still determined to free his sister from the clutches of Nine-Fingered Nan, whatever it takes. So, when the outlaw queen suggests an exchange, he’s all too eager to agree. Doesn’t matter the stagecoach he’s supposed to find is traveling a route that don’t make no sense toward the one town he never wanted to step foot into again. Doesn’t matter the lockbox he’s supposed to steal off it just might be Old World tech.

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.

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?

Does time heal all wounds? Or do some last forever? Pennsylvania, 1971: Graham Davidson is a young man with survivor’s guilt after the death of three siblings. Estranged from his father and seeking a direction in his life, Graham learns about vision quests from a Crow Indian. He secures seasonal employment in Yellowstone National Park and embarks on a spiritual journey. Wyoming Territory, 1871: Under a full moon at a sacred thermal area, Graham finds himself in Yellowstone a century earlier - one year before it was established as a national park.

For anthropology graduate student Sam Delgado, headed to the wilds of Wyoming, this is his last chance to save his graduate career. He and his urban classmates see this as the adventure of a lifetime: They are going to horse-pack in the wilderness to map and test a high-altitude archaeological site. Until a cyber-attack collapses the American banking system, and an already fractured nation descends into anarchy and chaos.

Deadwood meets Cthulhu in this wild and profane Western romp featuring zombies, werewolves, evil spirits, and one pissed-off gunslinging preacher. The Wild West has never seen the likes of the Reverend Jebidiah Mercer, a hard man wielding a burning Bible in the battle between God and the devil, in an endless struggle he's not sure he cares who wins. With its five stories laced with fast-paced action, nonstop humor, and spine-tingling horror, Deadman's Road is your ride to hell....

In a wild west where the only things more dangerous than outlaws are dragons, Deputy Berry is struggling to protect her town and keep her family fed. As a last resort, she robs a train for ammunition only to find that the cargo she needs so badly was owned by war hero Frederic Rousseau.

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.

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.

Mankind’s wanderlust will eventually carry our species to the stars. Earth’s pioneers have always risen to the challenge of exploring our planet’s remote rain forests, highest mountain peaks, deepest ocean abysses, and deadly frozen polar caps. Answering the wanderlust deep within us is exactly what motivated the colonists of Byanntia to brave the dangers of space travel. Their reward is the opportunity to test their mettle against an alien planet - to explore an unknown environment and attempt to survive on their own terms.

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.

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.

Paul McAllister, an aging military retiree, wants nothing more at this point in his life than to put the wars, cancer, and death of his wife behind him as he numbly glides into his final years doing the only thing he still enjoys – selling weapons and his services as a gunsmith on the gun show circuit of the American southwest. Driving down the road in the Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico, sandwiched in the few hundred yards between the Robledo Mountains to the West and the Rio Grande to the East, Paul loses consciousness while returning home from a gun show.

Luke has vowed to avenge his father and protect Sagebrush from the drifters in the Dead Lands. Kaia lives in the mountains, safe from the murderous soshos who roam the desert below. But when her cousin goes missing, she is determined to find him, no matter the danger. In a world ravaged by sand and storms, Luke and Kaia’s lives collide in a whirlwind of treachery, passion, and fear. Can enemies sworn to vengeance set aside their hatred, or are they doomed to perish like the world around them?

Town marshal Elias Faust thinks that he can make any problem go away if he throws enough lead at it. The living’s easy for a lawman. Bloody, but easy - that is, until Magnate Gregdon arrives with his undead syndicate to tear the town of Blackpeak, Texas apart. When a shootout with a pair of outlaws goes sideways, Elias Faust accidentally draws the Magnate’s attention. As if dealing with arcane sorcery, reanimated corpses, and the Magnate’s personal vendetta aren’t enough, Faust finds himself at the center of a power-struggle for Blackpeak’s eldritch secrets.

Losing his beloved wife as modern civilization crumbled around him is the hardest thing Tex Pemberton has ever had to face–even harder than his tours of duty in the Middle East. But with a young son and Victoria, his best friend and Army buddy’s widow, to protect, Tex has no choice but to survive.

Investigator James Creed has finally settled into life in San Francisco with his found family, the Brotherhood of the Golden Cog. Though he misses his adult daughter, he has a criminal leader to track down—an outlaw who murders innocents, enslaves the downtrodden, and uses machines to alter the bodies and minds of his many victims.

October 9–the day the world went dark. Nearly three decades later, life is different. Slower, sicker, meaner. In Colorado, the Old West was reborn, and with it came the Crows, beastly birds with a taste for man. They’ve outgrown Denver, the Crows. Judge sees how they spread, how they hunt and feast on what remains of mankind, and he hates them. The blackout without mercy—already crippled the world.

The apocalypse happened, but no one knows how. What’s left is a barren world ruled by a high-powered caste of bookies, The Odds. Scurrying around underneath is our hero, Eldridge - a big-hearted, bumbling drifter with an estranged family he loves dearly. He’s deep in debt and deathly sick, so he places a bet predicting the day he’ll die. If he wins, he can go to his grave knowing that his family will be safe, but when he returns to his hometown to collect, he gets some bad news: He’s going to live. So it’s on to plan B.