Short Westerns

On April 3, 1961, 38-year-old former vocalist Ella Mae Cooley was beaten to death in her home in Willow Springs, an unincorporated area located in Kern County, California. The cruelty of the crime was shocking to local residents in the normally idyllic community. A greater shock was that the murder was committed by the victim's 50-year-old husband, Donnell Clyde Cooley, a well-known big-band leader, musician, actor, host of a television variety show, and businessman. See how this tragic story of celebrity, suspicion, and homicidal rage unfolds in the historical crime of passion.

This collection includes three charming and festive holiday novellas spiced with humor, frontier action, and sweet romance.

Immerse yourself in this unforgettable collection of Western short stories that brings the grit, adventure, and spirit of the Old West to life. Perfect for lovers of frontier tales, this anthology is packed with vivid depictions of the American West, where lawmen, outlaws, cowboys, and settlers battle against both the elements and each other. Each story plunges listeners into a world of dusty trails, saloon brawls, and gunfights at high noon, where justice is swift and often brutal.

Headlined by the legendary storyteller Diana Palmer, this Christmas, the best kind of trouble comes in threes: Three bestselling authors. Three stories of holiday romance. And three rugged cowboys who are ready for love—whether they know it yet or not.

Published in 2000 to critical acclaim, The American West: A New Interpretive History quickly became the standard in college history courses. Now Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher offer a concise edition of their classic, freshly updated. Lauded for their lively and elegant writing, the authors provide a grand survey of the colorful history of the American West, from the first contacts between Native Americans and Europeans to the beginning of the 21st century.

Jessie McKay has accepted her marriage to Luke McKay wasn’t perfect. After two years of widowhood, she’s ready to kick up her bootheels - until Luke’s younger brother shows up to spoil her fun. But if Brandt thinks she’ll ever take orders from another McKay male, he’s got manure for brains. Brandt McKay has avoided his sweet, sexy sister-in-law ever since the night he confessed his feelings for her weren’t the brotherly type.

The most renowned American authors in Western fiction are brought together in one bang 'em-up, shoot-it-out collection! Including titles by Louis L'Amour, Brian Garfield, Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini, Thomas Thompson, John M. Cunningham, Chad Oliver, Donald Hamilton, Loren D. Estleman and Owen Wister.

Ever since Gabriel Brandon rescued her from a dark future, Michelle Godrey looked up to the rancher as her personal hero. Protecting her all her life, Gabriel served as Michelle's guardian angel—saving her from a broken family, supporting her and encouraging Michelle to go to college. Even as Michelle felt herself start to fall for her protector, both of them could agree the timing wasn't right. But four years later, Michelle is grown up and ready to work. An assignment takes her away from their hometown of Jacobsville, Texas, and she begins uncovering secrets from Gabriel's past.

When it comes to boiling up a pot of coffee or stirring up a pot of stew, Old Laramie’s about as good a man as you’re going to find. But other than cooking three squares a day for the cowpunchers over at the Lazy G ranch, Laramie’s not good for much. But Laramie’s luck - and life - are about to take an amazing turn. Quite by accident, he somehow manages to save a family of Mexicans from bandits, and as a token of their gratitude they give him The Magic Quirt - a horsewhip that he’s told will turn him into a new man.

Mart Kincaid may be the fastest gun in the state, but it does him no good - because his gun and his life are not his own. They belong to Gar Malone, the King of Concha Basin, a ruthless rancher driven by his thirst for power, wealth, and conquest. Now Gar has set his sights on the Singing Canyon spread - the richest land in the basin - and he commands Kincaid to run its true owners off. If not, he threatens to reveal a dark secret that could ruin Kincaid's brother.

Saddle tramp Petey McGuire doesn’t have much to live for. The trail in front of him stretches out long and hot, and there’s no end in sight. He’s been beaten down, beaten up, and kicked around so long, he’d run away from his own shadow if he could. But there’s one fight he can’t run from - the fight against hunger. Petey needs a job quick, before he drops dead in the dust. But the only way to get one is to act cool and talk tough - in other words, become the exact opposite of Petey McGuire.

Tim Beckdolt, rangy and self-reliant, is as American as the frontier itself. But after spending eight treacherous months digging $175,000 in gold out of Desperation Peak - all he has left is desperation. Two sadistic strangers have taken his gold, and now they want to take his life. He's on the run - the target of a Devil’s Manhunt.

Lance Gordon’s running out of room and time. Back in the Sierras he killed the man who murdered his father. Unfortunately that man turned out to be a Deputy Marshal, and now Lance has a price on his head. Like Alan Ladd as Shane, Lance wants only to live in peace, but he’ll have to go through hell to get there. Running from the law and the cavalry, Lance heads for the one place no sheriff or soldier will go—into the territory ruled by The Baron of Coyote River.

Two tales of action, adventure, and the Wild West from a founding master of the genre, Lauran Paine.

Katie Berry, award-winning author of CLAW: A Canadian Thriller would like you to meet Kitty Welch, a working girl who never thought her day would end this way: On the run, and on the dinner menu. When an appointment with a client goes awry, working girl Kitty finds her day becoming much, much more than she ever bargained for, leading her on a wild adventure of greed, obsession, and a date with destiny. Now, all she has to do is survive....

Come back to the mountain with Frankie Love! Coming Home to the Mountain is a new filthy-sweet, high heat series by Frankie Love featuring rugged mountain men who fall hard, fast and forever. And with the women they love at their side, they choose to put family first.

Red Butte Showdown: Selected Unabridged Stories from May There Be a Road includes four unforgettable adventures - "Red Butte Showdown", "Friend of a Hero", "Wings Over Brazil", and "The Ghost Fighter" - all previously uncollected stories, now offered for the first time together.

Levi Dalton is disappointed. He'd had high hopes for this visit from Uncle Matthew's old cavalry friend, Mr. Jones. Even though Mr. Jones brought along his wife, children, and a sister-in-law, surely he would have time to reminisce with Uncle Matthew about their time in the war. Then Levi would get to hear the kinds of exciting stories his father used to tell.

Whether in the Old West or the Australian outback, New England or the Great Plains, the lesbian cowboys in these stories work hard, ride hard, and play hard in the saddle and in bed. Contributors Radclyffe and Jove Belle depict the rough and tumble world of female rodeo riders, while Cheyenne Blue describes a charged encounter between a renegade cattle driver and national park ranger, and Delilah Devlin writes about a hired hand who may be a woman, but is more than a match for any man. Lesbian Cowboys is sexy, steamy, and crackling with erotic energy.

Like the work of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, Richard Ford, and Annie Proulx, Battleborn represents a near-perfect confluence of sensibility and setting, and the introduction of an exceptionally powerful and original literary voice. In each of these ten unforgettable stories, Claire Vaye Watkins writes her way fearlessly into the mythology of the American West, utterly reimagining it.