Short Westerns

The third in a series of American Western short stories compiled by Jon Tuska, and preformed by celebrity readers.

Giff Dixon doesn't remember how he got to the town of Corazon. All he knows is that some cowboys found him way off the beaten path in Oklahoma cattle country, barely alive, and carrying a belly full of buckshot. Now, he's broke, friendless, and at the end of his rope. Everything changes when, out of the blue, he's offered a job guiding a government expedition to investigate reports of homesteaders being forced off their land by the all-powerful Torreon Cattle Company. It seems an easy enough ride until Grady Sebree, the iron-fisted boss of Torreon, approaches Dixon.

When he learns of his parents' death in a train crash, Sam Dana makes his way home to the Bar D ranch—not to claim it, but to settle the estate and move on. He has no need for the hard life of a cattleman after finally striking it big as a prospector. But what Sam finds is far from the home he remembers. The ranch has become an armed camp led by his cantankerous half-brother, Walt, who's been hiring men more skilled with a six-gun than a lasso. In Sam's absence, things have gone downhill in all ways possible.

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.

Phil Evarts is dead, and the Hatchet Range is up for grabs. That's 70,000 acres of prime turf just waiting for the man rich enough to buy it . . . or the gunman crazy enough to kill for it. Every schemer in town has his eyes on Hatchet, and Bide Mariner leads the charge. An unscrupulous rancher who'll stop at nothing for cash, Mariner has the money and the guns to take whatever he wants. Only Will Ballard stands in his way—and that means Ballard is marked for death.

Lawbreaker Webb Cousins is headed for a short trial and a long stretch in jail. A bounty hunter has him cuffed and covered, with no chance of escape. But when the prisoner and his captor ride into the town of Wagon Mound, death rides with them. In a flash of rifle fire and a spray of blood, Cousins finds himself shackled to a dead man—and unwittingly caught up in a murderous range war he wants nothing to do with. To ride away a free man will take more than breaking his bonds. He'll have to wage a one-man battle against two bitter enemies locked in a vicious cycle of vengeance and cruelty.

With their wedding less than a week away, Jeremy and Tiffy discover they’re not on the same page when it comes to raising their son and dealing with the challenges that come their way. In true Friessen fashion, when Jeremy tries to establish ground rules, he soon learns that Tiffy isn’t the kind of woman anyone can tell what to do, and his strong personality could have her calling off the wedding and walking the other way.

In the days of the Old West, towns like Daisy Creek gave the promise of a new life in a land of opportunity. And for four young women, that is all they could hope for! A high-society belle, searching for a life and a home of her own. A pioneering female doctor, seeking a place of equality among her male peers. A determined beauty, escaping a life of repression. And a Lakota Indian woman, eager to learn about this new world emerging around her.

Andrea Clementine has a wonderful vacation planned. Nine whole days away from work, from home, from everything but fun. Right up until her car conks out, not even halfway to her destination. Her vacation is ruined, and she’s stranded on the side of the road.

These three short stories give listeners a dog’s-eye view of the action and adventure associated with the American West. From an award-winning poet, these stories provide a window into the sometimes fickle relationship between man and dog. Barbara Nelson Blinn used writing as a way to escape her abusive marriage, and these stories are indeed an escape, as listeners will have the opportunity to befriend three different canines, each with their own story filled with mystery, adventure, and the underlying message that controlling the pet population is of utmost importance.

Life is slow and easy in Daisy Creek. This small Nebraska town is home to many, from ranchers and tailors to restaurateurs and plain old cowboys - not to mention, a steady supply of bachelors. But something far sweeter is coming, inbound for Daisy Creek to turn the lives of these settled bachelors upside down: their new brides.

Frank Chess didn’t care for much in this world. Especially himself. So taking a job for local big shot Rhino Hulst was an easy choice. Each day drifted into the next: running Rhino’s crooked errands and blowing his meager pay on poker and the saloon. All because Rhino killed a man in cold blood, pinned it on Frank, and now holds the hangman’s rope over him. And who would give a damn? Frank came into town a drifter - a fiddlefoot. And when he finally remembers what it’s like to care about something, the town has no idea how much hell he’s about to bring down on them all.

Ward Kinsman has done all he can to escape civilization, spending the summer in a desert mountain range, deep in Apache territory, sifting for gold and praying he never sees another settler again. After a month of backbreaking work, he sees a trail of dust in the distance and knows a white man has come to find him...which means the Apache are right behind.

The army wagon train carried rifles, ammunition, and a chestful of gold through Apache territory, where every white man was a target. With the soldiers rode a single stagecoach carrying the woman whom Chris Danning planned to marry. When the train passed through Karnes Canyon, an Apache raiding party stormed out of the shadows, and the creek ran red with blood. For 18 months now, Danning has searched for the Apache who attacked the wagon train and killed his fiancée. He’s also hunting the corrupt white man who sold the soldiers out.

Frank Christian and Morg Wheelon were going to build something great. After the two veteran cattle punchers saved up enough to start their own outfit, Frank was to ride down to Texas and buy whatever herd he could, then bring them up the Chisholm Trail through Indian country to the rich grasslands of the Cheyenne in Wyoming. Morg would be waiting with the grazing rights in hand. It was a risky plan, but Frank and Morg weren’t about to give up their dream.

Being on either side of the law at Roaring Fork was a risky business that had cost many a life. Yet, the man named Suffern played both sides until he crossed a fearless frontier girl who fought with brains as well as bullets.

Larry Kehoe had been sent to prison for having killed a man with his gun. Now he has been released and is determined never to use a gun again for any purpose. What he hasn't learned is that sometimes in order to have peace, using a gun becomes necessary.

Julia's daddy was the judge in town. He used to be impartial, but recently it seemed that he had changed. What cost to the town folks would there be?