Monkey Business by Frank Larnerd
Twas hotter than a Tennessee showgirl underneath six buffalo blankets, but the idgits in Blind Gulch came out anyways, eager to get a glimpse at the strangers. Their half-dozen wagons were drawn up single file in the center of town. Each wagon was caked in dust, dimming the bright stars, moons, and flowers that had […]
Six Bullets in F Minor by John Weagly
Claude Wooley lost Theodora in a saloon fight. The fight was of a common variety – one cowboy got mad at another cowboy, punches were thrown, tables and bottles were smashed and, before you knew it, just about everyone in the establishment was involved. The saloon was also of a common variety – Smilin’ Jack’s […]
Whore’s Gold by Mike McCrary
They’re here all right. I hear ‘em. Hell’s waitin’ for me just outside this dusty old cooper mine. They’re madder than hell, lookin’ to kill me on a count I killed one of them. I’d kill that son of a bitch again, if God let me. Fat Boy came up to my room last night. […]
Haitian Slim by Dan Larnerd
The Dogleg Saloon was bustling. Hardly a minute went by without a prospector or cowboy coming through the swinging doors. Folks crowed around the bar ordering shots of rye and whiskey. Whores walked bow-legged among the rowdy crowd while the piano player banged out the tunes of Stephen Foster. Not many of the patrons paid […]
One More Spring by Jim Wilsky
The old cabin creaked and shuddered in the harsh winter wind. It was late November, 1857 and Jess Bender sat slowly rocking in the big pine chair he had made years ago. He was wrapped in an old buffalo blanket, but was still shivering. The one room cabin was warmed by a fire burning in […]
Hell Fire by Chuck Caruso
“You ever have a woman get you in the God way?” “I ain’t sure I follow you there, mister,” Sam said, annoyed that this stranger had yet again trespassed against the peace of his mealtime. Shoulda knowed from that damn preacher hat, Sam thought, tall and rounded up top with its wide, flat brim. Shoulda […]
Hot Spell by Bill Baber
For weeks on end it had been hotter than Billy be damned. Heat lie on the parched, arid land like a wool blanket that could not be kicked off. Before noon each day, the sky turned a flat white, the sun becoming an unblinking eye of fire. There were no clouds, not a breath of […]
Seeds by Chris Leek
“Mary! Get in the house and bar the door.” God knows I loved that woman, but she had a passel of stubborn in her. Mary ignored me as she was want to do in most things. She stood firm and holding my old Navy with both hands she fired at the man riding her down. […]
Missing by Edward A. Grainger
Cash Laramie’s often called The Outlaw Marshal. Not so much because he goes outside the law in the course of doing his duty as a Deputy U.S. Marshal as because he delivers justice so often in his own peculiar way. Him and me both work out of the Cheyenne office, and we both work for […]