The Western Fictioneers Library is Growing

West of the Big River: The Lawman

By New York Times bestselling author James Reasoner, the first novel in a new series from the Western Fictioneers, West of the Big River. The Lawman features William M. "Bill" Tilghman facing perhaps his greatest and most dangerous challenge.

West of the Big River: The Avenging Angel

Award-winning author Michael Newton spins an action-packed, historically accurate yarn about Orrin Porter Rockwell who is more than just a deputy United States marshal and a deadly gunfighter. He's a member of the Mormon Danites, the group of enforcers known as the Avenging Angels

West of the Big River: The Artist

Acclaimed author Jackson Lowry spins as entertaining a tale as any of those from Charlie Russell himself in this superb new historical novel.

Coming: West of the Big River:

West of the Big River: The Ranger

James J. Griffin, noted for his fine stories of the Texas Rangers, joins the West of

the Big River stable with THE RANGER, a short novel featuring real-life Ranger Sergeant J.S. Turnbo.

West of the Big River: The Forty-Niners

Charlie Steel's story of courage, romance, and danger is based on historical incidents of the California Gold Rush, and vividly illustrates a compelling chapter in American history, recreating a lawless era that exemplifies both the best and the worst in a vital young nation!

MORE  TO COME

Other Western Fictioneers Books

The Traditional West

The classic American Western returns in this huge collection of brand-new award winning stories by some of the top Western writers in the world today.

Six-guns and Slay Bells: A Creepy Cowboy Christmas

Put on your Santa hat and saddle up for this collection of creepy Christmas stories from the Western Fictioneers, the world's only organization of professional authors devoted solely to Western fiction.

The Peacemakers

Collections of 4 award winning western stories in each volume

Volume I

Volume II

Volume III

Volume IV

Peacemaker Tales

This volume includes works by everyone who has been nominated for the Best Short Story Peacemaker in the first three years of its existence, including the winners. You will be hard-pressed to find such a collection of new classics in one book. These stories represent the finest in Old West fiction being written today.

Wolf Creek:

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen.

Book 1: Bloody Trail

Book 2: Kiowa Vengeance

Book 3: Murder in Dogleg City

Book 4: The Taylor County War

Book 5: Showdown at Demon's Drop

Book 6: Hell on the Prairie

Book 7:  The Quick and the Dying

Coming: Book 8: Night of the Assassins

Book 9: A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Western Fictioneers Library

RAW DEAL AT PASCO SPRINGS by Clay More

LEAVING KANSAS by Frank Roderus

JUDGE ON THE RUN by Clay More

RANGER'S REVENGE by James J. Griffin

REACHING COLORADO by Frank Roderus

DEATH STALKS THE RANGERS by James J. Griffin

A ROPE FOR SCUDDER by Clay More

DEAD MAN'S GUN AND OTHER STORIES by Ed Gorman

GUN FOR HIRE by Jory Sherman

FINDING NEVADA by Frank Roderus

THE TRAIL BROTHERS by Troy D. Smith

THE CAST-IRON STAR AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Robert J.

Randisi

STAMPEDE AT RATTLESNAKE PASS by Clay More

A DISGRACE TO THE BADGE AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Ed Gorman

BUZZARD BAIT by Jory Sherman

RED TOMAHAWK by Jory Sherman

ENEMIES AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Ed Gorman

FAST HAND by Karl Lassiter

HOME TO TEXAS by Frank Roderus

THE LONG RIDE BACK AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Ed Gorman

Coming in The Western Fictioneers Library

POTTER'S FIELDS by Frank Roderus

DOUBLE-DEALING AT DIRTVILLE by Clay More

CHARLIE AND THE SIR by Frank Roderus

IRON HEART by Jory Sherman

JASON EVERS: HIS OWN STORY by Frank Roderus

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, J. AUBREY WHITFORD by Frank Roderus

http://www.westernfictioneers.com

Now Available From The Western Fictioneers Library Ed Gorman & Frank Roderus Books

HOME TO TEXAS by Frank Roderus

Charlie McMurty was only twenty-three years old and already the world was waiting to spread itself out at his feet He brought a herd north, got a great price, bought a beauty of a saddle, and had enough left over once he repaid his neighbors to buy a ranch so he could ask for the hand of his sweetheart. Unfortunately, on the way back to Texas he was robbed and left for dead.  To make matters worse one of his attackers was his friend he'd hired to help him with the herd.  All he had left was a big debt back home and a big hole in his chest.  His new quest became the need to be able to return his neighbor's money.  First he had to heal and learn some fancy shooting.

Frank Roderus has had around 300 books published, many of them westerns. He's written under his own name but also under a variety of pseudonyms. So for the well-read fan of westerns chances are you’ve probably read and enjoyed some of his novels without realizing it.

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THE LONG RIDE BACK AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Ed Gorman is the biggest collection of Ed Gorman's critically acclaimed, award-winning Western fiction ever published. This massive  brings together the complete contents of the three e-book Gorman collections published by the Western Fictioneers Library: DEAD MAN'S GUN, A DISGRACE TO THE BADGE, and ENEMIES. Nineteen short stories and novellas and two essays add up to more than 100,000 words from one of the finest writers of our time. This indispensable collection is available only from the Western Fictioneers Library.

Trade paperback available at CreateSpace, soon to be available at Amazon.

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The Western Fictioneers Library Presents

Fast Hand by Karl Lassiter

Some men deserved to die like rabid animals. The Thornberrys and their worthless cousin counted among those the world would be better off without. Judge Sebastian Hand sentences the Thornberry gang to the gallows for rape and murder.  But when they escape, the judge trades in his gavel for a gun, and suddenly he's judge, jury, and executioner all in one.

Karl Lassiter is the pen name of prolific author Robert Vardeman who also writes under the pen name Jackson Lowry.

Enemies and Other Western Stories by Ed Gorman

Ed Gorman is one of the most acclaimed Western writers of our time, hailed for his strong sense of time and place and his gritty characterization. ENEMIES AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES collects his novellas "Enemies" and "Anna and the Players", along with the short stories "The Victim" and "The Long Ride Back". This book is 24,000 words of some of the finest Western fiction available today.

Coming soon in trade paperback: The Long Ride Back and Other Western Stories by Ed Gorman

The ultimate Ed Gorman Western short story collection, with the three Western Fictioneers Library collections,  DEAD MAN'S GUN AND OTHER STORIES, A DISGRACE TO THE BADGE AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES, and ENEMIES AND OTHER WESTERN STORIES in one big volume.  Over one hundred thousand words of great fiction.

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Review Roundup: Ed Gorman's Balancing Act

Dead Man’s Gun and Other Western Stories
By Ed Gorman
The Western Fictioneers Library, April 2013
$2.99: Kindle, ASIN B00CLTS6MC; Nook, BIN 2940016582924
128 pages

Though he’s better known for his crime, mystery, and horror fiction, Ed Gorman is no slouch at writing westerns, either. Gorman’s spare style and uncomplicated prose make it easy to imagine the author as a storyteller in the oral tradition, forced to put pen to paper during an attack of laryngitis.

Perhaps nowhere is that better expressed than in the new anthology Dead Man’s Gun and Other Western Stories. The collection of nine short tales and one brief treatise entitled “Writing the Modern Western” provides eloquent evidence of the author’s exceptional range in storytelling. More than range, though, Gorman’s short stories display the author’s uncommon ability to dig into the darkest recesses of the human psyche and expose the thin lines separating good and evil, bravery and cowardice, love and hate, pride and shame. The way Gorman’s characters balance on those lines — always in danger of falling to one side or the other — will make readers alternately shudder and rejoice.

No matter how uncomfortable the thought may be, Ed Gorman knows us all. Gazing into his mirror is undeniably uncomfortable, yet oddly liberating. “Dead Man’s Gun” will resonate with anyone who’s ever wanted revenge. Writers and movie buffs will relate to “Pards,” a bittersweet tale about a middle-aged, unsuccessful writer who finds a spiritual twin in an aging matinee icon. “The Face,” a Civil War story, is an atmospheric, psychological study of men under pressure, inexorably sliding into madness. “Mainwaring’s Gift” is at once sad and romantic and hopeful. “Gunslinger,” “Blood Truth,” and “Dance Girl” are equally compelling, each in its own way.

Though all the stories take place in the 19th century American west, it’s difficult to define Dead Man’s Gun and Other Western Tales as simply “western.” Fans of psychological horror, crime, and mystery will find much to enjoy in this volume, as well.

Read the book.


Kathleen Rice Adams is a Texan, a voracious reader, a professional journalist, and a novelist in training. Her opinions are her own and are neither endorsed nor necessarily supported by Western Fictioneers or individual members of the organization. The publisher provided a review copy of Dead Man's Gun and Other Western Tales.

The Western Fictioneers Library --Three Fantastic Western Reprints

DEAD MAN'S GUN & OTHER WESTERN STORIES by Ed Gorman

From acclaimed author Ed Gorman and the Western Fictioneers Library comes this powerful collection of Western stories, many of which have never been reprinted. This volume includes the stories "Dead Man's Gun", "Pards", "The Old Ways", "The Face", "Gunslinger", "Guild and the Indian Woman", "Mainwaring's Gift", "Blood Truth", "Dance Girl", and the article "Writing the Modern Western". Gorman's unforgettable stories feature fine writing, compelling characters, and an undeniable sense of authenticity and realism. You can feel the cold, smell saddle leather and gunsmoke, mourn along with the tragedy-haunted men and women who populate Ed Gorman's West. Read DEAD MAN'S GUN and see why Ed Gorman is one of today's most honored Western authors.

FINDING NEVADA by Frank Roderus

Frank Roderus's critically acclaimed, award-winning Harrison Wilke trilogy comes to a rousing conclusion in FINDING NEVADA, which finds reluctant hero Harrison embroiled in a dispute over a potentially valuable gold mine. From Denver's high society to the rough-and-tumble mining camp of Goldfield, Nevada, Harrison has to navigate a treacherous path that includes murder, action, and romance. The Western Fictioneers Library presents another classic traditional Western novel from one of the most popular authors of our time! The order of this trilogy is Leaving Kansas, Reaching Colorado, then Finding Nevada.

GUN FOR HIRE by Jory Sherman

A fortune in gold dust, two beautiful women, a pair of deadly bushwhackers gunning for him, a dangerous blizzard, an avalanche, and an unknown plotter masterminding murder and robbery . . . These are just some of the things Clay Brand has to deal with when he signs on to guard gold shipments coming down from the mining country in California's San Bernardino Mountains. But before Clay can get to the bottom of the violence plaguing the mountains, he'll have to shoot straight and fast and escape the unexpected menace of a lynch mob!  Available again for the first time in more than thirty years, GUN FOR HIRE is the first Western ever written by acclaimed author and poet Jory Sherman, who has been honored with lifetime achievement awards from both Western Fictioneers and Western Writers of America. It's a classic action-packed novel filled with suspense and also includes a new introduction by the author written especially for this volume in the Western Fictioneers Library. 

           
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SHORT STORY SUNDAY with Troy D. Smith

Today I'm going to highlight the second unit in a three-way tie for my all time favorite western short story -last month I talked about the first, "The Last Boast" by Dorothy Johnson.

This time around it is Ed Gorman's "The Face," winner of the 1993 Spur Award. It was anthologized a couple of times in the 1990s, and I think I may have seen it for the first time in the pages of Louis L'Amour Western Magazine, if I remember correctly. I am posting links below to two mass market paperbacks, long out of print, where you can find the story if you get 'em used... if it is available in digital form, and/or in a way that'll make Ed a buck if you buy it, someone please let us know.

GUNSLINGER

TALES OF THE AMERICAN WEST

I am going to throw around some superlatives here. Ed Gorman is one of the best writers alive today, in any genre. I'm far from the only person to feel that way, I am sure. And this work is one of his best -in fact, in my opinion it is one of the best short stories written about the American Civil War, ever. It is a profound, disturbing, thought-provoking, poetic, and subtly terrifying tale. In his introduction of the story found in the book mentioned above, Richard S. Wheeler said: "It is the most haunting study of men at war that I have ever read. It brims with horror and beauty and darkness and evil."

 I can't really give much away -in large part because Gorman's artistry in this particular work has little to do with plot and everything to do with tone and atmosphere. In a nutshell, though, "The Face" is about the effect on a Confederate military camp when a wounded man is brought in, immobile, an empty shell of a person, really -with his face seemingly permanently frozen into a horrifying expression that defies definition. The reader soon intuits that those features reflect all the horrors and grief of war in human experience. The soldiers, and the reader, are -to put it in contemporary terms -freaked the frack out. As we should be.

If you haven't read the work of Ed Gorman, this is a good place to start... but so is anything he has written, really.