In 1866, only men uprooted by war had reason to ride into Tubacca, Arizona, a nondescript town as shattered and anonymous as the veterans drifting through it. So when Drew Rennie, newly discharged from Forrest's Confederate scouts, arrived leading everything he owned behind him-his thoroughbred stud Shiloh, a mare about to foal, and a mule-he knew his business would not be questioned. To anyone in Tubacca there ... more...

The daughter of a Swedish minister growing up in Colorado, Thea Kronborg's adolescent ability on the piano is encouraged by her eccentric German music teacher, Professor Wuncsch, and by the kindly but unhappily married Dr. Howard Archie. Set apart from the townspeople by her talents, Thea's friends are far from conventional. At 17 she leaves them and her mother's influence to go to Chicago where she studies with the ... more...

After the death of his parents, Jim is sent to live with his grandparents on the Nebraska plains. By chance on that same train is a bright-eyed girl, Antonia, who will become his neighbor and lifelong friend. Her family has emigrated from Bohemia to start a new life farming but soon lose their money and must work hard just to survive. Through it all, Antonia retains her natural pride and free spirit. Jim's ... more...

Guest Ranch is a short story about a couple visiting a Guest Ranch. They meet a trail guide who is also a storyteller who tells them a tale of the Old West. The husband is in a bad mood over a traffic fine and he is slow to become receptive. more...

The year is 4011 and a young graduate keeps a journal as he completes his internship at one of the vast American oobax ranches. more...

Told through the eyes of an old western criminal, Astra the witch is raging havoc on a town which hates her. more...

In the post-apocalyptic world of the Skillet, fourteen-year-old Jake Stryker lives a miserable existence as an indentured slave to the Crayton clan. Then the Bad Hand Man blows into town and Jake's life changes dramatically. But is it for the better? A free steampunk novelette from K. H. Koehler. more...

Still half asleep, Michael looked up at his parents sitting on the buckboard of their covered wagon and saw an arrow penetrate his father's chest. Then he saw his mother being dragged from the wagon by two Indians. His mother fell from the wagon and disappeared from his sight and from his life forever. Now he was all alone. more...

Jacob Remington had gunned down many men, but he had never experienced such a challenge. Would he really meet his match in a mysterious old man who seemed strangely familiar...a man who knew so much about him...a man who claimed to know his future? Jacob's final gunfight would be like nothing he could have imagined. more...

CHAPTER I THE SCHOLAR At the age of six Randall Byrne could name and bound every state in the Union and give the date of its admission; at nine he was conversant with Homeric Greek and Caesar; at twelve he read Aristophanes with perfect understanding of the allusions of the day and divided his leisure between Ovid and Horace; at fifteen, wearied by the simplicity of Old English and Thirteenth Century ... more...