Short stories are a bit of an art form all on their own. It is telling a story without all the frills found in longer books. It's a challenge to create a story without so many words and yet have it be complete.
With fifteen authors, each putting forth a story that they found interesting, the anthology
has action, humor, danger, and, of course, romance. The stories are set in both the old and modern West with heroines as strong and gutsy as their heroes.
The rules for a western are, I think, flexible. Sometimes they feature cowboys but it's as often to be a sheriff or horse trainer. To me, westerns are stories that carry forth the ethos of the Western philosophy which is most often the fight of good against evil. They usually are set west of the Mississippi, but I personally don't consider that a requirement. The more important thing is that they are stories of action, of a problem that must be resolved. If it's a romance, it will have a hero and heroine with a happily ever after.
Check out Rawhide 'n Roses-- and consider putting this romantic western anthology on your eReader for the times you find your hours for reading are not long enough, but you want to escape into an imaginary world for half an hour or so.
From Connie's Gift set in the mining camps of the California Sierras:
Two hours later Sabine scurried to hide under the bed at the booted step on the porch. Connie felt no fear. She knew who it was and didn’t need psychic powers for that.
“Why you sitting in the dark?” Del threw his jacket over the hook by the door unfastening his string tie, and opened the top buttons on his shirt.She gestured toward the window and heard him sigh. “Sorry, baby.”
He found one of her quilts and secured it over the opening before lighting the kerosene lamp. Kneeling in front of her, he put his hands on her knees.
They had been married twenty-five years. She found it hard to believe it could have been so long. In all that time, she never tired of looking at his face, the proud cheekbones, the firm lips that were now set hard, sadness in his dark eyes. He worried about her. She understood. She worried about him too.
All they had was each other. Maybe their lack of children had been for the best. They had moved on so many times. Sometimes it was to find better places for Del to deal faro. Sometimes a town had enough of a gambler who won too often. Others it had been when someone heard of her gift; of course, they didn’t regard it as a gift but rather a curse.
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If you aren't quite sure what a western is, check out this trailer:
