A penny for a promise will change her life forever. For Jesse James, the war will never be over. For Zee Mimms, the war is only the beginning. The long, bloody Civil War is finally at an end when Zee Mimms, the dutiful daughter of a Missouri preacher, is tasked with nursing her cousin, Jesse James, back to health after he suffers a near-fatal wound. During Jesse's long convalescence, the couple falls in love, but Jesse's resentment against the Federals runs deep. He has scores to settle. For him, the war will never be over. Zee is torn between deferring to her parents' wishes and marrying for security or marrying for love and accepting the hard realities of life with an outlawaliving under an assumed name and forever on the run. For her, the choice she makes means the war is only beginning.

Since 1953, the Western Writers of America has celebrated the rich heritage of the American West through Spur awards and anthologies. With "Roundup ," edited by WWA Past-President Paul Andrew Hutton, the WWA again offers the very best of contemporary Western writing by the top hands in the field.
From Native Americans, famed frontiersmen, cowboys and outlaws, to contemporary tales of ranching, mining, and urban challenges, the WWA presents the full range of the American West as told in fiction and nonfiction short stories, poetry, and even a novella by television icon and WWA Wister prizewinner for Lifetime Achievement, Andrew Fenady.
Other Wister-award authors include such giants as Elmer Kelton, Robert M. Utley, Matthew Braun, and Richard Wheeler. They join Spur-award winners Johnny Boggs, John Nesbitt, Paul Hedren, Don Birchfield, Miles Swarthout, and Red Shuttleworth. These are not your Granddad's Western stories, but rather a fresh and enlightening look at the West and its people--past, present and future.

William Mack just wanted peace. He followed trouble back to his home town, Dalston, Missouri, and took care of it. There, he planned to settle with his brother, Joshua, and his uncle, Frank. He was to be married to Mira. Pete Sterns rode in to town and changed all of that. Things around Dalston will never be the same.

"It's the scenery-and the big guy standing in front of the scenery-that keeps us coming back to Craig Johnson's lean and leathery mysteries." -The New York Times Book Review A sheriff's mysterious death spurs the tenth Longmire novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Land of Wolves In Any Other Name, Walt is sinking into high-plains winter discontent when his former boss, Lucian Conally, asks him to take on a mercy case in an adjacent county. Detective Gerald Holman is dead and Lucian wants to know what drove his old friend to take his own life. With the clock ticking on the birth of his first grandchild, Walt learns that the by-the-book detective might have suppressed evidence concerning three missing women. Digging deeper, Walt uncovers an incriminating secret so dark that it threatens to claim other lives even before the sheriff can serve justice-Wyoming style.

All lovers of westerns know these four great stories. The Western Writer's Association of America ranked them as four the best short stories of the 20th century, but these classic tales have never been collected in one book until now. This edition is destined to earn a place in every western library. In 2005, Dorothy Johnson will receive a star in the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans at the Montana State Capitol.

Larry McMurtry has done more than any other living writer to shape our literary imagination of the American West. With The Last Kind Words Saloon he returns again to the vivid and unsparing portrait of the nineteenth-century and cowboy lifestyle made so memorable in his classic Lonesome Dove. Evoking the greatest characters and legends of the Old Wild West, here McMurtry tells the story of the closing of the American frontier through the travails of two of its most immortal figures: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

Opening in the settlement of Long Grass, Texas not quite in Kansas, and nearly New Mexico we encounter the taciturn Wyatt, whiling away his time in between bottles, and the dentist-turned-gunslinger Doc, more adept at poker than extracting teeth. Now hailed as heroes for their days of subduing drunks in Abilene and Dodge more often with a mean look than a pistol Wyatt and Doc are living out the last days of a way of life that is passing into history, two men never more aware of the growing distance between their lives and their legends.

Along with Wyatt's wife, Jessie, who runs the titular saloon, we meet Lord Ernle, an English baron; the exotic courtesan San Saba, "the most beautiful whore on the plains"; Charlie Goodnight, the Texas Ranger turned cattle driver last seen in McMurtry's Comanche Moon, and Nellie Courtright, the witty and irrepressible heroine of Telegraph Days.

McMurtry traces the rich and varied friendship of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday from the town of Long Grass to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Denver, then to Mobetie, Texas, and finally to Tombstone, Arizona, culminating with the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral, rendered here in McMurtry's stark and peerless prose.

With the buffalo herds gone, the Comanche defeated, and vast swaths of the Great Plains being enclosed by cattle ranches, Wyatt and Doc live on, even as the storied West that forged their myths disappears. As harsh and beautiful, and as brutal and captivating as the open range it depicts, The Last Kind Words Saloon celebrates the genius of one of our most original American writers."

Even in the darkest of shadows, love can light the way. Nicholas Graham is caught in the middle: of his family, of his desires, of his own unhappiness. After he meets Winnie Watson, his self-imposed curmudgeonly existence pales in comparison to spending time with her. He wants to be with her, to get to know her. She is a beacon to all the secret cravings he has controlled. Until now. Winnie Watson endured, and survived, a horrendous childhood that would give others nightmares. She started over, a new name, a new goal in life. Then she met the Grahams and everything went sideways. She's done the unthinkable and struggles to accept it. She wants to forget it all again, but the specter of Nicholas Graham, physical and in her dreams, won't let her move on. Caught between their needs, their wants, and what the world will allow them, Nick and Winnie are doomed from the moment they met. However, love will teach them that even the biggest obstacles can be overcome if you believe in love.

John Russell has been raised as an Apache. Now he's on his way to live as a white man. But when the stagecoach passengers learn who he is, they want nothing to do with him. and his ability to lead them out of the desert. He can't ride with them, but they must walk with him or die... western novels also stand as some of the most vivid writing of his career. Crackling with Leonard's trademark dialogue, set against a beautifully evoked landscape, this is a classic work that captures the wild and glorious spirit of the American West.

On the run... and right into a cowboy's arms. When being stalked by an ex-boyfriend, Tori Slater leaves the Montana family ranch to make a new life at Colton Creek Ranch in Wyoming. Suddenly there a brand new complication when the caretaker's grandson becomes her new business partner and soon her heart gets involved in the partnership. Ex-cop, Logan McNeely, has his own dreams of a solitary life, raising free-range cattle on his neighboring ranch. Half his dream ends with his grandfather's recent death. Then in walks Tori to add problems he didn't need. He can't seem to ignore her, and when danger comes to the homestead, more than his cop instincts kick in. To save her, he has to save himself first before they can have a future together.

THE WHIP is inspired by the true story of a woman, Charlotte 'Charley' Parkhurst (1812-1879) who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man. As a young woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love with a runaway slave and had his child. The destruction of her family drove her west to California, dressed as a man, to track the killer. Charley became a renowned stagecoach driver for Wells Fargo. She killed a famous outlaw, had a secret love affair, and lived with a housekeeper who, unaware of her true sex, fell in love with her. Charley was the first woman to vote in America (as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville, California.

RANDY AND ROUGH, HE'S A MEAN MOUNTAIN MAN WITH A NOSE FOR TROUBLE AND HANKERIN' FOR HOT BEAVER All fired up from trapping a load of fresh beaver, Mountain Jack Pike and his ornery sidekick Skins O'Connell pushed through some virgin bush into Fort Halls for a little hard-earned fun. Trading their soft pelts for some hard cash, the burly mountain men snatched up a couple of saloon gals, hungry for some real frontier lovin'. Then, trouble hits. Ol' One Eye, a man-eating wolf, was attacking children and livestock near the fort. Everyone agreed the beast needed killing, but Pike was the only man big enough for the job. With the helping hand of a lusty young widow, the hot-blooded trapper picked up the scent of the demon wolf in the local hills and got down to action. But, Jack soon became the prey of a lowdown killer named De Roche, who was aimin' to collect the secret bounty of Ol' One Eye. Working up to a powerful, high-mountain climax, hard man Pike pumps his long gun fast and furious against both man and animal 'til he laid them down in a flood of hot lead and cold killing

"Motherfucking Sharks reads like it was carved into the floor of a sun-baked desert by an old testament prophet with a thirsty knife." - BEN LOORY, author of "Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day"

"Where I come from, the children sing a song:

Oh the motherfucking sharks Oh they're gonna come to town Oh they're gonna kill the babies Oh they're gonna make you drowned in your blood

Oh the motherfucking sharks Oh they're gonna mince the flesh They're gonna swim up and surround you Don't you know you'll never pass the test it's over

Oh the motherfucking sharks Oh they don't care about the gods And they don't care about the families And they don't care about the cries or tears they're killers.

Motherfucking sharks Motherfucking sharks Motherfucking sharks Motherfucking sharks"

"Return to danger"

It's the summer of 1880, and Thomas Edison's incandescent bulb is poised to put the gaslight industry out of business. Knowing a good business opportunity, former New York shopkeeper Steve Dancy sets out to obtain a license for Edison's electric lamp. Edison agrees, under one condition: Dancy and his friends must stop the saboteurs who are disrupting his electrification of Wall Street.

After two years of misadventures out West, the assignment appears to be right up his alley. But new troubles await him in New York City. Dancy has brought a woman with him, and his high-society family disapproves. More worrisome, he has also unknowingly dragged along a feud that began out West. The feud could cost him Edison's backing ... and possibly his life.

About the Author

James D. Best is the author of "The Shopkeeper," "Leadville," "Murder at Thumb Butte," "The Shut Mouth Society," "Tempest at Dawn," "The Digital Organization," and "Principled Action." He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with his wife, Diane.

Praise for Steve Dancy titles

"You'll find yourself lost in the book." Maritza Barone, "Woman's Day"

"Once again, Best has penned a fine read." C. K. Crigger, "Roundup Magazine"

"This is a fast-paced tale with an interesting hero...you'll certainly find enough twists and turns to provide an entertaining and exciting story." Western Writers of America, August, 2008

"The James Best books...are about the best new western series to come along since Larry McMurtry." Larry Winget, "True West Magazine," March, 2012

"This is a compelling narrative and as good as the best of classic westerns. James D. Best is a name to remember." "Saline River Chronicle"

"The Shopkeeper is quick and fun to read, perfect for a vacation escape." Diane Scearce, "Nashville Examiner"

A con man. A rancher's daughter. A wildfire out of control. Elizabeth Graham spends her days running the business side of the Circle Eight ranch. Her knack for numbers and organization lent themselves to her position in the family. She has just turned twenty-one and doubts she will find a man to spend her life with. Elizabeth doesn't believe in love, after all, and when she meets a charlatan named Vaughn Montgomery, her opinion doesn't waver. At first. Vaughn Montgomery is down to the lint in his pocket and the handsome smile he uses as a weapon. His last con went wrong and he fled west. Now he finds himself trapped in the middle of nowhere Texas. And at the mercy of a hard-nosed woman who wears shapeless dresses and whose tongue can cut blocks of wood. Unwilling to bend and unable to forgive, Elizabeth and Vaughn get caught up in a web of lies that stretches from Houston to the heart of Texas. She finds herself falling for the man who can't seem to tell the truth and he can't get enough of a woman who can only speak truths. Surrounded by danger, they embark on the ultimate con to save the Circle Eight and their lives.