Saddle up and enjoy these 14 new tales of hot lead, cold hearts and more leather-slapping action, adventure and edge-of-the-seat danger than you could ever hope to find on either side of the Mississippi. From high-noon showdowns and shade-tree lynchings, to raging prairie fires and scrub-country manhunts, Express Westerns' first collection, Where Legends Ride, will grab you by the vest front and won't let go until you've surrendered to the posse. So sink spur and hang on... it's time to go where legends ride !
Where Legends Ride is the first anthology of short stories published by Express Westerns. It contains 14 short stories about the West, by both new authors and established Black Horse names like Lance Howard, Ben Bridges and Duane Spurlock. The stories are a mix from out-and-out humorous, like the delightful 'Hard Times For The Pecos Kid', by Lee Pierce, to adventure stories and thoughtful pieces like 'The Man Who Tracked A River' by Derek Rutherford
My own contribution is 'Easier Than Working'. The heroes of the story are Tomcat Billy and Irish, the two rogues from my novel 'Darrow's Badge'. I loved writing about them. and was delighted to have a chance to put them into a short story. Here they are, a year or so before 'Darrow's Badge', encountering a lone wagon out on the Nebraska prairie. They might be rogues, but they stop and help, risking themselves to help the brave Edison family. Tomcat and Irish might believe that stealing is easier than working, but they still admire those who do an honest day's work, expecially when they have a taste of manual work themselves:
The day seemed to get hotter and hotter as they heaved the first iron-banded wheel into place. Tomcat leaned against it, feeling sweat run down his face as Irish wrestled with the hub, scewing it into place. He felt an increasing sense of urgency to get the wagon fixed, without knowing why.
Little Duke appeared and sat on the grass, watching them as they struggled.
"Will you get it done before it rains ?" he asked.
"Rain ?" Tomcat asked incredulously.
"There's a black cloud over there," Duke said, pointing away from the wagon to the north-west.
Tomcat and Irish both looked up to see what he meant. Sure enough, black clouds were billowing up on the horizon, but it wasn't rain. Under the cloud was an ominous orange glow, and Tomcat realized that he'd been smelling smoke in the wind for some time.
Express Westerns is a new imprint created by writers and readers of Black Horse Westerns. Where Legends Ride is intended to be the first of a series of anthologies available for sale. It's available as either a download ($5) or as a large-format paperback for $13.95.
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