Over Western Trails

by Richard Prosch (Editor), James Reasoner (Contributor), Terry Alexander (Contributor)

The crack of the whip! The pounding of hooves! The Thunder of stagecoach wheels! It’s all here in 15 tales of old west adventure edited by Richard Prosch and written by the following authors:
Terry Alexander — J.D. Arnold — Dennis Doty — J.L. Guin — J.E.S. Hays — Gail Heath — Jackson Lowry — Jeffrey J. Mariotte — Edward Massey — Terrence McCauley — Von McKee — Cheryl Pierson — James Reasoner — Charlie Steel — Benjamin Thomas — Big Jim Williams, with an introduction by Doris Gardner-McCraw President, Western Fictioneers.

330 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I have story published in this collection, I won't be providing a traditional review. But there are a total of 16 stories collected here and only one of them is mine so I can comfortably attest to the high quality of the entire collection. For those readers who don't think there are any good western short stories being published anymore, I suggest you give this anthology a try. The stories revolve around the central theme of "The Trail" and many include a stagecoach journey. Judging by these stories, interesting things tend to happen when a group of strangers get together for such an excursion. Some are adventurous, some are emotional, some are funny, but they are all good stories.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent anthology of new Western short stories. Most of them are set aboard stagecoaches and its amazing how much variety in terms of plot and character the various authors drew from that basic Wild West setting.

I enjoyed every story here, but the ones that standout in my mind are:

"Minuet" has an ending that could easily have been corny and contrived, but works perfectly because of the author's effective prose and characterizations. This endows the story with real humanity.

"Coffin Trace" and "Bullet Trap for the Stagecoach Queen" both mix a lot of great action in with fun and unusual characters. (Mrs. Stokes from "Bullet Trap" is now one of my favorite-ever supporting characters.)

"Stage to Yosemite" contains a brilliant and unexpected plot twist involving the protagonist.

"Run for Ruby Camp" uses an unusual narrative technique to give us an exciting Pony Express tale.

"Stagecoach to Trinidad" and "The Strongbox" give their protagonists strong character arcs involving redemption while telling strong, action-packed stories.

These are my personal favorites, but every story in "Over Western Trails" is worth reading.

[Phyllis Rundell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a group of 15 short stories by different authors that contains lots of great adventure, beautiful scenery, gun fire, and excitement. It is a real page turner for lovers of Western adventure. I highly recommend it; I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.