Six Gun Justice: Western Stories

Two acclaimed western novelists, PAUL BISHOP and RICHARD PROSCH, have been running a podcast called SIX GUN JUSTICE for a while, where the co-hosts look at most things western: western history and fiction, TV, film, radio and books (including interviews with authors, publishers etc.)They’ve now branched out into publishing fiction, and their first effort is SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST WESTERN STORIES, an anthology of 13 western short stories edited by Richard, with an introduction by Paul.The stories in this excellent collection show an under-appreciated aspect of the western: the variety and diversity inside the genre. Simply on grounds of length, I’m not going to review every story here, so apologies to anyone left out. Picking out my favourites we have THREE DAYS TO PINE RIVER by MICHAEL RITT, which tells of a lawman bringing in a prisoner through the Colorado Mountains. There’s a morality play underlying this not-what-it-seems tale, driven by Ritt’s lean, effective, cinematic prose.DULCIE’S REWARD by EASY JACKSON breaks convention by having a young woman as the central character. Jackson writes a pacy narrative of Dulcie attempting to organise a cattle drive in a very readable, colloquial style.NIGHT HORSE by JOHN D. NESBITT, concerning doings on a small Wyoming ranch, is an unusual, interesting western murder mystery.HIRED GUNS: MULE’S GOLD by STEVE HOCKENSMITH is a stark account of prospectors searching the harsh Sonora desert for an abandoned gold mine. It reads like the gritty first chapter of a novel (or a series) which I would be very happy to read.HEADWATERS by VON MCKEE is an expertly-written character study about a fiddle-footed professional gambler seeking to make peace with his cruel, abusive father.Of my most favourite stories in the anthology, one is HOLLIE JOLLY COURTSHIP by JACQUIE ROGERS, a warm, funny, beautifully-written western romance about an Idaho farmer’s quest for a bride.The other is THE FOX AND THE SNAKE by JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE. Fox Caldwell is an old former outlaw who has survived until c. 1915, but then the past comes calling. This taut, superbly-written elegy also has a cinematic quality, and I thought of a Sam Peckinpah-directed end-of-the-west movie with a script by Elmore Leonard.Overall, a diverse and surprising collection I can highly recommend.