American West: Twenty New Stories from the Western Writers of America

by Loren D. Estleman (Editor)

Once, there was a world where the heroes were defined by their white clothing and the bad guys always wore black. The town sheriff always gunned down the wild gunslinger while the lady in distress cowered. The Indian was to be feared, not understood, and the white man always saved the day. This was the traditional Western.

But times change, as did the Western. The evolving Western is told from the point of view of blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Gentiles, Mormons, Catholics, women, and men. It is about America; it is about life. Whether a story's central element is a hangman or a midwife, a piano or a cowboy who hates tomatoes, you may be certain of one thing, if the tale reflects an expanding continent, it reflects the American West.

Genres: Westerns, Short Stories

372 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.

Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery

Reviews

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable collection of stories, and a good collection to discover authors to read more of. These stories are also a good way to introduce anyone who is not familiar with the western genre, or avoids it because of their perception of westerns. The stories range from light reading to serious literature, each displaying the wide variety of challenges faced by people; and that westerns are not all gunplay, bank robberies, fighting Indians, white hats versus black hats. These are stories of relationships be it with other people, animals, the land, the weather, one’s self. The writers do a fine job in transporting the reader to different times and places.

Each reader should find one or more stories that they find particularly outstanding as this reader did with “Hewey and the Wagon Cook” by Elmer Kelton (a humorous story of how two men resolve their conflict), “Laureano’s Wall” by Mike Blakey (a story of respect and regret), “Going Home Money” by Judy Magnuson Lilly (a story that gets it right about the loneliness of a woman living on the prairie), and “Thirteen Coils” by Loren D. Estleman (24 hours in the life of a western official).

This collection ends with a slice-of-life story, “Sepia Sun” by Deborah Morgan, that has a theme about reverence for one’s work and the subject of the job. I think it would have been fitting to open this collection with “Thirteen Coils” which has a similar theme, although the characters and their work are not at all similar. Both stories also touch on change from old to new.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my idea of a good Western, by any means. Maybe small stories can't get off the ground, like "real" ones.

I especially detested the piss-poor Spanish in Laureano's Wall by Mike Blakely, and the derogatory remark toward the indians in the "true story" The Guardians by Don Coldsmith, insinuating that because they were educated they were worthy of trust. Educated?

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this collection of western stories from start to finish with the rare exception. The stories range from the old west to the modern times, some with a hint of supernatural. "Hewey and the Wagon Cook" and "The Two Trail Ride Tricksters" had me laughing along with the excellent writing. This is on my read-again list.

[JMRL]

Find it at JMRL: http://aries.jmrl.org/record=b1062510~S9