"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

The American West. Just as America attracted millions to her shores by building upon a foundation of freedom, democracy, and a new start, the lands beyond the Mississippi would also attract people from all over the world with visions of opportunity and wide open spaces and provide America with legends and myths that have yet to die. In Westward, the history of the Old American West unfolds in twenty-eight original stories written especially for this unique collection that commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Western Writers of America. Featuring stories handpicked by four-time Spur Award-winning author Dale L. Walker, Westward is a time capsule of the Old American West, from the first horse ever seen by a North American Indian to a man who escaped from the Alamo, from the massacre at Mountain Meadows to Libbie Custer's great secret, from the Apache wars to the California gold rush. And such luminaries of the West as Crazy Horse, Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, King Fisher, Doc Holliday, Belle Starr, John Wesley Hardin, and the one black man to accompany the Lewis and Clark expedition are brought to life in these colorful and dramatic tales. Here, the ghosts of the Old West, some already there, others lured to that vast and trackless land of the setting sun, will talk to you in this volume of short stories to be treasured. Includes new short fiction by: Arthur Winfield Knight, Bill Crider, Bill Gulick, C. F. Eckhardt, Cotton Smith, Dale L. Walker, Dan Aadland, Don Coldsmith, Elaine Long, Emery L. Mehok, Ivon B. Blum, James Reasoner, Janet E. Graebner, John Jakes, John V. Breen, Lenore Carroll, Linda Sandifer, Loren D. Estleman, Matt Braun, Michelle Black, Otis Carney, Richard C. House, Richard S. Wheeler, Riley Froh, Rod Miller, Susan K. Salzer, Troy D. Smith, and Win Blevins.