The Trading Post and Other Frontier Stories

May 15, 2018
This anthology of western stories runs the gamut from a cinematic saloon shootout to an O. Henry-esque gallows confession. Beginning with Michael Zimmer's The Trading Post, in which an old trader stands his ground against the spoiled nephew of the company store owner, the collection features several different approaches to the western ghost story, from a preacher's violent revenge to a brother's harrowing choice. Other standouts include Dirty Old Town, by Greg Hunt, featuring a frontier-style Jack Reacher character; Johnny D. Bogg's Judgment Tree, in which an aging Daniel Boone dispenses justice; and The Prairie Fire, by Larry D. Sweazy, about two Native American sisters who solve a murder before a much more dangerous fate befalls their tribe. And every reader's heart will break at the end of L. J. Martin's To Ride a Tall Horse, the story of a Mexican boy who seeks his fortune with the vaqueros. Showcasing a wide range of narrative styles and levels of violence, this can be recommended to western readers looking for new authors or to anyone who thinks all westerns are the same.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)