History & Treasure stories

Apache Wars stories

Ten historical fiction stories with notes separating imagined scenes from documented events.

Belle Sets the Pace

A talkative cowboy finds a singing saddle, but the music keeps stopping whenever he turns to boast. A comic tall-tale poem.

Comic free-verse tall tale

Bertha Calls Their Bluff

Two bandits threaten a mail coach with fourteen voices and a borrowed coat.

Comic Western tall-tale ballad

Betty Collects the Crown

Betty wants a bounty, a bandit wants an audience, and a silver crown carries more than royal pride.

Comic tall-tale ballad

Desperado Dreams

A young outlaw longs for an ordinary morning, but leaving his gang will not erase what he has done.

Narrative cowboy poem

Give the Sky Back

Adra carries a book that can raise a hill above the clouds. Her father is in prison for what happened to the road below it.

Invented-world fantasy adventure

Gold Enough to Sink a Hat

Three former cattle riders return from a mine hunt with a grand tale and a mule bill.

Western tall-tale poem

Jack Won on Points

Garran invents a boxing match with a giant cactus. His friends insist on having a say in the score.

Comic Western narrative poem

No Partners Left at Dusty Junction

Maribel enters an empty dance hall and finds that even ghosts can argue over who gets the next dance.

Whimsical ghost short fiction

No Spurs at the Snake Rodeo

Tull dreams of a rodeo where snakes get their own turn in the saddle. At breakfast, Perra wants to hear who won.

Comic Western dream ballad

Pepper in the Morning

Ferris wants his sister to admire his camp coffee. She has brought her own tea.

Comic cowboy poem

Sing for the Empty Rooms

Before the road to his old town closes, Silas returns with a guitar and a song he has avoided.

Western free-verse elegy

Third Place, No Leftovers

A cook-off spill leaves Molly with one small pan, a deadline, and a boast she can no longer afford. A comic frontier poem.

Comic narrative poem

A Wind with Too Many Names

A camp cook tries to write down two rival tales, but the wind carries off a page and neither teller agrees on the ending.

Lyric campfire poem

The Camp Where Tuesday Came Twice

Three cowhands trade tales of a missing Tuesday while their cook tries to get them to bed.

Campfire poems

The Echo That Took Two Voices

A rider follows his lost dog’s bark into a canyon, where a guide asks him to look at the ground.

Narrative poem

The Last Appointment at Sunset Valley

Two men plan a duel over a brother’s death, and an innkeeper brings a receipt that proves less than either wants.

Frontier fiction

The Phantom Who Stole the Bells

A deputy follows cloth, hoofbeats and stolen bells while a sheriff tries to catch a ghost.

Comic narrative poem

The River That Left the Gate Behind

Mara brings her father’s gate back to an old ford, where the river and her daughter have other plans.

Narrative poem

The Road Leda Would Not Name

A guide must choose between a dangerous short pass and the cost of arriving a day late.

Frontier fiction

The Stars in the Empty Saddlebag

A rider takes his late brother’s unfinished star map to a ridge, hoping it will help him choose his next step.

Narrative poem

The Weight Ironheart Could Not Lift

A strong man makes a fallen beam harder to move when he refuses the help already waiting beside it.

Frontier fiction

Bigfoot Bob and the Smaller Boot

A tall cowboy sells tickets to his Sasquatch story, until a boy arrives in a canvas suit and oversized boots.

Comic ballad

The Adventures of Wild Bill and Crazy Kate

Two tall-tale riders invite a ghost into a saddle and discover that a wager has a finish line, but a dead man's errand does not.

Supernatural Western adventure poem

The Desert's Hilarious Legends

A boardinghouse owner asks three celebrated cowboys to demonstrate their legends before she sells a single ticket.

Comic narrative poem

The Enigma Undertow

A drowned archive offers a marine archaeologist three riddles and a discovery her sponsor has no use for.

Archaeological adventure mystery

The Fire That Needed Feeding

A tired camp cook, a boasting cowboy and a quiet child find three different ways to feed a fading fire.

Lyric narrative poem

The Fireside Chronicles

With supper stranded beyond a broken crossing, a young cook tries to finish a mule story among men who know larger ones.

Cowboy narrative poem

The Horse with the White Rein

A wanted tracker can outride the woman following him, until a child's promise and a flooded crossing change his route.

Western adventure

The Last Plate

Jon has built his name on a shot nobody else attempts. In the final round, his young rival offers him a less theatrical contest.

Western short fiction

The Legend of Slippery Slim

A glib con man finds that his creditor remembers the pitch and his hotel keeper has already heard the escape plan.

Western con-game poem

The Stake on the Green Cloth

A celebrated gambler's last game offers a fortune, an old debt, and a table where nobody has agreed to risk everything.

Western short fiction

The Tune with a Missing Chair

A returning fiddler brings a grand new tune to a dance hall whose roof still needs repairing.

Frontier fiction

The Two Halves of the Stair

Two rival antique dealers follow a divided diagram to a flooded city, where the most valuable discovery is still doing its job.

Archaeological mystery

The Violin Listed Twice

In 1998, a grandson decodes his grandfather's wartime diary. The message concerns a violin the family is about to sell.

Historical family mystery

Whisker Willy and the Whirlwind Wranglers

A celebrated posse takes on a herd visible only in dust, then discovers how little ghosts care about a good publicity trick.

Ensemble supernatural adventure poem

A Kitchen That Could Leave

A blacksmith builds an elegant stand for Nell's travelling stove, though the woman he hopes will stay has asked for something she can carry away.

Western fiction

The Wheel Her Father Needed

A wheelwright's outlaw father brings her a stolen wagon, an injured driver, and a repair he expects her to make without questions.

Western

The Room Listed as Empty

Three strangers arrive to inventory a mansion before its sale. Someone upstairs keeps correcting their list.

Ghost story

The Wrong Anniversary

The town's time capsule opens onto a pile of roofing bills. Its young curator has two hours to find out what they actually buried.

Archival mystery

Larry and the Lizard Who Lit the Road

Lasso Larry sets out to catch a glowing lizard for a prize. His sister comes along to keep count of what really happened.

Comic Western tall tale

The Lost Journal of Grant County

A student checking a family journal before an estate sale finds a treasure map that cannot be as old as its cover claims.

Historical mystery