FOLLOW THE LONESOME TRAIL

FOLLOW THE LONESOME TRAIL

A Wild West Anthology complied by Allison Tebo

Published by KDP, August 2025

A trapper discovers he’s been left a poke of gold—but there’s a safe and a greedy bartender between him and his inheritance. The residents of a mining camp join forces to protect children who may or may not be royalty in disguise. And a pair of bandits get more trouble than they bargained for when the cargo they were hired to steal turns out to be somebody’s mail-order bride!

Find all this and more in this anthology, and prepare yourself for a wild West you only thought you knew as six authors go off-trail and blaze a new path.

Contents:

1. Safekeeping by Rachel Kovaciny

2. Two for the Trail by Allison Tebo

3. A Peculiar Kidnapping by A. Hartley

4. Gold is Where You Find It by Allison Tebo

5. The Princess of Flat Rock by Elisabeth Grace Foley

6. The Man with the Long-Barrelled Gun by Emily Hayse

7. Blaze of Memories by Allison Tebo

8. The Trouble with Rubies by Hannah Kaye

This just released collection of short stories offers a refreshing take on the western. All of them have strong roles for female leads. There are plenty of twists, many of which I didn’t see coming. There’s a bittersweet ending but most finish with an uplifting conclusion. There’s a lot of humour with a couple of the stories bordering on being outright comedy tales. Most of the stories have a light-hearted tone although you will find some thoughtful messages within the stories too. There are crazy situations that need fast thinking to resolve. The misunderstanding of an overheard conversation drives the plot of one of the stories. Another seems to follow a more traditional western storyline; that of a new widowed young mother about to lose her ranch until a lone man steps in to deal out justice because that is the right thing to do.

All of these stories captured my imagination and kept me turning the pages to see what happened next. I wished some of them were longer. A couple left me wondering if the lead characters would return in future tales. 

Yes, I have my favourites but I can honestly say I’d be happy to read more western stories by any of the authors in this collection – I’ve only read Elisabeth Grace Foley before. The three tales by Allison Tebo are much shorter than the others.

Overall, this is a strong collection of short stories from a group of talented authors. Recommended.

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

THROUGH WESTERN STORMS

THROUGH WESTERN STORMS

Edited by Richard Prosch

Independently published, August 2024

Crashing thunder! Pelting sand! The whirl of confusion and the winds of madness.

Join 13 unsurpassed storytellers to journey through Western storms with tales of perseverance, grit, and courage as vast as the 19th-century American landscape.

This is an excellent collection of well-written short stories that either feature characters battling against the elements or emotions. You’ll find tales that are heart-breaking, those that find humour in desperate situations, and everything in between. There are stories that feature real people such as Nannita Daisey and Oscar Wilde. There’s one that is about a strange long-necked creature. Others tell tales about soldiers, mechanics, and detectives. Most are about ordinary people struggling through life. 

One of the things that I enjoy about anthologies is discovering new authors and nearly all of these writers are new to me. I’ve only read stories by three of them before. Of course, it’s all subjective to the reader when it comes to picking out favourites, which authors you want to read more of, or singling out stories you aren’t so keen on.

If you pushed me to pick out my favourites, I’d name in the order they appear in the collection, A Death on the Concho, Valiant-For-Truth, White City, and Noah’s Lament as being my top choices. I will quickly add that the others are very good too.

If you want to introduce yourself to the work of some current authors, perhaps discovering some new favourites in the process, then I’d suggest you grab a copy of Through Western Storms as soon as you can. 

Contents

Another Man’s Sea by Vonn McKee

The Lost Diary of Nannita Daisey by Nancy McCabe

Hurricane at Hogg’s Holler by Scott McCrea

Go On by Jim Jones

Windmiller by Jackson Lowry

A Death on the Concho by Jane Little Botkin

A Cowtown Wind by Natalie Cline Bright & Denise F. McAllister

Valiant-For-Truth by Elisabeth Grace Foley

A Newspaper Comes to Cripple Creek by Big Jim Williams

A Death in the Family by W. Michael Farmer

White City by John D. Nesbitt

Noah’s Lament by Preston Lewis

American readers can get a copy here
British readers can get a copy here

THE SMOKING IRON

 

THE SMOKING IRON AND OTHER STORIES
By Elisabeth Grace Foley
Independently Published, May 2024

I’ve read a few of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s other western books, both novellas and short story collections, and The Smoking Iron and Other Stories is another superb read. Seven tales that captured my imagination easily as Foley’s excellent descriptions put me right in the scene with her engaging characters. I could feel the bitter cold in Dakota Clothesline as a new bride faces questions about her marriage in the shadow of a prairie blizzard and I could hear the music in Professor Pruitt’s Circulating Concert Company as a travelling band of musicians get accused of robbing a bank.

Even though some of Foley’s storylines seem like typical western plots to start with, she always manages to turn these themes on their head to offer a fresh take to the tale. The story Sheep Need a Shepherd being a perfect example. It begins like it’s going to be another range war story, which in some ways it is, but by having a new minister bring in the sheep causes problems for the established cattlemen as they aren’t sure how to deal with him. This stirs up controversy among his new congregation. Can the words of the Lord solve this standoff?

My favourite story was the last tale, The Smoking Iron, which is a twisting mystery. A man is found shot beside a branding fire and a young rancher is accused of murder—but what crime was really committed there? How the truth was brought to light was something I’d never have guessed. I can’t remember ever reading anything like it before, so this came as a very welcome surprise.

Some of the stories are thought-provoking, others will make you laugh, and another may bring tears to your eyes. All are well worth reading.

Contents

Dakota Clothesline

The Heiress and the Horse Trade

Sheep Need a Shepherd

Professor Pruitt’s Circulating Concert Company

Lark’s Nest

Big Aspen

The Smoking Iron

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

A Sidekick's Tale

By Elisabeth Grace Foley

Published, November 2017

Illustrations by Annie Grubb

Meredith Fayett needed to marry someone before the week was out or she would lose her ranch. It sounded simple, so ranch hand Chance Stevens agreed to take on the job, in spite of his friend Marty’s warnings that it could only lead to trouble. But even Marty, a loyal though opinionated sidekick, couldn’t have predicted the mayhem that ensues when his own eccentric relatives appear on the scene, dragging Chance, Marty, and Meredith into the latest skirmish in a long running family feud.

What follows is a hilarious tangle involving an emerald ring, a fearsome aunt, a scheming suitor, and a term of runaway mules – by the end of which Chance finds that even a marriage just on paper has its complications, and that it never hurts to have a good sidekick.

Elisabeth Grace Foley takes the age-old plot of a young, pretty, girl about to lose her ranch to the bank, and comes up with a fresh, and extremely enjoyable, approach to resolving this problem.

Elisabeth’s character studies are superbly portrayed and the story is beautifully told through Marty, and it’s his observations that offer most of the witty and laugh aloud moments that come thick and fast throughout this fun read.

Marty’s extended family and their polite generational feud provide the complications to what should have been a straightforward solution to retaining the ranch and I don’t think any reader will be able to forget Aunt Bertha for a long time. 

There are also a number of surprises that offer some great plot twists that will have you wondering how the lead characters are going to solve them satisfactory.

I’ve read a number of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s stories, and reviewed them on Western Fiction Review, and like those I found this one to be as thoroughly entertaining as any of them. In fact I’m even thinking it’s time I read her non-western books too.

The Mountain of the Wolf

By Elisabeth Grace Foley

March 2017

In the shadow of the mountain, Rosa Jean Kennedy lives alone, waiting. Vengeance for her brother’s death is the only object left in her life, the one thing that steels her resolve to continue in a solitary, sometimes perilous existence.

When mustanger Quincy Burnett arrives on the mountain, he finds himself strangely drawn to the silent, lonely girl who seems to rebuff all attempts at friendship. But Rosa Jean is determined not to let anyone—even Quincy—stand in the way of her revenge, and her determination may lead them both toward disaster…for there are other dangers lurking in the mountains besides the wolves whose howls are heard at night.

This novella is billed as a Western re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood in which a girl is willing to walk into the wolf’s den—but will she really find what she is seeking? 

One of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s strengths is creating characters you can believe in, care about their wellbeing and hope they are successful in their aims. Another of Foley’s fortes is her ability to describe situations and places that make you feel you are there with her characters, experience their emotions, be they happiness or fear, and for the most part of this terrific tale there doesn’t seem to be much of the former.

Like the majority of fairytales this story has a dark tone, and to begin with you won’t see much of a connection with the Red Riding Hood tale as the novella reads much like any western and has a storyline that throws suspicion on Quincy Burnett – is he who he says he is? Later, as Rosa sets off with picnic basket in an attempt to fulfil her desire for revenge the parallels with Red Riding Hood become terrifyingly real and Foley builds the suspense superbly. To say anymore would spoil this beautifully written tale.

I’ve read a couple of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s other western works, and this one has to be the best yet. 

Mountain of the Wolf is the third of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s series of fairytale-retelling novellas set in different historical eras.

Wanderlust Creek and Other Stories

by Elisabeth Grace Foley

March 2015

From the author of The Ranch Next Door and Other Stories come six more short stories exploring the joys, heartaches and laughter of life against the backdrop of the Old West. In Single-Handed, a gunfighter’s courage comes in doubt when he refuses to explain to his friends the real reason he backed down from a fight. The capable proprietress of the busiest eating-house in town handles a day of disasters large and small in the light-hearted The Rush at Mattie Arnold’s, while in Room Service, a hotel night clerk finds himself in on odd position after he allows an exhausted traveler to stay in a reserved room. And in the title story, the novella-length Wanderlust Creek, a young rancher and his wife struggle to hold onto their land and their dreams in the face of adversity from weather, enemies—and even doubts of each other.

Having enjoyed Elisabeth Grace Foley’s previous collection of western short stories and her Western novella, Left-Hand Kelly, I was keen to read this new collection. As I expected the six stories proved to be equally as entertaining as her other work.

All the stories contain likable lead characters who left me hoping that I might get to read more about them one day. Some of the tales are fairly straight-forward and others contain elements of mystery, such as Single-Handed and Room Service, the latter in particular kept me turning the pages to find out just who the stranger was and why he was using such an obvious fake name. Another story sees someone nearly taken into custody due to a mistake that many of us have made in the past, and I really enjoyed how easily a tale could be crafted around such an observation.

Short story collections are always a great way to introduce yourself to new authors, so if Elisabeth Grace Foley is new to you then I’d recommend you try this book. If you’ve already read her work then I’m sure this will be on your to buy list when it’s released on March 2nd.

Contents:  

Single-Handed

The Rush at Mattie Arnold’s

A Search for Truth

The Mustanger’s Bride

Room Service

Wanderlust Creek

Also available in paperback.

Left-Hand Kelly

By Elisabeth Grace Foley

Second Sentence Press, June 2014

Sixteen-year-old Lew Kelly grew up idolizing his enigmatic ex-gunfighter father. Everyone thought Lew’s habit of practicing his quick draw was a harmless amusement—until the day when a boys’ hot-headed quarrel exploded into gunplay, with disastrous results. 

Three years later, Lew is withdrawn and bitter—and he still carries a gun. When an unexpected twist of circumstances forces him to face again the memories and the aftermath of that ill-fated fight, will old wrongs be righted—or will the result be an even worse tragedy than before?

After reading Elisabeth Grace Foley’s superb short story collection, The Ranch Next Door, I’ve been looking forward to her next western and here it is in the form of a novella of approximately 38,000 words.

Told in the first person through Colvin, the story hooks the reader right away with a question as to why does one young man shoot another? Colvin is soon involved trying to protect both the guilty and the innocent and how this deadly dilemma will be resolved is never obvious and the need to discover the answer made this a very difficult to put down read.

Foley’s characters are both complex and well developed. Can some put aside their beliefs due to their upbringing and accept they must change is one of the themes the author explores. Others find themselves out of their depth and seeing how they cope in these situations is never predictable.

The tale is beautifully paced, building through tense and frantic scenes to its neat conclusion and once again I’m left hoping it won’t be too long before Elisabeth Grace Foley presents us with another western.

Left-Hand Kelly has just been released as an ebook but will be available as a paperback soon.

 at Amazon.com                    at Amazon.co.uk

The Ranch Next Door

By Elisabeth Grace Foley

ebook, October 2011

CreateSpace paper book, March 2012

Contents:

The Ranch Next Door

Disturbing the Peace

Cross My Heart

A Rangeland Renaissance

Angel Unawares

The Outlaw’s Wife

Delayed Deposit

After only reading the first tale in this collection of short stories I found myself becoming a fan of Elisabeth Grace Foley’s writing. Her descriptions of both people and settings are superbly done and dialogue is believable. I can honestly say there isn’t a weak story to be found here.

The opening tale seems at first to be the usual boy from cattle ranch falls for girl from sheep ranch story that can only lead to trouble. How this is resolved is through a superb twist that I didn’t see coming that adds a fresh angle to this theme.

Disturbing the Peace is an award-winning tale about self-discovery. A Rangeland Renaissance is full of humour and comic situations. Like the first story, The Outlaw’s Wife is a twisting tale that offers unforeseen surprises.

As soon as I finished one story I found myself diving into the next, eager to read more of these beautifully told tales. 

I believe that all western fans will find something to enjoy in this collection and I hope it isn’t too long before Elisabeth Grace Foley puts out a full length western, or another selection of short stories.