Pete Garnett hadn’t planned on shooting anybody. But when he spotted the two hardcases threatening a helpless girl, he didn’t have much choice . . . and they fired first. He was just doing what he had to do, and that should have been the end of it. Trouble was, the two had a partner that Pete didn’t see. But the third man saw Pete, all right, and it wouldn’t be long before he tried to get rid of the girl who could identify him and the man who killed his friends.
This is a book of hard-crafted fiction set in the contemporary West, stories about life and love, loss and death, with a few laughs along the way. In selections such as “Cowboy Heart,” “Ice on the Doorstep,” “Chokecherries Are Free,” “Drunk on Christmas Day,” and “Dusk on the Rangeland,” the book captures the spirit of people who tough it out in a world both modern in its problems and timeless in its landscape. This collection has all the fine features that have won praise for John D. Nesbitt’s earlier novels and short stories.
Stories of a Golden West Somewhere between John Steinbeck and Merle Haggard, these short stories are about people who work in the fields, sleep in cars and bunkhouses, and sort out the problems that life hands them. One character remembers the day Marilyn Monroe died; another runs off with an underage girl; and another finds a hidden rifle in a dead man's house. These people live in a world of young hopes and sad memories, pretty girls and hard work.
Vance Coolidge always said a man should have a chance to get even when he's been done wrong. And he's certainly been done wrong in his life. So when his friend Tip asked for his help in going after the men who killed Tip's brother, Vance agreed to join him. But Vance doesn't completely trust some of the other men riding with them, and as the chase wears on he'll find out that vengeance and righting wrongs can be a tricky—and dangerous—business.
Out on a ranch in the foothills, Jim Lander is trying to get his life in order. He's trying to put his divorce behind him so he can develop a relationship with Dusty, a nice young woman who lives in town. Things get complicated, though, when he doesn't resist temptations at the Trail's End, his favorite honky-tonk bar. To sort things out, he goes to the mountains. But even then, it takes the right combination to get things into balance. Nothing comes easy, but it is possible to find a good camp, up and away from it all, where the best light comes from the moon and the campfire. This is John D. Nesbitt's second novel about life in the contemporary West. As in his other work, Nesbitt gives a realistic treatment to his materials. His characters are less than perfect, having been through divorce or similar mistakes and giving a hesitant try at romance. They live in a setting that Nesbitt writes about the best-small-town life, farm and ranch country, and the big outdoors where everyone has the right to look for a good camp. This is a lean, trim novel with a graceful prose style that will remind us of why we like to read.
With a lot of rustling going on in the area, tensions are high and rumors are flying. Word is going around that some of the larger ranchers have hired a gunman named Wolf Carlton to stop the rustling and protect their cattle. And now a couple of the small ranchers have been found shot to death. Unfortunately for Spencer Prescott, some of the rumors are about him. Some people think that Spencer, not Wolf, is the one killing the competition. Even worse, some folks think Spencer is behind the rustling—and that means trigger-happy Wolf will be looking to put a bullet in his back.
Trouble's brewing. Big trouble. A couple of the big ranchers in the area have been pushing around the smaller ones, bullying them, and a few of the smaller ranchers aren't going to take it anymore. Tom Fielding runs a string of packhorses and works for the big outfits, but that doesn't mean he's ready to stand by and do nothing. Lots of folks have warned him not to take sides, not to make powerful enemies. But Tom knows when something is just plain wrong, you have to stand up against it ... even if that means putting yourself in the middle of an all-out war. “Spur-winner Nesbitt doesn’t write traditional novels or routine shoot-em-ups. Gather My Horses is an emotional story, full of believable people with rich detail and a sense of purpose. Nesbitt breathes life, rich in characterization, to this beautifully written novel.” —Roundup Magazine
Monte Casteel hadn’t planned on staying long when he rode into the small Wyoming town of Eagle Spring. He was just a ranch hand with no work between seasons. But even before he got into town, someone warned him it might be better for his health if he kept on riding, and Monte hated to be told what to do. It got even tougher to leave when he saw Dora in the street. She was the girl he’d pined after for so long, though she never seemed to care much for him. They may not have been the best reasons to stay around, but they were good enough for Monte. He didn’t know—yet—that he had one great reason to ride out of town fast—a range war was brewing, hired guns were coming in, and before long Monte would find himself caught right in the middle.
Owen Felver was on his way from the Wolf River country to the Laramie Range, hoping to earn summer wages, when he stopped off in Cameron, Wyoming. As a fellow who enjoyed his pleasures, he had a beer in the saloon, but then he got sidetracked sticking up for a girl. Her name turned out to be Jenny Quoin, and one of the bigwigs in town didn’t want to leave her alone. Felver didn’t like to be told to move along, and he and Jenny developed a mutual interest, so he pitched camp near town and took a look into things. Soon enough, he had thugs trying to rough him up. So he looked closer. As he did, he discovered a web of theft, invasion of privacy, blackmail, and eventually murder.
Clevis always says that when he sees a pretty girl walking down the street and looking over her shoulder, he pays attention, especially if she is walking fast. From the time he sees Helen hurrying down the street, Clevis knows she is in some sort of trouble. First he is curious. Then he wants to help. But helping Helen is no simple matter, as he soon finds out. She is trapped in a dark web of lies, deceit . . . and murder. And the more he tries to help her, the more the sticky strands of that web snare Clevis too. Clevis knows there has to be a way to free both of them. He just has to find it while they are still alive.
Travis Quinn doesn't have much luck picking friends. First, a friend gets him fired from a ranch. Then he heads down the Powder River, meeting another "friend" who puts in a good word and gets him hired at the Lockhart Ranch. And, if the rumors are true, this friend might just get Travis killed.
Antelope Sky: Stories of the Modern West Here is a world of sky and sage, dust and rain, horses and saddles, pickups and gun racks—where the wild roses bloom in springtime and the wild geese fly in winter. This is a world where men and women meet, or separate, or have a drink somewhere in between, as they sort out their pasts and try to remake the present.
When Tip Creston comes to the town of Greenwood, he learns of the disappearance of a fifteen-year-old Romanian girl ten years earlier. Before long, a neighboring wheat farmer is found dead. Suspicion falls on a rancher who has been carrying on with the farmer’s wife, but there is no compelling motive. Then Tip learns that the wheat farmer was in collusion with the owner of the grain elevator to embezzle wheat. The disconsolate boyfriend of the missing girl is obsessed with the case and begins to meddle. Not much later, the housekeeper for the grain merchant’s mother is found dead on the open range. In town, Tip follows the crowd to the grain elevator, where the disconsolate boyfriend has gone after the grain dealer in the offices on the second story. He pursues the grain dealer out onto the roof and has a confrontation. Many of the townspeople are reluctant to take the initiative to know more, but Tip feels a need to continue to push for the truth about what happened to Rosina Petrescu, the rose of Greenwood.
Shaping the Story is a practical guide to the craft of writing fiction for authors of all levels and abilities. Award-winning author and scholar John D. Nesbitt has penned an easy-to-use handbook, complete with short stories he references throughout, all under one cover. Shaping the Story is a complete, professional tool for aspiring creative writers. This book contains discussion, as well as examples and sample stories, to illustrate many of the points made.Whether you're writing a short story or a longer piece, this book is a must-have!
A Jimmy Clevis Novel Jimmy Clevis is out of work and needs some money. So when an old man named Tull asks him to do a quick job for him, Clevis agrees. All Clevis has to do is head south to Paloma Springs to find Tull’s son. Sounds like easy money, right? Wrong. Clevis isn’t just riding into Paloma Springs—-he’s riding straight into a tangled net of lies, stealing, blackmail, hidden identities . . . and murder.
A Jimmy Clevis Novel This is the third in a mini-series about Jimmy Clevis, the good-natured narrator who appeared earlier in Rancho Alegre and Red Wind Crossing. In this novel, Jimmy sets out to find a missing man. His travels take him to Wyoming, where he comes to the small town of Raven Springs and a couple of roadside inns. People seem to disappear in this place, and in the course of Jimmy’s stay, he has to untangle the threads of missing persons, altered identity, greed, and murder.
Trouble's brewing. Big trouble. A couple of the big ranchers in the area have been pushing around the smaller ones, bullying them, and a few of the smaller ranchers aren't going to take it anymore. Tom Fielding runs a string of packhorses and works for the big outfits, but that doesn't mean he's ready to stand by and do nothing. Lots of folks have warned him not to take sides, not to make powerful enemies. But Tom knows when something is just plain wrong, you have to stand up against it ... even if that means putting yourself in the middle of an all-out war. “Spur-winner Nesbitt doesn’t write traditional novels or routine shoot-em-ups. Gather My Horses is an emotional story, full of believable people with rich detail and a sense of purpose. Nesbitt breathes life, rich in characterization, to this beautifully written novel.” —Roundup Magazine
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.