Dusty Richards

Gil Slatter is quick on the draw and has a head for running a ranch--but he's also a lonely man with nothing more than a cot in the bunkhouse at the TXY Ranch to call home. When the ranch's foreman drops dead of a heart attack and the owner picks Gil to take his place, his entire world turns upside down. One day life is simple. The next, he's running the entire outfit, buying new horses to replace the rundown remuda, finding new markets for the beef, tackling the problems of water shortages and homesteaders and learning how to deal with the tough and proud old man who owns the place. The old foreman's passing means more than just a new job and new challenges on the ranch, though. He also leaves behind a daughter, a willful young woman named Kate. When Gil drops by to pay his respects, she shocks him with a somewhat outrageous proposal... and ends up stealing his heart. So starts the Western adventure of a lifetime. Between wild horses, outlaws, rustlers, homesteaders, an ambitious young landowner with a mean streak, and the flirtatious, scheming wife of the ranch's owner, it's no easy task for any man to handle. But with his new bride beside him, Gil is determined to take the TXY to new heights of success... or die trying

Blue Roan Colt is the heartwarming story of a man broken by war and betrayal who finds salvation through the gift of love, brought to life by legendary western author Dusty Richards and his longtime writing partner, Velda Brotherton.

Blue Roan Colt is the heartwarming story of a man broken by war and betrayal who finds salvation through the gift of love, brought to life by legendary western author Dusty Richards and his longtime writing partner, Velda Brotherton.

A blazing new chapter in the epic Byrnes family saga from Western Heritage and Western Writers of America Spur Award-winning author Dusty Richards . . . Born out of the grit, sweat, and drive of a cattle ranching empire, U. S. Marshal Chet Byrnes is turning the savage and lawless Arizona desert into a homeland. To some he's the hero that the West needs. To others, he's a moving target. Chet is spearheading a stage line from Gallup to the Colorado River. It'll be a boon to Navajo trading posts, and lay out the territory for new settlements. Unfortunately, it's not Gerald Hall's idea of progress--killing Chet is. The mysterious Texas gambler has hired three kill-crazy assassins--and counting--to bury Chet under a storm of bullets. To turn the tables on a game of revenge, Chet has to match the deranged Texan play by play, body by body, and bullet for bullet. Come hell or high water, that stage line is going through--even if it's forged in blood.

It's Easy to be Brave from a Safe Distance. When Zekial Broome stops a sadistic slave chaser, Grissum McCord, from whipping his captive, he and the girl have no choice but to flee west into the untamed lands of the wild frontier. If they can make it to the Green River country, no one will ever find them. What they don't count on is McCord. With a five-hundred-dollar bounty at stake and revenge in his heart, he'll follow them to hell and back, for as long as it takes. He's murdered before, but the revenge he plans for the buckskin-clad Broome would make a strong man quail. Zekial and Tilly are forced to keep running, always looking over their shoulders, until they have no choice but to find a place to make their stand. No matter what happens, they'll both be changed forever... but will they find the peace they seek to get on with their lives? Non-stop action, life and death struggles, triumph and despair fill the pages of what may very well be the best yarn yet from the pen of legendary author Dusty Richards.

It's Easy to be Brave from a Safe Distance. When Zekial Broome stops a sadistic slave chaser, Grissum McCord, from whipping his captive, he and the girl have no choice but to flee west into the untamed lands of the wild frontier. If they can make it to the Green River country, no one will ever find them. What they don't count on is McCord. With a five-hundred-dollar bounty at stake and revenge in his heart, he'll follow them to hell and back, for as long as it takes. He's murdered before, but the revenge he plans for the buckskin-clad Broome would make a strong man quail. Zekial and Tilly are forced to keep running, always looking over their shoulders, until they have no choice but to find a place to make their stand. No matter what happens, they'll both be changed forever... but will they find the peace they seek to get on with their lives? Non-stop action, life and death struggles, triumph and despair fill the pages of what may very well be the best yarn yet from the pen of legendary author Dusty Richards.

If you enjoy stories of the West, you've come to the right place. Saddlebag Dispatches regales you with tales placed west of the Mississippi containing the spirit of the Old West in them, but you'll find some of the New West here, too. Inside, larger-than-life men and women drive pickups on highways in addition to riding horses down dusty trails. You will also discover some of the best nonfiction as well as poetry, interviews and...well, pretty much anything to do with the West. Twice a year, we feature interviews with the movers-and-shakers in Western writing, columns by writers steeped in the form, and poetry and fiction from some of the best authors in the business. This issue, we're celebrating western writing--a uniquely American art form--by honoring the life and legacy of our recently-departed co-founder, three time WWA Spur Award-winner Dusty Richards. As a young man, all Dusty ever wanted was a horse of his own, ranches to work on, rodeos to ride in, a strong woman by his side, and stacks of books by the likes of Zane Grey to occupy his creative mind. One day, he turned those stories in his head into novels, forever bestowing us with inspiring, heroic tales of the men and women who proudly occupy both the Old West and the new. His enduring spirit is evident in every word on our pages. This issue features our tribute to Dusty, as well as nonfiction pieces from Cyndy Prasse Miller, Spur Award-winning author and poet Rod Miller, Elaine Marze, and George Gilland; short fiction from Dennis Doty, Michael McLean, Steven Carr, John M. Floyd, Terry Alexander, Spur Award-winning author Richard Prosch, and Dusty Richards himself; poetry from Laurie Muirhead; and columns on all things western from our dedicated staff. It's our way of saying goodbye to the man True West magazine once called "the greatest western fiction writer alive."

Welcome to Saddlebag Dispatches, Where Stories Of The West Come To Be Told. If you like stories of the West, you've come to the right place. But we don't just tell stories of the Old West. If a tale takes place west of Mississippi and has the spirit of the Old West in it--even if it involves pickups and highways instead of horses and dusty trails--this is where it belongs. In addition to fiction, we publish the best nonfiction about the West as well as poetry, interviews and...well, pretty much anything to do with the West. Are you getting the idea we like things western? The Autumn/Winter 2017 issue features our exclusive interview with award-winning author John J. Dwyer, as well a photo tour of the Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma, coverage of the 2017 Western Writer's of America convention, an exclusive on-set update from the upcoming Western film Painted Woman, short fiction from Spur Award-winning author Richard Prosch, Dennis Doty, Darrel Sparkman, Terry Sanville, Tommy Hancock, and Claudia Mundell, and the fourth installment of Michael and D. A. Frizell's sizzling serial graphic novel, Bender.

At the end of the War Between the States, great numbers of rootless, exhausted men and women set out to try and rebuild their lives in the unmapped, untamed freedom of the Great Plains. Noble McCurtain had been sickened by the slaughter of the war—he deserted, seeking a place where he could live in peace. Fleta Corey had waited years for her husband to return from the war, trying desperately to keep herself and her little boy alive. Noble chanced by their cabin just in time to save them from a murderous band of raiders, and they decided to join forces and head west… There, on the Santa Fe Trail, they would find not the peace they were seeking, but danger and death, and love and hope.