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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of western short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

640+ Western Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Hitch your ponies, shutter up the saloon, and watch the tumbleweeds roll down Main Street. There's a showdown at high noon — and the weapon of choice? Short stories.

Western Short Stories – Page 2 of 43

Amongst Men and Bears, Follow the Dogs

Submitted to Contest #302

TW: mention of dementiaThe unincorporated town of Pray, Montana, lies within the Paradise Valley against the backdrop of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. The town itself is a small collection of weathered buildings along Highway 89 that look like an old Western movie set where John Wayne might have downed a pint of lager as crisp as the mountain air. These days, the ranchers are dwindling, Airbnbs have taken over the adjacent towns of Gardiner and Livingston, and you're more likely to meet tourists and transient summer employees as opposed...

12 likes 4 comments 4
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In Conclusion: 33 Dead & a Turkey for Dinner

Submitted to Contest #301

In the gray twilight of the hour that precedes the coming of the sun, forms are difficult to make out. Sight seems dimmed and untrustworthy. The whole world appears to be made up of shadows.Those shadows are moving. Figures shift. The low voices of both men and horses can be heard. Small white clouds drift in the dark air like ghosts, marking the mouths of living creatures. Hard hooves clop against rock as one horse or another shifts on its feet occasionally. Boots shuffle and scuff. Leather squeaks. Metal jingles and quietly rings like litt...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Trial by Silence: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Submitted to Contest #301

The town of Starlit Mirage is a relatively lawless town according to Samuel Slater, a man in his late twenties that is wearing a lite tan two piece suit, with a white button up shirt, chestnut brown boots, and a white hat. Like any settlement in these deserts, Starlit Mirage likes to take justice into their own hands in spite of what the law tells them to do. Taking justice into one’s own hands tend to leave the world bloody. At least that’s what Samuel thinks as he looks at Riley Roswell who is staring up at the window in his small little c...

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Sweet

Submitted to Contest #301

Roman was going to do it.On his first night back in Rock Candy Valley after five years, he would profess his love to Honey Bee Bennett.The woman who smiled slow and sweet like syrup. The woman who rode mechanical bulls like she would the back of a crescent moon. The woman with a voice of smoke and sugar, smokier in song, sugary in laughter. The woman who could tune lakeside cattails or flute blades of grass for an audience of bayou fireflies. The woman with the best honey mustard in all of Rock Candy. The woman who only winked with her right...

10 likes 6 comments 6
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Inheritence

Submitted to Contest #300

The sun was sinking behind the treeline when John first glimpsed the town. His old wagon had creaked and groaned along the last mile of disused path. A dozen days worth of dust filled the creases in his brow and stung his eyes when he wiped away the sweat; he longed for a hot bath and a cold beer. He had considered stopping to rest before night fell, but his determination had paid off, as his destination began to apparate in the clearing ahead. A ghostly silhouette in the haze of dusk. Once a small but thriving go-between station, Cupid’s Cr...

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Starlit Mirage: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Submitted to Contest #300

The town of Starlit Mirage got its name from the countless stories travelers told at the local saloon, The Black Rose. You see, Starlit Mirage is the only speck of decent civilization for sixty miles in any direction. The harsh Arizona desert claimed many travelers’ lives if they didn’t make a pit stop at Starlit Mirage. Desert’s and their harsh conditions tend to make one’s mind a little wonky to the point that you start seeing things. Folks call that a mirage. The thing is, the twenty miles of desert right before arriving at St...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Beneath the dust

Submitted to Contest #300

Cowboy boots crunched on the desert ground, creating a cloud of dirt. Saguaro cacti rose high to the blistering sun above, their spines protruding from their arms. Closer to the ground, prickly pear cacti pads give life to ruby fruits and barrel cacti loomed dangerously close. Heat rose from the ground creating distorted ripples through the eyes of brave passersby. The desert was a barren place, birds hid in scabs of cacti while the fiercer animals reserved their energy for night. Beneath the cracked surface, something stirred. It felt as th...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Bullets and Gold

Submitted to Contest #298

Bullets and Gold*** Graverobber. He still remembers the first time he was called that. It was only a couple days ago but it felt like months. Then it kept happening. Thief. He could deal with that. He’d been called that a hundred times over. Not to mention, it was true. But graverobber implied something deeper. Sharp snaps shook Silas from his thousand-yard stare. Donovan waved his hand in front of Silas’ face. “You can’t have your head off in the clouds today,” Donovan said. Silas shook away his fuzzy vision. He was still in the small ma...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Twelve Minutes Before Sunrise

Submitted to Contest #297

Nebraska Prairie, 1892“I ain’t goin’ back, I told you.” Jacob grabbed the reins harder, steering the rumbling wagon toward the bruised-looking horizon.“I want Mama! Even that dang baby. Daddy’s gonna’ be real mad when he finds us gone,” Sarah whined. She didn’t have to finish the rest. It made her want to cry like a baby to think of the rest even though she was a full six-years-old now.Jacob shook his head, eyes focused on the purple and pink streaks that hearkened dawn. “I told you, Mama won’t come, and we jes gotta go.” He set his jaw hard...

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With His Boots On

Submitted to Contest #297

IN THE EAST, a faint rose and gold ethereal light hinted at dawn breaking through the deep indigo of the night. Nathaniel Everett sat still on the weathered porch steps of the ranch house, his eyes fixed upon the distant horizon where the jagged silhouettes of the Sawtooth Mountains stood etched against the brightening firmament. The air hung still and cool around him, carrying the mingled scents of sage and pine from the surrounding foothills.Within the house behind him, the old man lay dying.Nathaniel rolled a cigarette, the ritual offerin...

3 likes 2 comments 2
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His name was Death

Submitted to Contest #296

In a society built on the ideals of man, who can truly say what is morally good, and what makes you a villain?In our own minds, we are never truly evil; only operating in a way that seems correct to us, with what few standards are set for humanity.In a world of storybook heroes and villains, who truly is to blame? The man aligned to his own sense of morality, or those who align themselves with the moralities of those in power?Those pawns of power seem to detest people like me; rebellious people love me.But what does that make me? A villain? ...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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Against the Current (Idaho Territory - 1885)

Submitted to Contest #296

The boy was nine and his father was dead. Abe found him by the rocks where the trail turned north, his face streaked with dried tears and dirt."Got a name?" Abe shifted the Sharpe's in the crook of his arm. He kept his distance, letting his voice do the reaching."Nick."Abe studied the lengthening shadows. The temperature would drop twenty degrees once the sun slipped behind the ridgeline. He could backtrack to Boise, maybe make Warren, but either way that was three weeks of walking, no way he would last. He just didn't have the strength. "I ...

13 likes 10 comments 10
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On a Gut Feeling

Submitted to Contest #296

“You burn your dead here?”“Yeah,” the deputy said, his attention quickly drawing away.Georgia Lasko looked to where the deputy and the few hundred gathered townsfolk were staring. A cart was rolling up with a cage in the back. It came to a stop and a couple rough-skinned deputies unlocked the cage and yanked a man out of it. He was sobbing, wearing a beat up brown suit and tied at the wrists with a length of rope. Georgia noticed it was rope, not metal handcuffs. Odd, like most things out this side of the country.“Yeah, I saw there wasn’t an...

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Dancing on Air

Submitted to Contest #296

Mammoth, Arizona1888 Mayor Cash Ridley gazes out of his second-floor office window at the carriages and horses navigating through Mammoths’s dusty streets, speaking with his back to Deputy Mayor Stephen Sharpe. “We’re going to execute Cynthia Greenstock.” “We’ve never hung a woman before,” Stephen replies. “People are going to be angry about it, particularly the women.” “Women don’t vote. At least not yet.” Appearances are important to Cash, who wants people to see Mammoth live up to its name. Broad-shouldered, with a large, blonde waxed m...

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Chasing Ghosts

Submitted to Contest #296

I always hated Fort Bridger.The way they draped the flag over the Johnson family general store shopfront sign didn't sit right with me. It felt symbolic–like our own army had invaded and tactically cut off our supply lines, like they did the Indians. The Johnsons were good people. They never charged more than a nickel for a tin of coffee and even gave goods on credit when the winter ran long.I caught Tim Johnson before he left, his wagon sagging under everything he owned, heading towards Green River while I was hunting elk in the foothills. ...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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