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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.

150+ 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 3 of 10

Baptized in Mud

Submitted to Contest #305

THE WATER WAS SHALLOW, but it felt like he’d landed on bedrock. Mud sucked at his shirt. His hat was gone, and somewhere upstream, a longhorn was bellowing like damnation itself. The herd kept churning through the narrow ford, hooves pounding the riverbed, flinging water and muck and everything else the beeves left behind. He’d landed hard on his right side, felt something crunch, and now sat half-submerged in the churned-up mess, one hand clutched at his ribs, and the other was too slick with filth to push himself upright.The sun, high and ...

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The Town

Submitted to Contest #305

The Town Was he dreaming? Was there a mist forming around him or was he still at home in his bed?There was a muffled bang like a firecracker. He blinked and wondered why did he think he was in his bed? He opened his mouth, strained and looked up at the sky. It was blue. There was no mist. Brad was confused. He was standing and there in the mist that had cleared was a grove of trees and to each side of the grove were two very different streets.To his left was his compact, neat neighbourhood with cars parked, a kid on a bicycle throwing a roll...

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The Legend of Nora Banks

Submitted to Contest #304

When it came to Nora Banks, no one questioned anything. The morning after the jailbreak, the deputies were trying to explain why they had simply let the two known train robbers out of the cell and then locked themselves in that same cell, and watch those same train robbers saunter off to the waiting trio, the answer was quite simple. Nora Banks was the answer...always. Who bakes the best pies? Nora Banks – but she doesn’t like to bake much, that’s why we so rarely enjoy her offerings. Who sings the prettiest? Nora Banks – but she doesn’t lik...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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The Good Son

Submitted to Contest #303

My name is Micah Walker. I was born in 1880 and raised on a cattle ranch in the high plains of western Kansas. My father owned over 1,000 acres of grazing land there. Every fall we’d sell around 300 head of beef cattle and drive them to the stockyards in Denver. Growing up it was my Pa, my Ma, my little brother Caleb and me. But they’re all gone now.I’m putting this in writing now because there’s something I’ve been carrying around with me for nearly fifty years - something I’ve never told a living soul. And I just need to get it off my ches...

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Redemption or Damnation: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Submitted to Contest #303

“I reckon this town ain’t got much longer. The demons have been more rowdy these past few months. Nearly lost you, girl.” Riley Roswell, nineteen years old, brushes his loyal steed, Cassie. Her beautiful chestnut brown hair shimmers in the moonlight. His black leather vest practically in tatters now, the same red shirt that was burned nearly half a year ago drapes over his shoulders, and his black hat now riddled with a few more holes. Cassie’s saddle is a walking armory. A rifle now has an extra-long barrel to increas...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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Obsession

Submitted to Contest #303

The desert was a harsh place. Hot, dry, and lawless. Linus M. Cole knew these facts well. He kept his body well covered with a long coat, wide hat, and a red scarf that covered most of his face. The later especially helped with what little order the wasteland had to offer. Cole didn’t go out of his way to change his looks, but staying faceless helped keep others off his back, until recently. Word had been spreading around of red scarfed, wide hatted collector of weapons. Guns of various make and blades of various steel, and Co...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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The Light in the Darkness: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Submitted to Contest #302

“Sometimes God sends angels down to earth to enact his will. They come disguised as regular folk like you and me, but they have been touched by His divine grace. These earth angels are meant to be our souls guiding light towards salvation while in this mortal coil. While mere strangers to us, earth angels wage a secret war between Heaven and Hell. Fer ya see, the Devil also sends his demons to tempt us. They come to us as false earth angles to make each of you stray from the Lord’s plan and give into sin. It is up to y’all to stand firm agai...

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Mathematical Showdown

Submitted to Contest #302

CECIL HIGGINS counted heartbeats like other men counted coins. Precise. Methodical. The drunk swaying twenty-six feet away had an elevated pulse—112 beats per minute, visible in the filthy neck above his crooked collar. Cecil’s pencil scratched another data point in notebook nine. Three years of obsessive documentation had worn the leather cover smooth. Coffee, whiskey, and other men’s blood stained the pages inside.Subject exhibits classic alcoholic tremors. Right-hand deviation: 1.5 inches per second. Predictable. Equation applies.The man ...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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Working Girl

Submitted to Contest #302

Working GirlThe newly arrived settlers had been making sacrifices to accommodate requests made by the Southern Kansas Stage Line. They were considering accepting the offer of opening a rest station for the company and had generously served some of the passing stagecoaches even though they had no accommodations built yet on the land they recently claimed. Only the wagons the pioneers arrived in provided food and lodging so far. Mr. Pike, the company's agent visiting the homestead, thought maybe he should stay until the next stage came on the ...

17 likes 14 comments 14
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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...

6 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...

11 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...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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