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

630+ 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 7 of 42

Southern Persuasion

Submitted to Contest #248

( An excerpt from 'A Brilliantly Scathing Life' unpublished award winning manuscript by author)Black smoke belched from the smokestack of the Chicago Alton St. Louis Rail Road engine steaming southwest. The passenger car lurched and swayed sending one gentleman trying to negotiate the aisle sprawling into the laps of Kendra and her traveling companions.“Oh, Ladies, kindly forgive me. Did I hurt anyone? Terribly clumsy of me.” He apologized as he reclaimed his footing, bowed and tipped his bowler hat toward them.“No harm done and we can not p...

31 likes 29 comments 29
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The Wind in the Willows

Submitted to Contest #248

Willow, Montana1889 Hunk Harte lies back on his wife’s lap. Annabelle playfully twists his blonde curls, kissing him on the top of his head. The pair of teens gaze up at the starry sky. Annabelle points at a glowing light streaking across the sky. “Look, Hunk, a shootin’ star!” “Make a wish.” “I wish this moment could last forever.” “Carnsarn-it, Annabelle, you ain’t supposed to tell me, cause then it won’t come true!” An enormous shadow whisks by. “Land sakes! That things movin’ lickety split!” the freckle-faced bride marvels. Flames and ...

8 likes 4 comments 4
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Desperate Remedies

Submitted to Contest #248

Jake had been deputy sheriff for about three weeks when the stranger drove into town. At first, he was puzzled: he’d thought he’d met everyone in this God-forsaken place – hell, he saw most of ‘em in the saloon every night – but this man was unknown to him. And then, as the horse slowed to a halt and long, lean limbs unfolded themselves from the driver’s seat, he realised his mistake. Years of hardship had etched lines on the woman’s face, but he thought she would be beautiful if she ever smiled.       &nbs...

21 likes 10 comments 10
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A Conestoga Driver's Journal

Submitted to Contest #247

A Conestoga Driver’s JournalMarch 9, 1800. We’re off to Boston; the first stage of my adventure to go to my father’s house in the wilds of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. I’ve never been there before, so I have no idea what to expect. Father has tried to describe it to me, but I can’t picture it. He says it is very different from where I’ve lived with Aunt Sara and Uncle Fred, north of Boston. My uncle and I stayed with his friends in town. The food was good, and the bed covers so soft and white I didn’t want to dirty them. I slept on the floor, d...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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Silver Spurs, Silver Bullets

Submitted to Contest #247

It was under the heat of high noon sun when Buck rode out of town for the very first time. She had nothing but a sack of Dukes in her pocket and Pa’s .44 strapped to the hip. In the chamber were no more than five silver bullets. She lost the sixth the night before in a game of cards with Sunset Ridge’s most renowned cheat, Twigs O’Malley. It’s not that she wasn’t wise to his cheating. Buck only thought she would out-cheat him first.Buck has plenty of bullets back home. But even with an aim as good as Buck’s, lead is practically worthless pas...

10 likes 7 comments 7
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Syrup Stains

Submitted to Contest #246

**Trigger Warning: Mental Health, Physical Violence**_ As per usual, Dr.Marigold was eager to start our session, “Okay, whenever you’re ready. The last time we met, you mentioned you wanted to tell me about the first time you recognized you are oppressed.” Here goes nothing, “I’m ready.” Gently, she instructs me, "Jane, I want you to ease into a state of deep relaxation. With each word I speak, feel your body becoming more at ease. Imagine a gentle wave of relaxation flowing through you. This is a sanctuary, a place where you can release all...

13 likes 5 comments 5
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BEAUTY CONFRONTING MONSTROSITY

Submitted to Contest #243

Little Lissa rose from her bedroll in the closet as the first lights of morning crept beneath the curtain that divided her domain from the cathouse beyond. Out there, the air would be breathless with the memories of swirling silk and the creak of boots on floorboards when patrons had danced the girls to the rhythm of Annie’s mandolin. Ghostly aromas of whiskey and perfume still clung to the air, a grim reminder that Lissa’s days of wearing finery and being courted for her favors were over, dead as the dust that coated everything in...

11 likes 2 comments 2
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Dead Mans Hand

Submitted to Contest #241

Dead Mans Hand  Chad McConnel slapped his cards down on the green felt tabletop. A small cloud of dust coughed in protest.  “Two pair. Aces and eights. Your hand’s like your ranch Creed. Nothing but bullshit!” The sheep raising farmer glared at the well-dressed cattleman across the table. “This is one fence you can’t cut!”  Connor Creed eyed his adversary with a thoughtful squint. Personally, he felt that 1848 would be a better year if Chad McConnel would be swallowed up by the earth, his sheep with him. For now...

20 likes 14 comments 14
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Paranormal Frontier: Greed that Glimmers Like Gold

Submitted to Contest #241

Warning: This story contains violence and foul language. “Human deparavity, it’s someth’in that’s in all of us. It circles around us like a vulture around a dying animal, hungrily waiting for the moment when we finally succumb to our ill-gotten fates.” ”We can’t escape it. It’s just part of our nature, and no matter how hard we try we’ll give in. It’s just a matter of time.” “Eventually, we give in to our temptations, thinking “I can control it. There ain’t noth’in to worry ‘bout. It’ll only be this once, and I’ll never do it again.” Huh, th...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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The Tupelo Land Grab

Submitted to Contest #240

Tupelo, Wyoming1878“This goes beyond the pale,” Eddie Ponderosa says, lighting a cigar.His stocky companion, Leake Bevil, offers a bewildered look. “What’s that mean? You been readin’ again, Eddie?”“I’m thirty- six, Leake. I’m lucky to have come out of the War in one piece. I don’t plan to shoot people for a living much longer.”“But we ain’t shootin’ people now. We’re gunnin’ for coyotes.”“Wolves,” Eddie corrects. Puffing heartily on his cigar, he climbs down from his horse.Reaching into his saddle bag, Eddie extracts a small telescope, focu...

11 likes 2 comments 2
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Don't Forget The Milk

Submitted to Contest #239

Why does everyone buy milk?  The thought perplexes you as you traverse the aisles of Jack's Mini Mart. Toilet paper makes sense. I mean, if you are going to be stuck in the house for days, you’re going to need toilet paper. But you've never seen Bear Grylls pack a gallon jug of milk in his knapsack before he heads out into the wild. The original forecast is for a light dusting of snow, but as the hours pass, the predictions grow more and more grim. Two inches, then four, then a foot or more. You were brought up in the backwoo...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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Jimmy and the Dogman

Submitted to Contest #238

WeeeeeooooooootThe sound came again, like the trill of a beached whale drying up amongst creosote and sagebrush.“What the hell is that?”“No doubt some kind of flying insect or other,” Jimmy tried to reassure his wife, Deborah, who was half-covered by a quilt, hair threaded through pink plastic curlers.“It’s driving me up the wall. Can you make it shut up?”Jimmy pivoted off the bed. He pulled his legs through a pair of Levi's, securing the buckle of the belt he’d left inside its loops. Given the nature of mountain lions and dope fiends – he o...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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O'Malley & Deadman

Submitted to Contest #235

She looked at me across the saloon floor again, I could not escape those damn gray eyes. There was a sense of desperation to them, as if she needed to lock eyes with me. Jack was all but happy that she had walked in. He was excited to maybe shoot his shot with someone not from Wraith Hallow. But, anytime he would attempt to walk up and talk, she would smile and tell him she didn’t want anything. Her voice held a thick accent and was full of youth it seemed she was too old to hold. She seemed no older than I, if so, maybe even a couple year...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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Race to Rebel Creek

Submitted to Contest #235

      A horse was essential out here simply because how d***ed far everything was from everything else.            Lieutenant Nathaniel James Beaty kicked up his horse to a brief trot to catch up with his companions. Despite the official rank given to him by the State of ________, he was actually a junior member of the group as this war party had no army to command. 22 officers and NCOs moving incognito across the scorching hot prairies into the far west i...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Two Buckets and a Rope

Shortlisted for Contest #234 ⭐️

Roy hadn’t picked a moonless night on purpose, but as he climbed under his blanket and lay his head on his saddle, he was glad for the happy accident. Out on the range—the only place he felt truly at home—no moon meant stars. Thousands, if not millions of them, stared back at him as he contemplated his life choices, especially the one that waited for him at dawn. A cowpuncher by trade, just as his father and grandfather before him, Roy had spent more nights than he could count far from the lights of the city.  In fact, the quiet lowi...

65 likes 37 comments 37
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