Pp Lost Trails

Western short story lovers will enjoy this new collection from Pinnacle Books. Pinnacle asked some of the best writers in the field - Elmer Kelton, Loren Estleman, Johnny Boggs, etc. - to write a new story about a famous or, in some cases, infamous character of the old West. The result is a pleasing mix of stories that bring Mark Twain, Cochise, Buffalo Bill Cody, Billy the Kid and others to life once again. Two of the best stories in this collection, by pure accident, deal with Buffalo Bill Cody. The opening story - "Mark and Bill" - pits Cody against Twain in a contest to earn the exclusive bragging rights of being 'The American.' Throw in Teddy Roosevelt and you have a funny, riproaring tale of two giants butting heads. The second Buffalo Bill story is the diametric opposite of the first. "The Cody War" is an insightful, bittersweet, terribly human tale of the price Cody and his family payed for his fame. Another standout is "The Ones He Never Mentioned" wherein the black heart of John Wesley Hardin is well and truly revealed. There are 14 stories in this collection and there's nary a clunker in the bunch. Recommended.