O Deadly Night by Troy D. Smith in WOLF CREEK 10: O DEADLY NIGHT #western @paladin_68 #Christmas

O Deadly Night

by Troy D. Smith

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 10:

O Deadly Night

Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night.  Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors.  Today, RTW is pleased to host the president of Western Fictioneers and the mastermind of this series, Peacemaker and Spur Award winner, Troy D. Smith. 

Troy D. Smith

About Troy

Troy D. Smith has published several short stories and novels, and is a past winner of the Peacemaker and Spur Awards, and current president of Western Fictioneers. He is also a history professor at Tennessee Tech, specializing in American Indian history. His article “Nations Colliding: The Civil War Comes to Indian Territory” is in the current issue of Civil War History. His most recent westerns have been the two Blackwell Chronicles books from Western trail Blazer, collecting his previously published short stories about the Blackwell family (more to come!)

Troy's story: O Deadly Night

Marshal Sam Gardner learns that, for a lawman in a town like Wolf Creek, there is no such thing as a night off. Even on Christmas.

About Sam Gardner

In “O Deadly Night,” Marshal Samuel Horace Gardner discovers that, in a town like Wolf Creek, you’re not even guaranteed a night off at Christmas. The story opens with the lawmen (both county and city) celebrating the holiday together, but when trouble erupts, Sam volunteers to be the one to go out and take care of it. The trouble winds up being a lot more than he bargained for.

I can’t tell you how much fun I have writing for Sam Gardner. He is a classic Old West town-tamer, in the Hickock/Earp mold, but he is more. The son of an Illinois lawyer, Sam has a way with words. He can be bitingly sarcastic, long-winded at times, and is ever ready with a quip. He is also vain and sometimes borderline corrupt.

In the books leading up to this one, though, we’ve been seeing a different side of Sam Gardner. They say every cynic is a disappointed romantic; Sam is a deeply lonely man, and this story in particular takes us inside his mind and lets us see – despite his apparent cavalier attitude – just how heavily his responsibilities can sometimes weigh on him. And in future books, we’re going to see that play out in some unexpected ways.

More stories from Troy

The Blackwell Chronicles, Volume 1: The first story in Volume 1, The Blackwell Claim, introduces the four Blackwell brothers: Max, Duke, Caleb and Jake. After that, my tales about the family jump around in time – Blackwell's Run occurs in 1864 with Max in the US Calvary fighting Indians. Next, The Stealing Moon takes place in 1855 and tells of Jake, a Texas Ranger, meeting a boy struggling to become a man. Blackwell's Stand is set in 1864 where Caleb has an unfortunate meeting with a grizzly and The Windigo is about Max's son Billy, and takes place during the Klondike gold rush.

Kindle | Smashwords | B&N | Print

RTW Note: Blackwell Chronicles, Volume 2 is also currently available!

Wolf Creek Book 9: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Last Free Trapper 

by Jory Sherman

A Savior is Born 

by Meg Mims

That Time of Year 

by Jerry Guin

‘Twas the Fight before Christmas 

by Jacquie Rogers

A Kiowa Christmas Gift 

by Troy D. Smith

Renewal of Faith 

by James J. Griffin

Wolf Creek, Book 10: 

O Deadly Night

Sarah’s Christmas Miracle 

by Big Jim Williams

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek 

by Charlie Steel

A Home for Christmas 

by Cheryl Pierson

The Angel Tree 

by Chuck Tyrell

The Spirit of Hogmanay 

by Clay More

O Deadly Night 

by Troy D. Smith

The Spirit of Hogmanay by Clay More in O DEADLY NIGHT @KeithSouter #western #Christmas

The Spirit of Hogmanay

by Clay More
(Dr. Keith Souter)

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 10:

O Deadly Night

Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night.  Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors.  Today, RTW is pleased to host a western writer, who, in the spirit of Wolf Creek where everyone has a secret, is disguised as a Scottish doctor, Clay More. 

Dr. Keith Souter
writing as Clay More

About Clay

Clay More is actually my western pen name. My real name is Keith Souter and I live in England within arrow-shot of the ruins of a medieval castle, the scene of two of my historical novels. I am a part time doctor, medical journalist and novelist, writing in four different genres – westerns, crime, historical and YA. I also enjoy the challenge of short fiction for which I have won a couple of prizes, including a 2006 Fish Award for my story The Villain’s Tale.

Clay's story: 
The Spirit of Hogmanay

Doc Logan's road to Hogmanay — the Scottish New Year's Eve celebration — is littered with good intentions. And injuries and diseases galore. And to top it all off, someone has stolen his good Scotch...

About Dr. Logan Munro

Logan Munro, the Wolf Creek town doctor has had a pretty tough Christmas. He’s had some challenging medical and surgical cases to deal with and, as a true Scotsman, he is looking forward to Hogmanay when he can see out the old year and usher in the next. Like most of the town’s citizens he won’t be sad to see the end of one singularly turbulent year in the town’s history.

In preparation for Hogmanay he has had a special shipment of The Glenlivet, the finest malt whisky sent all the way from Ballindalloch in the Highlands of Scotland. He is peeved when he discovers that two bottles have been stolen – especially since he has a good idea who took them.

Yet there is more to the theft than at first meets the eye and Logan has further challenges ahead of him. And as the year’s end approaches he has a burning question he wants to ask a lady, but inexplicably, rather like the malt spirits, she has gone and he can’t find her anywhere.

Logan Munro is Scottish, as am I. He is a doctor, as am I, and he regards his Hippocratic Oath as the guiding principle in his life, as do I. I have always had an interest in medical history and when Troy Smith came up with the idea for Wolf Creek and asked for characters, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I packed my black bag with 19th century instruments and applied and was fortunate to gain the position of town doctor. I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed practising in Wolf Creek – even if it is impossible to hold onto a couple of bottles of decent malt whisky.

What's new from 
Clay More

Double Dealing at Dirtville
Western Fictioneers Library

Dirtville is just a peaceful frontier settlement . . . until a sudden eruption of violence leaves two people dead and a mysterious stranger comes to town in search of vengeance, only to find that a web of corruption, greed, and murder hangs over the entire community! Once again, acclaimed author Clay More spins a fast-paced, engrossing Western tale featuring action, mystery, romance, and suspense. Nothing is quite what it seems in this thrilling new release from the Western Fictioneers Library except that it's pure Western entertainment!

What's new from Keith Souter

The Tea Cyclopedia
Skyhorse Publishing

Tea drinking has become a way of life. To put it frankly, it is a love, an addiction, and some would even go as far to say a philosophy. Dr. Keith Souter examines the perpetual impact that this adored beverage has bestowed upon the world for centuries, from its mystical origins in the East, to its inevitable influence on the West.

The Tea Cyclopedia is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in all things tea. Commencing each chapter with insightful quotes, it not only captures the historical beginnings of this beloved drink, but also explores tea's involvement in politics, health, the economy, and even fortune-telling.

This unprecedented beverage has united people in times of adversity; it has also divided nations, causing volatile revolutions, such as the Sri Lankan Civil War and the Boston Tea Party. But today you will most likely find that various cultures have developed their own unique style of enjoying tea, and the ritual of tea drinking itself is not only intriguing, but also highly rewarding.  

In this meticulously detailed guide, readers will rediscover tea, its cultivation, and all of its richness and intricacy as a worldwide beverage. The Tea Cyclopedia is an enthralling tribute to the illustrious, invigorating, and elusive leaf that has vehemently continued to inspire people for more than two thousand years.

Wolf Creek Book 9: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Last Free Trapper 

by Jory Sherman

A Savior is Born 

by Meg Mims

That Time of Year 

by Jerry Guin

‘Twas the Fight before Christmas 

by Jacquie Rogers

A Kiowa Christmas Gift 

by Troy D. Smith

Renewal of Faith 

by James J. Griffin

Wolf Creek, Book 10: 

O Deadly Night

Sarah’s Christmas Miracle 

by Big Jim Williams

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek 

by Charlie Steel

A Home for Christmas 

by Cheryl Pierson

The Angel Tree 

by Chuck Tyrell

The Spirit of Hogmanay 

by Clay More

O Deadly Night 

by Troy D. Smith

The Angel Tree by Chuck Tyrell in O DEADLY NIGHT #western #Christmas @chucktyrell

The Angel Tree

by Chuck Tyrell

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 10:

O Deadly Night

Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night.  Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors.  Today, RTW is pleased to host the a fine western author who also writes Japanese high-fantasy, Chuck Tyrell. 

Chuck Tyrell
(Charles T. Whipple)

About Chuck

An Arizona boy who lives in Japan. Who’da thunk it? Paid no attention to teachers who urged me to write. Almost wrote myself out of a job before the day. Then my dear wife put me on the straight and narrow. We lived in Hawaii. I don’t remember exactly why the pin dropped, but I started learning how to write through correspondence courses. A few months later, I sold my first article. We won’t go into how many I’ve written since, but more than a few. I soon wrote full time; not fiction, but advertising copy (still do).

But in 1979, I entered a novel in a Louis L’Amour writealike contest. Didn’t win. Put the MS in the bottom drawer. Decision: Can’t write fiction. Twenty-five years later, it became my first published novel, Vulture Gold. Since then, two or three published novels a year. One day I met a man named Monty McCord, and asked if I could use his name. Monty McCord was published in July 2013. The third of my Stryker series—Stryker’s Bounty—should hit the internet soon. In 2011, a story I wrote about tea in ancient Japan won a international literature prize. A Matter of Tea is also a book of my writings set in Japan, as is the Masacado Scrolls series.

You can have a look at my books at my website and you can contact me at chucktyrell@inexjapan.com or come see me at The Outlaw Trail. I’m on Facebook and tweet a bit. Have a peek.

Chuck's story: The Angel Tree

The soiled dove known as Brandy has previously only shown up as the object of cowboy Billy Below's desire. She takes center stage in this story, though... when she learns that the innocent children of the prostitutes at Cribtown are barred from attending school by the town fathers because they are "undesirable," and sets out to do something about it.

About Brandy

It happened at the “good” brothel in Wolf Creek, Miss Abby’s School for Wayward Girls. A customer hit Brandy, a young dove, leaving her with a black eye and bruised cheek. He was banned forever from Miss Abby’s “establishments,” and Brandy was told to take two weeks off until her bruises faded, so others would not get the idea that they could play rough with Miss Abby’s girls. On the second day, Brandy gets cabin fever and Miss Abby allows her to go for a walk, as long as she stays south of Useless Street.

Wandering along Wolf Creek, Brandy runs into four children dancing around an evergreen boxwood tree that they called The Angel Tree. Four waifs from Cribtown. No place to go at night, even in the cold of winter. No school to go to because people north of Useless Street called them “bastards.” No warm clothes. No outlook for a good life in Wolf Creek. But a major change was about to happen at the Angel Tree.

As for me, I’ve always had a soft spot for underdogs. For more than a decade, I supported five junior high school girls each year in northern Thailand. I currently work to help spread the word about disabled sports in Japan (with Paralympian Mami Sato). And many of the characters in my story have the same kind of feelings.

What's new with Chuck

Monty McChord
by Chuck Tyrell
A Black Horse Western

Monty McCord is a top hand, but he’s got a hot temper. After killing young Hartley Billings he’s on the run, and now old man Hunter Billings has sent his riders to catch up with him. But US Marshal Swade, Ellen Watson and her Flying W crew are on the lookout for Monty, and will do anything to keep him alive. Putting him in charge of a herd and betting Ellen’s ranch on his cowboy skills is a risky move. Can he get two thousand cows from Colorado to Wyoming? Or will the rustlers, and Monty’s pursuers,  have their day?

"If you like well told traditional westerns filled with twists then this book is certainly worth considering." Western Fiction Review

Wolf Creek Book 9: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Last Free Trapper 

by Jory Sherman

A Savior is Born 

by Meg Mims

That Time of Year 

by Jerry Guin

‘Twas the Fight before Christmas 

by Jacquie Rogers

A Kiowa Christmas Gift 

by Troy D. Smith

Renewal of Faith 

by James J. Griffin

Wolf Creek, Book 10: 

O Deadly Night

Sarah’s Christmas Miracle 

by Big Jim Williams

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek 

by Charlie Steel

A Home for Christmas 

by Cheryl Pierson

The Angel Tree 

by Chuck Tyrell

The Spirit of Hogmanay 

by Clay More

O Deadly Night 

by Troy D. Smith

A Home for Christmas by Cheryl Pierson in O DEADLY NIGHT #western #christmas

A Home for Christmas

by Cheryl Pierson

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 10:

O Deadly Night

Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night.  Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors.  Today, RTW is pleased to host the very first guest ever booked on this blog, Cheryl Pierson. 

Cheryl Pierson

About Cheryl

A native Oklahoman, I live in Oklahoma City and write historical westerns and western romance.

"A Home for Christmas" in the anthology Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night, features two of my characters, Carson Ridge and Kathleen McCain Hyder.  For more great Wolf Creek stories, look for my short story, "It Takes a Man," included in Wolf Creek, Book 6: Hell on the Prairie, and all the other Wolf Creek stories available under the pen name Ford Fargo.

I'm also co-owner of Prairie Rose Publishing, an up-and-coming publishing company of western romance and westerns written by women. Look for our first anthology, Wishing for a Cowboy (Kindle | Smashwords | Print).

Cheryl's story: A Home for Christmas

Derrick McCain's sister Kathleen has not recovered from her experience at the hands of the Danby Gang — and her judgmental husband, Reverend Dill Hyder, cannot accept what he now considers an "impure woman." Then someone from her family's past shows up, and everything changes...

About Kathleen and Carson

The principal characters in my story, A Home for Christmas, are Carson Ridge and Kathleen McCain Hyder. This is my first in-depth story about these two, although they both appeared in Wolf Creek, Book 5: Showdown at Demon's Drop, and Carson has appeared in some of my other Wolf Creek stories. Throughout the storylines I develop, there is a constant dilemma over racial lines — the Cherokees and the Anglos. In some places, it was quite a disgrace to have to claim any kind of Indian blood, even as recently as the mid-1900s, so imagine what it would have been like for someone in the Wolf Creek time period of the early 1870s.

Kathleen is a white woman, the younger sister of the first character I ever created for Wolf Creek, Derrick McCain. Her father was the headmaster of the Cherokee school. But Derrick, her brother, carries a secret even he doesn't realize — he's not Kathleen's full brother, only her half, because he is the product of an affair his mother had with the Cherokee statesman, Collin Ridge. It was this affair that led to Kathleen's father uprooting the family from Indian Territory and moving them to Wolf Creek. Now to understand why this is so important, we have to take a look at Collin Ridge's part in this. He had a son with his wife, who is Carson. Carson and Kathleen are not blood-related, although they share a half-brother, Derrick. Confused yet?  Hold on, it'll get clearer.

Carson and Derrick are within weeks of the same age. They grew up as best friends, so Carson knew Kathleen and there's always been a bit of "something" there, a special friendship, even as children. They have not seen one another since that day at Demon's Drop when Kathleen and Derrick were rescued. That's been several weeks since this story, A Home for Christmas, happens.

Of course, Carson is wounded (why do I do this to all my heroes?) and Kathleen finds him and gets him to shelter as the snow is falling. Being snowed in together gives them a chance to get to know one another again, and rekindle the relationship they had so long ago.

I think the way I identify with my characters is because of the fact that I did have Native American ancestors, and it was not an easy time for them. In any story there has to be some angst, some discovery, and some yearning that might not always be fulfilled. Much of this comes from the past that my characters have had, and it's not so much my identification, but the identification I make on my ancestors' behalf with my characters. In this story, Kathleen has more understanding than most about the Cherokees since she associated with them for the first nine years of her life. She and Carson have a shared past, and that is an oddity, to begin with. But it gives them a starting point and a place to go from... if they choose.

What's new from Cheryl

Cowboys, kisses and love in the holiday air make for a special recipe in each of these wonderful new stories. Christmas miracles can happen when you're Wishing for a Cowboy!

"Outlaw’s Kiss" by Cheryl Pierson
A story in
Wishing for a Cowboy

Talia Delano has been humiliated before the entire town of Rock Creek by Jake Morgan. A known gunman, Jake has bid an outrageous sum for Talia’s "boxed supper", a kiss, and the gift of her time for the rest of the Independence Day celebration. But, as always, Jake changes the rules and takes more than he should — especially with the whole town watching. Talia’s chance of happiness is dashed, along with her reputation, when Jake leaves Rock Creek suddenly.

When he shows up five months later at her farmhouse, wounded, and in the midst of a blinding snowstorm, she can’t turn him away — even though she knows being along with him will cause tongues to wag once more.  But with Christmas only two days away, how can she harden her heart against the handsome outlaw who has no place else to go — even if he is being trailed by someone just as dangerous? Magic and danger are woven together in the Outlaw's Kiss.

Kindle | Smashwords | Print

Wolf Creek Book 9: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Last Free Trapper 

by Jory Sherman

A Savior is Born 

by Meg Mims

That Time of Year 

by Jerry Guin

‘Twas the Fight before Christmas 

by Jacquie Rogers

A Kiowa Christmas Gift 

by Troy D. Smith

Renewal of Faith 

by James J. Griffin

Wolf Creek, Book 10: 

O Deadly Night

Sarah’s Christmas Miracle 

by Big Jim Williams

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek 

by Charlie Steel

A Home for Christmas 

by Cheryl Pierson

The Angel Tree 

by Chuck Tyrell

The Spirit of Hogmanay 

by Clay More

O Deadly Night 

by Troy D. Smith

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek by Charlie Steel in O DEADLY NIGHT #christmas #western

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek

by Charlie Steel

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 10:

O Deadly Night

Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night.  Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors.  Today, RTW hosts new Western Fictioneer Charlie Steele, who's introducing his new Wolf Creek character. 

Charlie Steele

About Charlie

Charlie Steel, Tale-Weaver Extraordinaire, is a novelist and internationally published author of short stories. Steel credits the catalyst for his numerous books and hundreds of short stories to be the result of being a voracious reader, along with having worked at many varied and assorted occupations. Some of his experiences include service in the Army, labor in the oil fields, in construction, in a foundry, and as a salvage diver. Early in his life he was recruited by the US Government and spent five years behind the Iron Curtain. Steel’s work has been recognized and reviewed by various publications and organizations including Publisher’s Weekly, Western Fictioneers, and Western Writers of America. Steel holds five degrees including a PhD. He continues to read, research, and collect western literature. He is author of West of the Big River: The Forty-Niners. Charlie Steel lives on an isolated ranch at the base of Greenhorn Mountain, in Southern Colorado.

Charlie's story:
Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek

Kelly O'Brien has been a railroad worker and a buffalo hunter — now he has his heart set on becoming a rancher. His plans are interrupted, though, when he is kidnapped by a a cruel gang who intends to use him, and their other prisoners, for forced labor.

About Kelly O'Brien

Kelly O’Brien is riding west to Wolf Creek to search for and purchase a cattle ranch.  Since the Great Conflict he has worked and saved his money, finally gathering enough to follow his dreams.  Coming from the other side of a small rise he hears gunshots and knows from experience in the war that this is a shootout between a Springfield rifle, a Spencer, and several Henrys.  Daring to ride up the hill, he spies a wagon, a family held at gunpoint, a wounded horse and two dead men on the ground. A woman is weeping.  Dismounting, Kelly ties off reins and carefully makes his way below.  Raising his rifle and coming out into the open, he is about to defend the pioneers when he is struck senseless from behind.

Regaining consciousness, he finds a tough old man with a Spencer rifle standing over him. Four armed riders point weapons at an older couple, a youth, and a young woman.  Kelly quickly learns the son of the couple has been killed along with the young woman’s husband.  Within a few moments a jail wagon is brought up and the family is ordered into it.  Kelly is bound and is also forced into the back of the barred wagon.  The captives become aware that the five men are slavers and they have been captured to be used as laborers at a coal mine.

How the lives of the four family members, and Kelly O’Brien (along with other characters), come together, is revealed in this short story of imprisonment, escape, and hope for the future — on Christmas Day in Wolf Creek, Kansas.

My reason for creating character Kelly O’Brien, my ancestors were Irish and I know a great deal about Irish history — especially the Irish penal laws and the potato famine.

What's new from Charlie

West of the Big River: The Forty-Niners

The discovery of gold in California launched a stampede of fortune-seekers across the continent in search of wealth. Willing to face any hardship – outlaws, hostile Indians, bad weather, thirst, starvation, and the horrors of disease – they battled fiercely to overcome these challenges and seize their destiny. But sometimes the treasures they found were not the ones they were expecting . . .

The Forty-Niners is the fifth novel in the exciting West of the Big River series from the Western Fictioneers. Charlie Steel's story of courage, romance, and danger is based on historical incidents and vividly illustrates a compelling chapter in American history, recreating a lawless era that exemplifies both the best and the worst in a vital young nation!

Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Print

Wolf Creek Book 9: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Last Free Trapper 

by Jory Sherman

A Savior is Born 

by Meg Mims

That Time of Year 

by Jerry Guin

‘Twas the Fight before Christmas 

by Jacquie Rogers

A Kiowa Christmas Gift 

by Troy D. Smith

Renewal of Faith 

by James J. Griffin

Wolf Creek, Book 10: 

O Deadly Night

Sarah’s Christmas Miracle 

by Big Jim Williams

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek 

by Charlie Steel

A Home for Christmas 

by Cheryl Pierson

The Angel Tree 

by Chuck Tyrell

The Spirit of Hogmanay 

by Clay More

O Deadly Night 

by Troy D. Smith

Sarah's Christmas Miracle by Big Jim Williams in O DEADLY NIGHT #western #christmas

Sarah's Christmas Miracle

by Big Jim Williams

a short story in

Wolf Creek, Book 10:

O Deadly Night

Romancing The West is pleased to present a double feature: Wolf Creek, Book 9, A Wolf Creek Christmas, and Wolf Creek Book 10, O Deadly Night.  Each volume contains six Christmas stories, all centering around Wolf Creek in 1871, written by award-winning western authors.  Today, RTW features the story of western writer and radio announcer, Big Jim Williams. 

Big Jim Williams

About Big Jim

Newcomer Big Jim Williams’ first Western Fictioneers stories are in part two of the new two-part Wolf Creek Christmas anthology, O Deadly Night  and, The Dead of Winter, Wolf Creek book 12. His collected tales are in the audio books, The Old West, and, Tall Tales of The Old West, and single yarns in the new anthologies, Dead or Alive (La Frontera Press), and The Killer Wore Cranberry (Untreed Reed). His westerns have also appeared in Frontier Tales, Western Horseman, Texas Livestock Weekly, Rope & Wire, Cardroom Poker News, and Sniplits.

Big Jim's story: 
Sarah's Christmas Miracle

Farmer Hutch Higgins — haunted by his own Civil War secrets, like many in Wolf Creek — must brave a snowstorm to find help for his sick little girl.

About Hutch Higgins

Hutch Higgins, a hardworking and respected young farmer, haunted by the ghosts of a violent Civil War past, lives quietly in a sod house with his family. On Christmas Eve, Hutch and his wife, Abigail, rush their critically-ill daughter, Sarah, believed to have pneumonia, to Wolf Creek from their remote farm. A wheel on their wagon collapses and their old horse dies near midnight during a heavy snowfall. Hurrying on foot to Wolf Creek, Hutch meets Rupe Tingley, the town drunk, who has fallen off his horse. Hutch sends the drunken Rupe to get Dr. Logan Monro, while he returns to his frightened wife, who fears an attack by Kiowa Indians who had stolen their good horses. Abigail fakes having smallpox, fires Hutch’s notched pistol, and scares off the Indians. When Doc Monro arrives at daylight he cannot explain Sarah’s miraculous recovery, thus the title, “Sarah’s Christmas Miracle.” There’s also Hutch’s surprise Christmas present for Sarah, a black-and-white pinto pony named Merlin, and a Christmas tree and snowman Hutch makes from stacked snow-covered tumbleweeds. A save-the-day, but temporally sober, Rupe Tingley, and Doc Monro, join Hutch, Abigail, and Sarah, for a wonderful Christmas morning and dinner.

I’ve created Hutch Higgins because I like the guy. At age 11, he was orphaned in Ohio, then, starving and on his own, jumped a freight train that ended up in the deep south where he spent the Civil War as a Yankee kid befriended by the notorious Rebel killer Champ Ferguson. Ferguson saved his life but made him kill for the Confederate Cause until Hutch escaped north with a notched pair of Ferguson’s deadly pistols. However, Sarah, who hates guns, used one of those pistols to drive off the Kiowa Indians who threatened her and Sarah Christmas Eve.

What's new from Big Jim
Dead or Alive
America's Newest Western Writers
Bring You Thrilling Tales of the West

When the law said bring 'em dead or alive, that's all some men needed to hear.  Relentless, like a dog on the scent, they went where the law couldn't — or wouldn't — go, even into territory just this side of Hell.  They were after robbers, murderers, and those whose crimes were too horrible to talk about.

Here for you are the works of Robert J. Conley, a Western Writers of America Spur Award winner; D.B. Jackson, a Wrangler Award winner and winner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award; W. Michael Farmer, a finalist for a Western Writers of America Spur award for best first novel and a New Mexico Book Awards Finalist for Historical Fiction; Doug Hocking, Big Jim Williams, Dave Fisher, Chris Perez, Jerry Guin, Westley Tallant and Phil Truman, Western writers who each have a unique story-telling talent.

Kindle | Print

Wolf Creek Book 9: 

A Wolf Creek Christmas

The Last Free Trapper 

by Jory Sherman

A Savior is Born 

by Meg Mims

That Time of Year 

by Jerry Guin

‘Twas the Fight before Christmas 

by Jacquie Rogers

A Kiowa Christmas Gift 

by Troy D. Smith

Renewal of Faith 

by James J. Griffin

Wolf Creek, Book 10: 

O Deadly Night

Sarah’s Christmas Miracle 

by Big Jim Williams

Irish Christmas at Wolf Creek 

by Charlie Steel

A Home for Christmas 

by Cheryl Pierson

The Angel Tree 

by Chuck Tyrell

The Spirit of Hogmanay 

by Clay More

O Deadly Night 

by Troy D. Smith