Half a Pig and Other Frontier Stories — Matthew P. Mayo

Gathered for the first time, this robust collection of eighteen frontier tales, Half a Pig (and Other Stories of the West), from Spur and Wrangler Award-winning author Matthew P. Mayo, rides hard with a range of fast-action offerings, including the previously unpublished novella, “Trouble at Tall Pine,” starring ever-popular Roamer, noble loner forever trying to lose himself in the West. Inside, you'll find the lynching-inspired Spur Award finalist title story, “Half a Pig”; the bone-cold, eye-for-an-eye drama of Will Rogers Medallion Award-winning “Peaches”; the clanking, clockwork gundown of Peacemaker Award finalist “Scourge of the Spoils”; and numerous other critically acclaimed short stories, including the noir-tinged pages of “Snows of Montana” and “Snake Farm.” There's the classic Western barroom showdown in “Just Once,” the time-travel nightmare of “Been a Long Time,” and the brutal hunter/hunted chase novella “Bloodline.” The freaky shaman's subterranean rituals in “The Witch Hole” rival the grim comeuppance of a truly bad seed in “Pay the Ferryman.” And then there's the mysterious journal of the gritty disappearance of an inveterate rover in “Lucky Tam” … and so much more. But wait! There's also an eyebrow-raising stack of five bold and brassy adventures of that silent, noble loner, Roamer, and his jug-hoisting mentor, crusty mountain man, Maple Jack, including the heretofore unpublished “Trouble at Tall Pine.” Half a Pig and Other Stories of the West is a collection of short stories that is as varied and as surprising as the assortment of bottles lining the mirror-backed bar in Lucky's Gambling Hall and Saloon. Prop a boot, drop a coin, and pick your poison, pard!