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Western Short Stories
Roy V. Gaston
Western short stories Bio. of Roy Gaston
Gaston has always been thrilled by Westerns and grew up reading, and re-reading, Ralph Compton, Charles Portis, Louis L'amour, Owen Wister, Alan LeMay, Elmore Leonard. (And the adventures of Kid Colt Outlaw, the Rawhide Kid,and the Two-Gun Kid, when comics were still 10 cents a piece.
Gaston says his books stay true to the genre and revolve around real-life historical characters and the code of the mythic West. Individualism. Personal courage. Self-determinism. Independence. Justice. "True Grit." That good wins and that even if reached by a circuitous route, bad guys get their deserved fate. Traits and attributes that seem to be taking a beating in the media these days.
Gaston has been fascinated by the history of the Black Seminole Nation history for 40 years, and Beyond the Goodnight Trail is the first novel in a series featuring Pete Horse and the Black Seminole, who played a huge role in the adventures and settlement of the West. The series will follow the Black Seminole from the Second Seminole War through the relocation on the Trail of Tears and continuing through their days as the U.S. 10th Cavalry "Buffalo Soldiers" that eventually conquered the Comanche in Texas.
In addition to being to enthralled by the Old West, Gaston has a deep interest in the American Civil War, which is the setting for his first novel, How Can A Man Die Better.
A native of Athens, Ohio and a graduate of Ohio University, Gaston is fan of Harry Flashman, Hitch and Cole, Gus and Woodrow, Matt and Festus, Statler and Waldorf, Buck and Roy, Willie and Waylon, and Conspiracy Theories.
Beyond the Goodnight Trail is Gaston's first Western novel, written after he retired from a career supervising housing units in Ohio prisons.
Western Short Stories
By
Roy V. Gaston
THE HORSE THIEVES
Roy V. Gaston
I’d ridden through this area before, and knew where a shaded little pool in a freshwater creek was hidden a mile or so away. The trees and shrub bushes along the river’s edge weren’t big and didn’t offer a lot of cover or shade, but it was the best I’d get out here in this barren country. The vigilant Comanche stayed away for a couple days after the stampede but had returned. I’d come within shouting distance of them and they’d still shown no outward display of hostility. Since they’d had plenty of chances to take my hair and hadn’t, I’d decided to take a bath. I watered my horses good, laid my things out right, and jumped in. Read the full story HERE>>
3 AM TO PERRYVILLE
Roy V. Gaston
"Hey Captain," I said, waking up to Captain Dunnock jostling my shoulder. "What's going on?"
"Just taking a small detail to the creek to fill canteens."
"At 3:00 AM? Won't it be there after breakfast?"
"Johnny Reb might be there after breakfast." Read the full story HERE>>
THE LOST CAUSE
Roy V. Gaston
MAY 1864
We’d been tromping Indian-style through the miserably hot Georgia jungles for several days when we came over a small ridge and looked down upon a hidden spring. The slight breeze refreshed us with the scent of that pure, sparkling water and cooled us at a hundred feet away. We let out a yell and took off for that water at a rate somewhere between escaping a fire and rushing for the Thanksgiving gobbler. Leaving a trail of clothes and firearms as we went, we were ten feet from the water and mostly bare-butt naked, when a familiar deep voice sent us diving for cover. Read the full story HERE>>
The Buffalo Hunt
Roy V. Gaston
It was several hours past dark when I reached the herd. As always, the nighthawks rode slowly through the herd, singing low and soft. I recognized Marcellus and Marius, two laborers from the same cotton field, and the white boy John Milton Wesley, son of their overseer. I whistled over so I didn’t spook them or the cows, then sat under the stars and listened as they harmonized “Wade in the Water.” Read the full story HERE>>
