A Bit of Old-Fashioned Preachin’ Old West movies conjure up a lot of images. Fast draw gunfights in the streets. Outlaws with bandannas over their faces robbing banks. Lawmen jumping off horses onto backs of fleeing bad men. Goodhearted women of easy virtue. And the town drunk full of demon liquor. Not all the images […]
One of the loneliest Old West jobs had to be the line rider. In the Old West days before Joseph Glidden’s patented barbed wire invention crossed the prairies, ranchers found it difficult to keep their cattle on the home range. To keep them from wandering to a neighbor’s pasture or getting lost in the wilderness, […]
Poetry That Rhymes Preferred by Cowboys by Stephen Bly Most all cowboys write poetry that rhymes. It’s not that cowboys are opposed to blank verse or free verse. But most poems they compose are done on horseback without pencil, paper or computer screen to record the flow of ideas. Much easier for him or her […]
Old West Saying: Wink As Good As A Nod … Tracks Along The Trail with Stephen Bly An Old West saying went, “A wink is as good as a nod to a blind mule.” In other words, if the mule is blind, no amount of motion whatever is going to motivate him. You could stomp, […]
Calling For A Lead Man or Woman For A New Year by Stephen Bly On the old cattle drives, the choice position was to get assigned the lead man. Or ride point. This meant the cowboy got to be at the forward tip of the moving herd. He had fresh air to breathe. He didn’t […]
The Cowboy Code Meets the Medieval Code of Chivalry By Janalyn Voigt The worlds of knights and chivalry and the cowboy code of the American West seem quite different, but I’ve noticed striking similarities. Both inhabit feudalistic cultures set on frontiers during times where law-and-order wasn’t yet established. And both developed unwritten codes of honor that […]
Square Butte scene excerpt from western romance novel Creede of Old Montana by author Stephen Bly: They made it to Square Butte at sunset and filled the canteen at the springs. But they didn’t camp until they reached the eastern tip of the Highwood Mountains. Rocky, treeless hills blended with buckskin brown prairie. Supper consisted […]
Leavin’ Cheyenne Western Slang by Stephen Bly Out west there’s a big difference between country music and western music. The beat’s not the same. Diverse instruments. Different words. Western music claims a long history. Most songs center around the vast outdoors. Horses and cattle, danger and the girl left behind. Ever since the first drover had […]
The Snows of Mt. Moriah: Wild Bill & Me, Cowboy Poetry by Stephen Bly I climbed straight up the mountain to see where Wild Bill lay, After Jack McCall did him in that fateful August day. There was snow on Mt. Moriah when I hiked through Deadwood pine. A hundred years had come […]
Cowboy Roping and Faith At Work Styles by Stephen Bly Cowboy roping terms vary from one part of the country to another. That 30×60 ft rope the cowboy hooks with thin leather strap to the right of his saddle horn? It might be called a lasso, a reata, or a lariat. In the old days […]
In the frame short story in this anthology, Ben and Marnie Pearson never intended to start a jewelry collection. But when they were given a box of leftover jewelry at an estate sale, they were intrigued by the colorful contents . . .
The sparkling jewels featured in this collection may have been passed down through generations or discovered accidentally, but each has its own unique short story. From diamonds to emeralds, opals to rubies, these stones have witnessed it all.
Here in The Jeweler's Heart are their fascinating tales told by seventeen of the talented novel writers of ChiLibris. For fans of inspirational fiction and heartwarming tales, The Jeweler's Heart is a treasure.
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