Aces Low, Act V

By Owen Lean “Yep. Had no problem punching folks… but them things he made me fight… well, I tell you Mister Essex, they weren’t natural.” Lewis “Grizzly” Evans stared off into the middle distance as he reiterated the reasons he was ‘retiring’ as a prize fighter. ...

Aces Low: Act IV

By Owen Lean May, 1882 “Oh, for God’s sake, hurry up and die.” Christine Perfect  snarled. “Or stop your incessant baying. Either works.” Understandably skittish ever since we’d witnessed her transformation, she anxiously sniffed at Cheyenne’s thin, dry air. “I’m...

Aces Low Act III

By Owen Lean May 1882 There are specific phrases in the modern parlance that are overused to the point of becoming as meaningless as they are odious.  "It's been one of those days" is most definitely one of them. However, should one find oneself chained to a...

Aces Low – Act II

By Owen Lean May, 1882Lane Healey and I planned to rendezvous two weeks later in Santa Fe. Now, as I approached the San Miguel church, I could see the simpleton standing in its shadow looking impatient. Good. If he was irritated, he’d be easier to manipulate. On the...

Aces Low – Act I

By Owen Lean April, 1882There is absolutely nothing lucky about the number seven—anyone who tells you that is a fool. As I have discovered over the years, the truly potent number is one higher. It came as no surprise to me then that the clock in the town square struck...

Falling Star

by Jeff Bailey In most of the world, sunset was the sun’s warm embrace across the world before it receded. In Gomorra, it was the night’s slicing talons through the sky until its grip tightened to darkness. The fingers clawed over ruined rooftops, but hadn’t yet...

Out For Blood

By Jeff Bailey  Lucy Clover had suggested the theater, arguing they wouldn’t get a sense of Tombstone only by looking for roughnecks to put down. “A town without community is a prison without walls.”  She and Wendy Cheng arrived early for the evening show at...