Book Catalog
Magpie—Diplomat
When drifters Magpie Simpkins and Ike Harper ride into the frontier settlement of Pinto, they find its mayor, chief of police, and treasurer sitting forlorn on a pile of boulders—exiled from their own town by a scheme gone spectacularly wrong. What began as a clever fix to a civic problem has unraveled into a comedy of romantic deception, jealous wives, and loaded firearms. With Magpie's quick tongue and talent for back-country diplomacy, he attempts to untangle the mess—but peace, like gold, proves elusive on the frontier. A sharp and rollicking tale of frontier wit, marital chaos, and the perils of small-town politics, first published in Adventure magazine in July 1917.
Ike Harper’s Historical Holiday
In the rowdy frontier town of Piperock, a simple debate over where to hold the Fourth of July celebration spirals into glorious small-town chaos. When the question of who actually started the holiday ignites arguments among cowboys, a judge, a sheriff, and a saloon keeper — each more confident and more wrong than the last — narrator Ike Harper finds himself dragged into a madcap reenactment of Washington crossing the Delaware, complete with half-broke broncs, a mounted band, and an involuntary swim down the river. W. C. Tuttle's sharp comic ear captures the bluster and camaraderie of the Old West in a tale that proves one truth above all others: in Piperock, no holiday goes unpunished.
Honest to Doughgod
In W. C. Tuttle’s comic Western tale, three musically inclined cowpunchers from the Cross-J find their loyalties tested when a new schoolteacher arrives in Paradise. Hen Peck, Muley Bowles, and Telescope Tolliver stumble through romance, rivalry, poker, poetry, and frontier misunderstandings with more enthusiasm than wisdom. Told in lively cowboy dialect, this archival Western farce captures the rough humor, tall-tale charm, and antic spirit of early twentieth-century magazine fiction.
The Misdeal
At the rough-edged NR ranch near Broken Butte, four hard-bitten cowboys find themselves cheated by death, tangled in a disputed inheritance, and forced to reckon with the consequences of their own crooked work. When a refined new heiress arrives to claim the ranch, loyalties shift, tempers flare, and frontier justice takes on a sharply comic edge. W. C. Tuttle’s “The Misdeal” blends Western intrigue, outlaw humor, and colorful range-country dialogue in a tale of deception, pride, and unlikely conscience.
Nerves of Iron
In the lawless desert town of Spotted Dog, two wandering prospectors and their burros stumble into a feud between blustering officials, nervous gunmen, and a reluctant new marshal with everything to prove. W. C. Tuttle’s comic Western tale blends frontier bravado, tall-tale humor, and mistaken reputations as cowardice, courage, and clever trickery collide on the dusty main street. Full of dialect, absurd danger, and sly reversals, this early twentieth-century story captures the rowdy spirit of pulp-era Western adventure.