If you need more Wild West after Red Dead
Vengeance Road, by Erin Bowman & the sequel, Retribution Rails
“When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate.”
Lonely Are the Brave, 1962
Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas) is one of the last real cowboys living in a world that no longer values his way of life. After getting himself in prison to help a friend, he escapes and races to the border with his trusty horse, Whisky, while police and military forces close in on them. Chance of tears 10/10
Conagher, by Louis L’Amour
Seriously, I love this book. You can’t go wrong with L’Amour’s practical yet enchanting drawl of surviving in the west.
“As far as the eye can see is a vast, empty horizon. Evie Teale has finally accepted that her husband won’t be coming home. To make ends meet she runs a temporary stage station. But though she is diligent and careful, Evie must prepare for the day when the passengers no longer come and she must protect her children in an untamed country where’s it’s far easier to die than to live.
Miles away, another solitary soul battles for survival. Conagher is a lean, dark-eyed drifter who is not about to let a gang of rustlers push him around. While searching the isolated canyons for missing cattle, he finds notes tied to tumbleweeds rolling with the wind. The bleak, spare words echo Conagher’s own whispered prayers for companionship. Who is this mysterious woman on the other side of the wind? Conagher only hopes he can stay alive long enough to find her.”
This Journal that Looks Just Like Arthur’s!
Make sure to jot down every dog and flower you pass.
The Outlaw Josey Wales, 1976
An Eastwood favorite. Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) watches helplessly as his wife and child are murdered, by Union men led by Capt. Terrill (Bill McKinney). Seeking revenge, Wales joins the Confederate Army. He refuses to surrender when the war ends, but his fellow soldiers go to hand over their weapons -- and are massacred by Terrill. Wales guns down some of Terrill's men and flees to Texas, where he tries to make a new life for himself, but the bounty on his head endangers him and his new surrogate family.
Way Out There, by Lord Huron
Or just Lord Huron songs in general. Longing vibes of mountains and starry nights, oh my.