Who’s ready for some short stories? We’ve got ourselves a head-to-head story competition between Joseph Devon and Albert Berg.

This is the first entry in a project proposed by the Joseph Devon; a few days ago he dropped some bloggage on what you are in for.

Now, most of our audience is American, so most likely the request to sit down at the top of this post was redundant. You were probably already seated, sinking deeper into a sedentary coma at your desk.

We’re looking to shake that up with this challenge. We want our writers to cast themselves back to a time when sitting down all day was only for the cattle. And even that was reserved for the lazy cattle. We want to go back to the days of the American West.

But, of course, there’s a twist.

The challenge for Joseph, Albert, and for everyone playing at home is this: write a paranormal western in 3000 words or less.

Some rules:

This can be campy, pulp, literary, serious, bizarre, etc. You aren’t limited this time. If you name a character “John Wayne” and have people comment on how terrible of a cowboy name it is, you will be disqualified, shamed, and then beaten by The Duke’s ghost. It must be set in the mountains, not the desert. Think Deadwood. I’m tired of only seeing dusty, dried out cowboys.

This battle has concluded.

Read Albert Berg’s story, Daisy Daisy.

Read Joseph Devon’s story Black Gold.