In the midst of the Superpowers and the Third World, a new vision is emerging of a Fourth World, encompassing small communities as an alternative to the notion that “bigger is better.” Returning power to a personal level is one of the goals and Papworth provides some useful ways to meet the challenge he so eloquently describes.

This is the first of a three-volume anthology of Edo- and Meiji-era urban literature that includes An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850 and A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Modern Metropolis, 1850–1920. The present work focuses on the years in which bourgeois culture first emerged in Japan, telling the story of the rising commoner arts of Kamigata, or the “Upper Regions” of Kyoto and Osaka, which harkened back to Japan’s middle ages eve...

R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets.A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has come th...

Kate Coldane has sweated blood for this saloon, and she won't let it go down without a fight. Silas Atwood may be the richest rancher in Hudspeth County, but that doesn't give him the right to push her around. When Atwood sends one of his goons to cause trouble at her watering hole, Kate's son Rusty guns him down. It may have been self defense, but Atwood is the law, and that means Rusty has to run.Rusty flees to the home of his uncle, Pearlie, who straps on his six-gun, intending ...

R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets.A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has come th...

Battle lines have been drawn between the North and the South, pitting state against state--and brother against brother. For the three brothers, the Civil War would change not only their lives, but the destinies of future generations.Jacob, the eldest, defies his father's wishes and enlists with the Union, a decision that wins him the love of an officer's daughter--and the hatred of a dangerous childhood rival.Judah, the middle son, avenges a brutal Union attack on his uncle...

"Take them to Texas, gentlemen!"In a day and age where reliance on cellphones, computers, cable and fast food is essential, how many people actually have the chance to step back in time to experience a bit of our Western heritage? Charley Sunday's Texas Outfit!, a lighthearted, present-day yarn for the entire family, offers a unique glimpse into our Western history.Charley Sunday, a sensible, sober-minded Texas grandfather, imparts the American Cowboy legacy to his only gran...

A train full of killers. Two passengers marked for death. And one legendary mountain man. Matt Jensen is in for the ride of his life. And it may be his last…After surviving a brilliantly plotted murder attempt, the richest man in San Francisco is looking to hire the best protection money can buy. Enter Matt Jensen, who, for the princely sum of $5000, agrees to escort millionaire John Gillespie and his very fetching daughter on a railway journey from Frisco to Chicago. There's just ...

They went searching for a dream. They found America.The first in a trailblazing trilogy of the brave men and women who risked their lives to build a future in the untamed heart of the American frontier…Fort Kearney, Nebraska, is the gateway to the west for a new breed of pioneers. Civil War veterans and widows, card sharps and Indian agents, and drifters—they arrive every day hoping to forge their destiny. Colonel Henry B. Carrington of the U.S. Calvary is assigned the unen...

For six years, former temple assassin Aral Kingslayer has been living as a jack of the shadow trades, picking up odd jobs on the wrong side of the law. But the past is never dead, and Aral's has finally caught up to him in the beautiful, dangerous form of Jax Seldansbane—a fellow Blade and Aral's onetime fiancEe.Jax claims that the forces that destroyed everything Aral once held dear are on the move again, and she needs his help to stop them. But Aral has a new life now, with a fre...

In a sprawling new saga that embodies the pioneer spirit, the masters of the Western introduce the Kerrigans, a rough-and-tumble clan of pioneers making their own way across darkest America led by a woman as ferocious as the Texas sun.A strong, beautiful mother of five, Kate Kerrigan has made do since losing her husband in the bloody Battle of Shiloh. Now, two years after the Civil War, there's nothing left for them in Tennessee but poverty and bad memories. So Kate decides a bette...

Shady Rest, Texas, has the dubious reputation for being the deadliest town in America. Getting yourself killed is as easy as blinking and twice as quick. Sure enough, Matt Jensen hasn't swallowed his whisky before the town's marshal is gunned down before his eyes. Matt defends himself by putting two bullets in the shooter's chest, unaware that he's in line for a $5,000 bounty--as long as he stays in Shady Rest to collect it. And staying gets even more tempting when a red haired beauty deci...