FOXLEAF BOOKS PRESENTS: A special Valentine's Day anthology of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The stories range from romance to sci-fi to horror... there's something for everyone

The tales in this collection come from many different genres, often blurring the distinctions between one and another: horror, fantasy, science fiction, thriller, paranormal, suspense. Despite that, most are bound by a common thread -a certain... darkness. I like to think that any of these short stories, no matter their genre, could have appeared on either The Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents (and, in some cases, both.) I hope you enjoy them. Troy D. Smith

Tennessee born... Westward bound... Men to be reckoned with... This collection contains six stories about the Blackwell family and their adventures as they help settle the West. The Blackwell Claim introduces the four Blackwell brothers: Max, Duke, Caleb, and Jake as they join the California Gold Rush in 1850. Blackwell's Run (2011 Peacemaker Award finalist for Western Fiction) set in 1864, tells of Max as he serves in the U.S. Calvary and fights Indians while dealing with a glory-seeking Lieutenant. In The Stealing Moon, Texas Ranger Jake Blackwell meets a boy who is struggling to become a...

Award winning author Troy D. Smith presents six stories of the Blackwell family, originally from Tennessee, in this second volume of the Blackwell Chronicles. This volume of short stories follows a set of brothers and their kinfolk on their adventures (or misadventures, in some cases) from the American West and Frontier to the Australian Gold Rush. The stories in this collection include: "Blackwell Down Under," Caleb Blackwell seeks gold in Australia; "Blackwell the Highwayman," Duke Blackwell decides to see what it's like on the wrong side of the law; "The Blackwell Raid," Max Blackwell...

Torn apart by the winds of civil war, fate is drawing the Qualls brothers together once more. Elder brother Wade, Confederate guerrilla-turned-outlaw, is on a collision course with his brother Sam, a former Union soldier and now a lawman, and husband to the woman Wade abandoned. Where will youngest brother Tim's loyalties lie? Sam prepares to make his stand, his one good eye on a higher duty. But Wade Qualls is coming home -and death and hell ride his coattails.

Joey, a nine-year-old orphan, leads a lonely existence. His uncle and aunt have an impending range war on their hands and don't take much notice of him. Then a mysterious stranger named Caleb enters his life. Caleb, a gunman who is in turn tender and brutal, has a deadly secret. Will he save the downtrodden settlers, or destroy them?

"Freedom is not a place you run to...Freedom is a place in your soul." These words sum up the life long quest of ex-slave Alfred Mann as he pursues the dream of equality in a world not of his making. From fugitive to Medal of Honor winner, Mann carries on to rise above the ignorance and intolerance of those who seek to bring him down; somehow gaining strength from the unimaginable losses he suffers and his own self-doubt. Troy Smith does a great job of telling this man's story; providing a real insight not only to the emotional struggle that made Alfred Mann the individual he was, but the era...

"To some he was a brutal thug, a heartless murderer - a monster. To others he was a protector, a beloved martyr to the Confederate cause - a hero. To a few he was a family man, a good old boy caught up in passions beyond his control - a man.He was all these things, and more. He was an American tragedy. He was Champ Ferguson." Troy "Troy Smith is a superb writer. The life of Champ Ferguson is a powerful story. Put the two together and you have a wonderful read. I highly recommend Good Rebel Soil." Frank Roderus