Open Stories — Short Fiction by Hank Redding

Complete works shared freely, as written.
A public archive of finished literary short fiction.

Reading strictly Westerns? See the literary Western short stories guide.

Choose by pressure

Three clean starting points

Quiet grief Where the River Narrows A restrained piece about grief, endurance, and choosing a direction after the familiar path ends. System pressure Held to Account A novel-length Western about responsibility without mercy and a town whose order works too well. Short and cold Car No. 47 A winter survival novella about waiting, abandonment, and what people measure when rescue does not come.

Collected works · 1982–Present

HR–009 The Day the Cottonwoods Bled 31 min read · Literary fiction

In 1871, a small western town is destroyed in a sudden act of violence. What follows is not justice or revenge, but the slow work of survival—burying the dead, choosing whether to stay, and learning what it means to live inside a place that remembers. The Day the Cottonwoods Bled is a five-part Western about loss, endurance, and what remains after the noise.

HR–010 Down in Smoke 33 min read · Literary fiction

In Montana Territory, 1889, a rail worker remains on a winter contract while letters arrive from home. By the time he rides down-valley, the future he imagined has already passed. Down in Smoke is a restrained Western novella about delay, self-justification, and the cost of finishing what should have been left unfinished.

HR–011 Dry Haven 40 min read · Literary fiction

In the quiet town of Dry Haven, a newly arrived sheriff investigates the disappearance of a man who was expected to leave. As he encounters careful corrections rather than answers, the mystery deepens without resolving. Dry Haven is a restrained Western mystery about order, silence, and what a town agrees not to say.

HR–012 Held to Account 49 min read · Literary fiction

In 1888, the Western town of Breachwater restores order through absolute clarity. Records are kept. Deadlines enforced. The town stabilizes—and thrives. Held to Account is a novel-length Western about responsibility without mercy, the cost of precision, and what survives when a system works too well.

This collection grows as work concludes.
Stories are presented without revision or annotation.