If you enjoy stories of the West, you’ve come to the right place.

Saddlebag Dispatches regales you with tales placed west of the Mississippi containing the spirit of the Old West in them, but you’ll find some of the New West here, too. Inside, larger-than-life men and women drive pickups on highways in addition to riding horses down dusty trails. You will also discover some of the best nonfiction as well as poetry, interviews and…well, pretty much anything to do with the West.

Twice a year, we feature interviews with the movers-and-shakers in Western writing, columns by writers steeped in the form, and poetry and fiction from some of the best authors in the business. This issue, we’re celebrating western writing–a uniquely American art form–with this Special Commemorative Edition dedicated to the life and legacy of our recently-departed co-founder, three time WWA Spur Award-winner Dusty Richards.

As a young man, all Dusty ever wanted was a horse of his own, ranches to work on, rodeos to ride in, a strong woman by his side, and stacks of books by the likes of Zane Grey to occupy his creative mind. One day, he turned those stories in his head into novels, forever bestowing us with inspiring, heroic tales of the men and women who proudly occupy both the Old West and the new. His enduring spirit is evident in every word on our pages.

This issue features our tribute to Dusty, as well as nonfiction pieces from Cyndy Prasse Miller, Spur Award-winning author and poet Rod Miller, Elaine Marze, and George Gilland; short fiction from Dennis Doty, Michael McLean, Steven Carr, John M. Floyd, Terry Alexander, Spur Award-winning author Richard Prosch, and Dusty Richards himself; poetry from Laurie Muirhead; and columns on all things western from our dedicated staff. It’s our way of saying goodbye to the man True West magazine once called the greatest western fiction writer alive.