Between the Blood and the Sun

Hazel Smith rides west on a mare she won at a poker table.

 

When she reaches the town of Silence, she finds a tiny but welcoming community bookended by a church and a saloon. A good place to die. But the saloon has no mirror behind the bar, and nobody but the priest himself goes to the church. The only horse in the only stable is hers.

 

In her final hours, Hazel has to make a choice between living forever and making her death matter.

[this novella is ~18000 words]

[the horse is fine]