From Smoke Jensen and Preacher to a new edition of the novel that helped define the cowboy hero, here are five Western books headed our way this fall and early winter.
There’s still plenty of life in the Western.
While Hollywood continues to rediscover cowboys, outlaws and the American frontier, publishers haven’t exactly abandoned the trail either. New Western novels continue to arrive on bookshelves, established characters are riding into new adventures, and even some of the classics are finding their way to a new generation of readers.
Here are five books on the CAS City radar for the months ahead.
The Boys from Luckenbach: A Novel of the Texas Frontier
William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone
Release: December 15, 2026
The Johnstones launch a new Western saga this December with The Boys from Luckenbach, the story of the Hamlin family and their efforts to build a cattle empire on the Texas frontier.
Caleb Ezekiel Hamlin arrives in Texas in 1850 with little more than a handful of longhorns and some big ambitions. Seventeen years later, the Circle H Ranch is thriving and his sons and daughter have begun taking over the family operation.
The Hamlins don’t always agree with one another, but rustlers, robbers and outlaws have a way of bringing a family together.
The 320-page paperback launches a new series from Pinnacle and arrives December 15.
Reckoning of the Mountain Man
William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone
Release: October 27, 2026
Smoke Jensen isn’t quite ready to hang up his gun.
Reckoning of the Mountain Man is the 54th entry in the long-running Mountain Man series. This time trouble arrives around Smoke’s home territory of Big Rock, where cattle rustling, train robberies and stagecoach holdups begin piling up.
At the center of the trouble is outlaw “Whisper” McReady and a gang that has plans extending well beyond the occasional robbery.
Smoke Jensen apparently has other ideas.
Pinnacle releases the new paperback October 27.
A Preacher Christmas
William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone
Release: October 27, 2026
Nothing says Christmas quite like snow, old friends, mountain men and a crazed outlaw.
At least not in a Johnstone Western.
In A Preacher Christmas, Preacher and his companions head north to visit their old friend Tall Dog. The trip takes them into the snow-covered Canadian wilderness, where they encounter a raider known as Forkbeard and a story involving a hidden cache of Viking artifacts.
Needless to say, this doesn’t appear destined to be a quiet Christmas around the fireplace.
A Preacher Christmas arrives October 27 from Pinnacle, giving Western readers plenty of time to put it under somebody’s tree—or keep it for themselves.
The Virginian — Signature Edition
Owen Wister
Release: November 3, 2026
Long before television Westerns and paperback gunslingers became fixtures of American popular culture, there was The Virginian.
First published in 1902, Owen Wister’s novel helped establish the archetype of the Western cowboy hero. Set primarily in Wyoming Territory during the 1880s, the story follows an unnamed cowboy known simply as the Virginian and his conflicts involving cattle rustling, frontier justice, romance and his longtime enemy Trampas.
Union Square & Co. is bringing the classic back to bookstores November 3 as part of its Signature Editions series.
For readers who have watched countless Westerns but never gone back to one of the books that helped establish the genre, this might be a good excuse to finally make the ride.
The Evolution of the Western: The American Frontier in Film and Television
Martin Kich
We’ll finish this roundup with something for readers who enjoy studying Westerns almost as much as watching them.
Martin Kich’s The Evolution of the Western takes a broad look at how the Western developed across American film and television. The book ranges across classics such as Stagecoach, Red River, The Searchers and Shane and continues through later Westerns including Tombstone, Unforgiven, Yellowstone, 1883 and 1923.
This one isn’t actually a brand-new book—the hardcover was originally published in 2024—but the more affordable paperback edition makes it worth putting back on the radar.
At more than 500 pages, it’s considerably different from the trail adventures above, but for anyone interested in how our image of the American West has evolved on the screen, it could make for some interesting winter reading.
More Coming Down the Trail
This is something new we’re trying here at CAS City.
There are Western novels, histories, biographies, documentaries, movies and television projects constantly making their way toward release, and we’re going to start keeping a closer eye on them.
Some will be traditional Westerns. Others may explore the real history of the American frontier. And occasionally we may wander a little farther off the trail when something unusual catches our attention.
If it’s Western and we think CAS City readers might find it interesting, we’ll take a look.
So keep an eye on Main Street.
There’s more coming down the trail.
