Poker Jim, Gentleman, and Other Tales and Sketches

A collection of short stories and sketches evokes life on the frontier and in small towns through anecdotes and first-person recollections. Episodes range from rollicking gambler-and-miner scenes to quieter, darker meditations on exile, suicide, death, and an undertaker’s encounters, alongside an expanded indigenous legend set in a mountain valley. The pieces alternate between humor, sentiment, and grim realism, exploring memory, mortality, moral ambiguity, and the persistence of regional character. Narrative approaches vary from anecdotal and conversational sketches to lyrical retellings, offering vivid portraits of people and atmosphere rather than a single continuous plot.