Miles evokes Indian, Mexican and Anglo traditions that converge in this area in this collection of tales. They cover supernatural phenomena such as the Marfa lights and water witching, murders, feuds, and lost treasures.

Travel deeper into the Texas outback with writer-historian Mike Cox as he recounts the lesser-known stories from Alpine, Fort Davis and Marfa. Revisit the grandeur of Alpine's Holland Hotel, peer through the telescope at the McDonald Observatory and dip your toes in the water hole at Ernst Tinaja, if you dare. Travel back to a time when the Comanche Trail stretched one thousand miles from Kansas to Mexico, making the Big Bend difficult to defend and impossible to resist trying. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of Benito Juarez's decisive defeat of the French at Pueblo in 1867. If nothing else, come for the lore and history that is as extensive in the Big Bend region as the mountain passes and desert stretches themselves.

Through quirky plots, one-of-kind characters, and more than a few twists, the stories in Big Bend examine gentle-hearted men and their relationships. From made-in-heaven meetings to troublesome liaisons, Roorbach's characters experience romance in unexpected, sometimes disastrous ways. In "Fog," a teenage boy learns hard lessons about canoes, the Gulf of Maine, sex, and love. A struggling young artist goes home for the holidays in search of succor for the stomach—and heart—with poor results in "Thanksgiving." Other stories recount the ultimately disastrous reunion of estranged friends, an unemployed architect's foolish courting with bad company, and a middle-aged rock star's struggle with the urge to settle down. In the tiitle story, "Big Bend," a grieving widower, troubled by his own waning years, is tempted by a seductively attentive birdwatcher no older than his daughter. Poignant tales of hauntingly familiar situations, Bill Roorbach's stories are full of heart, romance, edgy humor, and the frequently concealed vulnerability of men.

"Centennial series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A & M University ; no. 46." A collection of tall tales and legends of the Big Bend Region of Texas.

"Home of the Last Frontier" is how the local radio station aptly describes the Big Bend and Davis Mountains region of West Texas, the sparsely populated area of desert and mountain close to the Mexican border. After 1848, the first settlers started to move in. They came to make a living, and a few made a fortune. Mysterious cattle baron Milton Faver ran 10,000 cattle in the 1870s. Others came for their health, like J.O. Langford, his wife, and young daughters who, seeking a dry climate, came to homestead on the Rio Grande. Today's newcomers are equally pioneering in their own way. Donald Judd was the catalyst that changed Marfa from a moribund cow town to an internationally recognized art center. Edie Elfring, an immigrant from a small island in the Baltic Sea, has picked up trash and tended Alpine's public gardens--unasked and unpaid--for years. They were drawn to what their predecessors found: a boundless landscape peopled by a few hardy, independent souls.

Here among other things are legends of demons and magic; a collection of corridos (Mexican folk ballads) of the Big Bend; tales of treasure like the Terlingua Bootlegger''s Hoard; a mini-history of the mining community of Shafter; and a profile of Maggie Smith, longtime border storekeeper, dealer in candelilla wax and folk healer.