Bars Fight, a ballad describing an ambush by Native Americans on two families in 1746 in Massachusetts, is the oldest known work by an African-American author. Passed on orally until it was recorded in History of Western Massachusetts in 1855, the ballad is a landmark in the history of literature that should be on every book lover's shelves.

A Western revenge story featuring the fearsome bandido Antonio Gonzalez, a character based on the author's own great-grandfather, whose vendetta against the Texas Rangers is watched intently by Death itself.