Western Story | The Song of Inanna

2026-03-05 (updated 2026-09-23) · Original fiction / American West / Women's narrative

Original novel Western Story: the American West of 1875, during the great cattle drives — land, women, and leaving. Five parts, about 37,000 characters.

The first long-form project of The Song of Inanna.

It is 1875 in the American West. With the Civil War over, the Homestead Act is pushing white families westward to claim land and build farms — the years later mythologised as the cattle-drive era. Underneath that cowboy myth, this is the story of the daughters of a ranch, choosing between land, marriage and themselves, and finally taking a road of their own.

Five parts, about 37,000 Chinese characters.

Watch

Full audiobook film (about 2 h 50 min)

Part One: Cattle and the Season of Daughters

Part Two: The Trail and the Truth

Part Three: The Summer Before the End

Part Four: The Hidden Valley

Part Five: Heavy Snow and a New Road

All of these films are also on the YouTube channel.

Read

All five parts can be read in English. Each chapter links back to the Chinese original, which remains the definitive text. The novel is told in the second person: “you” are Anna, the rancher’s daughter.

The translation is AI-assisted and reviewed by the author. Character names follow the English subtitles of the films. For the history behind the story, see the research notes on the Homestead Act and the women who claimed land, Native women warriors and the cowgirls who dressed as men.