Great Stories of the American West: Stories by John Jakes, Elmore Leonard, Marcia Muller, John D. McDonald and

Though Greenberg has over 50 anthologies to his credit, many of them westerns, the occasion for this collection is unclear. The stories gathered here are not newly published and don't attempt to show the wide variety that exists in the western genre. While some are quite good, few of the selections represent the best work of their authors. Instead, the strong stories found here-like ``Lost Sister,'' Dorothy M. Johnson's unusual look at a white woman raised among the ``savages,'' or Elmore Leonard's tense ``Law of the Hunted Ones''-fade into a background of more typical western gunslingers and cowpunchers. Even Ed Gorman's ``Dead Ground,'' the fine, gritty long novella that ends the anthology, feels out of place, tacked on to a collection of otherwise short tales. (Dec.)