Mary Margaret Road-Grader, by Howard Waldrop

Howard Waldrop grew up in Arlington, TX--an area I know something about, so it's a nice connection. His work is quite likeable, something you can graduate to from David Drake. Mary Margaret Road-Grader is a good example of his work, a Nebula-nominated short story. It's a post-apocalyptic story, one focused on the winding down of automobile culture--Mad Max would be comfortable there. What's interesting about it is the depiction of the protean nature of Native American culture. The natives in this story have taken to automobiles the way their ancestors did horses, but the way of life is going away. It's a fine read, worth your time.