Critics often compare Houston's stories to those of Richard Ford. Both write about the American West and the complexities of love. Ford's A Multitude of Sins (2002) collects stories and a novella on these topics.

Cowboys Are My Weakness (1992), Houston's first collection of stories, established her reputation as a serious writer. Houston writes about failed relationships and her adventures in the wild in this well-received volume.

Many of Houston's stories take place on rivers. The Whitewater Sourcebook: A Directory of Information on American Whitewater Rivers (1990), by Richard Penny, is one of the most comprehensive coast-to-coast whitewater reference books available.

Houston wrote the text to accompany Veronique Vial's black-and-white photographs in Men before Ten A.M. (1996). All of the photographs are of men as they wake up in the morning, including celebrities such as Peter Falk, Robert Altman, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond...