New Release — C.C. Crane: Bounty Distractions by J. L. Guin

Hoping for a better life ahead, young C. C. Crane leaves Arkansas and heads west with no particular destination in mind. In Kansas, he lucks into his first job as a deputy sheriff under the seasoned sheriff of Sumner County, E.D. Johns, who shows him the ropes—and how to keep himself alive.

As their duties take them on a manhunt into Indian Territory, C.C. questions straying so far from their own county. Sheriff Johns is a dedicated lawman who isn’t about to let a border stop him from getting the men he’s after, and C. C. realizes he has the chance to make his own mark as a lawman if he can manage to keep dodging bullets.

When the sheriff is ousted from his position, C.C. must face a crossroads, as well. He accepts the position as a deputy U.S. marshal under Judge Isaac Parker’s jurisdiction in the most lawless area of the United States—Indian Territory. Then, after three years of dealing with the worst criminals in the nation, C.C. knows he’s ready to use his skills in another area of law enforcement—bounty hunting.

But C.C.’s decision to strike out after lifelong criminal Rudy Barrett could cut his bounty hunting days short—with a bullet. Barrett has been on the run since he was a teen, and he’s as mean as they come. With a long list of crimes to his credit—the latest a vicious murder—Barrett isn’t afraid of anyone. His reputation as a fast gun should have any lawman running scared…but not C.C. Crane. He’s learned from the best, and it’s time to bring Barrett to justice.

C.C. Crane is just the man to do it…

EXCERPT

The elder Barrett hollered out, “Rudy!” as he rode into the yard. Rudy apprehensively stepped out of the barn as his father slid from his saddle, with a scowl on his face. The man busied himself removing his belt from his trousers as he spoke.

“I heard in town you was seen last night going through the pockets of a fallen-down drunkard, behind The Three Aces Saloon. Milt Ames told me. He’s the one that seen you do it! You know better than to steal—been told so time and time and time again, but still, you sneak around and do it anyway!”

Rudy swallowed hard. He had done it, alright, but was surprised and unaware that anyone had seen him. He had believed that he would never be caught. Rudy often waited until his father had passed out from the cheap rot gut whiskey he swigged, seemingly constantly, then stole into town, sticking to the shadows, watching for any opportunity to sneak food or anything of value into his pockets. He had become quite good at it, and had a few dollars stashed away secretly. Now that he’d been observed and his old man knew, there’d be hell to pay.

    

New Release -- RELUCTANT PARTNERS by J. L. Guin

 

Bounty hunter Judd Jacoby has been doing things his own way for many years—up until now. He’s got a reputation for always bringing in the outlaw he’s after—and doing it alone. But when Judd is dealt a serious head injury, he’s reluctantly forced to accept a partnership with Faye McJunkin, a young woman he rescued when pursuing criminal Lonnie Sims.

When Judd and Faye track two ruthless bank robbers to a cabin, they must confront the men after dark. Faye comes up with a plan to get them in close proximity of the cabin door, but what might happen next is anyone’s guess—and the stakes are all or nothing. 

As time goes by, Faye proves herself time and again, but can Judd accept needing an unwanted partner? If he doesn’t, will he have to give up bounty hunting entirely? There might be an unexpected, surprising solution to the unusual dilemma for both of these RELUCTANT PARTNERS…if they live long enough!

EXCERPT

It was three days later when Sturgis paid Perkins a visit. He grinned when he came in and sat down in a ladderback chair next to the bed where Perkins lay. “You're looking better, Dan. Your coloring is starting to come back.”

Perkins blinked his eyes open. “Hurts like hell, but the doctor left a bottle of some foul-tasting stuff that I sip from time to time. It deadens the pain some but mostly puts me to sleep again. I think I'd rather drink whiskey.”

Sturgis laughed. “There will be plenty of time for that after you heal up. Did you notice my new addition?” He leaned forward and took a hand to pinch up the badge pinned to his shirtfront.

Perkins glared at the badge in astonishment. “What the hell is that?” Perkins knew that Carl Sturgis was a reckless man, reckless with his own life and reckless with the law. Together, they had been in enough tight scrapes for him to know that Sturgis, as well as himself, were anything but honest men.

“Why, it's my badge! I'm the new marshal of Stanley, appointed by Mister Avery Belk, unofficial mayor of the town. The badge and the job are legit, gives me something to do while waiting for you to heal up enough to ride. Part of the package he offered includes the care you receive, however long it takes. I get a hotel room, all my meals, and forty dollars a month. On top of that, I have free run of the town.”

This time, Perkins managed a grin. “Kinda like bringing a fox to watch the chickens.”

     

Livin’ on Jacks and Queens: An Anthology of Gambling in the Old West

Are you a gambler at heart? What kind of wagers would you make—and just how much would you be willing to risk in a game of chance?

LIVIN’ ON JACKS AND QUEENS is an unusual collection of eleven traditional western stories that all have one thing in common—a high stakes bet! This anthology contains stories by some of today’s award-winning western authors, including Robert J. Randisi, Johnny Boggs, Rod Miller, John Nesbitt, Phil Dunlap, Christine Matthews, Lori Van Pelt, Charlie Steel, Jerry Guin, Chuck Tyrell, and Randy Lee Eickhoff.

How far would you go to see an old score settled? Would you wager your savings, a precious gem, or your very life? Settle into your easy chair with this set of stories to experience the vicarious chances—and risks—of a lifetime—LIVIN’ ON JACKS AND QUEENS!

     

New Release -- Lawman’s Gun (James P. Stone Series Book 2) by J. L. Guin

James Stone never intended to become a lawman—he plans to track down the murderers of his best friend and mentor, Eldon Greyson, alone. And he looks forward to that day of reckoning, because whenever it comes about, there are a thousand and one ways to make the killers pay. But Fate steps in and gives Stone a chance he never counted on…

When his work in Eaton, Kansas, as a temporary lawman is over, he jumps from the frying pan into the fire when he takes a position as a deputy U.S. marshal with a friend, Deputy U.S. Marshal Jackson Millet. Millet convinces Stone that working as a lawman will give him more opportunities to run his old nemesis, a man named Laird, to ground—and make him pay for Greyson’s murder so many years ago.

A confrontation between the two lawmen and two bank robbers let Stone know he’s close to Laird—and he chafes at the restrictions the marshal’s job has placed on him, wanting nothing more than to ride to the nearby E.L. Ranch and take on the outlaw he’s waited to long to face. 

But when Laird and his partner, Bill Dubin, brazen it out with a visit to the marshals, they’re in for a blazing gun battle the likes of which the little town of Tascosa has never seen. They won’t go down without a fight—and they’re determined not to die by a LAWMAN’S GUN…

EXCERPT

     Thorsen and Slager nodded, then the three walked along the side length of the building until they reached the boardwalk fronting the bank. Hobbs stuck his head out past the building for a quick look up and down the street. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, and more importantly, no one had raised an alarm about why three masked men stood in an alley next to the bank.

     Hobbs motioned with his six-gun barrel for Slager to go ahead. Slager crept around the corner, then stepped onto the boardwalk and to the bank’s front door. He opened the door wide, then unfurled the sack and pitched it onto the bank’s floor. After he'd pulled the door shut, he hurried back to the alleyway where Hobbs and Thorsen waited.

     The loosed wasps created immediate chaos inside the bank. Loud voices and cursing echoed through the wall. One man yelled, “What the hell!” Another man’s booming voice proclaimed, “Son-of-a-bitch!” Still another, the sergeant in charge of the guards, instructed, “One of you men, see if you can get that bag and throw it out the door.”

     Almost instantly, the front door flew open and a suited rotund man dashed through it swatting at his face with his hands. A thin woman screamed, then burst through the doorway, frantically swatting at three or four big, mahogany-colored wasps which were the size of hornets. The insects buzzed around her head, dodging her swats. The wasps eventually got through her line of defense. One landed on the collar of her loose, full-length dress and sunk a stinger into her neck.

     The woman squalled louder, then dashed into the middle of the street, the dress not hampering her reckless flight as her skirt billowed. The unfortunate woman ran headlong into the path of a big freight wagon pulled by six mules traveling at a brisk pace. The startled driver struggled to get the animals stopped. But at least two of the mules trampled the woman to silence. Her bloody body lay mangled before the front wheel of the wagon.

     The three sack-covered men watched four men in blue uniforms charge out of the bank with six-guns in hand while swatting wasps with their other, as they fled the bank. Hobbs nudged Thorsen and Slager forward. The pair rushed up behind the stunned soldiers; raised the butts of their six-guns, and bludgeoned them, knocking both senseless before they hit the ground.

     

New Release -- PUSHED TOO FAR by J. L. Guin #NewRelease #SundownPress @prairierosepub #western

James Stone has been on his own almost all his life after the death of his parents early on. Kindly neighbor Eldon Greyson takes young James under his wing, making him a partner in his freighting business—until the fateful night when they’re robbed, and Greyson is murdered by “Laird” a mysterious man James vows to find and bring to justice.

Though years have passed, James has not given up on finding his mentor’s murderer. When he is caught in the middle of a train robbery, he sets out after the outlaws to recover the money they’ve stolen from him. Tracking them leads him to the small town of Eaton, where a bank robbery takes place minutes after he rides in.

With the town’s lawmen killed and wounded, Stone takes over temporarily, but all hell breaks loose with the arrival of Ike Langley’s gang of thieves—and James Stone finds he’s been PUSHED TOO FAR…

EXCERPT

     Branson stepped forward and shook out a gunny-sack. “Toss everything in here.”

     An elderly woman seated in the front row, hiked her chin in defiance. “What if I don’t choose to give up my possessions?” When she looked behind her at the men, hoping for support and not one moved, her hopes sagged.

     Clint Easy pointed the six-gun at her. “Then I’ll just shoot you. Now, follow orders.” Color drained from her face. Her hands trembled as she dug into her bag.

     Murphy Branson stepped in front of her holding the sack and jiggling it until she dropped in a small wad of bills and some coins.

     Branson spied the gold band on her finger and ordered, “The ring, too!”

     Tears pooled in the woman's eyes as she worked the wedding band off her finger then dropped it into the sack.

      

New Release -- UNLIKELY PARTNERS by J. L. Guin -- Giveaway!

Bounty hunter Judd Jacoby has a ruthless reputation of his own—he always gets his man. And he does it without help. When he captures Lonnie Sims, everything changes. Sims convinces beautiful Faye McJunkin to help him escape by betraying the hardened bounty man. Making off with more money than either of them have ever seen, Lonnie then rides away and leaves Faye in the middle of the prairie—alone.

When Judd finds her, he has half a mind to ride on and leave her to the cutthroats who have captured her—but he can’t do it, despite her earlier deception. Judd draws down on the two outlaws, but they won’t go peacefully. When the firefight ends and the smoke clears, Faye proves her worth. Risking his life for her, Judd has been wounded, and needs the care only she can provide.

Faye has been making bad choices ever since she left home, and Judd has been a loner since the age of seventeen. Putting their lives on the line in the hunt for killer Lonnie Sims has brought two UNLIKELY PARTNERS together as nothing else ever could.

A believable, gritty western novel with plenty of gun smoke.

EXCERPT

Higgins kept hitting the man with his fist until Lonnie turned his attention toward the beating. “That’s enough Hig! He’s out. Drag him in here and let’s get moving; we got other things to do.” Higgins put his six-gun in his holster then grabbed Gritts’s shirt at the shoulders and dragged the inert man into the cell. Lonnie shut the cell door and locked it. “Best if you keep quiet until we leave town, Marshal. It wouldn’t go good for you if you were to make a bunch of noise.”

Hodge’s face was flushed red. He had just witnessed his friend Willard Gritts suffer a terrible beating, and the marshal was helpless. “I don’t know what you two are up to, but both of you are going to answer for this!”

Lonnie shrugged, smirking. “How’s the law going to catch up to us when he’s locked in his own jail?”

The two men, with six-guns tucked into their holsters, walked casually out of the marshal’s office as if they had just conducted a little chitchat with the official. They mounted their horses and trotted to the front of the bank, where they dismounted and tied their reins to a hitch rail.

        Lonnie studied the front of the bank while Higgins’s dark eyes darted up and down the street. When they figured that all was clear, they walked inside.

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New Release -- CODE OF THE WEST Six Classic Western Novels in a Boxed Set -- Only 99 cents

Are you ready to ride into the old west with six fantastic tales of outlaws, lawmen, Apaches and ex-gunmen? There’s nothing like outwitting a band of Apache warriors, facing down a man with a hard grudge, or standing with a brother you don’t agree with—because he’s your blood—and doing it all from your easy chair! Each and every one of these tales of the west are guaranteed to keep you turning pages. You’ll share these hard-hitting action adventures as surely as if you were standing in the dusty Texas heat or the wilds of Indian Territory alongside the outlaws, marshals, and bounty hunters captured in the pages of CODE OF THE WEST! So, DRAW…if you dare!

ONE-EYED COWBOY WILD by John D. Nesbitt

Gene Hill welcomes his brother Zeke home, but some of Zeke’s new habits have him worried. When Zeke takes up an old feud with the Bickford brothers, Gene has no choice but to stand with his blood—even if it costs him the woman he loves…or his life.

THE OUTLAW, BILLY STARBUCK by Kit Prate

When Will Simpson decides to turn outlaw, he does it up right! Robbing trains will bring him the fame and wealth he craves—and will also ensure he’ll end up with the girl he loves. But his first train robbery goes awry and he makes a lifelong enemy of payroll guard Kyle Lassiter, who loses his arm in the heist.

GHOST RIVER by Livia J. Washburn

After his entire hometown turns against him for a crime he didn't commit, Jacob Travers runs away and joins a gang of bank robbers. But when a job goes bad and Travers is seriously wounded, he sees the man he considers his only friend turn tail and run—leaving him to die or be caught. Disillusioned but determined to survive, Travers crawls to the site of a deserted trading post in Ghost River—a place he never knew existed—where he recovers, repents, and swears to stay clean. Life has a way of making that difficult, however.

HALF-BREED LAW by Chuck Tyrell

Halfbreed marshal Garet Havelock sets off across the Mojave Desert to retrieve $100,000 in stolen gold bullion. Fate has served up its own brand of justice when he realizes the man he’s after is the Yankee raider who shot him years before, Buzz Donovan. But Donovan is pure evil, and Havelock is the only man who can stop his cruel atrocities with a taste of HALFBREED LAW…if he lives through it.

ONCE A DROVER by Jerry Guin

Trouble seems to find Sam Hall, no matter how he tries to avoid it, from St. Louis to Fort Worth and the wide plains in between. But when Sam comes home to Texas to see after his aunt’s spread, he’s determined to settle down. Fate says differently when a woman in need of his help turns up unexpectedly.  No matter what his good intentions were, he must take up his gun once more to save her life.

RIDE THE WILD RANGE by Cheryl Pierson

Young Will Green's entire family is murdered by Red Eagle's Apache renegades. During the long days and nights of captivity, Will plans his vengeance as only a ten-year-old boy can. But those plans are thwarted, along with his own imminent death, by a lone stranger who boldly walks into the Apache camp and forcefully takes Will from the band of warriors. Angry and humiliated, the Indians swear to follow Will and his savior as soon as they can round up their horses—and they won't stop until blood runs red.

New Release — ONCE A DROVER by Jerry Guin — Giveaway!

Sam Hall was ONCE A DROVER, but everything changed for him when he stood up for what was right. From small town saloons along the trail to the larger city of Fort Worth, Sam can’t stand by and watch when things start to go south—even if it means jail time for him.

When Sam meets beautiful Ellen Riggs, he thinks there might be a chance for a future with her. But Ellen disappears, and Sam returns to his aunt’s spread near Fort Worth, determined to stay on and help her. He puts away his fast gun for a more settled life, at last.

A chance meeting with the elusive Ellen Riggs makes Sam realize that she’s in trouble—a tight spot she can’t handle alone. When she goes missing, Sam knows her worst fears have been realized, and she’s in the hands of the cruel gambler she once married. Can Sam save her from the abusive John Riggs? Do Sam and Ellen have a chance at a future together? No matter what, it’s up to him to put on his gun once more and find her…

EXCERPT

     Ellen began to see, or perhaps pay attention, to some of the goings on in the gaming room. One night, John got into an argument with a disgruntled player who had lost a large bet. The man left in a huff.
     The next day, authorities searched the riverboat for a missing passenger, to no avail. The assumption was that the man had fallen overboard and had been swept away in the river. Ellen wondered if John had something to do with the disappearance, but kept quiet.
     One night, a week before they pulled into St. Louis, Ellen left the casino early, and was walking to her stateroom when she noticed two men struggling in a darkened side passageway. It was John Riggs and an unknown man. She stepped inside a doorway, out of sight, but she could still see what was going on.
     Suddenly, a hand raised a knife, the blade glinting in the moonlight. Ellen chilled when she heard a grunt, then watched as John rifled the downed man’s pockets, then rolled his still-twitching body over the side. She was going to leave, but was so awestruck she continued to watch as John stepped through a stateroom doorway, then re-emerged with some toweling. He wiped the deck of the blood from the man, then threw the towels overboard.

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