New Release - The Bounty Trail by Clay More

 

Doctor Marcus Quigley is a man of many talents. He’s a qualified dental surgeon, as well as a deadly bounty hunter. And he’s equally capable in both fields.

For years, he’s been working his way west, always on the move. His reasons for choosing such a lifestyle are deeply personal, and he can’t pursue the kind of life he’d envisioned for himself until he finishes what he’s set out to do.

A dear personal friend—his benefactress—was murdered years earlier, and he won’t stop until he’s found her killer. With few clues to go on, Marcus is sure he’ll know the man when he finds him—and he looks forward to the day when justice will be met. But in the end, will Marcus get his man? Or will the tables be turned in one last deadly gamble?

This collection of short stories follows him on every dangerous step of THE BOUNTY TRAIL…

EXCERPT:

Ted Brisby winced as his hand went to his jaw and he tasted the fresh blood in his mouth. He glared at Doc Quigley for a moment, then leaned to the side and spat into the spittoon that the dentist had placed there in readiness just moments before he had relieved Ted of his left lower back molar.

“Ugly thing, isn’t it?” Doctor Marcus Quigley asked rhetorically, holding up the offending tooth remnant between the jaws of a pair of dental pliers. “No wonder you were in pain. This thing was rotten to its very roots. Do you want it as a keepsake?”

“The hell I want it, Doc. The durned thing has been near killing me for two weeks. Do whatever you want with it.”

Marcus scrutinized it for a moment. It was a dark yellow, almost brown at the top from years of tobacco staining, and black in the center where the decay had eaten right down to the nerves. There was nothing of the tooth that could be salvaged, so with a shrug he dropped it in the spittoon.

     

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 - RAILROADED (A Will Toal Novel) by J.L. Crafts

 

Will Toal has seen a lot of the world in his twenty-three years, including war, the death of his family, and the loss of everything he owns. The gold his father left him, buried in the family graveyard, provides hope for a new future. He is determined to leave Georgia and the past behind him, and start fresh in Carson Valley, at the base of the mountainous Sierra Nevada bowl cradling Lake Tahoe.

But here, Will comes up against a Goliath he never expected—Washington’s support of San Franciso capital and influence to finish the transcontinental railroad as soon as possible. Big business is backed by national pride and unbelievable monetary gain, and this means driving the railroad construction through the upper reaches of Carson Valley—no matter whose land stands in their way.

Untenable right-of-way disputes lead to a deadly gun battle between the railroad’s hired thugs and the Carson Valley ranchers who have homesteaded the Valley, but they are determined to stand their ground—or die on it.

Will and his fellow ranchers must try to survive the indomitable forces and insurmountable odds against them, fueled by more greed for power and money than they could ever have imagined. Can a compromise be reached in the completion of the grandest engineering effort the country has ever undertaken in its history, or will the ranchers and Will find themselves RAILROADED?  

EXCERPT

1868 Late Winter

Toal Ranch near Carson Valley, Nevada

 Will Toal had pulled up his boots and they had just hit the floor when he heard the shot. He stopped and held absolutely still. He knew the sound from the war—it was from a good distance. Sharp reverberations could bounce off the mountains for miles, but he could tell from the sound and direction it was still on his land. He had filed his homesteaded almost two years ago now. But the land agent in Carson City had held up the final paperwork. He had a meeting soon to try and finalize its purchase and get clear title. His ranch covered a full three thousand acres. It might take the better part of a day to get to the source, but guns going off on his land rarely signaled a good thing.

With that one simple sound, his day’s plans changed. Now, instead of working new horses, he was going to head out and see what tracks he could find in the dirt. Hopefully, the dry soil would tell him a story of what had happened; it usually did.

     

New Release — Stagecoach Justice by James Ciccone

 

My name is Mary Fields. I was born into slavery, but I’m a free woman now—and when I say “free” I mean it in every sense of the word. I do what I want—I smoke cigars, drink whiskey, and fight better than any man in Montana Territory, white or colored. 

Some say I have no rights because I’m colored—an ex-slave. But even white women don’t have the right to follow my habits. Being colored is only a small sliver of it—being a woman is the main part that holds us back. And that is just what I intend to change. They call me a pioneer for women’s rights, but shouldn’t every person have the opportunity to live their life the way they choose…including women? 

I’ve held off wolves, carried the mail, and I love baseball. I’ve helped open and run a mission for young Crow women, and I’ve gotten falling-down drunk. I can hitch a team faster and better than any man alive. I’ve been accused of having “crass behavior” more times than I can count. When they see me coming, they shake their heads and mutter, “One stagecoach, one shotgun, and two hundred pounds of bad attitude.”

They aren’t wrong. I’m “Stagecoach” Mary Fields, and I’ve lived my life the way I wanted to. All women should be able to do the same. I’m a fighter, and this is my lifelong battle—I will do whatever it takes to bring equality to this old world. This is the story of how I lived and died—and brought my own brand of STAGECOACH JUSTICE to the wild Montana Territory…

EXCERPT

I could brawl, smoke, curse, drink whiskey, hitch a team of horses, fend off wolves, bandits and robbers, shoot a shotgun, draw a pistol, tend to the sick and needy, and do a whole host of other things better than any man, white or colored. Why should anyone be allowed to pretend other-wise? The rancher was only the latest man to see things my way. The nasty disposition had everything to do with the trouble I had come through in life.

I respected Mr. Lincoln, and I had a habit of cursing and insisting on equal treatment for women in public. I won-dered if any of the ranchers in Cascade were Republicans and felt the same way. I doubted it. They were probably Copperheads. Either way, I was sure they would have no problem respecting a punch in the nose.

By the age of thirty-two, I was no longer regarded as mere inventory on a slave master’s ledger in Hickman Coun-ty, Tennessee. Mr. Lincoln had seen to that. Having been born into slavery at or near 1832, 1833 or 1834, there was no clear record of my birth other than a journal entry listing me as estate property. So, I could not have said that bad luck began for me at birth, because I had no idea when I was born. And there were no records to help me figure it out ei-ther, no photographs, no certificates, no writings of any kind, nothing. My suspicion, though, was that bad luck had begun for me on the day I was born into slavery.

I had no experience with any other institution or lifestyle other than the one that had given me bad luck from the start, but I was determined to try to change. Thanks to Mr. Lincoln, I was finally free, free and flat broke.

     

New Release - Twelve Days in the Territory by J. R. Lindermuth

 

When Martha Raker is abducted and her father murdered in a robbery, her uncle, the sheriff of the town, heads out in pursuit. The only man who volunteers to help is a greenhorn— the mild-mannered schoolteacher, Will Burrows. 

As the outlaws flee into Indian Territory with their captive, Sheriff Gillette is doubtful of Will’s suitability to be of any real help—but Will is insistent. Though the young man harbors his own doubts about himself—and his fears of what is sure to befall Martha at the outlaws’ hands—he loves her, and he is determined to save her.

Martha is a strong-willed young woman, and she is confident in the belief she will not be abandoned by the man she loves, or by her uncle. She steadfastly finds ways to outwit the outlaws, but when they are bested by another outlaw gang, she must try to find a way to survive.

The fight for Martha’s safe return eclipses everything else, even Sheriff Gillette’s own sense of bringing justice to the man who has first abducted her. As the lawmen follow the trail of the renegades who now hold Martha, they are joined by some very unlikely help—men they can’t afford to turn away, but can’t afford to trust.

TWELVE DAYS IN THE TERRITORY can be lifetime… 

EXCERPT:

Sunday, September 4, 1887

A gunshot broke the silence of an early Sunday afternoon.

People still on their way home from church stopped, transfixed in their tracks, staring in the direction from which the sound seemed to come. Women already in their kitchens preparing dinner hurried to the nearest window. Other townspeople opened their doors and peered out.

Sheriff Isaac Gillette left the cup of coffee he'd just poured sit on his desk as he stepped out of his office. Striding to the middle of the street, Gillette spied a trio of men who rushed from the general merchandise store owned by his sister's husband. They made for their horses as Martha, the sheriff's niece, struggled with one of them in the middle of the street. Martha screamed for help as the man forced her to mount a waiting horse, then climbed up behind her. His companions sprang onto their saddles and the gang pounded off in the opposite direction, headed out of town.

Shocked by what he witnessed, Gillette drew his pistol and shouted for them to halt. He rushed after them.

They'd left nothing but a cloud of dust behind by the time he reached the hitching post where their horses and a pack mule had been tethered. No longer a young man, Gillette panted, struggling to catch his breath, bent over, hands on his knees. Feet pounded on the ground behind him, accompanied by the shouts and calls of others attracted by the ruckus.

     

New Release GUNS OF THE WEST (Eight Classic Western Novels) Boxed Set 99 Cents

Are you ready to ride into the old west with EIGHT exciting tales of lawmen, outlaws, army scouts and range detectives? These stories are sure to have you cheering them on from your easy chair! Tracking down murderers, chasing bank robbers, and protecting beautiful women with checkered pasts from ruthless killers all await you in this fast-paced set of book-length stories from eight veteran western authors. Each and every one of these action-packed tales of the west is guaranteed to keep you enthralled and turning pages.

Ready to ride alongside an Arizona Ranger, or help out a Range Detective? Maybe you’d like to do some dangerous investigation of a long-ago fire, protect a friend or a lovely lady, or learn to ply your trade selling river whiskey. Come on along for the journey, where even a bank robber can become an unlikely hero! This hard-hitting action will carry you along to the hot dust of the Mexican border and as far away as the dangerous Dakota trails and Indian uprisings of the past. Put your brand on your own copy of GUNS OF THE WEST for eight solid western adventure you won’t soon forget!

THE SCARRED ONE—Tyler Boone
BORROWED GUNS—J.D. McCall
BUST OUT—W. M. Shockley
BLAKE’S RULE--J. R. Lindermuth
RIVER WHISKEY—J.L. Guin
LAST RIDE OF SHADOW BRIGGS—Sam Fadala
GUNS OF THE PRAIRIE—Kevin Crisp
DAKOTA TRAILS—Robert D. McKee

New Release - Desperate Ride: A Texas Ranger Will Kirkpatrick Novel by James J. Griffin

If you miss the Golden Age of Western action books and films, you’ll love James J. Griffin’s novel, Desperate Ride. This gun-slinging thriller leaps from the page and gallops headlong into a series of adventures for veteran Texas Ranger, Will Kirkpatrick, and his young Ranger recruit, Jonas Peterson.

Receiving orders to clean up a huge swath of west Texas, the Rangers begin encountering outlaws and renegades before they even reach the heart of the crime-infested range. In saloons, at camp, on steam trains and stage coaches, Will and Jonas face down bandits, fugitives, crooked lawmen and trigger-happy drunks in loads of tough, bloody excitement. Griffin’s meticulous research into Texas Rangers, weapons, geography and historical events lend authenticity to his rollicking style of story-telling. The author writes about rough riding as only an experienced horseman can. Hats off to Desperate Ride!

— Mike Blakely, Spur Award Winning Songwriter, Singer, and Author

EXCERPT

Genevieve was sitting at the bottom of the staircase, pain on her face. One of the other women was with her.

“Genevieve, I’m sorry I had to do that,” Jonas said. “How bad are you hurt?”

“It’s only a twisted ankle,” Madeleine, the woman with her, answered. “She’ll be just fine.”

“There is no need to apologize, Jonas, mon cheri,” Genevieve assured him. “If you had not shoved me aside, I would be dead. Is Judd—”

“He’s done for,” Jonas answered. “He won’t be bothering you anymore. Nobody else, neither.”

“Good.” Genevieve spat at Hoover’s body. “He was a loco cochon.”

Rose had hurried from the front, and was now standing with Will. She was unfazed by the carnage, worried only about her girls.

“What started all this, Will?”

Will pointed his pistol toward Hoover’s body.