Western Action

Matt Anderson was dead, shot down in a bank hold-up that shocked the small community of Bozeman, Montana. At least the townsfolk thought he was dead. A case of mistaken identity may have saved Matt's life, but it would have to be a life lived in exile.

This is the story of a man's epic journey to seek brutal revenge on the killers of his mother, father, and sister and the many people who cross his path along the way, some of them die as enemies and some of them he learns to care for and love as family. But always, at the back of his mind, is the woman he cannot erase from his thoughts. A woman who watches over him like a specter, the beautiful and charismatic, Chameli Gonzales.

Three weeks before Christmas, the little town of Chug Water in Wyoming Territory is stunned by a brutal crime. The mayor's family has been slaughtered in cold blood on their ranch outside of Raw Hide Butte. As the townsfolk gather to pay their last respects, Duff MacCallister saddles up to go after the killers. He returns with two outlaws - a cold-blooded, nasty pair of snakes, Jesse and T. Bob Cave. But the day before they're sentenced to hang, the Cave brothers escape their fate...

While their family’s wagon train stops for a rest, Jacob Milam goes hunting with his younger brother, Tom. They are hoping for a rabbit, a deer, or even a buffalo, but they haven’t managed to catch anything bigger than a rattlesnake when they see the Indian raiding party galloping over the plains. Jacob races back to camp, desperate to warn his parents, but it is already too late. Betrayed by their Indian guide, the settlers have been slaughtered. Jacob and Tom are the only survivors.

The tales of the Mountain Man represent the best of the Western genre in all its thundering glory—and few gunfighters are as compelling, or as deadly, as Smoke Jensen. In Shootout of the Mountain Man, Billy Ray Cabot is set to hang, but the people planning to string him up haven’t reckoned on his old association with Smoke Jensen.

In Montana Territory, one name above all others strikes fear and hatred in the hearts of the Crow Indians - John Jackson, better known these days as Liver-Eating Jackson. Consumed by grief and rage, the mountain man has brutally killed 10 braves so far in his one-man war of vengeance against the Crow, who murdered his beloved wife. Smoke Jensen knows Jackson by another name - "friend." He's not sure to what extent Jackson's exploits are true - devastating loss and frontier savagery have certainly driven lesser men mad.

In Crossing Fire River, Cotton introduces Lawrence “Fast Larry” Shaw, a quick-drawing gunslinger tormented by his past. Reeling from the death of his wife Rosa, Fast Larry turns to whiskey to drown his sorrows. But even with a drink in one hand, he’s still the fastest shot around. So when he becomes a target for a Mexican bounty hunter after killing two banditos, Fast Larry will have to protect himself the only way he knows how.

Cray Dawson wants to head home and put his reputation as a shootist to rest. Trouble is, his home town has changed. There's a crooked new sheriff, and with an army of vicious outlaws riding shotgun as deputies, he has the town under his thumb-until Cray decides to make the most of his bad reputation.

At the Sugarloaf Ranch, Smoke and Sally Jensen prepare to welcome Preacher home for the holidays - unaware that their friend is trailed by a storm full of trouble. On a mission of vengeance, an old trapper is rescued by Ace and Chance Jensen from ruthless outlaws - and wanted by a driven bounty hunter named Luke Jensen. And, just released from prison, a criminal mastermind assembles a vicious gang of cutthroats to extract his final revenge against his enemy - the sheriff of Big Rock, Colorado.

The stench of death hangs over Happyville. When Flintlock rides into town, he sees windows caked in dust, food rotting on tables, and a forgotten corpse hanging at the gallows. The citizens of Happyville are dead in their beds, taken down by a deadly scourge, and Flintlock must stay put, or risk spreading the killer disease. His quarantine is broken by Cage Kingfisher, a mad clergyman who preaches the gospel of death. He orders his followers to round up the survivors of Happyville and bring them home.

Life on the ranchlands of Montana comes with more than its share of trouble. The unique people who live and work on this untamed stretch of today's American West expect it---and some of them even enjoy it. One of them is Mike Wire, a former homicide detective who once worked the decadent hills and valleys of Hollywood.

Chet Byrnes has built a ranching empire from the ground up. And he's defended it with his sweat, blood, and a ragtag band of ranch-hand fighters. Now a beautiful, young Spanish widow comes into Chet's life just as he starts off in search of a lost cattle drive. The search leads into the eye of a sprawling, violent storm. Chet and his men - and his seductive new woman - end up on a wild ride through Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, where authorities want to confiscate the beeves for trespassing.

Wildfire is a glorious beast, a fiery red stallion that is captured and broken by Lin Slone, a horse trainer. A legendary and miraculous horse, Wildfire is also a curse - a horse who could run like the wind but who could also injure those who love him most.

Zane Grey is the master of the Western novel. His works have thrilled generations of readers with brave and noble characters, hard-shooting action, and high-plains panoramas. Truly he symbolizes the spirit of the old West.

Children have been stolen and taken to Mexico. The Reaper goes after them and rescues all but one girl, who is stolen away. Jim Thornton is pursued by a Ranger turned manhunter and is finally reunited with brother Cal. The slavers send assassins to kill the Reaper. The Rangers are going to Mexico to rescue all the children and wipe out the slavery ring.

The tender tale of a woman without choices who risks everything for one last chance at happiness. "Rancher Seeking Wife" - for Kate Whittington, the modest words in a newspaper ad are the answer to her desperate prayers. Daughter of a dockside harlot and raised in a bleak orphanage, she has no prospects in the unforgiving Maine village of her birth. Correspondence from the lonely Texas widower looking for a mail order bride sparks tempting dreams of a house, a family and a future in a land filled with possibilities.

A band of kill-crazy outlaws smash the bank in Caliche Bend, New Mexico. And by the fine white powder that covers everything - even the dead - everyone knows The Snowman has struck again: for this notorious bank robber uses bags of flour to stabilize the nitroglycerin used in his dynamite blasts.

Ralph Cotton casts a long shadow as one of the finest practitioners of Western fiction to ever set pen to paper. Burnished with the unmistakable character of the Old West, Escape from Fire River showcases Cotton at the height of his form. There’s not a man alive who can outdraw Lawrence Shaw, but that doesn’t mean he’s invulnerable. Garris “The Cat” Cantro and his band of miscreants are hellbent on securing a fortune in gold.

While most folks are busy preparing for Christmas, the tight-knit Jensen clan can only hope they'll make it home. Luke Jensen is in San Antonio tracking down a dangerous outlaw. But when he finds the man leading a wholesome life - as a charity-working Hill Country pastor - Luke agrees to wait until after Christmas to bring him to justice. Meanwhile, Smoke and Sally Jensen head out from Fort Worth by stagecoach, only to be stranded by unrelenting rains - and stalked by a crazed Commanche killer.

Jane Withersteen, a sincere and faithful young Mormon woman, is persecuted by members of her own church. The as yet unmarried Withersteen has inherited a large and rich piece of property from her father. Elder Tull, an older church leader with several wives already, wants to marry her, but she does not want to marry him. She refuses him and is subsequently beset by troubles as Tull and his men wage a secret vindictive campaign against her.

Tan and the Governor continue the struggle for Arizona, to secure the border to the south, and put an end to the greatest danger Arizona's people have faced. It's a wild ride, from the desert in the south to the beauty of the Red Rock country in the north, all to stop one man.