Grizzly Killer Series

When Zach Connors and his pa left their Kentucky homestead in the summer of 1824 to see the Rocky Mountains, he didn't realize he would never see his childhood home again or that he would find love, friendship, fame, and a new home in this wild and harsh wilderness. After a grizzly kills his pa, Zach struggles to survive a cold and brutal winter alone. After killing a rouge grizzly and fighting hostile Indians on his own, he becomes known as Grizzly Killer and is respected throughout the West. Along with his dog, Jimbo, whom the Indians call the Great Medicine Dog, he finds Running Wolf, an injured Ute warrior, and together they fight off a hostile war party. They rescue two Shoshone sisters from the brutality of a French trapper and take them as wives.

In 1828, few white men had seen the Rocky Mountains, those that had were the rugged few we call Mountain Men. Zach Connors was one of the best, known to the Indians as Grizzly Killer. He was both feared and respected throughout the Rockyies. Along with his dog, Jimbo, Running Wolf, his Ute partner, and their wives, they travel to Rendezvous, where they battle the dreaded Blackfeet and Zach fights for both justice and honor. After, they come face to face with a man eating grizzly, and confront those seeking revenge for the justice he dealt.

Zach Connors is a man content spending his life in the wilds of the Rockies. However, in a land with no law, he must fight renegade white men, hostile Indians, and the wilderness itself to survive. He forges a home in which to raise his family, but to keep them safe, it will take more than the might of his guns or the strength of his will. It will take the power of an ancient Medicine Wheel.

Early spring 1829 was a cold, starving time for most people in the Rocky Mountains. For Zach Connors and his family, it was the same. Known throughout the mountains as "Grizzly Killer", Zach fights the worst Mother Nature has to offer to find food, but then he must fight Cheyenne warriors to bring the treasured buffalo meat back home, only to find others have kidnapped his wife and her sister.

After five years of living in the wild and dangerous Rocky Mountains, Zach Connors is concerned his Indian family will not be prepared for the eventual settling of the West. They have lived isolated in the wilderness their whole lives and have no idea how many white men will eventually come into their lands. Zach has seen the Indian tribes pushed from their homes in Kentucky and Tennessee because they would not learn to live in the white man’s world. He wants to ensure his family and friends will survive in a world he is sure will change.

Nature is an unforgiving mistress, taking life as well as giving it. Author Lane R Warenski tells a tale full of danger, suspense, intrigue, and love in this sixth novel in the bestselling Grizzly Killer series. Through the winter of 1830-31 Zach Connors and the Shoshone people he is living with, face a brutal force that can end one’s life so suddenly. As life is lost, it is also replaced with a new generation that will grow and learn to survive the dangers of the Rocky Mountain wilderness.

Rendezvous: Willow Valley, July 1831 - Zach Connors and his family are finally safe and among friends. He can let his wounded leg heal. All the trappers and mountain men anxiously await the supply train from St. Louis. It had been a perilous spring and summer for Zach, his family, and friends.

Zach Connors, known as Grizzly Killer, and his family and friends have searched for the buffalo that will sustain them through the coming winter, leading them dangerously close to the land of their enemies: the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The chief of the Cheyenne village Blue Dog wants revenge against Zach, who he blames for his brother’s death.

In the spring of 1832, Zach Connors and his family have survived another winter in the Rocky Mountains. It was a winter without the supplies they usually enjoyed. In 1828, William Reed built a trading post on the Uintah River, just over the mountains from Zach’s home on Blacks Fork. Reed received supplies from Santa Fe each spring and fall, making his trading post the best source of supplies west of the great divide.

Zach Connors, known as Grizzly Killer, travels with his family through the rugged and mysterious canyons where the Anasazi once built their homes high on the cliffs. The year is 1833, and they are going to Taos for the supplies they will need for another year living in the Rocky Mountains. Before reaching the Taos Valley, they face dangers from the unforgiving and rugged land, and they must cross the mighty Colorado, Green, and San Juan Rivers. 

Hoping the vast forests and towering peaks of the Rockies will hide them, Zach Connors leads his family into the mountains. As they enter this new and beautiful land, they face both Cheyenne and Arapaho hunters who are determined to prove the medicine of Grizzly Killer is not greater than their own. Sending his family ahead to safety, Zach and his dog face a cunning and brutal enemy alone. 

Fall of 1833 - Zach Connors, his partners and friends are in the middle of their trapping season, when a call for help finds them. Three young Bannock hunters have disappeared from their hunting party. The Bannock hunters are many days travel from their homeland, in country they do not know.
Zach, better known as Grizzly Killer, and his partners heed the call for help.

It is a long and treacherous journey to the mountains, some braved the dangers to escape the sure death from a rich and powerful man, while others were looking for the freedom they have never known. For some it was a job, a job that paid much better than working in Saint Louis, as others hoped to find their riches in the fur trade.

Named Best Mountain Man Series by True West Magazine, author Lane R Warenski delivers another wild ride through the west. It was just a week of travel to reach where Horse Creek met the upper Green River, the site of this year’s Rendezvous. The summer of 1835 had already been full of surprises for “Grizzly Killer” Zach Connors, along with his friends and family. Their departure for Rendezvous was delayed by a prolonged summer storm and the arrival of a man they call Scarecrow.

The dwindling population of beaver leaves Zach Connors, his family, and friends no choice but to leave Blacks Fork. They make a new home to the west, in a high mountain meadow along the Bear River. There, they find beaver and plenty of game, but there is more. A grizzly has claimed this area for his own. Star had dreamed many times of being taken by a warrior. But the dreams had stopped once they reached their new home to the west. As days passed, and with the threat of the grizzly always present, her dreams were forgotten. Until the day a Lakota Medicine Man came, and stole her away.

By 1836, the beaver trade was starting to wind down, and trappers like Zach Connors, known as Grizzly Killer, were having to find other ways to get the supplies they had become accustomed to. Zach had found gold nuggets in a creek in the sacred mountains of their home, which he used to make up for the lack of beaver pelts. The Utes and Shoshone alike believe the gold in the creek was given to the Grizzly Killer, but no one was allowed to dig for it.

The winter of 1837-38 in the Rocky Mountain wilderness was the worst in memory. Deep snow and brutal cold lasted well into the spring. Zach and his partners were desperate to find food; their horse herd decimated from starvation. Star had dreamed of the birth of a white buffalo, a sign of hope and prosperity.

In the spring of 1839, as winter’s grasp on Bear River begins to loosen, “Grizzly Killer” Zach Connors and his companions are preparing for their annual migration to the high meadow for summer. However, when an urgent plea arrives from old friends in a Bannock village, seeking the renowned Shoshone Medicine Woman, Raven Wing, answering the call means delaying their river journey.