New Release -- THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER by Randy Lee Eickhoff -- Giveaway!

Christmas promises to be a bitter time of change for Samantha “Sam” McCaslin following the death of her mother. At thirteen years old, tomboyish Sam tries to fill her mother’s place on the family’s South Dakota ranch, the Bar X. Pressure from her grandparents forces her father to choose between sending Sam to live with them, or seeking a housekeeper to help at the ranch.

When Mrs. Six Feathers and her two children, Sarah and Timmy, arrive at the Bar X, Sam deeply resents their coming. She chooses to ignore them as much as possible. But when Sarah and Sam become the victims of Billy Kincaid’s vicious bullying, a bond begins to develop between them as they fight back.

As Kincaid’s behavior becomes dangerously psychopathic, Sam’s very life is threatened. With only her quick wits to survive Kincaid’s ruthless cruelty, every second counts. Will her friends be able to help her in time, or will she become a victim of Billy’s deadly vendetta? At what should be the happiest season of the year, Sam will learn just how important family really is…

With The Christmas Spider, Randy Eickhoff has written a warm, wonderful, off-beat tale.  Yet, it also illustrates a modern problem concerning the bullying of children in today’s society. The timeliness, however, of the Christmas season will make it be a great choice for families to read aloud on Christmas Eve.  – Lucia St. Clair Robson Award winning American historical novelist

A heart-warming and beautiful fable for a beautiful season. Real people with real, human problems discover through the myth, spirit, and ultimate truth of Christmas that there is healing and hope in the world. Randy Eickhoff has given us an instant classic! – William Martin, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lost Constitution and The Lincoln Letter

EXCERPT

     “Sam,” he began. “We need to talk.”

     I sighed. It was going to be worse than I suspected. Whenever Pa prefaced his words with “we need to talk” I knew to prepare myself. I made an elaborate show of closing my book, staring up at the exposed beams in the ceiling.

     “Sam, I would appreciate your attention.”

     Pa’s voice had a warning to it, and although I had heard what he said, I knew what he meant. I pulled my feet from between the cushions and swung around, sitting and facing him.

     “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I was caught up in my book.”

     “What are you reading?” he asked, although I knew he had seen the title. This was going to be really bad news if he felt he had to wade around in shallow water before jumping in.

     “Roy Rogers and the Mystery of Howling Mesa,” I said, holding the title so he could see it.

     “You’ve read that before.”

It wasn’t a question, but I treated it as such.

     “Yes, but I like it. Old books are comfortable, sometimes, like when you really don’t want any surprises, or can’t find another book like it that you want to read, so you read it again.” I shrugged. “Sometimes, I just like reading something familiar.”

     He cleared his throat again. “Sam, your grandparents and me’ve been talking about you maybe going in and living with them so you could go to school this year in Fort Pierre.”

     I shook my head, remembering suddenly what I had overheard the night when Pa and I had stayed over in town. A bad feeling came over me.

      “I don’t want to, Pa. I want to stay here.”

     “Sam,” he began, but I broke in.

     “Besides, you need me here, Pa. Especially with—” I couldn’t say the words about Mother being gone. The words just wouldn’t come. I continued, fumbling for something to say, rattling on desperately as if I could talk long enough, everything bad would go away.

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New Release -- A Ranger Grown (Lone Star Ranger Vol 8) by James J. Griffin

This is my Lone Star Ranger novel, continuing the saga  of Nate Stewart as he grows from an insecure boy of fourteen to a confident, capable, valued member of  the Texas Rangers.

From my own perspective, this is my favorite story of Nate's adventures yet. For the first time, not only is he separated from the company of Rangers commanded by Captain Dave Quincy, he also has to take command of a Range patrol when he and his partners are pinned down by renegade Mescalero Apaches. Will Nate be able to take charge, and if so, how will he think through the situation, and save himself and his comrades?. What happens makes compelling reading for young and old, as the still a boy Nate fights inner struggles with the Nate on the cusp of full-grown manhood.

BLURB

With renegade Apaches and deadly gangs of outlaws running rampant in the Texas badlands, Texas Ranger Captain Quincy has no choice but to divide his band of Rangers and take on some new recruits. This mission is the most dangerous yet for Nate Stewart, who, at fifteen, is the youngest Ranger in the company. Now serving under Lieutenant Jeb Rollins, Nate and his best friend, Hoot Harrison, must face the fact that this may very well be their last mission—ever. The odds are stacked against them from the outset, with prairie fires, roaming bands of dangerous desperadoes, and the harsh conditions of the land they’re traveling. Pinned down by a party of Mescalero Apaches, it falls to Nate to lead—will he be up to the task? Getting himself and his fellow Rangers out alive is a job for A RANGER GROWN…

EXCERPT

     It was about four o’clock the next afternoon when Jeb ordered his Rangers to stop for a moment, on one of the low hills to the northwest of the capital city.
     “There she is down below, for you boys who haven’t seen her before… Austin,” he said. “The heart of Texas.”
     “Well, what d’ya think, pard?” Hoot asked Nate. “Ain’t Austin just about the biggest town you’ve ever seen in your whole life?”
     “Well, I hate to disappoint you, Hoot, but everythin’ ain’t bigger in Texas, despite what you might think,” Nate answered. “I’ll grant you Austin’s the biggest town I’ve seen since I got to Texas, but it’s nowhere near as big as Wilmington. And Wilmington ain’t nowhere near as big as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’ve never been to New York City, but I understand that’s bigger’n any of ’em. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Austin’s probably not even in the top twenty or thirty. Mebbe not even in the top hundred.”
     “You’re tellin’ whoppers again, Nate, ya idjit,” Hoot objected, using his favorite nickname for his friend. “There can’t be any towns hardly much bigger than Austin.”

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New Release -- Ginger: Orphan Filly by Frank Roderus

When Leonard Dawkins hears about a newborn sorrel filly that has recently been orphaned, he knows he has to rescue her—otherwise, she will end up dead, as well. Len and his sister, Lynn, hatch a plan to talk their parents into letting them ask their neighbor, Mr. Carey, if they can take the little filly, Ginger, and try to save her. Though he believes it to be a lost cause, Mr. Carey agrees—and their adventure begins!

Len and Lynn enclose an old corn crib to make Ginger’s new home. They do everything they know to give her a good place to live with them—but they have a lot to learn. With very little money to buy the things Ginger needs, they have to come up with some ingenious ideas to make sure she gets the care she needs.

When Len meets another boy who owns a horse, he learns that he can enter Ginger in a local horse show. Will Ginger win a blue ribbon? Len and Lynn learn that winning doesn’t always mean what they thought it did—and that love can be the greatest reward of all.

EXCERPT

      Their father looked down for a moment and nudged some gravel with the scuffed toe of one of his heavy work shoes before he asked the question both children feared to hear answered, “Is the foal still alive?”

     “It was the last time I looked, John. That was yesterday some time, I don’t suppose there’s any reason for it to have died since. Unless it got whatever sickness took the mare. Kept it shut away from the other stock, just in case.”

     The children’s hearts were racing now. It might be— probably was—still alive somewhere in one of Mr. Carey’s buildings. It just had to be all right. It had to be.

     “The reason I’m asking,” their father went on for them, “Len and Lynn, here, think they can bottle-raise a foal. I told them it’d likely die anyway, but it might teach them something, either way.”

     “Mmm. You can’t hardly raise a foal that way. Not like you can a calf or a pig. They don’t take to it, seems like. Cow’s milk, milk replacer, and such is too rich for them to handle. They do pretty good for a week or two an’ then go down. It ain’t worth the time an’ expense, I figure.”

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#NewRelease -- A Ranger Redeemed (Lone Star Ranger Book 7) by James J. Griffin -- #Giveaway

The company of Texas Rangers led by Cap’n Dave has come down with influenza. Once the outlaws in the area realize the Rangers are temporarily out of commission, they have a field day—especially a gang of bold train robbers!

Nate and Hoot, along with some of the others who are able to ride, track down a group of cattle rustlers, but not without paying the price with one of the lives of their own.

When the Rangers are able to go after the train robbers, it takes every last man to subdue the outlaw gang and keep the train under their control—or face dire circumstances. Though Nate and Hoot manage to have some fun along the way, they know if the outlaws take the train they’re on, they could lose their jobs—or their lives.

Outnumbered, the odds don’t look to be in the favor of the Rangers—but the outlaw gang never counted on these Rangers being so tough and unwilling to face defeat. Nate’s still the youngest Ranger in the bunch, but he fights back with guns blazing. The robbers got away once, but Nate’s determined this time to be A RANGER REDEEMED…

EXCERPT

     Nate wandered over to the campfire, where the rest of the men were already working on their supper.

     “It’s about time you showed up for your chuck, Nate,” George Bayfield, the company cook, said. “Carl’s been salivatin’ over it. I’m not certain how much longer I could’ve held him off.”

     “If you don’t want it, Nate, I’d be happy to take it off your hands,” Carl Swan said.

     “Only if you shoot me first, Carl,” Nate answered. “Oh, wait a minute. You already did that once.”

     Carl had slightly wounded Nate when, while posing as that outlaw Ranger, Nate had escaped from jail, and snuck back into the Ranger camp to retrieve his horse.

     “You ain’t gonna let me live that down, are you?” Carl said.

     “Not for a long time,” Nate answered, grinning. He sat on a log, alongside Hoot.

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