New Release The Saga of Indian Em’ly: (A Collection of 4 Books) by Sara Harris

Twelve-year-old Wind That Knocks Down Lodges loves his little sister, Cactus Flower, and the wildness of the desert canyonland the Apache call home. But in one night of misunderstanding and mistakes, Knocks Down and Cactus Flower’s innocent world is shaken as they find themselves locked in the nearby fort with the pale face soldiers and their mother’s lifeless body. With no one to lean on but each other, Knocks Down and Cactus Flower must make their way as children of The People in the pale face world—pale faces who have now become the enemy.

After finding themselves at the mercy of the Army, far from Apache Territory and well on the trail to Colorado, Knocks Down must bring himself to trust the soldier, Pale Face Joe. But Joe disappears, and when ordered to dispose of the children or else, the other Army soldiers waste no time in depositing them at the nearest Catholic orphanage.

They manage to escape the evil orphanage along with a new pale face friend, Kid McCoy. But they are set upon by a gang of murdering claim jumpers who steal Cactus. With Kid McCoy’s help, Knocks Down goes after her. When they encounter a soldier who was responsible for their mother’s death, they realize he’s set on seeing them dead, as well. How can a boy defeat a battle-hardened soldier? Just when Knocks Down is about to give up, the biggest surprise of all changes everything…

EXCERPT

     “I say again, halt! I have orders to shoot!”

     A woman’s voice answered. “Izdzaa, yiiltse! Pa-lease, please!”

     Cactus Flower and I exchanged a look. Peering through the mesquite branches, I saw my mother, our mother, her outstretched hands bathed in the moonlight as the cloud slid from over it. She was making the Apache sign for peace. Cactus flower saw her, too. Before I could raise my hand back to cover her mouth, the word tore from her lips in a shriek that echoed down through the canyon and back again. “Ma!”

     “Sentry, fire!” came another voice, followed abruptly by two booms. Booms which echoed the very one that had taken the life of Silver Sky, my father, so many winters ago.

      

New Release -- A Ranger Returns (Lone Star Ranger Volume 9) by James J. Griffin

Nate Stewart and his Texas Ranger partners return to Austin from their grueling assignment in west Texas, expecting only a few days’ rest before they are sent back on the outlaw trail. Instead, they learn that the state legislature has refused to extend funding for most of the Rangers. All but a few have been given their walking papers—placed on indefinite furlough.

Forced to face an uncertain future without the Rangers, Nate and his best friend and partner, Hoot Harrison, travel to the land Nate still owns outside San Saba. With mixed feelings, the pair heads toward Nate’s family's ranch—now, where Nate’s parents and older brother are buried.

But when they reach San Saba, they’re met with guns and force. Someone is attempting to take over all the ranches in the area—including Nate's. Vowing not to lose the land his father had struggled so hard to tame, Nate is determined to unravel the plot—and the people responsible—for the hostility. The trail to the criminals, ironically, takes him back East—to his own home town of Wilmington, Delaware…and someone he’d have never suspected.

Once Nate confronts the man who means to take everything from him, he and Hoot waste no time in getting back to Texas. There, they’ll stand together once more against outlaw guns as A RANGER RETURNS…

EXCERPT

     Nate leaned back against the whitewashed west wall of the Salt Flat Café, where the Rangers had been staying. He was seeking the least bit of shade, since the temperature was already well into the eighties, even at this early hour. He stretched out his legs, and pulled his Stetson over his eyes.

     Boy howdy, a lot sure has happened to me, includin’ sayin’ stuff like ‘boy howdy’, over the past year, he mused. First, I lost my family, then I gained another one, sort of… my Ranger pards. At least the men who killed my mother and father, and Jonathan, are all dead. Me and my pardners made certain of that. I’ve learned that I don’t hate Texas, like I did when my father first dragged our family here, but love almost everything about it, except maybe the dust. I’ve learned how to care for both myself and my horse, and how to survive as a lawman. I’ve been shot by outlaws, and shot them, been in fistfights….

     He shook his head as a soft chuckle escaped his lips. ’Course, I’ve lost more of those than I’ve won. I still have a lot to learn about fist fightin’. I’ve traveled all over most of Texas, and have grown up a whole lot. Gotten a year older, too. I still don’t know what to do with girls, though. Maybe someday. I’ve had to fight white outlaws, Mexican desperadoes, and renegade Indians. Me’n Hoot have had some high times, too. I just hope someday he’ll quit tryin’ to convince me to smoke. I don’t want any part of tobacco. Just can’t stand the stuff. Wonder where we’re headed after Austin. I guess I’ll find out soon enough. Doesn’t make a difference to me. I know it’ll be in Texas, and I sure don’t hanker to ever leave this state again. Might be I’m still only fifteen, but it doesn’t seem like that matters, not any more. Jeb says I’ve proved myself as a man to ride the river with, and that’s good enough for me. Mebbe we’ll be sent…”

     Nate drifted off. The next thing he heard was Hoot’s voice, as his partner and best friend kicked at the sole of his boot.

     “Hey, Nate, wake up, ya idjit,” Hoot shouted, using his nickname for his partner. “We’re gettin’ ready to pull out. Unless you wanna stay here with the road runners, cactus, dust devils, and rattlesnakes.”

     

#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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#NewRelease and GIVEAWAY: On Solid Ground: The Jo Harper Collection Vol. II

Looking back, especially when you reach a certain age, time is more weirdly mercurial than ever. A year passes quickly, its fleeting months scattered like seed to the wind, but paradoxically the days were long and sometimes interminable.

Or it can be the other way around. Days fly by with busywork and odds and ends, but you wake up to think, My God! It’s still only February.

Sometimes it’s all slow. Or all fast.

More than a year has passed since “Waiting for a Comet,” the first Jo Harper story made its debut, and nearly twelve months now since Jo’s first four adventures were collected. Since then, four more stories have appeared from Painted Pony Press, a complete unpublished tale waits in the wings, an Early Days of Abby Drake story will appear this fall in an anthology of stories, and the audio version of “Waiting for a Comet” will be ready for the holidays.

It’s all been a dazzling roll through the calendar, and a thundering 2016 looks to be close at hand.

Time, for Jo and Frog, while filled with more adventure, passes more slowly. She turned 13 this year, and Frog turned 11. They might stay at that age for a while. Or they might not – I honestly didn’t intend for them to have birthdays. It just happened.

And for me, that’s an example of the most exciting aspect of writing Jo Harper. Nothing has been planned. For the first time in my experience writing fiction, I have a body of work that was not outlined, not pre-figured. Each of these stories found me sitting down, writing into the dark. When you read the first chapter and don’t know what’s going to happen next, rest assured that I didn’t either.

Jo Harper has put a lot of fun back into my writing. I hope this second volume of stories does the same for your reading.

Blurb:

Jo Harper rides the range again with Frog Beemer, Constable Abby Drake, McGee the dog, and a host of no good owlhoots. If you love rollicking old-fashioned adventure, grab this second volume of four novella-length stories.

In 1911, when trouble comes to Willowby, Wyoming, thirteen year-old Deputy Constable Jo Harper is usually on top of it. But trouble has a way of following Jo, and strangers aren't always what they seem.

When old friends prove to be enemies, and enemies might be friends, Jo relies on all her wits to seek justice.

And sometimes just to stay alive!

Jo Harper rides the range again with Frog Beemer, Constable Abby Drake, McGee the dog, and a host of no good owlhoots. If you love rollicking old-fashioned adventure, grab this second volume of four novella-length stories.

Richard Prosch's series about young Jo Harper and her friends, set in early 20th century Wyoming, just keeps getting better and better. — James J. Griffin, author of the Lone Star Ranger series

A part Mark Twain, part Rooster Cogburn, a dose of H.G. Wells... —Wayne D. Dundee

Please leave a comment below for a chance to win a free digital copy!

BUY LINKS       Barnes and Noble Nook        Smashwords         Kobo

#NewRelease -- Six-Gun Salad by Richard Prosch -- #FreeGiveaway

It's double-barreled excitement from Painted Pony Books with the release of the latest story in Richard Prosch's critically acclaimed Jo Harper series, SIX-GUN SALAD, as well as a free book promotion for the first story, WAITING FOR A COMET, from August 11 through August 14.

Blurb

Would you cry over spilled potato salad? Would you risk your life for it? Jo Harper can't contain her frustration when a determined Danish lawyer and a hard-headed German farmer get ready to square off with guns over just that.

But things are more than they seem, and an old-world grudge means Jo has less than 48 hours to stop certain violence between these two!

It's an Elizabethan tragedy-in-the-making unless Jo, Frog and Abby can unravel the threads of a dangerous plot that threatens to tear apart not just two families, but the entire town of Willowby, Wyoming.

Excerpt

    Having roped a goat, knocked down three dolls with a rubber ball, pitched horseshoes, and guzzled a lemon soda, Jo Harper wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.
     Happy cries, laughter, and shouts came from voices of every age, carried on the ever-present Wyoming summer wind, and the mouth-watering smells of grilled sausages and warm rhubarb pie weren't far behind. A passel of boys played baseball to her left.
    Directly behind the church, girls skipped rope.
    A loud clank to her right signaled a new game of horseshoes was underway. It looked like everybody in the community was at the picnic, and there was no way Jo could stay still any longer.
    She was ready for her next adventure.

Buy Links     Barnes and Noble Nook      Smashwords     Kobo

Don't miss the first book in this great series, WAITING FOR A COMET, which is now free for the Kindle through August 14!