Showing results for "John D." in Westerns

When Wilf Kasmire is asked to guide some hunters on a newcomer’s ranch, he doesn’t think anything is up. After all, he wants to try to make a living as a guide and outfitter so he can enjoy the outdoor life he loves. As he goes about his work, he is nagged by the disappearance of a young woman he used to spend time with, and no one seems to be trying very hard to find her. Ultimately, the two questions come together: does Wilf want to keep on selling the gifts of nature to arrogant clients, and what happened to Heather Lea?

The classic Western, now newly repackaged as part of Bantam's Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures program--with never-before-seen material from Louis and his son, Beau L'Amour. It began with gold that had once belonged to Montezuma. Stolen and cached in a church in Mexico, it was recovered by two...

Will Dryden, the main character of Trouble at the Redstone, is well equipped with the ability to fight with his fists and with his six-guns. Like other traditional western heroes, he also gets thumped once in a while and has a knack for getting gonad-driven bad guys to want to kill him. Somewhere in there, he also shows that he is hard-wired for direct action with a woman. When Will Dryden goes to work at the Redstone Ranch, however, he does not rely only on his fists, his guns, or other physical equipment.

Here is a story of a young man of eighteen who wandered for years after an accidental shooting of his brother. He felt as though he was a counterpart of the Biblical killing by Cain of his brother Abel. It was written by Zane Grey, one of the greatest Western novelists. It takes us through a lonely land of prospectors and hermits as it tells of surviving searing Death Valley heat, an area that many consider the deadliest land in the world. Listen now and hear a highly surprising finish.

The story you’re about to hear took place primarily in what is Southern Utah and has been called the quintessential Western, meaning simply it is a top-notch example of quality. It is composed of an extensive list of ingredients: adventure, action, violence, crisis, suspense, conflict, sentimentalism, and sex - they are all there. This classic of the Western genre was the kind of story the public clamored for, and author Zane Grey had great skill in supplying the desire.

This is a story of a valiant man who became a sort of American version of Robin Hood. His efforts were a courageous attempt to restore justice in early 19th-century Mexican California, where a corrupt governor was viciously exploiting the poor and downtrodden. It was a period when there were large haciendas and resident caballeros confronted by the harsh oppression. This brought forth a fictional effort featuring the persona of a masked laughing outlaw calling himself Zorro.

This was the first effort by Frederick Faust aimed at writing a Western, and he used the pen name of Max Brand to produce it. There was a different style of literary focus, a variance that brought forth feelings of melodrama. However, as the story developed, that impression was changed drastically with startling examples of action, conflict, and revenge that set it apart. It was regarded as one of his most successful efforts in a career that produced perhaps as many as 25 to 30 million words, resulting in well more than 500 novels and short stories.

Versatility was a key talent of author Frederick Faust using the pseudonym Max Brand. What you’re about to hear is one of his lesser known stories that ranks as a prime example of his stupendous ability.

IIn the summer of 1850, a topsail schooner slipped into the cove under the rocky promontory of Trinidad Head in California and dropped anchor at the edge of the kelp (algae)-fields. Fifteen minutes later her small-boat deposited on the beach a man armed with long squirrel-rifle and an axe, and carrying food and clothing in a brown canvas pack. From the beach he saw the schooner raise anchor and stand out to sea before the northwest trade winds. When it disappeared from his view, he swung his pack to his broad back and strode resolutely into the timber at the mouth of a little river.

Frederick Faust (pen name Max Brand) was said to have written in excess of twenty-five million words as he seemed to have a button to push to generate fictional ideas. Of course, it’s known that much of his work was issued under pen names, around twenty of them, a great many of them wild Westerns. This one that features a drifter named Donnegan. He gets off a train and takes on a job with a rich man who doesn’t seem to care much about the difference between rights and wrongs.

This book has all the ingredients of cowboys, horses, boots, and spurs, in a period of lawlessness that often brought on gunfights in those days. The cowboy hero is Panhandle Smith, known as Pan, as he grew to be wild and free virtually from childhood. The tale prompts seeing, hearing, and feeling what it was like in those bygone days.

This was a time that was a major part of western history, a sort of baptism of sweat and blood. Great buffalo herds covered mile after mile, and hide hunters swarmed the plains. They were hard-riding and reckless and killed buffalo by the tens of thousands, bringing on near extinction. The invasion was part of the great western migration, and it caused major confrontations with such Indian tribes as Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, and others.

Outside was the red dust, a foot deep on the highway, and the burning sun. The fountain before the mission splashed lazily; down at the beach it seemed that the tide had not its usual energy. Neophytes slept in the shadows cast by the mission walls. Here and there a robed friar went about his business despite the heat and the hour. There was no human being travelling El Camino Real—the king’s highway—as far as a man with good eyes could see. You can hear the whole story.

Here is a land where a man, to live, must be a man. It is a land of granite and marble, strong stone and gold—and a man’s strength must be as the strength of the primeval hills. It is a land of oaks and cedars and pines—and a man’s mental grace must be as the grace of the untamed trees. It is a land of far-arched and unstained skies, where the wind sweeps free and untainted, and the atmosphere is the atmosphere of those places that remain as God made them—and a man’s soul must be as the unstained skies, the unburdened wind, and the untainted atmosphere.

This captures the spirit of the American west: It is a classic tale of heroism and romance, with a struggle to survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment. It has the breezy charm of “Cattleland,” as a young cowboy has a major task of saving his ranch from ruthless cattle rustlers. He has a romance as the fast-moving action makes its way through stampedes, shooting and bronc riding in the midst of the rugged and wild landscape of Wyoming.

“Oh, I want to go back to the Rio Grande! The Rio! That’s where I long to be!” The words, sung in a soft and musical tenor, died away and changed to a plaintive whistle, leaving the scene more lonely than ever. For a few moments nothing was to be seen except the endless expanse of wilderness, and nothing was to be heard save the mournful warble of the singer. Then a horse and rider were suddenly framed where the sparse timber opened out upon the plain. Together, man and mount made a striking picture; yet it would have been hard to say which was the more picturesque—the rider or the horse.

The Lone Ranger kept the mask across his eyes and experimented with his guns. His shoulder made it hard for him to draw the gun on his left, but he found that his smooth speed seemed to have suffered no loss when he drew the other shining weapon. As a test he unloaded and holstered the pistol. “I’ll just make sure”, he muttered to Tonto. Standing with his right hand straight before him, palm down, he placed a pebble on the back of his hand....

Bull Hunter was a young Western boy of unusual size who eventually became known as the “Gentle Giant”. Because of his stature and prodigious strength, along with a sort of natural timidity, Bull was often derided, even by his cousins, as being “slow” mentally. Eventually, he met and was befriended by a famous gunfighter who taught him how to use a gun. That changed a lot of derogatory opinions about him, and he didn’t get bullied any more.

In this tale a lead character’s brother has been accused of murder, escapes from prison, and is on the run. The book opens as a small but splendidly built yacht steamed slowly into Torbay, passed Brixham and Paignton, and anchored in the outer harbor at Torquay, England. It was a glorious spring morning, early, and the sun shone on the water with a myriad of dancing reflections; it bathed in light the beautiful town. Now, listeners will have to be alert to keep up with the amazing contradictions you’re going to hear.

This is the second in a series about the Saddle Boys in western-themed stories. In The Saddle Boys of the Rockies, you learned first about the adventures of two inquisitive youths of by-gone days. They are Frank Haywood, only son of rich miner/ranch owner Leonidas Haywood, and Frank’s friend Bob Archer, who hails from Kentucky. They became known far and wide after being seen riding and dashing over the prairies at top-notch speed. They were often confronted by a spoiled young Peg, (nickname for Percy Egbert Grant), whose wealthy father let him get by with more than he should).