The Crux: A Novel

      Charlotte Perkins Gilman
     The Crux: A Novel

The Crux is an important early feminist work that brings to the fore complicated issues of gender, citizenship, eugenics, and frontier nationalism. First published serially in the feminist journal The Forerunner in 1910, The Crux tells the story of a group of New England women who move west to start a boardinghouse for men in Colorado. The innocent central character, Vivian Lane, falls in love with Morton Elder, who has both gonorrhea and syphilis. The concern of the novel is not so much that Vivian will catch syphilis, but that, if she were to marry and have children with Morton, she would harm the "national stock."

Read online

  • 814

    Hidden Water

      Dane Coolidge
     Hidden Water

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Read online

  • 803

    Mail Order Bride: The Irish Runaway

      Catherine Harper
     Mail Order Bride: The Irish Runaway

Thinking that she'd put her runaway days behind her, Shannon Barry finds herself on the run again. Heading to San Francisco and traveling under another woman's name, she wonders if she's made the biggest mistake of her life. Thinking that playing the part of a mail order bride would be the answer to her prayers, Shannon finds out too late that she's heading toward a man who doesn't even want her.Thinking that she'd put her runaway days behind her, Shannon Barry finds herself on the run again. Heading to San Francisco and traveling under another woman's name, she wonders if she's made the biggest mistake of her life. Thinking that playing the part of a mail order bride would be the answer to her prayers, Shannon finds out too late that she's heading toward a man who doesn't even want her. Knowing there's no going back, she finally meets her husband to be, Dominic Campbell.Tall, clean shaven with sparkling blue eyes, he's everything she's looking for in a husband. The only problem is Dominic has other plans in mind and none of them include her.Can Shannon prove to Dominic that she's the girl of his dreams - or will coming clean on her identity ruin everything for her? Is Shannon always destined to be an Irish runaway? Discover all these answers now by downloading a copy. If you're looking for a mail order bride western romance to get swept away in, you've come to the right place.

Read online

  • 791

    The Gringos

      B. M. Bower
     The Gringos

The Gringos By B.M.Bower was a much loved American author who wrote novels, fictional short stories, and screenplays about the American Old West. A classic tale and a wonderful addition to any collection.

Read online

  • 789

    The Seventh Man

      Max Brand
     The Seventh Man

A great many people have never heard the scream of an eagle. The only voice they connect with the kind of the air is a ludicrously feeble squawk, dim with distance, but in his great moments the eagle has a war-cry like that of the hawk, but harsher, hoarser, tenfold in volume. This sound cut into the night in the gulch, and Vic Gregg started and glanced about for echoes made the sound stand at his side; then he looked up, and saw two eagles fighting in the light of the morning. He knew what it meant—the beginning of the mating season, and these two battling for a prize. They darted away. They flashed together with reaching talons and gaping beaks, and dropped in a tumult of wings, then soared and clashed once more until one of them folded his wings and dropped bulletlike out of the morning into the night.

Read online

  • 785

    Salomon (Part One)

      David Xavier
     Salomon (Part One)

The legend of the true California bandit the world came to know as the fictional character of Zorro. Salomon rode the California hills as a ranchero, and then as a scout for the Mexican Army. He returned home to a land overrun with gold seekers. Brutal circumstances lead Salomon to become one of the most legendary bandits California has ever seen. An adventure of love, revenge, and redemption.Before the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill brought tens of thousands of prospectors to California, the land was sparsely populated by Californios up from Mexico. It was untamed land. The wild West. Salomon Pico was one of these Californios, the cousin of Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California, before it became a US territory after the Mexican-American War. Salomon rode the California hills as a ranchero, and then as a scout for the Mexican Army under Captain Andres Pico. These glittering hills would eventually be named for Salomon, although, the reasons for which are bloody. He returned home to a land overrun with gold seekers. Brutal circumstances lead Salomon to become one of the most legendary bandits California has ever seen. The life of Salomon Pico became the basis for the fictional character the world knows as Zorro.

Read online

  • 782

    Love on the Ranch

      Alice Parker
     Love on the Ranch

Christy has always been something of a free spirit, stuck in an urban setting. Like a fish out of water, she feels out of place and longs for an adventure away from the place she has long called home. When circumstances change for the worse, Christy decides it is her time to go on the adventure she has dreamed of. Through chance she meets a handsome cowboy who seems to sweep her off her feet.Christy has always been something of a free spirit, stuck in an urban setting. Like a fish out of water, she feels out of place and longs for an adventure away from the place she has long called home. When circumstances change for the worse, Christy decides it is her time to go on the adventure she has dreamed of. Through chance she meets a handsome cowboy who seems to sweep her off her feet. That is until his past comes back to haunt them, and Christy must decide if this love is worth fighting for.

Read online

  • 778

    Lonesome Land

      B. M. Bower
     Lonesome Land

Valeria had come to Montana to marry a cowboy named Manley, expecting a future full of companionship and bracing freedom, lodges with great fireplaces and bearskin rugs, manageable cattle and sleek horses, and dazzling sunrises. If Val had known what was really waiting for her, she simply wouldn’t have gotten off the train. Oh, the country was impressive, but it could be cruel in winter and lonesome for a woman stuck on a ranch miles from the nearest neighbor. Val is cast into circumstances that test her temper, strength, and sanity. Married to an alcoholic, she is forced to revise her back-East notions about men and women, duty, and the West itself. She goes from romanticization to "blind unreasoning terror of the empty land" to decisive action.

Read online

  • 777

    Grown Fast and Hard

      James Calore
     Grown Fast and Hard

Life is full of twists and turns, as the saying goes, but you never know when that life-altering event is coming at you. Some twists can turn out very fortunate, while others ... let's just say, there are others you wished you hadn't had to endure. Life can be a tough teacher, and the test tougher yet. Grown Fast and Hard - A contemporary short story set in the American West."Sherman Zahd" is an antiwar satire set in San Francisco schools in the early days of the Iraq War. The story is loosely based on Sheherezade. The humor is closely based on George Bush and the like. The story has previously appeared in Mobius, Write Side Up, and Pulse. The author appreciates the opportunity to expand the story's reach by furnishing a free ebook edition to kind readers.

Read online

  • 776

    The Girl of the Golden West

      David Belasco
     The Girl of the Golden West

The Girl of the Golden West is a theatrical play written, produced and directed by David Belasco and later made into an opera, La fanciulla del West, by Puccini. The four-act melodrama set in the California Gold Rush opened at the old Belasco Theatre in New York on November 14, 1905 and ran for 224 performances. Blanche Bates originated the role of The Girl, Robert C. Hilliard played Dick Johnson, and Frank Keenan played Jack Rance. Bates was joined by Charles Millward and Cuyler Hastings for two-week Broadway runs in 1907 and 1908. William Furst composed the play's incidental music. The play toured throughout the US for several years, and was made into four films, in 1915, 1923, 1930 and 1938. Belasco wrote a novel based on the play in 1911.

Read online

  • 765

    Cow-Country

      B. M. Bower
     Cow-Country

Through hazards, difficulties and dangers, Bob sets out to discover life for himself. With awfully wild terrain and red-Indians around him, he has to find his way. More than the threats posed by nature are those that are created by other humans. A tale of swashbuckling adventures!

Read online

  • 762

    The Lookout Man

      B. M. Bower
     The Lookout Man

The Lookout Man by B.M.Bower. Bertha Muzzy Sinclair or Sinclair-Cowan, best known by her pseudonym B. M. Bower, was a much loved American author who wrote novels, fictional short stories, and screenplays about the American Old West. Any profits made from the sale of this book will go towards supporting the Freeriver Community project, a project that aims to support community and encourage well-being. To learn more about the Freeriver Community project please visit the website- www.freerivercommunity.com

Read online

  • 755

    Country Bride

      Ava Catori
     Country Bride

Kristin Shaw ran away to Wyoming, looking to escape a broken heart. After becoming widowed on her honeymoon, she can barely breathe, and isn’t sure life is worth living. Ty Addison is rough around the edges, and has no interest in falling in love. Finding himself attracted to Kristin, his polar opposite, can the couple see past their differences and admit what they're feeling?Kristin Shaw ran away to Wyoming, looking to escape a broken heart. After becoming widowed on her honeymoon, she can barely breathe, and isn’t sure life is worth living. Moving to a remote area of the country, she wants to hide away and heal her mind. Forced to confront rural life in Wyoming, she faces challenges that make her question her move. Ty Addison is rough around the edges, having grown up on a farm, and now working in the small rural town. He had no intention of falling for the girl from New Jersey, in fact, he wasn’t even sure he liked her at first. Finding himself attracted Kristin, can he convince her to give him a chance? Or will she go back to the safety of suburbia life she once knew?

Read online

  • 746

    The Fifth Rider: New Damascus

      A Park
     The Fifth Rider: New Damascus

New Damascus was a place of desert and mountain. It was a town suffering from sickness, where trouble always stopped by to holiday. It was the preacher who finally took matters into his own hands, praying for salvation. Salvation didn't come. Something else did.New Damascus was a place of desert and mountain. It was a town suffering from a sickness, where trouble always stopped by to holiday, and strange, perverted things happened and were endured with silence. Livestock gave birth to stillborn or deformed young. Blood appeared in the well. Children disappeared. Men were overcome by episodes of dark, manic rages not even found at the bottom of a flask.It was the preacher man in the town who finally took matters into his own hands after a New Damascus woman gave birth to a strange, dead child that looked more like a coyote pup than a person. Some say it was the Preacher’s. Some say the problem was that it wasn’t. What is certain is that he went into the desert without any food, only one water-skin and a small pistol for rattlesnakes, and stayed in the wild for seven days and seven nights.No one knows exactly what kind of praying he did in the sand and rocks, but what answered his call certainly wasn’t God. Most are convinced he was praying for help. But what came were the black riders. They didn’t bring a kind hand. They were there to euthanize New Damascus.Sometimes they look like scarred gunslingers with wide-brimmed hats on their heads. Sometimes they look like ghosts of old Apache chiefs, though everyone knows they exist by no man’s creed. Most say they’re tall, with hooded black robes that cover their faces. Riding Death.New Damascus was destroyed. The Preacher never found. Most likely, the black riders killed him as well in their cleansing of the town. He may have put a bullet through his head when he saw his home burning before him. Only a few whisper that when the deed was done, the black riders hunted him down, bringing with them a fifth horse for him to sit a top of and that he rides with them today.Those who whisper that, say that it isn’t dangerous to believe in the black riders. It is dangerous when they notice you.”

Read online

  • 740

    Good Indian

      B. M. Bower
     Good Indian

Wild-at-heart cowboy Grant Imsen has never taken a liking to big city life, or to civilization as a whole, for that matter. But when he meets Evadna Ramsey, a genteel visitor from New Jersey, everything changes in the blink of an eye. Is there any hope for this diametrically opposed duo to live happily ever after?

Read online

  • 737