It's just one of those days for Gilbert: awful younger brother and his friends, vague warnings from grans, running late for classes and general nasties at the local club. It's enough to make Gilbert want to wash his hands off everything and everyone.It's just one of those days for Gilbert: awful younger brother and his friends, vague warnings from grans, running late for classes and general nasties at the local club. It's enough to make Gilbert want to wash his hands off everything and everyone. But Gilbert's ever been the responsible one, especially when there's slime about.

Kate was born, post Civil War, in Western Appalachia. Turning eighteen, tragedy forced her to face the world alone. A Bounty Hunter introduced her to a world populated by trains, hotels, steamships, fashionable clothes, society and tracking dangerous felons. Kate is a strong lady in all aspects of her life, willing to break cultural codes on how women were obliged to deport themselves.The recent Civil War had little effect on people living in the hills of Western Appalachia where Kate was born. Women struggled through a weary life in a corn-liquor culture dominated by hypocritical men holding to the tradition that women should be kept barefoot, silent, busy and pregnant. These male dominated customs were enforced by ego driven ignorant preachers.At eighteen Kate possessed a ripe body, an inquiring mind, an in tact virginity and a talent for hitting whatever came in the sights of her small-bore muzzleloader squirrel rifle.Within a fortnight two tragic events claimed the life’s of Kate’s father, two brothers and her mother. Kate was suddenly alone with two horses, a team of mules, some smaller livestock and a worn out farm in Painter Holler.While tracking two wanted men, a bounty hunter connected with Kate and learned the men he was seeking had met their end during a midnight shootout, when they attempted to rob Kate and her mother.With a storm in the offing, Brady accepted Kate’s invitation to stay at her house until the weather improved. During his visit Kate offered up her virginity and became Brady’s life partner. In return Brady introduced Kate to a world populated by trains, hotels, steamships fancy clothes and a life she lacked the knowledge to imagine.Traveling with Brady, Kate quickly transitioned into a mature young woman with a new vocabulary and demeanor able to feel at ease in formal afternoon teas wearing a holstered Derringer pistol under a fashionable dress or creeping around inside a dark, stinking, cheap saloon to arrest a wanted felon.Kate held up her half of the partnership by always being at Brady’s side and going gun to gun during showdowns with determined men and added more notches to her pistol than Brady.Following the Civil War, territories became states and municipal law enforcement replaced federal jurisdictions reducing the use of bounty hunters. Brady and Kate set aside their bounty hunting hats and formed Modern Investigation Agency to service civil cases and special contracts let by Federal Judge, Andrew Blake.

Riders of the Purple Sage is a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by many critics[who?] to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been called "the most popular western novel of all time." Riders of the Purple Sage tells the story of Jane Withersteen and her battle to overcome persecution by members of her polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church. A leader of the church, Elder Tull, wants to marry her. Withersteen gets help from a number of friends, including Bern Venters and Lassiter, a famous gunman and killer of Mormons. Throughout most of the novel she struggles with her "blindness" to the evil nature of her church and its leaders, and tries to keep Venters and Lassiter from killing the adversaries who are slowly ruining her. When she adopts a child, Fay, she abandons her beliefs and discovers her true love. A second plot strand tells of Venters and his escape to the wilderness with a girl named Bess, "the rustler's girl," whom he has accidentally shot. Venters falls in love with the girl while caring for her. Together they escape to the East, while Lassiter, Fay, and Jane, pursued by both Mormons and rustlers, escape into a paradise-like valley and topple a giant rock to forever close off the only way in or out. The events depicted in Riders of the Purple Sage occur in mid-spring and late summer 1871. Early in Riders of the Purple Sage, Jane Withersteen's main conflict is her right to befriend a Gentile. (The word Gentile means "non-Mormon" and is used a lot in the book). Jane Withersteen’s father wished Jane to marry Elder Tull, but Jane refused saying she did not love him, causing controversy and leading to persecution by the local Mormons. Jane’s friend, (cowboy) Bern Venters is "arrested" by Tull and his men, but is not clear under what authority. Jane defends Venters, declaring him her best rider. Her churchmen refuse to value the opinion of a woman: "Tull lifted a shaking finger toward her. 'That'll do from you. Understand, you'll not be allowed to hold this boy [Venters] to a friendship that's offensive to your bishop. Jane Withersteen, your father left you wealth and power. It has turned your head. You haven't yet come to see the place of Mormon women ...'" It is here we first hear of Lassiter. Ironically, at the moment when Venters mentions Lassiter’s name, the actual Lassiter is seen approaching in the distance by Tull’s men. Upon his arrival, Lassiter expresses his trust in the word of women, at which Tull rebukes him, telling him not to meddle in Mormon affairs. Tull’s men begin to take Venters away, and Venters realizes who he is and screams "Lassiter!" Tull understands that this is the infamous Lassiter and flees. Lassiter inquires as to the location of Millie Erne's grave, to which a transfixed Jane agrees to take him. Venters later tells Jane he must leave her. When she protests, Venters delivers this statement: " ... Tull is implacable. You ought to see from his intention today that ... but you can't see. Your blindness ... your damned religion! Jane, forgive me ... I'm sore within and something rankles. Well, I fear that invisible hand [of Mormon power in the region] will turn its hidden work to your ruin.", showing that Venters could see far into the future, and although Jane rebukes his statement, he is indeed correct. Jane’s red herd is rustled shortly afterward and Venters tracks it and returns it to Jane. Bern finds the herd, but, in his travels, wages a gun battle with two of Oldring’s rustlers, killing one and managing to wound Oldring’s notorious Masked Rider. Upon further examination, he removes the mask and shirt of the wounded rider and learns that the Masked Rider is a young woman named Bess whom he believes had been abused by Oldring. Venters experiences a large amount of guilt about shooting a girl and decides that it is his duty to save her.

A very short western story about an Indian guide with a creative solution to a small town's outlaw problem.Russ Williams is the marshal of the most peaceful town in the west - until a young outlaw rides into town and dares him to do something about it. Russ turns to the enigmatic Open Hands for help.

Nine-year-old cousins Bethany Markham and Leatrice Latimer are inspired to want to get to heaven. It should be easy for girls as righteous as them…Meet the girls and their extended families and relations, including Doctor/Bishop Lindblum, Great-Aunt Salina May Roundtree Gillis, 98-year-old Brother Nickelbee, glamorous Aunt Francie, a pot of African Violets, and Mooey-Moocher the cow.If there is one thing that every teen in America can relate to it’s having a high school crush. Although most teens are quicklycharacterized as caring mostly about themselves first, there is always that one exception to the rule where they care more aboutthe classmate at school they have a crush on. But not every teen knows how to court their crush with the right smoothness or charm and some teens never experience the joys of being courted by that one, gorgeous teen heartthrob they secretly yearn to be close to.“Love Letters from a Teen Heartthrob” by Q. T. Valentine is a collection of letters that every young lady wishes she could getfrom the guy she sees as the ultimate teen heartthrob at her school and every young man wishes he could write to win over thelady love of his young teenaged life.The letters include a special mix of creativity, an appropriate sense of humor (including clean humor; nothing offensive), compassion, sensitivity, respect, and confidence. He takes things at the pace most girls are most comfortable with: slow but intriguingly charming. This is the best recipe for both happiness and success as a couple – whether young or old.For every young woman that wished she could get letters like this and for every guy that ever wished he could be a bit smoother with the ladies, this is for you. And for those women and men that are looking for a trip down memory lane back into the teen years you’ll enjoy this collection of love letters written by one young man to one young woman. What kinds of teens are writing these letters? It’s the rare young man that every young woman secretly dreams of and that every parent wishes for their daughter.I could have written this as a mutual correspondence between two young lovers as other books have done but instead I chose to write it as if he, your very own teen heartthrob, were writing only to you the reader.“Love Letters from a Teen Heartthrob” is the story, written in the style of letters to you that begin as a friendly correspondence by a young man you know at school that most other girls have a crush on – including you. Yet interestingly enough, in addition to the friendly letters you receive from the handsome classmate you already know, you are also receiving different letters, love notes in your locker that are mysteriously signed “Love, Your Secret Admirer.” Try as you may, learning who your Secret Admirer is does not come easy.Could this mean that there are two young men at your school that have a crush on you? Is your guy friend that writes younothing more than a guy friend? Or is your handsome letter writing friend who you know well posing as your more romanticSecret Admirer who is secretly attracted to you but is too afraid to tell you for fear you may reject him?If you’re a young lady that wants to cozy up to the idea of what a good heartthrob might be for you without the problems thatcan come in a relationship then read on, enjoy, sit back, and relax as you read these letters as if they were just for you. And if you’re a guy that’s never known what to write a girl that you really like then this book is filled with great examples of how to treat a young lady with the kind of word and deed fondness and respect nearly every girl privately desires in her heart.Regardless of previous ideas you may have had about the seemingly perfect ways of super attractive teens, you’ll see thateven seemingly confident and popular heartthrobs get nervous sometimes and have a few things to overcome inside before theycan let loose and say how they really feel to someone they have a crush on…especially when that crush might just be you.

A modern dispossessed man climbs a sacred mound that an ancient native civilization builds. They descend. Rise, then Descend, a short story, was first published in Crab Orchard Review, Vol. 18 #1.A modern dispossessed man climbs a sacred mound that an ancient native civilization builds. They descend. Rise, then Descend, a short story, was first published in Crab Orchard Review, Vol. 18 #1.From Rise, then Descend:"Did the ancients use walking sticks when climbing the mound? He’s not sure what kind of man needs a walking stick to walk. You just move your feet one front of the other. An old man might need a walking stick. But he is not old. He is old, compared to how old people used to get. Maybe are designed to get. He wishes he were old.Doctor said to use the hiking poles. That they’d give him a more thorough workout. Okay. That they’d save his knees on the way down that blessed mound however many times a day if that’s the way he had to do it. Okay. He didn’t need to pay for knee trouble too. That they’d ensure he doesn’t fall. He doesn’t believe in insurance and what kind of man falls climbing a hill? But okay. He does the hiking poles. Pansy, but that doesn’t stop him.His tremors don’t stop him.Thirty-five some-odd degree rain blowing horizontal in his face doesn’t stop him. Climbing in a monumental refrigerator he built back when he built refrigerators doesn’t stop him. Won’t see nobody up here today, which the opposite of stops him. Can’t see nothing from the top. Doesn’t stop him."

This short prequel novella tells the story of James McKenna and Liz Caldera, and how they came to blend their families on the McKenna Ranch near Yellowstone National Park. These sweet to sexy stories give you a glimpse into Montana rodeo and ranch life, and of course, provide lots of contemporary cowboy love and romance.Welcome to McKenna Ranch!Meet Brody, Callie, Mercer and Parker—the four siblings in the clan of James McKenna, a Montana rancher. Growing up on the ranch was a great life, until Callie and Parker’s mother passed away, leaving James a widower. It wasn’t long, however, before he remarried, bringing stepmother Liz into their lives, along with her son, Brody. Soon, James and Liz added a new McKenna to the family, when daughter Mercer was born.Brothers and sisters are prone to disagreements and this Brady Bunch family of step, half, and full siblings is no exception. As they grew up on the ranch, they learned values that stuck with them throughout their lives—even though they may live apart as adults. But there is one thing that will bring them all back together. Their father’s only wish.Beginning with a short prequel novella that tells the story of James McKenna and Liz Caldera, and how they came to blend their families, these stories put you on the McKenna Ranch near Yellowstone National Park. This series leads off with Jan Scarbrough’s Brody, with Maddie James’ Callie to follow, while the siblings begin the long road home. These sweet to sexy stories give you a glimpse into Montana rodeo and ranch life, and of course, provide lots of contemporary cowboy love and romance.The Montana McKennas: Prequelby Jan Scarbrough and Maddie JamesThe Long Road Home:Brody, Book One, by Jan ScarbroughCallie, Book Two, by Maddie JamesParker, Book Three, by Maddie JamesMercer, Book Four, by Jan Scarbrough

Peter B. Kyne (1880 – 1957) was an American novelist who wrote between 1904 and 1940. Many of his works were adapted into screenplays starting in the silent era, particularly his first novel, The Three Godfathers, which was published in 1913 and proved to be a huge success. He is credited in 110 films between 1914 and 1952. In this book: The Go-Getter The Pride of Palomar The Three Godfathers

When former Texas Ranger John Everett Sage took off on foot to catch a runaway horse from the train depot, he put his foot into something that would either change his life forever, or end it quicklyWhen former Texas Ranger, John Everett Sage, steps off a train to stretch his legs, he puts his foot into something that will change his life forever. A run away horse leads him in a new direction, one that will pull all the disparate elements of his life together. John will find his family, only to see them travel away in search of their own destiny. He’ll face new responsibilities, his personal limitations and the evil intentions of desperate men whose souls are lost to greed. Along the way he’ll win the trust of a community, the support of a governor and the love of a woman. Even though the newspapers will probably get it wrong, as Colorado prepares to enter the twentieth century, John Everett Sage will become part of the legend of the west.

A cowboy returns to his homeplace to face the mistakes of his past.In 2012 Pete Sortwell did something no one had ever done before: he wrote a book based entirely on Amazon product reviews. The book was so successful, he wrote a series. The series was so successful, he spent the next year releasing other projects he’d been working on. Now, for the first time the stories he wrote while learning his craft are available on Kindle and in paperback. From people stuck on roofs, to stalkers following their wives, to weight watchers’ meetings, this book is filled with oddballs, thieves, lowlifes, and other such lovelies. This book also contains the side story to Pete’s debut novel ‘So Low, So High’, so if you’re interested in finding out more about Fred, then this is the place. Short stories: Noang lish Hero Lose-lose So low, so high WeighTWATcherS Multi-storey Apt Pupil One flew over the policeman’s bonnet Win-win Inside I’m dancing *Contained in this book are also samples of all Pete’s other books. The short stories amount to around eleven thousand words.

Old West judge Dalton Freely makes a Faustian bargain to take revenge against the outlaws who murdered his family and left him for dead.Old West judge Dalton Freely awakes under a scorching desert sun in a pool of blood-soaked dirt, a noose around his neck, his arms bound behind his back. He turns his gaze upward to find the bodies of his wife and children hanging from a tree. Only then does he begin to recall the horror of the previous evening when a gang of outlaws murdered his family. On the verge of death himself, Dalton desperately drags his broken body back toward civilization, a single thought on his mind: revenge."Dalton" is part of "The Eyes of Mictlan Origins" series, a collection of free short stories excerpted from the dark fantasy novel, "The Eyes of Mictlan."

When Portia Simpson implemented tax on patty, it mad Dr. Bert Kemp, a psychiatrist. He then became a fat ninja, hell bent on murdering Portia. His wife, Marj scorned by all for living with a madman except the handsome, thick-bodied Dr. Arnold who desires her. Bert grows jealous and goes to utterly unsound measures to keep her but instead, pushes her away. Will he regain sanity or her love?When Portia Simpson implemented tax on patty, it mad Dr. Bert Kemp, a psychiatrist. He then became a fat ninja, hell bent on murdering Portia Simpson’s head-crown, so every patty can be tax-free. His wife, Marjorie, decides to take care of her mentally-touched husband and hopes she has the strength to stick by him for better or worse. But as she unbearably loses everything and everyone because of Bert’s insanity, she crumbles, thinking she’s holding on to dead hope for her husband to regain his sanity, but will it ever happen? Scorned by her friends and family for living with a madman her only listening ear is the handsome, thick-bodied Dr. Arnold who wants her for himself. Bert grows jealous and goes to utterly unsound measures to keep his wife’s love but instead, is pushing her away. The ultimate question then is, “Will Bert ever get to take off the Right Honourable Portia Simpson’s head-crown?”EXCERPT 1Marj looked at him and the wrinkles straightened out her face. “See how mi smart? You nuh see how fast mi mek you reach yah?” Bert asked, “You lucky you come quick though enuh, a light mi did gone light the gas cylinder and mi couldn’t find the matches, you think you coulda out it in time if mi did get fi put mi hand pon the matches? You stay deh, you woulda blow till you weak you couldn’t put out that deh big fire deh mi woulda set the house pon. A woulda bun dung the whole a in yah then claim insurance.”She threw her hand up and slapped her forehead harder than she intended to. She wanted to be angry, but when she looked in his eyes she breathed out some of the fire out her chest and shook her head. Her voice lowered,“Bert, that’s a boxing ring Hun, I can’t wear that.”She repeated her mantra, “For better or for worse Lord, for better or for worse.”EXCERPT 2Six and a half hours later, Marj came in the evening and was greeted by the Vybz Kartel, he was blasting in the house, ‘Cock it up pon the Dumper Truck’. Her ears hurt. But what was more alarming to her senses was a smell. She was smelling heat, stale heat like an iron left in fire. Something was burning. She charged into her living room. Bert still had the curling iron plugged in, until it was dangerously hot and red.“What are you doing Bert?!”Bert was reclined on his back in the sofa, he offhandedly answered,“Clearlyyyy,” he dragged on the word ‘clearly’ for emphasis, because she must have been blind not to recognize what he was doing, “what I’m trying to do here Marj. I’m trying to master level seven of Ninja’s Thermatology, where my eyes can absorb the direct heat from the hot curling iron. Alsooo, . . . mi can absorb the heat wid the inside a mi bottom lip. Ain’t that obvious?”EXCERPT 3Bert totally oblivious to the hill and gully in his chest that Clivey was talking about, Bert indifferently said,“A suh mi chest stay. Mi a get thick from morning. No pills.”“No Bert, mi know a nuh suh it stay. Mi know a sponge under deh fi buff up your chest. Mi a nuh idiot.”Bert slammed down his fart tonic on the bench and said,“You chat too much. A mi chest. A mi so-so chest.”“A nuh your chest. Lift up your blouse mek mi see if a so-so chest under deh.”Same time Clivey spotted the piece of sponge shifted up at the neck of his blouse. It was obvious now. A piece a sponge Bert have underneath deh. Bert replied,“Weh mi a tell lie fa!” He kissed his teeth and blatantly said, “God kill mi right yahso ten time if mi a tell lie.

After her father receives a large promotion at work, 21-year old Makenzie Adams is forced to move with her family from Oklahoma to Texas to finish her last year of college. She quickly falls in love and finds her soul mate in Caleb, one of her family’s new servants from the opposite side of the tracks. When her parents learn of the romance, the two are tragically forced apart.After her father receives a large promotion at work, 21-year old Makenzie Adams is forced to move with her family from Oklahoma to Texas to finish her last year of college. She quickly falls in love and finds her soul mate in Caleb, one of her family’s new servants from the opposite side of the tracks. When her parents learn of the romance, the two are tragically forced apart. Both are tortured and tormented by the gut wrenching pain that only the truest form of love can cause, as memories and images of each other continuously and relentlessly haunt them. The tale that enfolds is an unforgettable story of love and heartache that demonstrates how love can be powerful enough to conquer all.

Relentlessly pursued by crooked marshals, idiot bounty hunters, and a psychotic pastor, infamous gunfighter Henri Ville takes the first steps in her epic journey to return home.On her last day of high school, Cassandra Devlin walked out of exams and into a forest. Surrounded by the wrong sort of trees, and animals never featured in any nature documentary, Cass is only sure of one thing: alone, she will be lucky to survive. The sprawl of abandoned blockish buildings Cass discovers offers her only more puzzles. Where are the people? What is the intoxicating mist which drifts off the buildings in the moonlight? And why does she feel like she's being watched? Increasingly unnerved, Cass is overjoyed at the arrival of the formidable Setari. Whisked to a world as technologically advanced as the first was primitive, where nanotech computers are grown inside people's skulls, and few have any interest in venturing outside the enormous whitestone cities, Cass finds herself processed as a 'stray', a refugee displaced by the gates torn between worlds. Struggling with an unfamiliar language and culture, she must adapt to virtual classrooms, friends who can teleport, and the ingrained attitude that strays are backward and slow. Can Cass ever find her way home? And after the people of her new world discover her unexpected value, will they be willing to let her leave?