Dangerous Ground and Other Old West Short Stories

Dangerous Ground and Other Old West Short Stories
Author: Herb Marlow
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2018-07-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1921636297

Revisit the wild, wild west during a time when unwritten rules of conduct for survival were never formal but respected everywhere on the range in this collection of ten, rollicking short stories, including: "Dangerous Ground": The town marshal quits his job yet he's reluctant to leave town once he hears about the mayor's plot to steal $200,000 in gold. "Out of the Desert": Undercover Deputy U.S. Marshal Dan Boone correctly suspects a banker's plot to steal a gold shipment... "The Hero of Lost Creek": A crippled horse breaker turns hero when he foils cattle rustlers and wins the heart of the boss's daughter. "The Trail to Nowhere": With Indians hot on his heels, a naked trapper and former schoolteacher runs into the forest in the dead of winter and uses little more than ingenuity to thwart his enemies and get all his stuff back. "Quickdraw": Using a special arm harness and pieces of an old corset, Walker shoots it out with the town bully... "Square-Toed Boots": In a cow town, his farmer's boots appear to make him fair game but, when four cowboys dare to insult his wife, they're about to get a lesson in good manners. "Come Morning": At twelve, Sean Mixus can handle a Sharps .50 rifle like nobody's business but putting up with a bath at his sister's house every day forces him to consider O'Reilly and the trail herd as his best escape. "Gold is Where You Find It": Marcus and Saul swindle a greedy banker into buying a worthless gold mine, leave town, and they're living in what they believe is the lap of luxury when they read about a gold strike--right where their false map sent the banker! "Mad Dog Muncie": Two scoundrels at Fort Clark have been cheating folks and selling boys into slavery...but then Mad Dog Muncie appears to right a few wrongs. "Curley's Kids": Curley Samson is a lone trapper until he rescues two orphan kids and a pretty young woman and finds himself rescued from a life of loneliness in the process.

The Pyramid Builders, Book 3: Khaba

The Pyramid Builders, Book 3: Khaba
Author: Max Overton
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2023-04-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1922548413

The third dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt saw an extraordinary development of building techniques, from the simple structures of mud brick at the end of the second dynasty to the towering pyramids of the fourth dynasty. Just how these massive structures were built has long been a matter of conjecture, but history is made up of the lives and actions of individuals; kings and architects, scribes and priests, soldiers and artisans, even common labourers, and so the story of the Pyramid Builders unfolded over the course of more than a century. This is that story… The throne of Egypt has passed to Khaba, an old man who seeks only to secure his family's position. Construction of a pyramid tomb is a secondary consideration, and the fortunes of those who desire to build them languish as he refuses further innovations. It is left to his grandson and heir, Huni, to dream of greater architectural glories. Architect Den has achieved love, but at the cost of ambition. He and his burgeoning family struggle to survive, his relatives seeking out love of their own even as they look for opportunities to further their careers. The promise of a return to fulfilment is offered, but will they be able to grasp it?

Outlaws West

Outlaws West
Author: Herb Marlow
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2011-02-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1921636092

Sending Josh Holt and his friends home to Daddy tied backward on their horses might seem a cruel thing to do, but fast-thinking Deputy U.S. Marshal Stan Hankins figures it's better than sending them home dead. Hankins and his partner Chico Wrath find and arrest outlaws who've fled to Indian Territory in the 1870s to escape the law. Sure-as-shooting it's a dangerous job that doesn't pay very well. Still, at the end of the day, it beats farming!

The Laughter of God

The Laughter of God
Author: Herb Marlow
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2013-01-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1922066877

Just who is the quiet warehouse worker named Bill Harmony? Disturbed by the shallow sermons and self-aggrandising showmanship of his pastor, Bill confronts Doctor Littlehope privately only to be brushed off as an ignorant layman. An upcoming revival event at the church run by a TV evangelist who claims he can heal and raise people from the dead raises even more red flags. Certain this isn't the hand of God at work, Bill and his friends set about exposing the scam. But there's more to Bill than meets the eye, and when locals begin revealing the miraculous works he's performed quietly, far from the spotlight, everyone, including his close friends, begin to ask, "Who is Bill Harmony anyway?"

Dämmerung

Dämmerung
Author: Max Overton
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2021-07-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1922548170

Konrad Wengler is captured and sent from one Soviet prison camp to another. Even hearing the war has come to an end makes no difference until he's arrested as a Nazi Party member. In jail, Konrad refuses to defend himself for things he's guilty of and should be punished for. Will his be an eye-for-an-eye life sentence, or leniency in regard of the good he tried to do once he learned the truth?

Drive the Pecos

Drive the Pecos
Author: Herb Marlow
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2014-11-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1876962313

The road from Louisiana to the L Bar Ranch on the Bosque River, Texas is a long and dangerous one, but for Earl Lamar, recently discharged sergeant from the First Texas Confederate Cavalry, it's the only way home. In June 1866, Texas struggles to recover from the conclusion of the War between the States. Though cattle aren't worth much in Texas, other places clamor for beef, and the Goodnight-Loving trail opens that summer to sell cattle to the U.S. government looking to feed reservation Indians. Earl Lamar, owner of the L Bar Ranch, decides to add two hundred head from his own cattle herd to Charles Goodnight's first drive to the Pecos River. With gold in his pocket, Earl sets his sights on returning home to meet his new son Ralph, but trouble is brewing in Texas, and Meridian and Bosque County won't be left out. Rustlers, bushwhackers and carpetbaggers threaten the stability and future of Earl's ranch. A ruthless banker and his gang put Earl and his cowboys out of commission, then kidnap their women and children. Little do they realize Earl and his men are indeed alive, if not well, and have every intention of rescuing their families.

Helga's Story

Helga's Story
Author: Peter Woodruff
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2011-08-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1921636513

Living history through the eyes of a young German girl. Based on a true story. Like many little girls, Helga Reiter dreams of horses. More than anything, the six-year-old wants to learn to ride and become a great equestrian. But, in 1941, the world is at war... Having overrun much Europe and North Africa, Germany's glorious military has no spare horses for frivolous childhood dreams. Stubborn as any good German shoulder, Helga, contrives several ill-fated attempts to ride. By late 1944, Helga has no choice but to forgo her dream and face a terrible reality. Her country is losing the war. As Germany is crushed between the Soviet and Allied advance, the Reiter family struggles to survive one day at a time.

Taweret

Taweret
Author: Max Overton
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2018-08-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1925574253

The reign of Ramesses III is failing and even the gods seem to be turning their eyes away from Egypt. When the sun hides its face, crops suffer, throwing the country into famine. Tomb workers go on strike. To avert further disaster, Crown Prince Ramesses acts on his father's behalf. The rivalry between Ramesses III's wives--commoner Tiye and sister/wife Queen Tyti--also comes to a head. Tiye resents not being made queen and can't abide that her sons have been passed over. She plots to put her own spoiled son Pentaweret on the throne. The eventual strength of the Ma'at of Re hangs in the balance. Will the rule of Egypt be decided by fate, gods...or treason?

The Heirs

The Heirs
Author: Max Overton
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2018-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1925191451

Tiye, the first wife of Ramesses III, has grown so used to being the mother of the Heir she can no longer bear to see that prized title pass to the son of a rival wife. Her eldest sons have died and the one left wants to step down and devote his life to the priesthood. Then the son of the king's sister/wife, also named Ramesses, will become Crown Prince and all Tiye's ambitions will lie in ruins. Ramesses III struggles to enrich Egypt by seeking the wealth of the Land of Punt. He dispatches an expedition to the fabled southern land but years pass before the expedition returns. In the meantime, Tiye has a new hope: A last son she dotes on. Plague sweeps through Egypt, killing princes and princesses alike and lessening her options, and now Tiye must undergo the added indignity of having her daughter married off to the hated Crown Prince. All Tiye's hopes are pinned on this last son of hers, but Ramesses III refuses to consider him as a potential successor, despite the Crown Prince's failing health. Unless Tiye can change the king's mind through charm or coercion, her sons will forever be excluded from the throne of Egypt.

Sekhemkhet

Sekhemkhet
Author: Max Overton
Publisher: Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2023-01-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1922548383

Sekhemkhet faces the daunting prospect of following on from the glories of his father's achievement. He desires an even bigger pyramid than that of Djoser and orders Imhotep and Den to build it. However, the king finds it easier to build a tomb than to raise heirs to follow him on the throne, and a cousin seeks to take advantage of Sekhemkhet's precarious position and challenge the king. Not all is well within Den's family. He is married, but love from an unexpected source threatens to destroy the success he has so laboriously built up. Will he sacrifice love for ambition, or can he find a way to have both?