Fiction Literature Dramatized

Jig the goblin was the runtiest member of an admittedly puny race. Jig was scrawny, so nearsighted as to be almost blind, and had such a poor self-image that when he chose a god to worship, it was one of the forgotten ones - after all, what other sort of god would have him as worshiper? He also had a cowardly fire-spider for a pet, a creature that was likely to set your hair on fire if it got into a panic. Made to stand tunnel watch by the goblin bullies who'd been assigned the job, it was just Jig's luck to be taken captive by a group of adventurers.

Outlaws had smashed his life, left his wife dying, and carried off his son. Now all Frank Morgan wants is to hang up his guns and settle down in peace. But all that changes when he rides into the middle of a Montana range war, where a valley has been ripped apart by hatred and fears...and where his legend proves to be as dangerous as his gun. The blood of innocent men, women, and children has been shed. On one side is a small army of ranchers; on the other a stubborn band of farming families.

Judge Ephraim Doolittle is begging for help. A killer he sent to the gallows has a brother who has sworn vengeance on judge and jury both. John Henry Sixkiller is the perfect man for this job. And he will do it the hard way: getting himself arrested, busting out of jail, and worming his way into an outlaw haven run by a beautiful, amoral woman.

Shaving his beard and posing as a farmer from Ohio, Preacher comes face-to-face with Shad Beaumont and insinuates himself into his organization — as Beaumont's own personal bodyguard. But before Preacher can take down the sadistic leader, innocents — and not-so-innocents — are drawn into Beaumont's intricate web and Preacher finds the stakes of the game have become alarmingly high.

The mountains are brimming with the lure of fortunes — from gold to a booming fur trade. A man at home in this once pristine wilderness, Preacher knows there’s no turning back civilization now. What he doesn’t know is that beyond the plans of some men is a deadly enemy with far more dangerous designs....

Long before there was a mountain man called Preacher, a young adventurer set off with a team of fur traders from St. Louis for the time of his life. On a wild frontier, he sought a fortune. Instead, he found blood, betrayal and the beginning of a legend. Armed only with a knife, surrounded by a fierce Blackfoot war party, the young man was forced to kill a warrior chief in an act of audacious courage. But when a savage grizzly bear attack left him half-dead, he could no longer protect himself.

In the land of towering mountains and howling winds, the young man named Preacher has found a home. In the wilds, he has learned the rules of survival — and he has killed in order to live. Now, something is forcing Preacher out of his Rocky Mountain range for the so-called “civilized” world. It is the memory of a woman, his first and only true love. It is her blood calling out for revenge.

For the legendary mountain man Preacher, times are lean. Trapping is a thing of the past. Only a handful of men cling to the old ways, trading pelts to a market with little demand. Thus it is that Preacher, along with his old friends Three Sleeps Norris and Antoine Revier, grudgingly accepts a commission from the War Department to act as trail guide and scout for a regiment of Dragoons.

They are strangers in a strange land — a band of German immigrants trespassing across the Jensen family spread. Led by a baron fleeing a dark past in Germany and accompanied by a woman beautiful enough to dazzle young Matt, the pilgrims are being pursued by a pack of brutal outlaws hungry for blood, money — or maybe something else.... The Jensens are willing to help the pioneers get to the promised land in Wyoming.

It was there for the taking: $75,000 in gold bullion, the combined payrolls of the three productive gold mines, just waiting to be stolen from under the noses of a bickering sheriff and city marshal. Billy Ray Gilmore and his band of kill-crazy outlaws have a plan to do it, too.... That is, until Sixkiller comes to town. Hiding his badge to conceal his identity as a US Marshal, Sixkiller goes undercover to smoke out the culprits before they strike.

Purgatory, Arizona, is the last place you'll ever cross the law. Because in this town, the law is the personal fiefdom of an evil man - as Matt Jensen discovered on his first day in town, when an unavoidable gunfight and a dead deputy landed him in jail, sentenced to hang at Yuma Prison. But when the train from Purgatory to Yuma is violently derailed, Matt is set free amidst the carnage - with a choice to make. He can run for his life and live like an outlaw or take a chance with the determined U.S. Marshall who must hunt him down.

When the mountain man Preacher chances upon a new settlement just as the notorious Pardee brothers are about to attack it, a chain of events unfolds that puts the mountain man smack in the middle of a nefarious plot fashioned by human vultures who prey on innocent pilgrims - a plot Preacher will risk his life to destroy. Before the dust settles, he’ll take on an ever-widening circle of villains, including Pawnees, Blackfoot, Red Hand’s band of renegade braves and a hand-picked team of assassins bent on his demise.

For the greatest trapper in the country, there’s no place like the Rocky Mountains. Preacher and his son Hawk are riding the High Lonesome when the clear mountain air is split by a girl’s savage screams. A gang of ruthless trappers has kidnapped a Crow woman, but before they escape with her, Preacher and Hawk burst out of the tree line, guns spitting fire.

For Frank Morgan, a reunion with his estranged son brings back bittersweet memories of another time and place. Conrad Morgan is an Eastern businessman trying to build a railroad through an untamed corner of New Mexico Territory. Even though Frank has revenge-hungry killers on his trail, his kin needs him now. So with a gun-toting, hard-loving beauty named Rebel by their side, father and son ride straight into a pitched battle with hired killers and furious Apache warriors. It’s a firestorm more treacherous and evil than Frank Morgan has ever faced.

Across the border is another wanderer and another tribe. Preacher’s old enemy, Willie Deaver, plies a band of Indians with the deadliest combination possible: whisky, guns, and bullets — then directs them to try out their killing tools on the Assiniboine. The raid reaps a harvest of devastating death, bloodshed, and helpless captives. Deaver is all the more delighted when he learns Preacher is among the fallen.

Ranger Andy Pickard and new partner Logan Daggett become involved in an investigation of killings and stolen cattle, and find themselves in the middle of a four-way fight, among two powerful cattlemen, a group of masked vigilantes called "regulators", and a hired assassin. Old resentments, mixed loyalties, and misplaced trust feed the flames of battle. Andy and Logan may lose their jobs, even their lives, before their work is done.

Like most families, the Jensens gather together to celebrate the holidays. This year, since half the clan is scattered across the American West, they've decided to split the difference and meet up in Tucson. Matt and Luke will be there, for sure, and maybe Ace and Chance, too. That leaves Sally, Preacher, and Smoke Jensen, who've reserved three seats on a westbound stage to make sure they don't miss out on the festivities. What could possibly go wrong?

Scream of Eagles is the fourth book in William W. Johnstone’s epic saga of the MacCallister clan, a family caught up in the vivid sweep of American history. Jamie Ian MacCallister has survived the bloodshed of the Alamo and the Civil War. Now the battle has gotten personal: Jamie is on a one-man vendetta against the Miles Nelson gang, the men responsible for the brutal murder of his wife Kate. His journey of revenge will take him from Atlantic City to the deadly landscape of the Colorado Rockies - and finally to the Battle of Little Big Horn.

From his Missouri farm, the boy traveled west. In his hand was a Navy Colt given to him by Jesse James. By his side was the old mountain man named Preacher, who would teach young Smoke Jensen everything he needed to fight like the devil and die like a man. And in his heart...was vengeance. His enemies destroyed everything he'd ever loved. But they made one mistake. They let Smoke Jensen live.

Leaving their Pennsylvania home to forge a new life in the untamed Oregon Territory of 1845, the Colter family is ambushed by a kill crazy gang of cutthroats on the Oregon Trail. Fifteen-year-old Tim Colter manages to escape and hide — only to return and find his parents butchered, his sisters Nancy and Margaret missing, and one last killer waiting for his return.