Showing results by narrator "Christopher James" in All Categories

Cursed with a magic ring that forbids skullduggery, Tyvian Reldamar’s life of crime is sadly behind him. Now reduced to fencing moldy relics and wheedling favors from petty nobility, he’s pretty sure his life can’t get any worse. That is until he hears that his old nemesis, Myreon Alafarr, has been framed for a crime she didn’t commit and turned to stone in a penitentiary garden.

Freedom is on the march as the rebellion against the Kurian Occupation of Earth takes the offensive. David Valentine has recruited an ad hoc company of former Quisling soldiers and puts them through a trial by fire with a successful raid against an enemy armory. Now, they're ready to join forces with a guerilla army planning to establish a new freehold in the Appalachian Mountains. Valentine knows that a permanent outpost near the East Coast would provide a strategic victory over the Kurians - and he believes that only his old ally Ahn-Kha could be leading the guerillas.

Lou Prophet is in mixed company these days. He doesn’t mind being close to his pretty pistol-packing partner, Louisa Bonaventure. Known as the Vengeance Queen, she has his back — and dare he say it, part of his heart. But accompanying the vile outlaw Blanco Metalious back to Nugget Town to see him hang isn’t exactly Lou’s idea of a good time.

With a handful of murderous rogues, Captain Jed Foster has run off with four wagons containing new Springfield rifles, bayonets, and ammunition meant to resupply the troops at Fort Bowie in Arizona Territory. Foster plans to sell the weapons to the highest bidder — whether it’s Apaches, Mexican revolutionaries, or Confederate veterans who still dream of destroying the Union. But that’s the least of Foster’s problems.

In all his years of bounty hunting, not one injury could rival the pain Lou Prophet felt when he thought he’d lost his old partner Louisa Bonaventure. Now that he’s rescued her from the brink of death in Mexico, they’re seeking a fresh start in Juniper, Wyoming, which had once been called Helldorado before Lou’s friend, “Hell-Bringin’” Hiram Severin, cleaned it up. Or thought he had....

A cruel, hated man collects a fortune, then disappears in the desert. The Texas Rangers think it's murder and put one of their best on the job - but he'll need help. There's evil here that no one suspects.

Original story published in Lariat story magazine - July 1947.

Julia's daddy was the judge in town. He used to be fair, but recently it seemed that had changed. What cost to regular folks would there be?

Wayne D. Overholser, winner of three Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, weaves a magic spell in this story with his consistent skill in presenting vibrant characters and his uncommon sensitivity to the depths of human personality.

Honest presentation is only one characteristic of Frazee’s well-crafted tales. He tells a convincing, satisfying, and unusual story even when employing stock Western situations. A major strength is his understanding of the nuances of character, of how people are motivated, of the good and bad within each person, and of the conflicts between man and his environment. Drawing upon his years in the mountains of Colorado, he can vividly and realistically depict a variety of Western settings and do so in such a way that the settings assume a character of their own.

A classic tale that features all the beloved subjects and icons - stagecoaches, gold rush towns, and whiskey bars - that represent the romance and excitement of America's frontier.

When a DEA drug raid on a New Jersey warehouse goes fatally wrong it shouldn't be that big a deal. But who's pulling the strings behind the scenes and what is the connection to "Raffair," a mysterious company that's just gone public? As Raffair's stock goes through the roof, more bodies begin to pile up. The outgoing president has decided to strike up an odd relationship with a CIA analyst. Has the president decided to mount and 11th-hour attack on CURE?

Thanks to Chiun's "emptying basin" technique, past U.S. presidents remember nothing about CURE, America's most secret defense organization. Now a former head of state believed to have lost his mind suddenly finds it - and calls Dr. Harold Smith to say hi. But before Remo and Chiun can redo their amnesia trick, the old guy is kidnapped by bumbling eco-terrorists eager to sell him to a desert despot with a grudge.

Something smells at Cabbage head Productions. Ticket sales for the indie company's slasher movies are skyrocketing, thanks to the publicity of some real-life murders. Remo draws the short straw to dump whoever is behind these stunts on the cutting room floor. But now it's time for the feature presentation: a terrorist bomb in New York - the White House under siege...hours of nonstop action - edge-of-your-seat thrills from the summer's biggest blockbuster: Die Down IV.

Meet the Boss Camelus-Whitus, affectionately known as BBQ to the genetic engineers at Boston Bio. Brainchild of the beautiful but sociopathic Dr. Judith White, this homely, sad-eyed creature is a bio-masterpiece of gene splicing and billed as the world's most promising new food source. A bungled kidnapping of the BBQ by animal rights activists results in the unfortunate discovery that these slow, silly-looking creatures might actually be bloodthirsty killers.

The computer world is always evolving, but now it logs on trouble for CURE. Dr. Harold Smith's own meticulously organized neural files are covertly copied, analyzed and downloaded by an amazing new interface system. Soon all of CURE's deepest secrets are under control of a shadow force. Not only Remo but even the Master of Sinanju have been accessed and installed. Now they are virtual puppets on a hard drive, slicing and dicing for the enemy at the touch of a keystroke.

Everybody with a spare million is lining up at the gates of Ranch Ragnarok, home to Esther Clear Seer's Church of the Absolute and Incontrovertible Truth. Here an evil yellow smoke shrouds an ancient oracle that offers glimpses into the future. But when young virgins start disappearing, CURE smells something more than a scam. Here in Wyoming, East and West are about to fulfill an ancient prophecy. For Apollo himself, Zeus's own wild boy, is set to unleash a power greater than any seen in two millennia.

Invisible swarms of insects are on the rampage, heading toward America's heartland. Immune to pesticides, the creatures are consuming farms, leveling wheat and cornfields. On the frontlines, Remo and the Master of Sinanju face not only the insurgent insects, but the Iowa Disorganized Militia - convinced this pestilence is actually a government conspiracy.

The Lord Protector of Portland has continued to press his rule into every corner of the Willamette. Both Juniper and Havel know that war is coming, but their allies in the Free-state of Corvallis are less convinced. Sir Nigel continues his escape from mad King Charles with the aid of his new found Tasmanian allies, having to out race the legendary sailing ship the Cutty Sark and battle pirates off the coast of Africa.

Apropos is the unlikely noble whose life began in the lowest of ways: as the result of a gang assault by a group of drunken knights on a helpless tavern wench. Last time out, Apropos attempted to seize control of his own fate, and ended up with, appropriately, nothing. Time has passed since he fled the kingdom of Runcible, and Apropos leads a quiet existence as a tavern owner. All that changes abruptly, however, when the sorceress Sharee re-enters his life with the forces of the warlike Lord Bellicose hard on her heels. They want something they're convinced she has stolen.