Kategoria BISAC: Fiction >> Westerns - General

In 1868, Bret Harte published "The Luck of Roaring Camp" in the Overland Monthly, a new publication from San Francisco of which Harte himself was the first editor. Intended to be a competitor to the well-established Atlantic Monthly, the Overland Monthly was looking for "tales of California romance." By "romance," of course, Harte didn't mean "hugs and kisses." He meant stories that would epitomize the grandeur, drama, and glory of old California. "The Luck of Roaring Camp" was a not-so-fictionalized account of California's gold rush, and of the terrible 1862 flood that threatened to...

In "The Mysterious Rider," Bill Bellound's foster daughter Columbine agrees to marry his son Jack out of love for her foster father. Jack is a coward, drunkard, gambler, and thief,...

In "The Mysterious Rider," Bill Bellound's foster daughter Columbine agrees to marry his son Jack out of love for her foster father. Jack is a coward, drunkard, gambler, and thief,...

Song of the Lark is generally considered to be the second novel in Cather's Prairie Trilogy, following O Pioneers (1913) and preceding My Antonia (1918). Thea always knew she was destined for greatness. She has a fabulous voice, one that she believes will bring her out of the lowness of her situation. Though the townsfolk know that she has a great voice, it will do nothing for her future. Her voice coach Herr Munch is not at the caliber that she wishes to attain. She knows that there are better instructors in Chicago and her dream is to go there someday. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't...

. . . . They are nearly 18 miles from Fort Henry and they worry for their lives. Fortunately, for them, Jonathan Zane and his companion were dispatched by Colonel Zane to search for them and they reach Fort Henry safely. Helen Sheppard's family goes to Fort Henry to start a new life. She has many young men who are interested in her. One especially seems obsessed with her, a Mr. Brandt from Detroit. Helen, however, finds him crass and ungentlemanly. She finds Jonathan Zane quite alluring, but because of his frontiersman upbringing, he has very little proper manners. His gruff mannerisms...

Here John Sheppard is a preacher who becomes good friends with the Venters -- who always seemed haunted. Eventually, Mr. Venters reveals that he was once a horse rider for a woman named Jane Withersteen -- a rich Mormon -- and her adopted daughter Fay Larkin. However, Jane's churchmen were displeased with her association with non-Mormons -- and the evil Mormons drove them into a narrow valley, and trapped them there. Venters had always intended on returning to the valley to search for the Jane and Fay, circumstances have prevented him from doing it. John Sheppard is fascinated by this...

In his later work, Grey portrayed Mormonism more neutrally -- but here, in this book, those evil polyandering men are villains, plain and simple. Well, ewww -- there's a reason why the Mormons generally gave it up, and don't think being part of the union was really all there was to it. Really, gross That said, here in Riders of the Purple Sage -- and in the sequel, The Rainbow Trail -- the Mormon men take it on the chin. They're heavies, here -- villains who use their religion as an excuse for greed and lust. Great adventure for those who don't mind thinking about the development of mores...

Infuriated by the outrages of two hired thugs, the shopkeeper kills both men in an impulsive street fight. Dancy believes this barbarian act has closed the episode. He is wrong. He has interfered with Washburn's ambitions, and this is something the mining tycoon will not allow.

Pinkertons, hired assassins, and...

When twenty-two-year-old Nellie Courtright and her teenage brother Jackson are unexpectedly orphaned by their father's suicide on his new and unprosperous ranch, they make their way to the nearby town of Rita Blanca, where Jackson manages to secure a job as a sheriff's deputy, while Nellie, ever resourceful, becomes the town's telegrapher.

Together, they inadvertently put Rita Blanca on...