Western Indian Fiction

He came west to the Rockies as a young runaway and grew into a legend among the already legendary frontier mountain men. They called him Preacher - a name that would become a monument to all who sought adventure in the savage wilderness of America's untamed west. The only man with the skills to lead a wagon train on the last leg of the rugged Oregon trail, Preacher knows they're headed into trouble. It's hard enough for a hundred greenhorns to survive the wilds of the northwest; being pursued by thieving renegade outlaws and Indians with a thirst for gold makes it damn near impossible.

Larry McMurtry continues the story of Tasmin Berrybender and her family in the Wild West of the 1830s. This is the point in time when mountain men and trappers like Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, though still alive, are already legendary figures, and when the clash between the Indian tribes and the encroaching white Americans is about to turn into tragedy.

A Zuni Indian boy dies in a bizarre ritual slaying - and his best friend, a Navajo youth, is missing. Navajo police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn tracks the friend from Zuni village to Navajo hogan, from anthropological dig to hippie commune, across the desert of New Mexico and Arizona.

Tell Sackett had fought his share of Indians and managed to take something of value from his battles: a deep and abiding respect. But that respect is lost when Apache braves kidnap his nephew, forcing Tell to cross the border into the Sierra Madres to bring the boy back. What troubles Tell more, though, is the boy’s mother: Could she possibly be inventing a rescue mission to deliver her husband’s brother into an ambush?

The year is 1870, and Fool's Crow, so called after he killed the chief of the Crows during a raid, has a vision at the annual Sun Dance ceremony. The young warrior sees the end of the Indian way of life and the choice that must be made: resistance or humiliating accommodation.

Rusty Sabin was a child when Cheyenne Indians raided the Sabin homestead and killed his mother. Just before she died, she put a rawhide cord with a green scabbard around his neck. Raised by Spotted Antelope and Bitter Root, Rusty, now known as Red Hawk, refuses the compulsory and brutal initiation into the tribe when he is 15. Abandoned as dead by his Cheyenne family, Red Hawk takes the advice of a white trader and rides to Witherell, the nearest settlement of whites.

Left destitute and alone with her mother after her father abandoned them, Erin Saddler is shocked when she learns her mother has arranged for her to be a mail order bride to a Mr. Rich McNettle. But they are out of money, and marriage is their last chance for a stable life. So Erin agrees to travel west to wed this man she's never met. But when a stagecoach accident and a brave man step in to her destiny, she begins to believe that God has other plans for her.

As the Revolutionary war draws to an end, the violence on the frontier only accelerates. The infamous Girty brothers incite Indians to a number to massacres, but when the Village of Peace, a Christian utopian settlement is destroyed, the settlers know they will have to hunt them down.

Elmer Kelton is hailed as the greatest Western author of all time by the Western Writers of America and has earned six Spur Awards during his impressive career. In Badger Boy, Kelton effortlessly sweeps listeners back to the post-Civil War Texas frontier, where ranger Rusty Shannon hopes to settle down as a respectable farmer. But trouble brews when Rusty captures Badger Boy, a white child raised by the Comanches who murdered his parents.

One love-struck businessman; one compassionate Sioux maiden; one heart-wrenching decision. Is the power of love enough to save an entire tribe? Five years ago, when Edward James settled in Bear Creek to manage the mines, he saw a future of business and opportunity. He didn’t plan to fall in love. But since the moment he met Morning Sun, his world has been turned upside down. If only her family would accept him, he could be the devoted husband he longed to be, but how can he convince them that he’s worthy of Morning Sun’s love?

As a woman of the Lakota Indian tribe, Macha has often been encouraged to mingle with the townsfolk of Daisy Creek. That was how she came to know Mr. Dennis Forks, the town's new blacksmith who settled in Daisy Creek some months ago. Ever since she first saw him, Macha has found herself drawn to Dennis.

Lew's skill with firearms gets him a job as a hunter with a trader heading onto the prairies to barter with the Indians. There he meets young Chuck Morris, and together they take on a Cheyenne attack party. Finding shelter in a Sioux village, they absorb the native culture. Lew comes to know the great Sioux chieftains, becoming blood brothers with Sitting Wolf, while Chuck marries the beautiful maiden Zintcallasappa.

In September 1873, Elizabeth Coughlin, a widow bankrupted by her husband's folly and death, embarks on a buffalo hunt with her estranged and mysterious brother-in-law, Michael. With no money, no family, no job or security, she hopes to salvage something of her former life and the lives of the hired men and their families who depend on her. The buffalo hunt that her husband had planned, she now realizes, was his last hope for saving their land.

16-year-old Charles Dobbs returned from hunting to find the family farm has been attacked by Indians, their home burned to the ground. His father’s tortured body lies tied to a wagon, and his mother is dying. The agony they have suffered makes a deep impression on Charlie’s young mind, one that would haunt him for many years to come. In this adventure, he becomes a man as he interacts with different tribes, builds lasting friendships...and even longer-lasting enemies.

In a riveting novel of love and adventure, young Julius Meyer comes to the New World to find himself acting as translator for the famed Indian chief, Standing Bear. Young Jewish immigrant Julius comes of age surrounded by the wild world of 1867 Nebraska. He befriends the mysterious Prophet John, who saves his life when the two are captured by the Ponca Indian tribe. Living as a slave, Julius meets the noble chief Standing Bear and his young daughter, Prairie Flower, with whom he falls in love.

Life has never been simple for Jennifer McBee. As if being shy and hard of hearing wasn’t enough, now Jennifer is faced with the humiliation of her failed wedding. Desperate to escape, Jennifer decides to leave heartbreak behind her and travels west to be with her brother, the pastor of a small Nebraska town called Daisy Creek. While her brother has hopes for her making some new friendships with the townsfolk of Daisy Creek, Jennifer still feels removed from the community of this close-knit town.

In The Big Fifty, another name for the famous Sharps rifle, reality of frontier life becomes brutally clear to 12-year-old Coady McIlvain. He falls in with a buffalo sharpshooter, and the two must survive the unforgiving terrain and hostile enemies.

Ayasha is part Chippewa-Cree Indian and part White. Protected by her powerful father, the town of Waverly let her be. Now that he has passed, the town lets Ayasha know exactly how they feel about her. She has no family and no money. What can she do? In desperation, she answers an advert from an injured man looking for a bride. Farmer Joe Warner was injured in a plowing accident. His younger sister has been caring for him, but Joe knows that she is putting her own life on hold.

He came off the frontier: a buffalo hunter, a gambler, a loner. In Abilene, he won a saloon at cards and earned the fear of a lawless town. From then on, Jake Kincaid would not be stopped. He began a rampage of ambition and deal-making that forever changed a land called Kansas and the Indian Territories. But along the way, the deeds and misdeeds of Jake Kincaid affected more than the frontier - they shaped the lives of his two sons. One who became a lawman. One who became an outlaw. Both destined to come face-to-face behind blazing guns....

The story of Jackson Slade, Soldier, Drifter, Indian fighter. Jackson's life spans many more years the it should because of an accidental discovery of a mysterious portal to another world and the further discovery of an even more mysterious cave with a glowing pool of water. Come ride with Slade as he fights, lives and loves across the many years.