Showing results by author "Max Brand" in All Categories

The lure of the American West is in the spirit of adventure, in the majestic expanse of unconquered wilderness and in rugged individuals on a quest for identity and sometimes for survival. Owen Wister's unsmiling Virginian... Dorothy M. Johnson's, "A Man Called Horse": These are a few of the colorful, even legendary characters who populate The American West in Fiction, a collection of stories edited by Jon Tuska.

Every fall Tom Reynard, ramrod for the Bar L, had a hard time finding cowpunchers willing to work the winter range in the bleak badlands near the Sioux reservation. So when Jigger Bunts, an 18-year-old from New York who was familiar with riding and roping, happened along, he was hired even though his youth was a red flag to Reynard. To pass the time in the bunkhouse, the other cowhands spin tall tales for Bunts, whom they call the kid, about the exploits of Reynard, and soon Reynard becomes Bunts' hero and role model.

Barney Dwyer was so strong that he broke almost every farm tool he touched. Finally his hot-tempered ranch-owning boss, Dan Peary, lost his patience and fired him. Barney was told to collect the remaining few dollars of his wages from Peary's son, Len, who had joined a tough gang of gunslingers in the mountain town of Timberline. Almost from the first hour, Barney made enemies in Timberline. Violent confrontations would send Barney on a long bloody trail.

Frederick Schiller Faust was a prolific writer who wrote under a number of pseudonyms. One of these was Max Brand. Gunman's Reckoning is the story of a drifter who is given the job of righting a great wrong. In the midst of carrying out his task, he finds out that he was not told the entire truth. He continues anyway, because in doing the job, he has stumbled on the answer to a long quest of his own. This book is a western romance that has a bit of everything: love, mystery, lies, action and humor.

Anthony Woodbury, strong, athletic, constantly in pursuit of another challenge, is the son of a New York millionaire. Now he is faced with a most difficult challenge. His millionaire father is murdered and Anthony goes West in search of the person who did the killing. An expert marksman and rider, Anthony is well-suited to the West and capable of self-defense. Not only does he discover who the killer is, he also uncovers a mysterious history regarding his mother and father. But Anthony soon learns that he, the hunter, is also the hunted...

Ben Flinder's life at an isolated hotel in the mountains is complicated by the arrival of a young woman who is trying to escape, but refuses to reveal from whom. She is befriended by the Gray Shadow, a wild wolf, but not even the wolf can prevent her capture by her pursuers.

When Lorrimer Weldon rode into San Trinidad, he found he immediately had two job offers: the outlaw Roger Cunningham wants Weldon to join his smuggling operation as a hired gun, and Dr. Henry Watts wants to hire Weldon's gun as well, but as muscle to protect a patient dying of consumption, the beautiful Helen O'Mallock. Weldon finds Watts' proposition far more attractive, so he accepts the offer, knowing that Cunningham will resent the decision.

Rusty Sabin extracts two bags of gold from the Sacred Valley, partly to spend on Maisry Lester, the girl he hopes to marry. When frontiersman Charlie Galway tries to steal the gold, Galway murders Maisry's father and blames Rusty's friend, Standing Bull.

Raw frontier action is epitomized in Lee Porfilo. With a penchant for settling his problems with his fists, Porfilo is always in trouble. And trouble comes to stay when he beats a rich man's son. Now he has an enemy for life. Framed for murder and sentenced to the penitentiary, he is saved by Tex Cummins' small steel saw and heads for the mountains.

Peter Quince was a fighter born and bred. Orphaned at a young age, he remembered an old woman saying that he was a bad one and would cause a lot of trouble in the world. Others claimed he had bad blood, and it would show up sooner or later. But Bill Andrews felt a connection with the boy, took him home, and raised him as one of his own despite his wife's misgivings. Peter soon learned he could manipulate people by withholding his true feelings. He had learned that battles should be won by cunning and strength, with cunning being far more important.

"The Seventh Man" (1921) is a unique western novel with well-sketched characters by Max Brand. Excerpt: "A man under thirty needs neighbors; and to stop up the current of his life with a long silence is like obstructing a river - eventually the water either sweeps away the dam or rises over it, and the stronger the dam the more destructive is that final rush to freedom. Vic Gregg was on the danger side of thirty and he lived alone in the mountains all that winter.

After 10 years of wandering, during which he has lived the life of a gambler and learned the ways of devious men, Tom Keene returns home, only to find his father alone and dying. Old John Keene’s sole legacy to his son is a Bible, so with his father’s passing, Tom Keene renounces his selfish, worthless past and sets out to preach to others that the greatest happiness is born of trust in one another.

A collection of classic Western tales including From Missouri by Zane Grey, Over the Northern Border by Max Brand and Riders of the Dawn by Louis L'Amour.

Barney Dwyer is a gentle giant who has yet to find a place in the world. Capturing two notorious outlaws has made a hero of him, so much so that rancher Robert Parmelee offers him a job on his ranch to put a stop to persistent rustling. Taking the job promises an income sufficient for Barney to marry his sweetheart. But this promise for the future falls into jeopardy when the outlaws escape, determined to kill Barney.

This audiobook contains two of legendary Western author Max Brand's short novels for your listening pleasure. The Valley of Jewels: Doc Willis, despite the nickname, is just an unemployed cowboy in Daggett Valley, a place that holds many secrets from the past - including a now-deserted mining camp. When Buck Logan lures Willis to the camp with the promise of great riches, Doc doesn't even suspect he is about to play a part in a most subtle feat of deception.

While Bill Gregg stole Ronicky Doone's bay mare, Doone thanked him with a bullet in the leg. When he discovered that Bill was desperately searching for a girl whose name he didn't know, Ronicky's interest was captured. Helping him track the girl down was no real challenge for Ronicky, but rescuing her from the evil New Yorker who held her prisoner might be another matter. But Ronicky Doone never backed down from a challenge!

Smoke Bellew enters a remote Mormon settlement only a jump ahead of a posse. Finding employment as a ranch hand working for a dowager Mormon, Smoke finds that his life undergoes a transformation and he is able to make her ranch a financial success, at the same time falling in love with her wanton daughter, Rebecca. But it is too good to last. The law follows him.

Werewolf by Max Brand in Western Story Magazine (12/18/26) involves just such an inward journey for Christopher Royal, who is convinced he is a coward and flees a confrontation with Harry Main, who is a gunfighter. There comes a time in this story - when Christopher encounters the aged Indian, the old wise man - that the terrain shimmers with the multiple affinities of meaning conjured by the unconscious, which Vergil once sought to capture within an image both awesome and sinister: numina magna deum [the great divine power of a god].

When Andrew Apperley visits his brother David in the East, he brings along an unexpected companion. Andrew's giant wolf dog, Comanche, is so wild that he has to be chained up for the safety of others. However, when the Apperley brothers come across a man drowning in the East River, Comanche breaks loose from his chains and swims to the man's rescue.

Versatility was a key talent of author Frederick Faust using the pseudonym Max Brand. What you’re about to hear is one of his lesser known stories that ranks as a prime example of his stupendous ability.