Showing results by author "Max Brand" in All Categories

Lew Carney, a loner who traverses the deserts between the Sierras and the Rockies, and makes his living sharking cards, is not superstitious. But when a wagon, pulled by eight silent men, appears out of the darkness near his campfire, then disappears into thin air by dawn, Carney fears he may be in the grip of the supernatural.

Don Sebastian Valdivia and his secretary, Juan Carreño, attend a horse auction at the Garrison Ranch, where an outlaw stallion, Twilight, is held back until last. The only man who can ride this magnificent beast is Charles Dupont, known as the Crisco Kid, who has bonded with the horse since he was a colt.Because gunman Bud Carew despises the Kid, he desperately wants to possess Twilight. Those attending the auction know that no matter who wins, a gunfight is sure to follow.

Recently, a number of Western stories have been discovered among Max Brand’s unpublished works and the first story in this book, "The White Streak", is one of them. Its protagonist is 21-year-old Jimmy Babcock, a former football star, but now a worker at the local bank run by William Parker in the town of Dresser, which has changed from cattle country to one made up of oil and alfalfa fields. When Parker fires Jimmy, all Jimmy can think is how he will hurt Muriel Aiken, his fiancée, who wants to marry.

When a mysterious man on a white horse robs a series of stagecoaches on their way from the little town of Appleton to the Concord railroad station, everyone in town suspects a young and enigmatic man named Slim Malone. The newly elected mayor decides to bring in outside help, a deadly gunfighter named Lefty Cornwall.

As an intern in the accident room of the local hospital, Jimmy Kildare cannot accept any money for his work. Circumstances force him to perform emergency operations while he is in town on and for local toughs. They try to pay him, but he always refuses. Then he learns that his mentor, Dr. Fearson, is being threatened for not paying his gambling debts. Kildare is called to perform another secret and dangerous operation. Will he finally accept payment and save his mentor?

Dick Rutherford, known simply as the Colonel, had set out into the West to find his fortune, accompanied only by his young companion, Christy Deever. But it looked like the frontier would provide more danger than money...until the Colonel and Christy met Stone-That-Shines, a Mandan warrior who possessed a medicine stone that gave him his name. As soon as the Colonel got a close look at the medicine stone, he knew immediately what made it shine — a rich vein of quartz gold.

Max Brand (real name: Frederick Faust) wrote hundreds of stories, books, films, and TV shows. His output was so voluminous that though he died in WWII, posthumous books have been published approximately every four months since. This book collects three stories from his early work in Western pulps.

Young Jim Curry's father is killed unjustly by an enraged mob, and the boy barely escapes the same fate. He shoots two pursuers and assumes they are dead, and in desperation becomes a most unusual outlaw, the Red Devil. He never kills, takes only ill-gained money, secretly returns it to the rightful owners, and escapes every pursuit on his remarkable horse, Meg. Spoiled Charlie Mark has left home to seek thrills and easy money. He vows to find the Red Devil and discover why he is so merciful and so particular about his victims.

Includes three Max Brand Westerns: The Gift, Jerico's Garrison Finish, and Sunset Wins.

In the dreary kitchen of a rough hotel in a lonely one-horse town a tough-talking young woman toils amid endless abuse from crude and cruel cowboys. The wildness starts after a stranger spots the beauty behind the grease. A sagebrush cinderella story

The knife missed him by a fraction of an inch! Then he reached under his pillow, grabbed his gun and fired into the darkness. If Alvarez survives, he'll look for one man, an unbeatable bodyguard or the assassin who wants him dead. Either will do.

A nasty little cardsharp shoots a New York detective and bolts for the Wild West. Through dumb luck be becomes a heroic gunfighter - then he cleans out the town that admires him. He's going too far, getting too cocky. He'll pay the price.

As he comes of age, Ed Raleigh disobeys his wealthy rancher father, Pete Raleigh, and escapes to the Bald Eagle Mountains to prospect for ore. When he stops at the town of Sierra Padre, he visits his father's old haunts and meets up with many of his father's old friends. One former friend, Jim Martin, however, is now his father’s sworn enemy who he has vowed to kill Pete Raleigh for taking away the woman they both loved, now Ed Raleigh's mother. Ed Raleigh is shocked and worried, for how will a declared murder attempt on his own father be prevented?

This is a tale of a gentle gunfighter “Slope" Dugan, his pal the roughneck Blondy, and the fugitive boy Red. Slope had walked halfway across the country to sell what he thought was worthless mining stock back to Bonanza Chris, but when Bonanza offered to pay $1,500, they smelled a rat. They concocted a plan to explore the Christabel mine for themselves. If the rumors were true, they would end up millionaires. But they might also wind up dead!

A weeklong dust storm has almost destroyed Bob Lindsey’s ranch and the surrounding region. He soon learns that the storm has also put his friend Andy Barnes’ cattle at risk, and the only clean water for them is at a cost of 10 cents per head from his former friend, John Street. Why would Lindsey jeopardize his life to save someone else’s cattle and risk the rage of two former friends?

Young Chip lures his friend Joe deep into Mexico to rescue the beautiful Doloritas Ruan. Master storyteller, Texas-born and raised Barry Corbin, horseman, rancher, and star of the hit TV series Northern Exposure reads this classic Western story by Max Brand.

When Dick Rutherford, known as The Colonel, loses all his money in a horse race heads into the Far West to seek his fortune. His companion in this is Christy Deever, whose inventiveness and quick thinking prove valuable assets on the frontier. After a series of exciting adventures, they find themselves adopted members of the Mandan Indians.

"One way only - Death." This was the message that Walt Devon intercepted by chance in the gold-crazy town of West London. A murder was being arranged and Devon intended being around when the shooting started. What Devon didn't know was that he was to play the part of the corpse...Max Brand at his best - pure Western adventure! One rancher defends his land against those who want it by any means possible.

Jack Sherry and Bill Garvin are both dealers in wet cattle until Jack Sherry is caught and forced to take the grim trail to the gallows. Bill Garvin is left behind, bitter and distraught, but hopeful that somehow he will be able to mend the bullet-frayed fabric of a broken faith.

Hagger is a man on the run, a thief and would-be killer. He's no good on a horse, and feels miserable and out of place in the snowbound high country. But, then, Hagger comes upon a white bull terrier, abandoned in a mountain cabin, and his whole life begins to change.