Patrick Dearen

The Big Bend of Texas is a mysterious place in 1869. Legend has it that there's a lost gold mine in the Chisos Mountains. Twelve-year-old Fish Rawlings and his cousin Gid have heard all about it. But when they discover a dying Indian in the desert, they have reason to believe it. Suddenly the boys find themselves with a great secret. No one else knows the way to the last Chisos mines-but do they dare? To find it, they must cross a desert prowled by Apache warriors. They must ride a trail haunted by devil animals and Indian spooks. Even with the help of a young Apache boy, the journey won't be easy. And what will they do if they succeed?

The Big Bend of Texas is a mysterious place in 1869. Legend has it that there's a lost gold mine in the Chisos Mountains. Twelve-year-old Fish Rawlings and his cousin Gid have heard all about it. But when they discover a dying Indian in the desert, they have reason to believe it. Suddenly the boys find themselves with a great secret. No one else knows the way to the last Chisos mines-but do they dare? To find it, they must cross a desert prowled by Apache warriors. They must ride a trail haunted by devil animals and Indian spooks. Even with the help of a young Apache boy, the journey won't be easy. And what will they do if they succeed?

Rising at 11,750 feet in the Sangre de Cristo range and snaking 926 miles through New Mexico and Texas to the Rio Grande, the Pecos River is one of the most storied waterways in the American West. It is also one of the most troubled. In 1942, the National Resources Planning Board observed that the Pecos River basin “probably presents a greater aggregation of problems associated with land and water use than any other irrigated basin in the Western U. S.” In the twenty-first century, the river’s problems have only multiplied. Bitter Waters, the first book-length study of the entire Pecos, traces the river’s environmental history from the arrival of the first Europeans in the sixteenth century to today. Running clear at its source and turning salty in its middle reach, the Pecos River has served as both a magnet of veneration and an object of scorn. Patrick Dearen, who has written about the Pecos since the 1980s, draws on more than 150 interviews and a wealth of primary sources to trace the river’s natural evolution and man’s interaction with it. Irrigation projects, dams, invasive saltcedar, forest proliferation, fires, floods, flow decline, usage conflicts, water quality deterioration—Dearen offers a thorough and clearly written account of what each factor has meant to the river and its prospects. As fine-grained in detail as it is sweeping in breadth, the picture Bitter Waters presents is sobering but not without hope, as it also extends to potential solutions to the Pecos River’s problems and the current efforts to undo decades of damage. Combining the research skills of an accomplished historian, the investigative techniques of a veteran journalist, and the engaging style of an award-winning novelist, this powerful and accessible work of environmental history may well mark a turning point in the Pecos’s fortunes.

Ein Ranger auf blutigem Rachefeldzug, ein Apachenstamm im verzweifelten Kampf ums berleben - Das Klagelied der Apachen nimmt Sie mit in die gnadenlosen Grenzgebiete von Texas und New Mexico und l sst Sie nicht mehr los, bis die letzte Kugel durch die Canyon hallt. Ein historischer Roman, der Sie zugleich mitrei t und tief bewegt. Klappentext: Der junge Texas Ranger Sam DeJarnett wird von einer Schuld gequ lt, die er nie wieder gutmachen kann: Im Bass Canyon musste er mitansehen, wie Mescalero-Apachen seine gro e Liebe Elizabeth erschlugen - w hrend er verletzt im Staub lag und nichts dagegen unternahm. Seitdem kennt er nur ein Ziel: die Apachenbande zu stellen, die f r das Massaker verantwortlich ist, und sie in den Bergen der Sierra Diablo zu vernichten. Doch w hrend Sam mit den Rangers durch Schnee, Hunger und Hinterhalte reitet, erleben wir auf der Gegenseite die Mescalero-Frau Nejeunee, ihren kleinen Sohn und einen Stamm, der zwischen Rache, Entwurzelung und nacktem berlebenskampf zerrieben wird - bis im Schatten von La Nariz eine Entscheidung f llt, die f r alle zur Frage wird: Wer ist hier J ger, wer Opfer, und wessen Klagelied wird am Ende in der W ste verhallen? Das Klagelied der Apachen verbindet einen spannenden Western-Plot mit gro er historischer Sorgfalt und einem authentischen Blick auf die Apachen. Patrick Dearen ist ein vielfach ausgezeichneter Western-Autor, dessen jahrzehntelange Recherche sich in glaubw rdigen Figuren, realistischen Gefechten und pr zisen Schilderungen von Landschaft und Alltag zeigt. So verwundert es nicht, dass dieses Werk den bekannten Elmer Kelton Award und die Will Rogers Gold Medaille erhalten hat. Ein Glossar mit Apachen-Begriffen und die wechselnden Perspektiven von Rangers und Apachen machen den Roman besonders interessant f r alle, die sich f r Indianerkriege, Apachen-Geschichte und bewegende Schicksale interessieren. Warten Sie nicht l nger - sichern Sie sich jetzt Das Klagelied der Apachen und tauchen Sie ein in eine Geschichte, die Sie noch lange nach der letzten Seite besch ftigen wird. Klicken Sie auf "Jetzt kaufen" und begleiten Sie Sam und Nejeunee in einen Kampf, in dem es um weit mehr geht als nur Sieg oder Niederlage.

It's Halloween in 1860, wolves are howling, and bats are flying across the face of the moon. Eleven-year-old Bird and his twin brother are on a Butterfield stage headed across the Red River into Texas. Even though their father is the driver, the next several miles will be scary. Night has fallen, and the dark woods may be full of spooks, ghost bells, glowing tombstones, headless horsemen, wandering spirits, and forked-tail terrors. When the brothers meet up with Zeb, an enslaved boy, they face the woods' chilling possibilities as they set out for buried treasure that could buy Zeb his freedom. Even if they find it, who would drive the stagecoach if no one else is able? What would happen if the stage escaped the woods, only to get caught in a buffalo stampede? And what would the boys do if they learn that the treasure was stolen from hardworking folks? Even as the three boys forge a friendship, Bird grapples with a central question: Why can't he and Zeb just be boys around one other? Instead, adults require Zeb to call him Massa Bird, an example of the deference an enslaved person is expected to pay even a fellow youngster. A closing chapter tells the history and folklore (personally collected by the author) behind the story and suggests books for further reading.

"In this standalone sequel to The Big Drift--winner of five awards including the Spur Award of Western Writers of America--Patrick Dearen explores race relations against the backdrop of the Big Dry, a devastating drought in the 1880s in Texas. Zeke Boles, a black cowhand, awaits hanging in North Texas for a murder he didn't commit. His white friend Will Brite, with whom he rode in the Big Drift blizzard, has exhausted virtually all avenues to get Zeke exonerated. Will's only hope is to set out for the faraway Devils River to find the actual culprit, a man with a missing finger. But Will has his own legal issues. He has married Jessie, a young woman of mixed race who often passes for white, and a grand jury is sure to return an indictment of miscegenation that could land Will in prison. Follow the exploits of Will and his friend Arch Brannon as they join a cattle drive through a searing land between the Devils and Pecos rivers. This hellish trail is destined to be marked with carcasses and a lonely grave, and the elusive possibility of finding hope at the end."

In this standalone sequel to The Big Drift—winner of five awards including the Spur Award of Western Writers of America—Patrick Dearen explores race relations against the backdrop of the Big Dry, a devastating drought in the 1880s in Texas. Zeke Boles, a black cowhand, awaits hanging in North Texas for a murder he didn’t commit. His white friend Will Brite, with whom he rode in the Big Drift blizzard, has exhausted virtually all avenues to get Zeke exonerated. Will’s only hope is to set out for the faraway Devils River to find the actual culprit, a man with a missing finger. But Will has his own legal issues. He has married Jessie, a young woman of mixed race who often passes for white, and a grand jury is sure to return an indictment of miscegenation that could land Will in prison. Follow the exploits of Will and his friend Arch Brannon as they join a cattle drive through a searing land between the Devils and Pecos rivers. This hellish trail is destined to be marked with carcasses and a lonely grave, and the elusive possibility of finding hope at the end.

It's 1867 and eleven-year-old Fish Rawlings and his cousin are headed across Texas on a wagon train. But the trail is full of danger. A Comanche war party is on the prowl, looking for horses and scalps. Among the Indians is eleven year old Hunting Bear, who is riding his first war trail. Before the journey is over, he must prove himself worthy to be a warrior. Fish has been taught to hate Comanches. Hunting Bear has been taught to hate white men. But all of that changes when the two boys come face to face and become friends. Suddenly the lives of their peoples rest on the boys' shoulders. The Comanches have sworn to attack the wagon train. The white men have vowed to fight back and track down the warriors. Soon there will be bloodshed, and only Fish and Hunting Bear have a chance to stop it. But will they find a way?

Eleven-year-old Fish Rawlings has always wanted to be a cowboy. Now, in the spring of 1868, he has his chance. His uncle is driving a cattle herd across Texas, and Fish is going with him as far as Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River. Little does Fish know that he is saddling up for the wildest rides of his life. With his cousin Gid, Fish is about to face mean broncs, angry longhorns, and a dozen cowboys ready to play pranks. The days ahead will be filled with sandstorms and stampedes, lightning and twisters. It's the roughest stretch of cattle trail in Texas, and it will either make a cowhand out of a boy or break him.

By the winner of the Spur Award of Western Writers of America It's 1917, and the Mexican Revolution has the Big Bend of Texas aflame. But the firestorm is no greater than the one inside newspaper reporter Jack Landon. Disillusioned, he flees down the road to nowhere and finds himself in Esperanza. Populated by people of Mexican heritage, the small village on the Texas bank of the Rio Grande is a target of Texas Rangers Company B, which unjustly considers it a bandit den. Jack befriends a teenaged boy and his adult sister, Mary, who teaches in the Esperanza school. As Jack assimilates to life in Esperanza, the threat of Rangers looms large. Eventually a day of reckoning descends, and it envelops Jack and Mary and the entire village. This novel is based on what actually happened at Porvenir, Texas, on January 28, 1918 -- the darkest moment in Texas Rangers history.

Spur Award-Winning AuthorA deep-space archaeological dig shrouded in mystery . . . Clues to the location of a legendary power in the reaches of the galaxy . . . A man and a woman, each holding half the answers, both defying a totalitarian government. Together, Blake Sharrel and Rhonda Gregory embark on a starship quest to find the Leijan, an enigma that holds the fate of the cosmos. It's an epic journey filled with peril: a crew of pirates ready to slit their throats, a planet where intruders are crucified upside down, and a chase across countless light years of unexplored space. From one planet's Valley of the Skull to another planet's City of the Skull, and on to a derelict spacecraft orbiting a black world, it will be a Starflight to Destiny." A genuine thrilling and utterly entertaining read. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic science fiction."-Shaun Raymond Hoadley, illustrator for books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

A man either chases his dreams, or he dies. Present-day ranch hand Charlie Lyles longs for an era before mechanization, when a cowboy’s greatest ally was his horse. He remembers stories of cattle drives and stampedes and shallow graves in lonesome country. Society has pushed Charlie toward a conformity that he hates, but he is about to change the rules. At a remote line shack in West Texas, he steals a horse, leaving a perfectly good pickup behind. His theft leads to a manhunt with a helicopter and assault weapons, but his trackers are headed into territory that hasn’t changed in a century . . . and they are trailing a man born a hundred years too late. A Spur Award finalist, When Cowboys Die has been acclaimed as “spellbinding” and “an instant classic.” This new volume, the first print edition in twenty-five years, includes a preface and “Requiem for a Cowboy,” a documented account of the 1976 Texas manhunt that inspired the novel.

Spur Award-Winning Author A story that could have come out of today's headlines, this revised edition of the acclaimed novel explores a Mexican national's desperate attempt to provide for his family. Ricardo has known only poverty in Mexico, but he dreams of a better life in the United States. He enlists a "coyote" to smuggle him across the Rio Grande, a river that separates not only one nation from another, but one world from another. The Illegal Man is also the story of Ann Rawlings, a recent widow struggling to preserve her West Texas ranch. There is a troubled Border Patrolman and her bigoted foreman, who considers Mexican ranch hands to be little more than animals. For Ricardo, it's a world in which he will suffer hardship and indignity, but one he will gladly endure to support his family. The Illegal Man grew out of a newspaper series by Patrick Dearen, who interviewed Mexican and American officials and accompanied Border Patrolmen along the Rio Grande. He based his character Ricardo on an actual Mexican national he interviewed on a West Texas ranch." A warm, gripping novel that explores a subject of intense interest to all Americans. Wonderfully told, this novel should endure." -Norman Zollinger, two-time Spur Award winner." A vivid description of what a common man goes through seeking work in a different country than his own. It is a powerful story filled with adventure, sadness, persecution, and loneliness." -San Angelo (Texas) Standard-Times." Dearen's writing is so perfect, so descriptive, so charged with emotion, it sucks the reader into the very marrow of the story. . . Stretches the mind and the heart as the good and the bad in life play out on its pages . . . It is a good story: a story of love, of justice, and of redemption." -Permian Historical Annual." A beautifully written story that speaks eloquently." -Roundup Magazine.

Spur Award-Winning Author Patrick Dearen* ELMER KELTON AWARD FOR FICTION, ACADEMY OF WESTERN ARTISTS* WILL ROGERS BRONZE MEDALLION AWARD FOR WESTERN FICTION* FINALIST, PEACEMAKER AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL, WESTERN FICTIONEERS Clay Andrews is like a dead man, adrift in an uncaring dark. But he's also searching, and in 1869 he has ridden to the Pecos River to find answers. Back in Central Texas, Clay's sister has died, and only on this river might he learn why. The person perhaps responsible may have fled here, but no one enters this no-man's-land except at his own peril. Comanches are on the prowl, and across the Pecos, Mescalero Apaches range all the way to the mysterious Guadalupe Mountains. In a dead man's boot, Clay finds a map to rumored gold in the Guadalupes. When Comanches approach, he flees upriver and finds Lil Casner at a lone schooner. Long abused in an arranged marriage, she must fend for herself while her obsessed husband combs the Pecos for the very map Clay has discovered. Upstream at the Bar W Ranch, two other haunted figures await. One is an experienced cowboy who has come to the Pecos for reasons that strangely parallel Clay's. The other is a shiftless cowhand in whose mind lurks something evil and deadly. Comanche attacks . . . a kidnapping . . . a chase through Apache country to Skeleton Cave and on to the Guadalupes. For Clay, the answers will never come unless he rides into a mountain range where Indian spirits may guard a golden hoard.

2019 Elmer Kelton Award WinnerEight months have passed since Sam DeJarnett lost his wife and unborn child to Mescalero Apaches, and now he is one of ten Texas Rangers pursuing those very hostiles in 1881. He lives only for vengeance, and the fresh Mescalero trail in the snow is leading straight into the bitterly cold Sierra Diablo of Texas. In the Mescalero band is Nejeunee, a twenty-year-old woman with a baby. She has lost her husband to the Indaa, or white men, and she lives every moment in hatred. High in the Diablo snows, Sam the Apache hater and Nejeunee the Indaa hater are fated to meet, and what follows will test everything each of them has believed about the other's race. This novel is based on actual events.

Every time a cowhand dug his boot into the stirrup, he knew that this ride could carry him to trail's end. In real stories told by genuine cowboys, this book captures the everyday perils of the "flinty hoofs and devil horns of an outlaw steer, the crush of a half-ton of fury in the guise of a saddle horse, the snap of a rope pulled taut enough to sever digits. Threats took many forms, all of them sudden, most inescapable—a whooshing arrow or exploding slug, a raging river ready to drag him to the depths, and lightning that rattled bones and deafened if it missed, or came with silent finality if it didn't." Whether destined to be remembered or forgotten, a cowhand clung to life with all the zeal with which he approached his trade. He was the most loyal of employees, repeatedly putting his neck on the line for a mere dollar a day. Patrick Dearen has brought these reckless and risky adventures to life with colorful stories from interviews with 76 men who cowboyed in the West before 1932 as well as 150 archival interviews and written accounts from as early as the 1870s and well into the mid-twentieth century.

First published in 1988, Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier was acclaimed by reviewers as “superb,” “significant,” and “utterly delightful.” In this revised edition, Patrick Dearen draws upon the latest in scholarship to update his study of the Pecos River country of West Texas. It’s a land wild with tales that blend history, geography, and folklore, and from his search emerge six fascinating accounts:Castle Gap, a break in a mesa twelve miles east of the Pecos River, used by Comanches, emigrants, stage drivers, and cattle drovers;Horsehead Crossing, the most infamous ford of the Old West;Juan Cordona Lake, a salt lake where sandstorms and skull-baking sun defied early efforts to mine salt vital to survival;The “bulto” or ghost who wanders the Fort Stockton night;Lost Wagon Train, a forty-wagon caravan buried in the sands;The lost mine of Will Sublett, who found gold and kept its location secret unto death. Although linked by the search for treasure, the stories are as varied as the land itself. They speak eloquently of the Pecos country, its heritage, and its people.