American Mountain

The American mountain man, with his myriad of practical skills, could endure isolation in a way most could not. He lived in constant peril from the extremes of nature and from the hostilities of cultures unlike his own. Given the illiteracy rates of the day, few tangible accounts of such journeys have survived, but one glaring exception is that of James Pierson Beckwourth, the only known African American mountain man to leave behind a detailed, if somewhat sensationalistic, account of his travels.

A prospector leaves family, friends and love behind to satisfy a burning need, risking life and limb on the 1800s frontier in search of gold. After giving up so much, the final reward is just beyond his reach as his most feared enemy now threatens to prevent him from attaining it.

Reb started to say something when they saw the bear, and it wasn’t just any bear. “Big bear,” Khanty said. They watched as the bear raised up on its haunches. The brown bear stood at least ten feet high. “Shit,” Reb said to himself. The Mansi started throwing their spears at it from a distance. The spears weren’t even close. They spun around to run away. “Stop.” They stopped and stared at Reb. “The bear will kill you.” Khanty spoke up, “No, it won’t.” They screamed as the bear charged after them. The dogs growled at the bear, and the Mansi backed away. Reb thought ...

A journey back in time, The Golden Mountain is the gripping tale of four generations of Chinese women who live and die under the restrictions of their culture, except for one, the author. Her story tells of growing up in Hong Kong and of her transition to New York City where she struggled to meld the American dream with her ethnic background. Finally, at age 50, she dares to move into the present and understand the true nature of dreams and what it means to live.

Six linked short stories of the American Southwest. A Regular Evening at Eddie C's The Cold Hard Facts of Life The Proper Ritual Two Cowboys Standing With Horses in a Small Indian Village Ten Shots Quick The Katsina Cool, funny, sympathetic, and gritty. The dialogue in these stories is pitch-perfect.

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. Since the war's start over 150 years ago, the battles have been subjected to endless debate among historians and the generals themselves. The Civil War was the deadliest conflict in American history, and had the two sides realized it would take four years and inflict over a million casualties, it might not have been fought.

In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga. It would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Comprised of four heroic crowns of sonnets, Alicia Mountain’s Four in Hand is both formal and experimental, ranging from lyric romantic and familial narratives to blank verses of reconfigured found text pulled from financial newsletter emails.

Indian lore of the Cuyamaca Mountains and surrounding region in San Diego County, California, abounds in myths and legends handed down from generation to generation by tribal song and squaw-tale. Yet so swiftly has the hand of civilization wiped out the old traditions and customs, that but few Indians remain who remember them, and fewer still are those willing to divulge them. Only when one comes into intimate contact with them is one accorded the privilege and honor of hearing the tales of their ancestors.

Moved by her husband to the frontier of Virginia at the beginning of the French and Indian War, Anna Margaretha Mallow and her five children are forced to seek safety at Fort Seybert from the notorious Chief Killbuck, who's on a death march to save his people and culture. Surviving what becomes a deadly massacre, Anna and her children are taken captive and marched to the Ohio River Valley where she endures indescribable losses and change. Only courage and perseverance sustain her during his dark period in American history.

Frontier Tales is an online ezine dedicated to bringing new Western short stories into view. Each month, readers vote on their favorite Tale for that month. At the end of the year, there are 12 stories they have selected as the best. The editor then picks one more to make a total of thirteen, a baker's dozen. These are the winning stories from the fifth year of the ezine's production. Enjoy!

The story you are about to read began as a lunchtime lecture to the staff at one of the world’s great residential design firms. It grew into a lavishly illustrated, highly readable chronicle of the classic American style variously known as Craftsman, Mission, or Arts & Crafts. The visionaries behind the Craftsman movement generated a whole new sense of what a home should look and feel like. They created sanctuaries from the hurly-burly of urban life, democratized beauty, and ushered in the crucial elements of what we now consider desirable in domestic life. Meet the people, ideas, and ...

Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain is the remarkable story of a couple who came together during the Civil Rights Movement and made fighting for equality and civil and workers’ rights their purpose for more than sixty years, overcoming adversity—with the strength of their love and commitment—to bring about meaningful change.

Hotshot pilot John Hardin has a dark history. He and his beautiful Cherokee girlfriend, Kitty Birdsong, are enjoying life in the Great Smoky Mountains when Nolan Rader, a former BATF agent, emerges from John’s violent past and demands help to save his younger brother, Clint Rader, from the vengeance of the Satan’s Ghosts outlaw motorcycle gang. A warped genius called Brain controls the Satan’s Wraiths, an elite cadre of trained hitters within the worldwide gang, and Brain is privately conducting psychological research on Clint prior to killing him. John must agree to help Nolan Rader ...

John Hardin is the WITSEC identity of a pilot who runs a small aerial photo business flying his Cessna out of Asheville, North Carolina.He's restoring a log home on a ridge overlooking the Great Smokies village of Maggie Valley, and does house repairs to bolster his income. He shares his place with octogenarians Hank and Hattie Gaskill, and has an independent Cherokee girlfriend who rides her own lipstick-red motorcycle.Brandon Doyle, a burly biker friend of theirs, runs afoul of a drug lord who sells synthetic equivalents of cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy. John and Kitty try to help Doyle, ...

Veterans in rural communities face unique challenges, who will step up to help? Beginning with a brief scenario of a more gentle view of rural life, the book moves through learned information about families, children, and our returning National Guard and Reserve civilian military members. Return experiences will necessarily be different in rural and frontier settings than they are in suburban and urban environments. Our rural and frontier areas, especially in Western states with more isolated communities, less developed communication and limited access to medical, psychological and social ...

Combining historical anecdotes, scientific knowledge, and personal stories, Harvesting American Ginseng celebrates the heritage of the Smoky Mountains while providing an indispensable resource for botanists, herbalists, and nature enthusiasts.

Reagan Dawes doesn't want a man, but she's about to get one--the hard way. Kidnapped by her only kin, she soon finds herself at a fur trappers Rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains. Her stepfather figures to find her a husband, and to fill his pockets in the bargain. Yet, instead of a nightmare ending, Reagan finds herself in the middle of her own private fairytale, complete with a handsome benefactor with a host of problems of his own. Jackson Broussard is a man with a scar on his face and a turbulent past. Accused of murdering his brother, estranged from his father, he must now prove his ...

How to Move a Mountain inspires you to step forward, discover solutions, and plow through life’s obstacles with confidence. Mountain-mover Joanne Jolee - author, composer, businesswoman, leadership coach, mother of five, and grandmother of six - takes you on a revealing soul-nudging journey of life lessons.

"SOMETIMES BEING BEHIND BARS IS BETTER THAN BREAKING OUT!" When two murderous cop killing cons doing life sentences at New York's Dannemora Maximum Security Prison decide to make dramatic, almost Hollywood style prison break, Jack Marconi, a private investigator and former prison warden, is called in to locate the two killers. But during the course of their investigation in Upstate New York's thick woodlands, what Marconi and his trusted sidekick, Blood, discover going on inside in the basement depths of the maximum security prison, is nothing less than shocking and deadly. For fans of ...