Wilderness Fiction

The collected short stories of Sid Gustafson. Montana, horses, rivers, land, and people.

Crystal Rainey is aghast when she realizes her New Year's resolutions haven't changed one whit from the previous year. Wanting to escape a future as dreary as a Pacific Northwest winter, she walks out on her dead-end office job, despite her tenuous savings account. Stumbling across a job opening posted by a wilderness guide outfit, an intrigued Crystal bluffs her way into the position. With her handsome fellow guide, the stalwart Conner Oakes, she leads a corporate retreat on a snowshoe hike to a majestic alpine chalet.

Twenty-nine-year-old Holly Franklin had recently moved from Florida to Colorado. The move allowed Holly to work with her boyfriend Josh in the same branch office of the bank they’d worked for in Florida. Sooner or later, Holly knew Josh would propose. On a rare autumn weekday off, Holly decided to go for a four-hour hike in the mountains. The trail was a loop, and she would be home by afternoon. But Holly took a wrong turn and came to a dead end. Trying to cut across to the right trail, Holly got lost, and as the sun began to set, a snowstorm started.

England in the time of his boyhood was a cold and colourless country. They had seen to that, the Autumn Men. They who had been lifted high, the old men of his country and other countries, who in the autumn of their years, reflecting on the unfulfilled promise of their youth, and their failures as yet unredeemed, feeling as any old man adrift alone on a small boat, sails broken, oars lost, swept hopelessly onward towards the deafening roar of the approaching weir, might feel, decided that too few had sweetly and honourably been called.

These three short stories give listeners a dog’s-eye view of the action and adventure associated with the American West. From an award-winning poet, these stories provide a window into the sometimes fickle relationship between man and dog. Barbara Nelson Blinn used writing as a way to escape her abusive marriage, and these stories are indeed an escape, as listeners will have the opportunity to befriend three different canines, each with their own story filled with mystery, adventure, and the underlying message that controlling the pet population is of utmost importance.

—ABOUT THE BOOK: Southern Historical Fiction A Visit to the Rural South that will Bless Your Heart The Red Lands It was the land, actually, that had the power to draw the people from the four directions and even from across the ocean. It was the clarion call coming from the place of the red lands. It was a call from the dirt, red as blood beneath its cover of grassy green...yes, that was what drew them, and once there, it held them fast. The Journey The little girl lost her parents at age five, and for the next ten years, she helped raise her cousins. Then the trouble really began. After ...

—ABOUT THE BOOK: This wonderfully researched, four-volume historical fiction series, Taming the Wilderness, captures the unforgettable struggles, dreams, failures, and triumphs of the settlers of the great Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. Each volume presents two complete novellas with well-crafted characters and life stories not soon forgotten. Land of Dreams The cold facts are that trouble happens in families, and some members are more affected than others. What happened to Camille Wainwright should never happen to any young teenage girl. It was clear the Wainright family had a serious ...

When a plane carrying a federal witness crashes in the Montana backwoods, Officer Kelly Wayne and her K-9 Nico track it down — and discover Ethan Harrigan injured with amnesia. Now with the mafia on their trail, Kelly must protect the man she thinks ruined her career. But nothing’s as it seems, and trusting the wrong person could get them all killed.

With murderous poachers targeting rare blue bear cubs, Alaska trooper Poppy Walsh and her K-9 partner, Stormy, will do whatever it takes to stop them. But having to team up with her ex-fiance, park ranger Lex Fielding, will be Poppy's biggest test. When the poachers go after Lex's young son, can Poppy and Lex overcome their unresolved past...and survive a killer's sights?

A missing person case sends search and rescue worker Elsie Montgomery and her K-9 to a remote Alaskan island...only to discover she's got a target on her back. Now she must partner with pilot Wyatt Chandler, the one man she doesn't trust, to stay alive while confronting her shadowy past. But can they capture a killer before their time together runs out for good?

Rome’s most decorated Centurion is given a secret mission to fulfill the Emperor's legacy, but a renegade General and the enemy's chief spy stand in his way. A Butcher’s Wilderness glimpses into the dark, cut-throat corruption of the Roman Empire at the height of its power. Its violence and deep superstition are seen through the eyes of Vederius Ligustus, a much-decorated yet deeply dark and troubled soldier, fiercely loyal to the army’s code of brotherhood.

Kit has just moved to Stoneygate with his family, to live with his ageing grandfather who is gradually succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease. Stoneygate is an insular place, scarred by its mining history - by the danger and death it has brought them. Where the coal mine used to be there is now a wilderness. Here Kit meets Askew, a surly and threatening figure who masterminds the game called Death, a frightening ritual of hypnotism; and Kit makes friends with Allie, the clever school troublemaker.

NIGHT FLIGHT (A Novella) Things can just rock along, and nothing is done about a potential problem until something slaps one in the face. It happened that way to Eben when he saw the in-laws of his deceased son reach out for his 5-year-old granddaughter. Reality struck with deadly force. She must not be reared in a bootlegging family. Drastic needs took drastic measures, and it must happen in secret—actually, in the dark of night. CARAVAN (A Novella) It might have been just cold feet, but it took something powerful to influence the move made by some Nebraska families one cold winter day. ...

In the wilderness of discovering who you are and how you fit into the world, the most important lesson you'll learn is whether you're part of the pack or one of the prey.

Raised in a world of wild beasts, craven spirits, and noble souls, Neb dominates everyone around him. Only in love does he meet a force he cannot resist. His wife bears two sons who take opposite paths. Neb's curse follows both. Clans across the land await the future. Through the eyes of three alien worlds, so does the watching universe. One extended family traverses the course of history through Aram, Ishtar, and Neb in a world of wild beasts, craven spirits, and noble souls. Generations later, in the first century AD, Aram’s descendant, Georgios battles a world of dark secrets, ...

—The 1889 OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH... MIDWESTERN HISTORICAL FICTION AT ITS BEST— —VOLUME 2 ANTHOLOGY (4 volumes in all). FAITH & FAMILY-FRIENDLY— - GUIDING WINDOW (Novella 1): Many nomads and wanderers have traveled over the face of the planet. Many of them traversed the distance from the wild Atlantic to the plains of the Midwest. Some are drawn forward by restlessness. Others by fear. Some few are drawn by an unknown force they are powerless to withstand. One mighty group of people from history traveled under the guidance of a cloud, but that was long ago in Bible days. Many were pushed...

Quel genre de fête d'anniversaire rêve d'avoir une jeune millionnaire ? Faut-il absolument des paillettes et des feux d'artifice sur un bateau de croisière ? Certainement pas ! C'est beaucoup trop ordinaire. Les amis d'Ella devront être originaux et discrets s'ils veulent la surprendre, sans toutefois attirer les paparazzis, et particulièrement Bass, le célèbre animateur de télévision. Mission impossible, tu crois ? Ouvre vite ce livre et tu verras !

In the mid 1800s a group of settlers left St. Louis and headed to the wilderness of Missouri, 40 families disappeared never to be heard from again. Father Hogan knew the secret, and took it to his grave with him. Travel with these brave Irish families; discover the danger and magic that awaits them. Caught between old world beliefs, the civil war, and magic.

Goat is outdoorsy. He can forage, fish, navigate, and build a campsite. If you plan on getting lost in the wilderness, you would be wise to take Goat along with you.

Wilderness guide Crystal Rainey leads a group of college students to a private campground amid the awe-inspiring Olympic Rain Forest. The excursion is ruined when the charming hostess Roxie is discovered standing over the land owner's body, murder weapon in hand. Enlisted to investigate the crime to absolve her friend, Crystal descends on the quiet city of Forks to find loggers, developers, and eco-protesters circling the property, intent on either exploiting or protecting the bastion of old-growth forest.