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Michael Zimmer

    Michael Zimmer crafts compelling Western narratives that delve into the intricacies of the American frontier. His writing is distinguished by its rich character development and immersive storytelling, drawing readers into vividly realized historical settings. Zimmer masterfully explores themes of justice, survival, and the human spirit against the backdrop of a challenging and transformative era. His novels offer a profound examination of the West and the people who shaped it, earning critical acclaim for their depth and authenticity.

    Beneath a Hunter's Moon: A Western Story
    Where the Buffalo Roam
    Fandango
    Internet research ethics for the social age
    Villa Lobos
    Hard Ride Across Texas
    • 2021

      ""The Buffalo Trace" by Larry D. Sweazy. Hallie Mae Edson and her brother, Tom, join the newly formed Indiana Territorial Rangers. When another Ranger disappears, Hallie comes face to face with danger in a way she has never faced before. She not only hasto save the Ranger, but herself, with skills, will, and courage she didn't know she had. "Two Old Comanches" by Johnny D. Boggs Imprisoned in a dark, damp and inhospitable Army post in St. Augustine, Florida, an aging Comanche warrior and his sick, old best friend attempt a desperate escape and even more arduous trek back to their homeland. "Fire Mountain" by Michael Zimmer A ragtag crew of muleskinners hired to deliver a pack train of badly needed supplies to a high country community finds itself caughtbetween a mountain on fire above them and, behind them, a band of killers determined to prevent them from succeeding. With the flames closing in and lead starting to fly, their odds for survival are rapidly dwindling. But the killers hadn't counted on how mule-headed a muleskinner can be. "Bloodline" by Matthew P. Mayo One beating too many causes a kicked-cur, half-breed youth to flee the wrath of Bull Barr, his brute of a grandfather, who blames the boy for his ceaseless poor luck. But the relentless old man hunts the boy without mercy. He cannot let him live, for the boy knows too many family secrets"--

      Fire Mountain and Other Survival Stories: A Five Star Quartet
    • 2020

      Villa Lobos

      • 514 pages
      • 18 hours of reading

      Sergeant Andrew Cade leads a determined pursuit of the notorious Hollister Gang, who have kidnapped three women from Rio Largo, Texas. Despite the gang's retreat into Mexico, Cade's resolve remains unshaken. Concurrently, Josâe Yanez and his Hunters are fleeing after a brutal massacre, carrying stolen goods and Indian scalps. As tensions rise, these three groups are on a collision course toward Villa Lobos, a town fraught with danger and conflict. The story intertwines themes of bravery, desperation, and the harsh realities of the Wild West.

      Villa Lobos
    • 2019

      Billy Pinto's War

      • 232 pages
      • 9 hours of reading

      The novel is rife with gun-smokin' action, and Hud is the perfect, back-country narrator for this story of social injustice. His wizened, grizzled point of view flirtswith the possibility of a tragic flaw in the evasive character of Billy Pinto.Hands-down a gripping read!-Historical Novel Society In 1904, sixteen-year-old Billy Pinto watches as the three men accused of murdering his Shoshone mother are set free because the judge and prosecuting attorney don't believe they can successfully try white men for killing an Indian. Stunned by the court's decision, Billy decides to take justice into his own hands. He ambushes the three killers outside of town, then impulsively kidnaps the judge's granddaughter before fleeing into the remote San Pedro Mountains. With Billy's actions setting off a massive manhunt, it falls to San Pedro County Sheriff Hudson Pratt to locate Billy before he's cornered in the high country by a growing army of bounty hunters. With an aging mountain man and his surly dog as guides, Pratt sets out to rescue the kidnapped child-and to stop the rising tide of bloodshed that threatens to plunge San Pedro County into a full-fledged Indian war. MICHAEL ZIMMERWinner of the 2015 Wrangler Award forOutstanding Western Novel for The Poacher's Daughter

      Billy Pinto's War
    • 2018

      The Trading Post and Other Frontier Stories, edited by Hazel Rumney, features fourteen brand-new stories that will delight historical fiction fans. These stories capture the spirit of freedom and individualism in the evolving American frontier through the early 1900s and feature exciting new characters who face life-changing challenges in settings that are in stark contrast to civilized society. Ranging from high-action traditional Westerns to introspective historical drama set in the American West, readers will discover the amount of courage and tenacity it took to survive the tumultuous frontier. The Trading Post and Other Frontier Stories is a great addition to your western fiction library.

      The Trading Post and Other Frontier Stories: A Five Star Anthology
    • 2018

      Where the Buffalo Roam

      • 454 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      HE WAS CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, WITH FREEDOM FLOWING IN HIS BLOOD... Born a slave on an East Texas cotton plantation, Clay Little Bull was captured by the Kiowa as a small child and raised among the wild tribes. But at the age of twenty, he left the only home he'd ever known and began a journey in search of freedom. Now, an outcast among whites, blacks, and Indians, Clay comes face to face with the hypocrisy and lawlessness that ruled the West-and drew first blood when he escaped from a band of Kansas slave hunters. Joining forces with an adventure-seeking buffalo hunter named Ty Calhoun, he led a band of freed men and a beautiful young Indian woman across the great, wind-swept Western plains in search of a place where he belonged. But with every mile he traveled, Clay moved closer to a truth he was born with: that freedom isn't found in a place or a people, but in a man's willingness to love, fight and die. An epic novel of friends, enemies, blood feuds and the yearning of restless souls, WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM is a rare, sweeping western adventure in the classic tradition of Lonesome Dove.

      Where the Buffalo Roam
    • 2018

      Leaving Yuma: A Western Story

      • 328 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      The story of a devil's bargain between an inmate and a sheriff, adapted from transcripts of the American Legends Collection, written in 1936 as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the WPA J. T. Latham is rotting in prison in the Yuma Territory penitentiary. But then Sheriff Del Buchman offers to commute his sentence if Latham helps execute a prisoner exchange with some dangerous banditos. The only catch is that he must guide the sheriff through the deadly Sonoran Desert.

      Leaving Yuma: A Western Story
    • 2018

      Hard Ride Across Texas

      • 340 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      MICHAEL ZIMMER Winner of the 2015 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Western Novel for The Poacher’s DaughterNineteen-year-old Gage Pardell didn't intend to kill Henry Kalb when he rode into Shelburn, Texas, to confront the son of the county's richest man. He just wanted justice for what Kalb had done to his sister. But now Henry is dead, and Gage is on the run from a gang of vicious bounty hunters hired by Henry's father, Linus.With nowhere else to turn, Gage flees to the far-flung buffalo ranges of West Texas. There, he learns what it means to survive on a lawless frontier, to stand up against a kill-crazy buffalo hunter and the men Linus keeps sending after him. Realizing he can no longer live this way, Gage finally returns home to face a cowed town, a gang of hired gunmen, and to complete a journey he began on the night he killed Henry Kalb.

      Hard Ride Across Texas
    • 2017

      Cottonwood Station

      • 222 pages
      • 8 hours of reading

      WHERE THE LAWLESS STAY ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE LAW SANCTUARY OR TRAP? The stage is only an hour from Cottonwood Station when the Cheyenne strike. The driver, the shotgun guard, and the passengers are doomed until Clint Dawson appears with his long-barreled Whitworth-the rifle that can throw a slug eight hundred yards. With two injured and the Cheyenne howling at their heels, they have little choice but to risk a run for it. But with Rusty Cantrell and his vicious gang of killers holed up in the isolated outpost and the Cheyenne rallying for a new attack, only one man knows why Medicine Wolf is willing to go to any length to get the revenge he wants . . . and only one man knows what it will take to keep the innocent alive. ZIMMER'S STYLE IS NEAT AND SPARE, HIS CHARACTERS PEOPLE TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT, AND THE SETTING ONE OF GREAT INTEREST TO READERS OF WESTERN HISTORY." -LIBRARY JOURNAL

      Cottonwood Station
    • 2017

      Sundown

      • 310 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      Most of the ranchers around Sand Creek had brought cattle up from Texas when free grass opened in Nebraska. It was tough, but eventually Ben Wyatt's Bar-W and the other ranches began to prosper. And so did the shantytown of Sand Creek. The town's old sod buildings were replaced by plank structures and the riffraff that seemed to thrive in the lawlessness of a hide-town gave way to honest merchants. Its very existence depended upon the cattle business. When the ranches hurt, Sand Creek hurt-and the ranches were hurting bad in 1876. The discovery of gold in nearby Black Hills brought thousands of people to the area and soon put a strain on the food supply. At first, there were random rustlings. But now it was no longer just a few head stolen to feed a mining camp. The thievery was too widespread-there had to be some kind of organization behind it. So the Cattlemen's Association hired Luke Howard and several others to put a stop to it, using whatever means they had to employ to get the job done! "This stark, realistic portrait of Nebraska in the 1870's recreates a time and place where some of the villains carried sidearms but the real crooks packed fountain pens." -Booklist

      Sundown
    • 2017

      Dust and Glory

      • 248 pages
      • 9 hours of reading

      When Jesse Ross was eighteen he was forced to learn firsthand that a person's life could be changed irrevocably by one deed-and the endless chain of events this original act sets into motion. That was something Jesse's neighbor Gray Fletcher had experienced years before when he was with the Texas Rangers. Gray had joined to seek retaliation against ma-rauding Indians who had killed his wife and one of their children. Now Jesse had killed a Union soldier to protect his family and was on the run. His one hope was to join other Missourians in Slaughter's Rangers, an underground outfit. But re-venge had not been enough to sustain Gray years ago; how long would it be enough for Jesse?

      Dust and Glory