Friday, September 29, 2023

Untamed Reckoning

Mountain Man Apprentice: Untamed Reckoning: A Mountain Man Adventure (Hammer and Grizz Mountain Man Series Book 3)

The third adventure in Ash Lingham’s Mountain Man series adds a whole new dimension to the already harsh reality of trying to live in one of the harshest places on earth: War
As the blurb highlights:

******
Grizz and Hammer prepare for deep winter in their log cabin in the Rocky Mountains. Adam “Grizz” James assembled everything they needed for their routine jobs during the cold months to come. They would spend the winter repairing beaver traps and fish baskets and curing and kneading skins to sell at Henry’s trading post when they returned next fall at the end of the hunting and trapping season.

A sudden war between the Blackfeet and the Crow Indians breaks out, and like it or not, due to the location of Grizz’s mountain and the small settlement in Yellowstone Valley, they are forced into the fight. Their lives change from one moment to the next. Grizz knows that if they lose, he will have to move off the mountain, losing his home and relocating. Grizz and Brick Hammer, with the help of Jimmy White Bear, team up and prepare to save their mountain and, at the same time, the valley settlers.

escape.

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Yes, if life wasn’t difficult enough, Grizz and Hammer now have to contend with the fallout of the escalating hostilities between the Crow and Blackfeet tribes. And all this, set in a landscape that is as breathtaking as it is hostile. (Helping you appreciate what those early settlers had to contend with).

What follows is as entertaining as it is immersive, because Hammer starts to ‘come of age’ as a mountain man in this story.

The action rolls along at a steady pace. It involves you. You become invested in the characters and what’s going to happen to them. And it contains a nice lesson in life too.
What that lesson is, you’ll have to discover for yourselves. But rest assured, it’ll be thoroughly enjoyable.

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Trouble on the Smoky Hill Trail

A Cheyenne raiding party turns the quiet community of Elder Grove, Kansas, upside down, resulting in the death of a mother and father, and the abduction of their teenage daughters. All seems lost. But the Cheyenne didn’t reckon on the leaders of Elder Grove, Jacob and Noah Pearl. Two men with a remarkable shared history, who are a force of nature when roused. And as the Cheyenne are about to discover, they’re also the kind of men who will do anything to see justice done, even if it means getting their hands dirty.

Shootout ar Russell Springs

A tornado tears through the open plains of Kansas, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Yet that force of nature isn’t the only thing that might ravage the land. The Plains Indians are massing in their hundreds. Cheyenne, Comanche, Lakota, Kiowa, and Arapaho. All of them, turning their eyes toward the foreign settlers who encroach ever further into their ancestral hunting grounds with each and every passing year. Already on the run from the law, the notorious Reno Gang also come calling, thinking that the residents of Elder Grove will be no match for a bunch of murdering horse thieves. And just who are the two strangers from the east that come to town, acting all friendly, yet asking sly question about the Pearl brothers? One thing’s for sure. . . Another storm is brewing. And when it strikes, not everyone will walk away.

Uprising in Comanche Country

It took the Pearl brothers considerable time and effort to shape the region around Elder Grove into a safe haven for all. For settlers. For travelers. Even for the Plains Indians who constantly roam the prairie in pursuit of buffalo. But when a bunch of marauding army deserters commits a heinous act that rouses the massed tribes to anger, it puts all that hard work in jeopardy. Yes, the hornet’s nest has been stirred. So much so, that even the Comanche are provoked to war. And their sting is deadly indeed. How the Pearl brothers will react remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure. Nobody will escape unscathed.

Living By The Code

The old west can be a harsh and unforgiving place, even for those like Jacob and Noah Pearl, who are used to the rigors of frontier living. So, when ghosts from the past return to threaten the peace and stability of their community, they’re quick to respond, and go out of their way to eradicate that threat before the shadow it casts can spread too far. Some might view their response as an overreaction. Ruthless, even. But the Pearl Brothers and the residents of Elder Grove look on it as following the Code of the West. A code that never wavers in the protection of you, your own, and seeing justice done.

Unfinished Business

The Pearl brothers encountered all sorts of people in the years it took them to set up the community of Elder Grove. Disgruntled Plains Indians. Murderers. Horse thieves. Army deserters. And in all that time, none were more exasperating than those folks who acted like a dog with a bone. Those mavericks who let their past failures and grievances gnaw away at them so much that they never seemed able to let go. A troublesome enough irritation when you have to deal with such behavior in passing. Imagine, then, how they’ll respond upon encountering a notorious gang who can’t abide the thought of simply giving up and moving on until they’ve carried out ‘just one more’ robbery. Or worse still, predatory bands of Cheyenne, stubbornly seeking revenge on those they feel have caused them to lose face. Yes, life is never dull on the Plains of Kansas . . . As the Pearl brothers are about to discover yet again.

Call of Duty

The long-awaited day has arrived! Yes, it’s been some time coming, what with all the trials and tribulations they’ve had to overcome. But at last, the day of the wedding is here, and Jacob and Astrid are finally going to tie the knot and settle down. . . Or are they? You see, that’s the thing about Kansas. It’s a vast and majestic country, filled with natural wonders and delights to satisfy the soul and take the breath away. Yet it’s also filled with dangers enough to catch the unwary and send them to an early grave. And when one of those dangers insists on poking its nose into the Pearl brothers’ affairs, now, of all times? Well, it’s time for someone to step up and answer the call of duty.