Bøger af Robert M Johnson

This historical novel is the result of many years of study into family history and American history of the period that is often called the Great Depression, but should also be called the Great Prohibition. Both of these national calamities collaborated to shape the lives depicted in the present work of historical fiction. It is inspired by the struggle of a real life family in northern Minnesota. It describes what they went through to survive in a country racked by poverty and moralistic values. "Moonshine, Murder and Mayhem's" climactic moment is described as follows: "As Katie stood up to face her jealous lover, she knew she had never seen him in such a state of rage and she began to wonder whether she could control the situation. "I told you many times, that if I caught you with another man, I would kill you!" Big Al said spitting out the words one at a time and emphasizing that final expression, kill you." The thirteen years that Prohibition held the country hostage to its morality has been called, a period of Mayhem. History has judged the country harshly over this curtailing of human rights. But while it was illegal to sell alcohol openly, moonshiners thrived and prospered. The story of the Shea family is a saga interwoven with the struggles over "White Lightning" and the ominous and pervasive poverty of the Depression. It takes place in northern Minnesota and finds its terrible peak on a cold March night in the year 1930. Katie Shea Gendreau, full of life at 33 years old, looses the struggle with Poverty and Prohibition. This is her story.

This new novel is the third in the Carey Hart Detective series and presents a challenging new environment to the former Boston Police Detective. Her Private Investigation Agency, the Hart-West Agency, is branching out for a major case in Washington D.C. The new field of Drone Technology is beginning to dominate the weapons market for the government in Washington. It brings with it new advantages and also some dangerous precedents. The competition at the top of this world of weapons building just got more intense. Three recent murders at General Avionics Corporation, the leading drone provider, has the management team in desperate straits. Carey Hart and Jack West are brought in to unravel this web of murder. In the process they lock horns with a serial killer. The stakes are raised very high!

This is a work of contemporary fiction, a mystery novel set in the Boston, MA area.Party time at the Rendez-Vous Nightclub in downtown Boston for two young women who know how to party. By the time the night is spinning for them, they are on their way to disaster. Followed from the club by three rough looking men, the girls are taken into a van and disappear into the Boston night. Their senses now come alive as the adrenaline overcomes the effects of Alcohol and cocaine. Their screams are muffled by their captors with growls of "Shut up bitch!" as the sounds of ripping undergarments fill the cavern of the moving van. Soon duct tape makes all vocal reaction useless and the sexual assaults begin. From the front seat, an older man tries to talk some sense into the brutal attackers. They are too good at sexual abuse to stop now. The grunting and shouting goes on as the van pulls off into an alley near the Boston Common. In less than an hour, both girls have been sexually brutalized and one of the girls is dead, her face beaten to a pulp and her throat slit in a violent expression of rage. The other girl is numb and appears barely alive. Detective Caroline "Carey" Hart is called in to investigate a homicide and solve a kidnapping. The story will take her and her team of detectives and State Police all the way to the Canadian border in search of the kidnapped girl and the local thugs who have taken her. This is a first Caroline Hart Novel, there will be more to come.

This contemporary novel traces the evolution of an Internet Startup called Allen's List. It is the brainchild of entrepreneur Allen Dowling and provides a listing of certified and licensed craftsmen offering home repair and auto mechanical services, first in state of Massachusetts and then also in the five New England States. Allen Dowling works closely with two colleagues who have helped him build the business over a 5 year period. While his business is booming, Allen's marriage is faltering. Four financiers offer him an outrageous amount of money to buy into his business. In a matter of months he goes from struggling entrepreneur to Internet CEO and mogul. His affair with Lindsey Walker, his colleague becomes the backdrop for the story of Allen's List. Join Mr. Dowling as he takes Allen's List national.

In the year of Our Lord, 1096, a young intellectual from Cologne in northern Germany took up the cross and became a Crusader. His name was Matthew of Cologne, son of the Mayor of that city. He became the protégée and eventually the adjutant of Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, one of the four leaders of the Crusade. After hundreds of miles and numerous battles the army of the Crusade finally took the Holy City of Jerusalem in 1099 A.D. Matthew's story is told in volume one of this series: Jihad 1095 A.D. The Great Crusade. With time, Matthew is Knighted and becomes the military leader of the garrison at Jerusalem under King Baldwin II. His skill as a soldier and his fighting reputation gain him the name of The Hammer of God. This is the title of the second book in the series and recounts the journey of this young man toward the realization of his vocation: the joining of his religious ideal and his military dedication to the cause of Christ. Along with another Crusader, Hugh de Payans, Matthew takes part in the inspired planning that will lead to the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Temple, later called the Knights Templar. In this third volume of the Crusader series, Matthew has now become Lord of the city of Gaza in southern Palestine. He is being called upon to defend himself and his Christian people against a new kind of warfare, that of the Assassins. His killing of one of the Assassins, assigned to kill the King of Jerusalem has caused him to become the enemy of Hasan-i-Sabbah the Old Master of the Castle of Alamut and creator of the deadly Assassins. Follow this exciting conflict in the present tale: The Assassin Avenger. The Templar Series, now in its fourth volume, Templar Treasures, follows the excitement and devotion of the times. Young Matthew of Gaza continues to develop into the warrior chieftain of the Holy Land. But circumstances in his life draw him closer to his ideal of becoming a "Warrior Monk," a founding member of the Knights Templar.

The first half of the nineteenth century in the American West was marked by an intense spirit of national pride and frontier determination. The politicians were the ones who stoked the flames of national pride that would eventually bring the territory of California into the American union. From the year 1803 when the Louisiana Purchase brought the entire Rocky Mountain territory under the control of the American government, men called free trappers were moving about throughout the territory and in their own way claiming it for the new owners. Their activities, and their aggression toward the Native Americans who inhabited the region, where source of conflict and violence. Where the Lewis and Clark expedition had gone through the entire Western territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean and back without engaging in open conflict with the natives, things were gradually changing in that regard. Tribes which it always thought with one another were now considering the white settlers as invaders of their territories and the danger to their ancient traditions. The men who took part in this process of expansion, and invasion, took it for granted that their Native American counterparts could not be trusted for the most part. The story is Samuel Ogden Leonard, the Mountain Man, began in eighteen twenty when he was just sixteen years old. In the summer of that year he met a consummate mountain man, Clyde Patterson, who had been a companion of one of the first, is not the first mountain man, John Coulter. After Coulter's death in the war of eighteen twelve, Patterson continued his life as a mountain man, mostly alone as a free trapper. He saw in Young Sam Ogden, not just the makings of a mountain man but the makings of a great mountain man he was fascinated with the experience that Young Sam had already had in the short time that he had spent in the Rocky mountain region. He wanted to pass on to his protégé, the skills that would make him one of the greatest mountain men to ever live. In order to do that, young Samuel had to learn the secrets that are revealed in this volume, "Winter Down."

It is 1828, both the spring and fall trapping seasons have come and gone. Little Jacob Ogden was born in June and the Ogdens have chosen to settle down in Grand Junction, Colorado. It has been a year of many changes, so far all good. In this eighth volume of the Sam Ogden Mountain Man Series, young Sam and his Mandan wife, Little Fire have a baby boy, Little Jacob Ogden. Sam and his Partner Clyde Patterson have decided to give up the life of a free trapper and settle down in southwestern Colorado, in a new settlement called Grand Junction. Sam and Little Fire have made some new friends at the settlement of Grand Junction, the Olivers. John and Kate Oliver own and run the General Store, formerly the Trading Post of Grand Junction. Their five years of living on the frontier have been satisfying and their store is thriving. Their one regret is that they have no children of their own. It seemed the most natural thing in the world for the Olivers to adopt Sam and Little Fire and their baby. For the first time in his young adult life, Sam Ogden, Mountain Man and Free Trapper, has a family to come home to in the white settlements! In this eighth volume of the Sam Ogden Mountain Man Series, "Wilderness Wagoneer," Sam, his wife and his partner, Clyde Patterson, have become engaged in the struggles of the Rocky Mountain Frontier, turning wilderness into the new American Land. The Sam Ogden Series is as follows: 1.Hard to Kill 2.Winter Down 3.Rendezvous Prize 4.The Deerslayer's Destiny 5.Sam, My Warrior 6.Rocky Mountain Cabin 7.Free Trappers 8.Wilderness Wagoneer

The year of 1846 would prove to be one of extraordinary adventure for Sam Ogden. The previous year had seen the frontier rampage of Carlos Reyes, whom Sam ultimately killed in a mountainside confrontation. But three years earlier Sam had been the guide and confident of an English nobleman who visited Grand Junction, Colorado on a hunting expedition. The two became friends during the expedition and they continued a regular correspondence during the years that followed. Volume fifteen of the Sam Ogden series describes how the friendship turned into an invitation and a subsequent visit to London by Sam and his family. Their return voyage became a series of dangerous adventures depicted in volume sixteen of the series, "Riding the Whirlwind Seas." Volume seventeen, "Colorado Bound," is the sequel to this amazing journey and follows the Ogdens from their landing in Boston Harbor, back to their home on the frontier in Colorado. The westward voyage was filled with adventure for the three Ogdens. The author has made the journey by ship from Boston to England, and recently experienced an Atlantic ocean storm while on a cruise out of Baltimore, MD. He lived near Boston for over twenty-five years, visiting the colonial wonders of Walden Pond, Lexington and Concord, the Old North Church and Faneuil Hall, all proud traditions of Boston.

It is 1851 and over a hundred thousand people have poured into the California coastal towns of Los Angeles and Monterey and San Francisco. What had been sleepy Mexican settlements, under the influx of so many Americans, have become major cities of California which was recently named the 31st state of the union. John Charles Fremont, the Mountain Man's friend and business partner, has been chosen governor of the state of California and is now living in San Francisco.This present volume is number nineteen in the series that presents the fictional life of Jeremiah Warner a virtual incarnation of men like Kit Carson and Joe Walker and Jim Bridger. The study of the lives of these men who were so active on the frontier amazes the reader with the extent of their travels and their understanding of the wilderness. It was second nature for them to cross the Rocky Mountains and pan for gold in the rivers of California.In this volume, Rocky Mountain Return, the Mountain Man and his Cheyenne wife return to their previous home in the Platte River Valley. There they recruit their friends Tom and Mary Wilkerson to join them in the fields of gold, in California. Their journey across the mountains is one of excitement and courage.

The year is 1852 and the gold rush in California is entering into another level of intensity, some might say insanity. People are now coming from as far away as China and Australia to join those Forty-Niners, seeking their fortune in the gold fields. The land grant of Fremont Enterprises along the Merced River in east central California, continues to produce gold in great abundance. Where most miners measure their gold in ounces, the Fremont production is measured in pounds! Early on, the company recognized a major vulnerability in their operation. The gold taken from the mine in Mariposa, a more remote location, had to be transported to Monterey where it could be entered into the banking system of the Bank of San Francisco. There it was turned into moneyed assets for the company, a process that had made John Charles Fremont one of the early millionaires of California. Fremont is about to be elected to the post of senator for the state of California and is in the process of relocating to Washington DC to take up his responsibilities. It is there in California that our story begins. John Fremont has left his business in the capable hands of several trusted associates. The story follows the activities and responsibilities of one of those associates, Jeremiah Warner. With the enthusiastic approval of John Fremont, a good friend of Jeremiah's, Tom Wilkerson, has relocated his family to Monterey. Tom has signed on to join Fremont Enterprises as part of their management personnel. This 20th volume, entitled, "The Gold Wagon," takes up the story with the delivery of a custom-made wagon designed for the safe transport of gold from Mariposa to Monterey. In the first year of this transportation process, three of the four men who were guarding the transport were killed in a robbery and the gold, $25,000 worth, was stolen. John Fremont and Jeremiah Warner took this very personally and decided that whatever the cost, they would build a wagon that could safely transport the gold while maintaining true security for the men in charge of its transport. This is volume number twenty in the Jeremiah Warner Mountain Man Series which is as follows: 1. THE WINDRIDER 2. THE WOLF MAN WARRIOR 3. WILDERNESS WINTER 4. WESTWARD WAGONS, HO! 5. WOLF HOUND VENGEANCE 6. WOLF PREY 7. WOLF MAN WARLOCK 8. THE WARLOCK'S FIRETALK 9. THE WARLOCK'S WAY 10. REVENGE OF THE WARLOCK 11. THE WILDERNESS PATHFINDER 12. THE WARLOCK TAKES WASHINGTON 13. CAPTURE THE SUNSET 14. WOLF ATTACK! 15. STREAMS OF GOLD 16. THE BOUNDARY RIDER 17. THE GOLD RIVER GUNMAN 18. RIVER GOLD TO DIE FOR 19. ROCKY MOUNTAIN RETURN 20. THE GOLD WAGON

The 19th Century in America was remarkable for many things that formed and shaped the new country that was rapidly expanding from ocean to ocean. Men like the fictional characters, Sam Ogden and Clyde Patterson had been among the first to participate in the wilderness trapping bonanza spawned by the beaver trade and the culture of the top hat. Now, it is the 1840's, and the need for beaver pelts is over. The West was about to see the first signs of a real Western migration, the Oregon Trail. Sam Ogden had invested his "wealth," from his days as a trapper, in the General Store of a southern Colorado settlement, at Grand Junction. With his wife, the Mandan woman, Little Fire, Sam has settled down and is beginning to raise a family. His reputation with the Long Rifle, the frontier Hawken rifle, followed him into the more stable life of the settlement. The Indians at the Rendezvous, started calling him "Sam Long Rifle." His partner, Clyde Patterson, a veteran of the War of 1812, and quite a bit older than "Young Sam," has also taken up life in the settlement. They both became embedded in the process of the western frontier, as it developed the first signs of what the two former trappers called disdainfully, "civilization." Grand Junction was evolving partly because of Clyde and Sam and partly despite them. In the young life of Sam Ogden, several years have gone by since the last time he decided to write down the events of his life on the frontier. During the intervening years he has fathered two children and made many new friends as part owner of the General Store at Grand Junction. In the previous volume, "Sam Long Rifle," Sam and his family have been joined by a large dog, a Pyrenean Sheepdog, they named Ruffian. Also, a hunting expedition has brought an English Nobleman, John, Earl of Wickham to the territory. The Earl has hired "Sam Long Rifle" as his guide into the high Rockies. The Englishmen plan to spend the winter high in the mountains while Sam is supposed to return to Grand Junction for the winter. Plans like this have a funny way of going wrong, very wrong. This 13th volume, "The Stalking Moon," tells that story.

In every generation, certain people personify the great trends that move the hearts and minds of the population. In 1803, America was still seeking its identity and its President had a vision for the country. Thomas Jefferson, the third American President, saw this new country, which he had helped to found and whose declaration he had written, as one country from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, coast to coast! The first novel of this historical series was named, "GRIT AND GLORY" and told the story of the origins of the expedition that would open the far western lands of the Louisiana Purchase. The men of the expedition, with the help of a Shoshone Indian woman, Sacagawea, would travel thousands of miles to claim the west for the American people. The second volume, "RAGE OF THE GRIZZLY," recounts the first 1600 miles of their journey up the Missouri River into Mandan Indian Territory. This third novel, "THE BURNING WOLF," tells the story of Caleb Stuart's important role in procuring meat for the men of the Expedition, the Corps of Discovery. The winter of 1805 brought new and dangerous challenges to the young Virginian. His teacher, George Drouillard, a man born of French and Shawnee parentage, was born to this frontier of the West. Soon, he and young Caleb became a hunting team, given the task of providing hundreds of pounds of meat to the hard working men of the Expedition. "THE BURNING WOLF," follows their encounters with predators and prey in the wild unchartered territory of the northern plains. It was a time when herds of bison and elk numbered in the hundreds of thousands, feeding on the rich prairie grass. But, these same grass-eaters were preyed upon by large numbers of meat-eaters: Grizzly Bears, Wolves, Mountain Lions and Coyotes. The human hunters had to fit into this natural dance of death if they wanted to feed their fellow explorers. The stage was set for fierce conflict, daily.

This new novel, "The Serial Killer's Profile," is the fourth in the Carey Hart Detective series and presents a challenging new environment to the former Boston Police Detective. Her Private Investigation Agency, the Hart-West Agency, first founded in Boston, is now getting established in the capital city of Washington D.C. Politics and intrigue will be the order of the day for the new Agency as they become "fixers" for the wealthy and politically connected of DC. Thanks to their own connections, Carey Hart and Jack West have been invited to take part in the Quantico FBI Profilers' Training program, a chance to hone their skills and advance the prestige of their Agency. They are also stunned by an event in their personal lives that put everything on hold for them emotionally and professionally. It was a criminal act that shocked the nation. But it had the positive effect of driving them closer to one another. And while all this is going on their nemesis, Carla Raymond is still out there!

The story of the clan MacGregor takes place long before the Romans even began the invasion of the Isle of Brittany. Historians consider it part of the Dark Ages, where weapons of steel were now becoming commonplace and a new war machine was beginning to change the practice of warfare. The chariot had taken its place on the battlefield and whether you called it a war cart or chariot, it was designed to bring death and destruction to the enemy. The Isle of Erin was still isolated for the most part not only from the mainland but even from the larger island of Brittany itself. People had come to Erin from Northern Europe, the continent, as well as from the north lands further to the east. The struggles of immigration were now long gone and in their place the lands were partitioned off to several major clans: Connaught, Leinster, Brewster, and Ulster. Each of these separate peoples held long-standing grudges against the others, grudges learned through violence on the borders that separated them from one another. The religions developed slowly by following superstitions related to the natural phenomenon of the earth and the sky, of fire and ocean. It would still be a long time before the gods of Rome and the god of Christianity came to the Erin Isle. It is in this context of the Dark Ages that we begin the story of Connor and Donal MacGregor, twin sons of Ian MacGregor, Blacksmith and Weapon Maker. The first volume of this Saga, "The Champion's Sword," followed the twins through their original training and their first battle experience. This second Volume, "Twin Towers," explores the specialized warrior training that made them into the double threat of King's Champions. To the man whom they protected and represented, Ulster's King Connor McNessa, they were his "Twin Towers!"

Since he first met John Charles Fremont, the Mountain Man has been going from one adventure to another. They have logged thousands of miles together as they pushed the boundaries of the American wilderness further west. Their destiny has now crossed that of the ultimate expansionist politician, President James Polk. After a grueling campaign centered around expanding America's boundaries to the Pacific Ocean, Polk's victory meant a mandate for expansion. When Jeremiah Warner heard the call by his President, he dedicated himself body and soul to the cause of western expansion. The President had said, "Now you have seen the sunrise over the Atlantic, I want you to conquer California and Capture for America, the Sunset it was destined to have over the Pacific Ocean!" In the year 1803, President Thomas Jefferson of the United Colonies signed the declaration that in historical retrospect appears now as important as the earlier declaration that formed the country of America. The Louisiana Purchase as it was called, opened the land west of the Mississippi to commerce and to settlement, extending the American Colonies all the way to the Western Ocean and the Oregon territory. California to the south was still the enticing object of political expansionists in Washington, hoping to fulfill the dream of Jefferson of one nation from ocean to ocean. Many men pioneered this new territory as trappers and scouts, as soldiers and explorers. The Mountain Man series presents the fictional narrative of this exciting period between 1803 and 1846 as the territories to the West were explored for settlement. The main protagonist of this series, a fictional character named Jeremiah Warner, is inspired from the lives of real men who took up the challenge of the wilderness and of the Rocky Mountains. These were men who dealt with the hardships of the trail and the struggles with Native Americans, wild animals, and the fierce climate of the high mountains. They were real-life men like Jim Bridger, Joe Walker, Kit Carson, Jedediah Smith and Jeremiah Johnston. In the previous two volumes, western expansion has been front and center with the mapping of the Oregon Trail. This northern route duplicated what had already been done to the south along what came to be known as the Santa Fe Trail. But something much more grandiose was going on in the Nation's Capital, where political forces were gaining ground to complete this outreach and annex the far western territories, mainly California. In this volume, the thirteenth in the Mountain Man Series, the campaign is on to take the westernmost territory from Mexico. The 19th century history of the American Nation is filled with surprising events. Perhaps none more surprising than the acquisition of the western territories from Mexico. What was later called the War with Mexico was a patchwork of conflicts ranging from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the Northwest Territory on the southern edge of Oregon. In this thirteenth volume of the Mountain Man Series, Jeremiah Warner receives an informal mandate from the President himself, James Polk. After campaigning on the theme of extending the American Nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, Polk was not forced to deliver on his campaign promise. In the story as told here, President Polk says to the Mountain Man, "Capture the Sunset for me, Jeremiah!" In saying this the chief executive sets in motion the northern movement of the military invasion of California, then a Mexican Province. In the year 1846, few Americans could claim to have made even a journey to the west coast of the continent, over two thousand miles from Washington City. What was known, was that the Mexicans were terrible administrators of these lands that they claimed to own. At a time when news from the far west took months to get, this campaign was a march into darkness for a fledgling nation struggling to find consensus on the most basic political matters.

The year is 1853 and the gold rush in California has entered another level of intensity, some might say insanity. People are now coming from as far away as China and Australia to join those Forty-Niners, seeking their fortune in the gold fields. The land grant of Fremont Enterprises along the Merced River in east central California, continues to produce gold in great abundance. Where most miners measure their gold in ounces, the Fremont production is measured in pounds! Early on, the company recognized a major vulnerability in their operation. The gold taken from the mine in Mariposa, a more remote location, had to be transported to Monterey where it could be entered into the banking system of the Bank of San Francisco. There it was turned into moneyed assets for the company, a process that had made John Charles Fremont one of the early millionaires of California. Fremont is away now, living as a professional politician in Washington City, thousands of miles from his business. He has turned its management over to one of his partners, Jeremiah Warner. The management of the growing company, Fremont Enterprises, is proving to be a dangerous undertaking. A Mexican gang has been terrorizing central California, led by a man called the Robin Hood of California, Joachim Murrietta. His brother Manuel, attempts to rob the Gold Wagon transporting Fremont Gold, and a blood vendetta begins. This 21st volume, entitled, "The Shootout at Poker Flats," takes up the story as Jeremiah sets out on a routine delivery of gold from Mariposa to Monterey. This narrative of the mid-nineteenth century demonstrates the stages of growth the young America goes through on its way to becoming a continental nation. This is volume number twenty-one in the Jeremiah Warner Mountain Man Series.

It is 1828, the early spring trapping season is fast approaching and Rocky Mountain life is getting ready for the snow melt off the high peaks. Soon the Mandan Indian wife of Sam Ogden will give birth to their first child, and the Mountain Man hopes against hope that he will be back from the taplines before the end of June when she will be delivering. In this story, the seventh volume of the Sam Ogden Mountain Man Series, young Sam and his Mandan wife, Little Fire are about to become a family. Sam and his Partner Clyde Patterson are Free Trappers, and this means they make their own decisions about where and for how long they will work their traplines. Sam and Little Fire have made some new friends at the settlement of Grand Junction, just a two-day ride from their mountain cabin. John and Kate Oliver own and run the General Store, formerly the Trading Post of Grand Junction. Their five years of living on the frontier have been satisfying and their store is thriving. Their one regret is that they have no children of their own. It seems the most natural thing in the world for the Olivers to adopt Sam and Little Fire and their baby. For the first time in his young adult life, Sam Ogden, Free Trapper, has a family to come home to in the white settlements! In this seventh volume of the Sam Ogden Mountain Man Series, "Free Trappers," Sam, his wife and his partner, Clyde Patterson face the harsh challenges of frontier life, both in the wilderness and in the recently founded white settlement of Grand Junction, Colorado Territory. The Sam Ogden Series is as follows: 1. Hard to Kill 2. Winter Down 3. Rendezvous Prize 4. The Deerslayer's Destiny 5. Sam, My Warrior 6. Rocky Mountain Cabin 7. Free Trappers

Law and Order is still a precious and rare commodity on the frontier following the Civil War. Thomas Fletcher had followed in his father's footsteps and joined the cavalry. The horrors of the War drove all the "soldiering" out of young Fletch and he began to drift, first hiring on with Wells Fargo to guard their stagecoaches. That was where he developed his love of the 12guage shotgun which became his life's companion. Warren Tate was a hired gun, known for his ability to bring law and order to the frontier towns of Kansas and Missouri. He and Fletch partnered up to help the folks of Lucking Mills Kansas deal with a threat from marauding guerilla bands. These remnants of William Quantrill's Raiders were still a force to deal with, even years after the War was over. Tate and Fletcher will be called on to use all their courage and ingenuity in dealing with the contingencies. Riding Shotgun tells their story.

In the year 1849, an American migration took place, bringing a hundred thousand people from the lands of Eastern America to the far West of California. Some of these gold pilgrims came from other countries as far away as England and Australia, some by land, some by sea. They were all following a vision, a dream of riches that you could just pull from the earth, the shiny metal, malleable and bright, gold. Just like the boom that took place when the fur trade of the Rocky Mountains exploded with the harvesting of thousands and thousands of beavers, the gold rush to California brought with it large numbers of people and their problems. The story outlined in this book is that of one of these fur trappers, a man who had done well by himself as a fur trapper and later became a scout an important part of what would become known as the Mexican War. The treaty with Mexico was signed in 1848 and California became another territory of the United Colonies of America. It is often said that timing is everything, and for Jeremiah Warner, the Mountain Man, the warlock, he had been among the first Americans to enter California and knew about the gold discoveries long before they became common knowledge in the East. He had seen a section of the American River quite a distance from Sacramento that he had said to himself, if he ever came back to California, that's where he would want to settle. He loved the river and he knew that in several other places around that area, rivers like this one had produced gold findings. In this volume he makes his way with his wife Cheyenne woman, Flying Dove back to Sacramento and back to the gold rush that was just beginning.

1361 is the year that follows the treaty of Bretigny. The treaty gave some concessions to the king of England, Edward the Warrior, granting him lands around Calais in the northeast of France and Aquitaine, a large portion of southern France, to the west near Spain. Edward placed his son, The Black Prince in charge of Aquitaine and a brief period of peace followed. The Young archer Duke, William Burton is now settling into his role as Duke of Devonshire and setting in place the people and structures he will need in the region. He and his brother, Thomas, England's Master Archer, are heavily involved in the development of a mercenary force made up of archers for hire. Men who can wield the powerful Longbow are in great demand on the continent and the local French nobles will pay dearly. Will Burton's ascendency to the position of Duke of Devonshire was rare for the times, but was also symptomatic of what was coming: the upheaval of medieval structures. Hundreds of years before commoners toppled kings, there is the story of "The Archer Duke." In this sixth volume of the English Archer Series, the Hawking Duke comes to hunt.

This fictional account is part of a struggle that goes on throughout the major cities of our country. Those who do not make it by society's standards, those unable to meet basic safe living requirements, number somewhere near a million of our fellow Americans. We use the standard of homelessness, but the statistics on hunger in America reflect the same dire situation for those who fall beneath the safety net every day. Their situation is complex to say the least. Men, women and children fall through the measures meant to be their security from such difficult and dangerous experiences. Food pantries and soup kitchens and homeless shelters have tried to form a network that responds to the desperation of the people suffering from dire poverty in America. Charitable organizations, religions, and government agencies are all reaching out to this large and unmanageable population of street people. So far, we do not have a magic solution that combines respect and self-dignity with support and basic human sustenance. The tragic story of Jacob Olmsted may serve to put some perspective and understanding to this challenge we face.

This is the sixth volume in the mountain man series and Chronicles a very special adventure in the life of this unique frontiersman. The year is 1835, and trappers are beginning to recognize that their role will be diminishing. A natural event has taken place, a pack of large Canadian wolves has descended into the northern Rocky Mountains region where the mountain man does most of his trapping of beavers. This super pack of wolves is made up of more than a dozen large animals, twice the size of the wolves of the Rocky Mountains near the Columbia River. Jeremiah and his Wolf Hound are on a collision course with the super pack. Along the way they encounter the crazy Wolf Hunter, Lemuel Shattuck, a man mentally damaged by a previous wolf attack. "Jeremiah had come to admire the size of this big black Wolf, having never seen anything short of a grizzly bear to match it in size. The leader of this super pack was certainly the alpha male, the one in charge, the one that the MOUNTAIN MAN would have to contend with in the end."

"The wolves began to emit a strange whining sound at that moment and all of them began to chime in. It was a frightening, harrowing sound. It was so powerful that it seemed to penetrate right through to the marrow of your bones. It was as though the wolves knew they could intimidate you in this way." After almost two years in the service of his country, scouting for the Army in the California Campaign, the Mountain Man feels ready to settle down on the frontier. From his cabin on the eastern slopes of the Rockies he claims to be able to "See Forever." Winter has settled in, it is January 1847 and Jeremiah feels the call of a winter hunt. He thinks he knows where a small herd of elk are wintering about fifteen miles into the wilderness of the great mountains. Meeting the winter of the mountains head on, the Mountain Man and his wife are confronted with a fierce competitor: the Rocky Mountain Grey Wolf. Survival becomes the pawn in this game of life and death. The human hunters are outnumbered and outweighed, but surrender is not an option. Join the Mountain Man on this harrowing adventure: Wolf Attack! Robert M. Johnson takes the reader on a journey into a hidden corner of nineteenth century American Life. Long before the saloons and the frontier newspapers, the first settlers had to face the grueling tasks of long winters, severe blizzards and wild predators. Hunting for survival, hunting to eat, was still a way of life for the Mountain Man and his Cheyenne wife. But frontier life was changing fast, settlers were beginning to practice husbandry! Wagon trains are ready to head west in the spring of 1847.

Spring of 1832 found Sam Ogden and his partner, Clyde Patterson feeling the itch of trapping season. In the high mountains, for the beaver, snow melt was already causing these highly intelligent animals to rush about in a desperate effort to save their dams and lodges from the onslaught of rushing water. One Valley near the Gunnison range, is particularly busy with the activity of many beaver colonies. It is called, "Grizzly Bear Valley." In this 10th volume of the Sam Ogden Mountain Man series, the young mountain man is facing perhaps the busiest year of his life. At midwinter, a wagon train managed to push through Grand Junction, leaving behind a veteran mountain man who had quickly tired of the company of what he called, "Those greenhorn pioneers." His name is Dick Wooten, already a legend on the frontier, but a man whose abilities are fading. He is looking for one last chance to hit the high country and be part of a trapping expedition. Dick Wooten is well aware of the reputation of Clyde Patterson and Sam Ogden as free trappers and he's unwilling to accept the fact that they are settling down and becoming part of the establishment, the settlement. In a short time, he convinced them that they should do one more trapping run and that he knows just exactly where they can find thousands of dollars in beaver pelts. It's too much for the two veteran trappers to pass up. They have to give it a shot. Wooten offered to lead his new partners to the richest beaver valley he had ever seen. He got them excited about the prospects, but neglected to also tell them that the valley was over run with Grizzly Bears. It was also the favored hunting grounds of not one but several Indian tribes from the region: Utes, Pawnee and Comanches.

"That be you Jeremiah?" Came the shout from the door of the small building that served as the Coburn trading post. The voice was that of a big man, his beard shaggy and unkempt showing traces of his breakfast, dripping with coffee. "You come some long way from the mountains, them Crow warriors still after you? Heard they did in your family, shame that!" Tom Coburn said as he spit on the ground." The story of Jeremiah Warner continues, as the Mountain Man series brings to life its 11th installment. For readers who are new to this character and his life in the high mountains, this book will be an adventure in itself. It takes place in the early 1840's as America was beginning to awaken to the potential of Western migration. The manifest destiny of the 19th century was just about to reach its full expression. Once again, Robert M. Johnson captures the intense life that broke the western frontier open for commerce and settlement. The harsh life of the 1840's is portrayed in the endless beauty of the vast mountains and the rough and violent men who sought to tame it. In this volume the Warlock becomes the Pathfinder, the eyes and ears of the great explorer John Charles Fremont once again. In volume number nine, the Mountain Man became part of the first expedition west, under the title "The Warlocks Way." In this volume, number eleven, he takes part in the second expedition of John Charles Fremont, mapping out the Oregon Trail, which would become the thoroughfare of thousands and thousands of people going West to settle the new territory. Their adventures take them from the high mountain peaks where snow is an ever-threatening enemy to survival, and to the Great Salt Lake itself where storms can come up with a force that is devastating. The new companion of the Mountain Man, a young Cheyenne woman continues to occupy a greater place in his life and presents a fascinating example of native women like the famous Sacagawea, who played such an essential role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805. For the reader encountering Jeremiah Warner for the first time, they will see a character with great strength and with the self-confidence that has been gained from personal tragedy. For those returning to this character after following the first ten volumes, they will see a new stage in his life unfolding. Now he begins to achieve his dream of having his own land on the eastern slopes of the great mountains. Let the story begin, let the story continue.

1357 had been a year of intense activity, the seaport of Cherbourg in northern France had become a hub of English movement. The army of the Black Prince had chosen Caen and Cherbourg for disembarking from France back to England, destination London itself. Calais was too far to the east, across territory that still flew the French flag. There was talk of the King and the French Dauphin being ransomed and returned to Paris from their captivity in London. Marshal Will Burton was still in charge of the castle of Malfleur in the duchy of Cherbourg, liege to Lord Henry de BeauCourt of RocheFontaine. Will Burton, hero of the battle of Poitiers that saw the French King, John the First, captured by the soldiers of the Black Prince of England. Will had made himself known as an archer and a leader of men at a very early age. His knowledge of the French language, his ability to read and write in several languages set him apart from his contemporaries. And Will Burton was decidedly a man of war. In France, early in the year of our Lord 1358, something was still missing to the accomplishments of young Will Burton. His liege lord, Henry of RocheFontaine, had already decided that this young man must become a Knight. For this reason, he had commissioned one of his most trusted knights, a man named Louis Renfree to mentor the young man in the art of war. Young Will had already mastered two of the finest weapons of warfare: the Longbow and the short Sword. Now he must gain mastery of the broad sword and the mace and learn to fight on horseback. He must become adept with the Lance and gain renown in the tournaments held annually throughout France.

The decade following the California gold rush of 1849 was a time of tumult and treachery. Hundreds of thousands poured into the territory whose main settlements barely harbored a thousand people. The American government was overwhelmed at dealing with the raucous situation which it had inherited from a dispirited Mexican political machine. The men who had set this grand American experiment in motion looked to one man, John Charles Fremont, for direction. His Fremont Enterprises, is the subject of this 18th volume of the Mountain Man Series: "River Gold To Die For." Fremont was himself engulfed in the mining frenzy that drove his contemporaries to leave hearth and home, squandering their life savings, for the promise of GOLD. This massive migration would take years to settle down and in the meantime it would depend on men like John Fremont's fictional friend and Gunman, Jeremiah Warner. The land grant owned by Fremont covered more than thirty square miles along the southern stretch of the Merced River, gold country! In this story, the eighteenth volume of the Mountain Man Series, Jeremiah Warner goes from being the Boundary Rider to becoming the Gold River Gunman. He will be called on to be judge and jury for the dangerous element that is now slipping into the saloons and brothels of the California frontier. The wealth of the Fremont Enterprises can quickly become "River Gold to Die For." The Jeremiah Warner Mountain Man Series follows his adventures through the Rocky Mountain Wilderness and now into the thick of the California Gold Rush.

"Chief Red Fox had also heard many stories that had come to him directly or indirectly through the Medicine Men of the Blackfeet and the Pawnee. The consensus of these Shamans who ruled their village through fear of their magical potions, was that the Mountain Man, the one they called the Wolf Man Warrior was indeed "A Warlock." The winter of 1836 had tested the inner core of the Blackfoot Nation with its bone chilling cold and endless snowfall. Their survival depended on the grit and determination that had always supported them in the austere climate of the High Rocky Mountains. It would also write a new chapter in the legend of the Mountain Man. His run ins with the Pawnee had already brought many unwanted attacks. But now the mighty Bear Clan of the Crow Nation has singled him out for death as part of their strategy of war against the Blackfeet. In this seventh novel of the Mountain Man Series, Robert M. Johnson takes the reader on an epic journey into the Rockies. There, the man the Crow have come to call "The Warlock" will have to face new mortal enemies because of his allegiance to the Blackfeet. It will mean another step in the forward progress of Manifest Destiny.

We live in a time when the essence of energy is being rediscovered. The discovery of fire by ancient man created the world in which eventually mankind would reach a crisis of energy depletion. We use energy in just about every way possible, we use it to move about, we use it to sink, we use it to develop our emotional life, and we use it to communicate, to link one another together. Such is the power of energy! And energy is fire. words have power, words have energy, words have fire! In the pages that follow, the reader will be exposed to the fire, the energy, and the power of words. These words have the ability to change and transform to emote and to inspire words of the force of determination and decision they guide and direct, the animate and move, mind heart and spirit. This work of poetry is divided into four sections, each one having thirty-one poems or sonnets as the Shakespearean tradition would call them. These forms were inspired by life, by the fire of each new day and they represent a source of energy, a new fire for those who read them and absorb them, reflecting on what emerges from within by the reading and the reflection: life inspiration. Each poem is a generator of energy, capable of infusing life for this day for this twenty-four hour cycle during which energy will be required, used, and converted into meaning.

1850. It was the beginning of something that would define America for 100 years. Gold had been discovered in California and word spread like wildfire across the United Colonies of America. The treaty that had acquired California into the American Union was signed two years earlier when no one yet knew the importance of the gold discovered at Sutter's Mill in January 1849. From Sacramento all the way down to Mariposa and Monterey, the territory of California seemed to be one long Gold field. California in 1850 was a boiling, seething, frontier mass of humanity. People had come by the tens of thousands from all over the world, mostly from the Eastern American Colonies, to seek their fortune in the Goldfields. Three Rivers held the secrets of the gold rush, the American, the Sacramento, and the Merced Rivers. They were the RIVERS OF GOLD. John Charles Fremont had taken advantage of the fragile land situation in California during the transition from Mexican rule to American management. The Mexican government had wanted desperately to entice nobles from Mexico City to take over large land grants in the California territory and begin to establish the feudal model they hoped would bring stability to the area. When the transition occurred between the Mexican rule and the American, it was the most natural thing in the world to respect these subdivisions, especially in more remote territories. Along the Merced River in Mariposa County in Southern California, it seemed right therefore to put these large land grants up for sale to the first American bidders. One such parcel was bought by John Charles Fremont and his partner Thomas Larkin for a small amount of money. They gained a large land-grant, a tract of land that was seventy miles square, along the Merced River and at the foothills of the Yosemite Mountains. Time would prove this to be one of the great real estate acquisitions the new state of California would ever see. Historically, it would make John Fremont a millionaire many times over. John Charles Fremont and his partners had purchased an enormous land-grant along the southern end on the East of the Merced River. Bordered by the Sierra Mountains to the east, the vast property of what had come to be known as Fremont Enterprises, posed a problem of significant legality. In 1850, California territory became the state of California, the thirty-first state in the Union and John Charles Fremont, owner of this considerable land-grant along the Merced, became the first senator representing California in Washington. Fremont was a man who had become a thorn in the side of Washington politicians because of the issue of slavery, which he opposed vehemently. While he was preoccupied in this way, setting the course for California in American history, his land-grant was being managed by men he had come to trust. Two men in particular helped to manage the rich gold deposits of his property: Jeremiah Warner, his field manager, and Alex Godey, who managed the actual mining itself. The story you are about to read is a snapshot of what happened on the rough-and-tumble frontier of the Goldfields. It is the Seventeenth volume of the Mountain Man Series, the excitement of the frontier continues in "Gold River Gunman."