Showing results by narrator "Michael Taylor" in All Categories

Through a harsh land of mesquite and prickly pear, scattered oaks and carpets of stubborn grass, the Brazos River wound its way south to the Gulf of Mexico. To its banks came settlers from across America, daring men and women who dreamed of owning ranches and farms, building homes for their families, and one day establishing a United States republic in Mexican-held Texas. Among them were Jon Tallman, a wanderer and adventurer; Nancy Stafford, a strong-willed pioneer; Jacobs, a wagon train leader; and Alan.

Four people are brutally murdered during the robbery of a Las Vegas convenience store. As the investigation of the killings moves forward, it appears more and more likely that the killer was really after one of the victims and the heist was only a diversion. But which one was the real target? Was it the young clerk? How about the Hispanic man who worked at the airport? Or maybe it was the tough guy who was employed as a bouncer at a drug-infested club.

Fate threw them together. A common goal united them. They were the Outcasts, men unwanted by their own kind, with no one to trust but each other. Together they rode through the West, determined to find a land where they could live their lives in their own way. But that search had to wait once the Outcasts came upon a young boy in danger. After his own blood kin was cruelly murdered, the boy was left an orphan, and the only witness to the cold-blooded crime. The Outcasts knew they had to help the boy find a home, but they didn't know the killers were on his trail, determined to silence him for good.

They were not wanted where they came from. They were not welcome anywhere. They were outcasts, rootless and friendless, until luck or destiny threw them together. A former Apache scout shunned by his tribe, an ex-Union Army major, a former Confederate captain, and two army deserters, all forced to band together to stay alive. That is, as long as they could avoid killing each other.

For many bold pioneers headed west, the sweetest sight of all was the Humboldt River, a crooked ribbon of silver snaking through Nevada into California. But to Libby Pike and her family, the Humboldt brought sudden disaster. Stranded with her young daughter, Libby found herself surrounded by hostile renegades and an unforgiving wilderness. Then she stumbled upon a father and his two sons in search of a dream valley where they could settle and prosper.

First they shot his father - then they stole his land. Cole Randall aimed to get even. But it will take more than one angry man to fight the banks, the railroads, and the crooked lawmen who back them. So Cole Randall figured he needed an army; if that couldn't be had, then an able partner.... And if that partner could outride and outshoot any man in Wyoming, so much the better! That the best partner was a woman...well, that might be a challenge.

It's 1943 and Newport, Kentucky (AKA Little Mexico) is the bawdiest spot in America. Nick Cavanaugh, a sailor on leave, finds himself taking sides with independent casino owners Carl and Pearl Jules against the powerful Syndicate, which wants to keep this territory all to itself.

Buck Wallace was determined to make his home by the Pecos River. He vowed to live alongside the Kwahadies and carve his own private paradise out of the wilderness. But the trail to peace was long, hard and stained with the blood of the few who went before him. He would have to brave the challenge of the legendary warrior Goyah...learn the perils and pleasures of love from the beautiful Kiowa woman Asa...and test his will to survive in a land of infinite promise...and intense danger.

Society had turned its back on them, and they were only too happy to return the favor. They were the Outcasts, unwanted by their own people, with no one to rely on but themselves. Together they rode west, seeking a land where they could be free to live the way they wanted.

Stu Carlson serves people drinks. Night after night, in the dry Texas heat, he stands behind the bar and listens to troubles and sorrows and worries and regrets—not too far off from his old position behind a pulpit. Doling out counsel and care, Stu’s a compassionate man. When the scotch he serves Andrew Washburn—Dean of Fine Arts and all-around asshole—turns out to have been poisoned, Stu is shaken. A regular at Stu’s bar, meek and talented Daniel Lackland, is arrested for the crime.

Harlow Brewster had purchased the North Basin grasslands from the Shoshone fair and square, and paid for the land with blood. So the boss of the Lazy 8 wasn't about to see a bunch of nesters turn his range into a plowed-up dust bowl. If the law couldn't get rid of the grangers, Brewster would make his own law - with a couple of loads of buckshot and a stout piece of hangin' rope.

Riding into Willow Springs, Texas, Jefferson Davis King trails a horse behind him intended as a gift for his friend, C. D. Hollis. But Sheriff Hollis isn't around to collect; he'd been killed with a shotgun blast weeks earlier by an unknown gunman.

Buck Wallace, a lone white man in the land of the Kwahadie Comanche, was determined to make his home by the Pecos River. He vowed to live alongside the Kwahadies and carve his own private paradise out of the wilderness. But the trail to peace was long, hard and stained with the blood of the few who went before him. He would have to brave the challenge of the legendary warrior Goyah...learn the perils and pleasures of love from the beautiful Kiowa woman Asa...and test his will to survive.

Eastward, as far as the eye could see, stretched the Great Plains. Westward rose the Rockies, snow-capped peaks of grandeur. In the middle flowed a mighty river - silent, glistening, and turbulent - the bloodline of a wide and wild land. Three hard, tough men staked their claims on its potent shores: Jake Stonecipher, pioneer merchant, seeking his fortune yet finding a war; Will Burke, a mountain man as savage as the wilderness itself; and Francisco Serrano, determined to carve a fertile ranch out of the stubborn soil.

Amid the magnificent desolation of the American Southwest ran a river of hope, bringing life to the desert, and pioneers to a forbidding land. They gathered on the banks of the Purgatory...wandering souls on the run from the past...or in search of the future: Hernan Eduardo and his sister Elena, posing as husband and wife to hide her shame; Aaron, who has fled from danger his whole life, and who has to summon the courage to stand up for his rights; and Talks To Ghosts, a native on a vision quest.

Christian Dejoux, a 14-year-old boy living in Strasborg, France in 1890 loses his father. His mother sends the boy to Paris. War breaks out between France and Prussia, with Paris surrounded. The impressionist painter Manet employs Christian to pose for his famous painting The Fifer, and rewards him with the uniform. Penniless, his best friend and father deceased, Christian enlist in the French army.

The biggest thing to happen to Skary, Indiana, is renowned horror novelist Wolfe Boone, or "Boo" as the locals fondly call him. For the past 16 years, the reclusive writer has been the town's greatest attraction, having unintentionally turned the once struggling Skary into a thriving tourist trap for the dark side.

But when a newly reformed Wolfe suddenly quits the genre and subsequently starts to pursue Skary's favorite girl-next-door, Ainsley Parker, the little town becomes truly horrified.

On June 25, 1876, five troops of the U. S. Seventh Cavalry, under command of General George Armstrong Custer, rode into the valley of the Little Big Horn River expecting to rout the Indian encampment there. Instead they were met by the gathered strength of the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, who did not run, but turned to battle the soldiers.

A ship's ravaged hulk, now lying on the river bottom near Montevideo, Uruguay, becomes of interest to the grandson of the ship's galley officer. He has come upon some intriguing clues that lead him to believe the ship was carrying something of immense value. He recruits a friend to help him dive down to the wreck and seek the treasure, but they soon find that they are not the only ones who seemingly know the ship's secret.

When a soccer field complex springs to life seemingly overnight in the sleepy community of Skary, Indiana, and the local coffee shop begins offering computer access along with its suddenly overpriced beverages, nerves start getting edgy all over town. Is it possible new comer (and soccer mom) Katelyn Downey is hatching a diabolic plot to turn their slow-paced town into a den of hip suburban iniquity, or might this be the perfect solution to the community's financial woes?